The Gideon Affair (32 page)

With a calm smile, she looked up while wriggling against him and wrapping her arms around his waist. He took her lovely face in his hands and marveled at the chain of unrelated events that got them to this moment. Thank god, they’d lowered the barriers keeping them at a friendly distance before the Gideon show threatened to get messy.

He didn’t say anything. It wasn’t necessary. She knew what was going on. Softly kissing the corners of her mouth, he breathed her in; he briefly shut his eyes to allow their feelings to soothe his worry.

At his waist, her hands made little circles that brought a comfort his heart needed. She was good for him. That was part of why they were a forceful team. Paige kept him sane, but what about her? What did he bring to her life?

Raining more kisses on her nose, cheeks, and eyelids, Edward had a real longing to steal her away, turn his back on whatever was waiting for them, and keep this meaningful moment going. He still had so much he wanted to say. And do.

Paige hugged him tight. “Are you going to kiss me or not, Mr. Banning, because I have a job waiting for my attention. And my boss can be a real asshole about wasting time when I’m on the clock.”

Pfff. “I’ll deal with that jerkoff from now on, babe. You’re all mine. Got the ring to prove it. He can get the fuck in line as far as I’m concerned.”

She went up on her toes and straight to his mouth. Guess she got tired of waiting.

They excelled at kissing. Well, that and a couple of other things, for sure. But the kissing was off the radar and out of this world. They stood there wrapped around each other, slowly devouring until a new round of pulsing desire threatened to derail even more of their day.

Shit and fuck. They’d stalled long enough.

When they separated, she looked at him strangely, moving back to his side with her hand on his back. “What’s wrong?” Humph. Of course, she knew.

He picked up the hand that wore his grandmother’s ring and kissed it. She’d said yes to his proposal. As far as promises went, that one was a biggie. But hidden inside his big bad Alpha body was a sliver of worry about the bigger picture. He needed her assurance on one more thing.

“Promise me you won’t let Gideon Shaw and his raft of Hollyweird fuckery shit on what we have going, sweetheart. We’re beyond that, right?”

“Oh, sweetie,” she quickly replied. “I know what’s real and what’s not.” She bent her knees and maneuvered around his downcast eyes until their gazes locked. “Nothing’s really changed, you know. I’m Gideon’s trusted assistant. Together, we run a business—a brand. Many people do the same. But beyond that, you and I are … more.”

She’d paused and searched for that word. He liked it. Liked it a lot. They were more. Fuck yeah, they were.

“Come on, big guy. Let’s just do this and get it over with.”

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. He was listening.

“Tell ya what … later, like much later after the day is finished kicking our asses, we’ll go to Tony’s. Scarf down a heartburn special and knock back a pitcher of beer. I’ll call ahead and make sure he gives us the corner booth. Then,” she jested, “if you’re a good boy and don’t misbehave in public, I’ll let you …” She giggled and whispered a string of naughty suggestions in his ear.

Wow. She was good. “I’m going to hold you to some of that, babe.”

Paige grinned like a horny lunatic, grabbed his hand, squeezed, and wriggled up and down on her toes. “Oh, goody,” she chirped. “In that case, wear the black tie today. It’ll come in handy later.”

He laughed and shook his head at her. “You’re a bad girl, m’lady.”

“Thank god, huh?”

“All right, stalling over. Resuming countdown?”

She grabbed their phones, gave him his, and made a face. “Yikes.”

Worry for her grabbed his balls and yanked. “I love you, Paige.”

“Mmmhmm. Better start doing the math for that bonus check you’re going to owe me.”

This right here was why she was so awesome. He made a quirky half-grin and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“Oh, okay, you big baby. I love you, too. Better?”

“Indeed.” He chuckled. “Here we go, then. Three, two, one, and …”

The phones immediately fired up and just as he’d suspected, there was a lifetime of activity logged for the past eighteen or so hours. Ignoring the extensive texts, he jumped to his emails and surveyed the various accounts. His eyes widened when he saw two emails in his private personal account, both from his father, each sent about an hour apart. The subject line for both read, ‘Son, you have some ’splaining to do.’

Oh, shit. There was one from Marsh as well that was labeled simply, ‘Dude.’ The rest was a lot of nothing.

Now, in his work accounts—where Gideon lived his life—the fucking mailboxes were overflowing. Nice.

Priorities, his mom had always said. Work the priorities and leave everything else. His eyes scanned the list finding the most recent email from Mickey. Opening it, his stomach dipped at the message. "Overlooking the ignored texts, but email too? I’m giving you till noon and then I’m sending in the Russians to break down your door. Understood?"

It was eleven fifteen. Whew. He was cutting it close. Without reading anything else, he’d texted M.
Stand down, old man, and hang tight. My fiancée will be in touch soon.
He figured that he’d said a lot with less than fifteen words. The crazy Russian would get the message.

Paige was being awfully quiet. He watched as she scrolled and scrolled, her mouth in a tense line. With each passing second, her posture became more rigid. Her hand shot out so quickly it was almost a blur as she snatched her mints off the island. Using her thumb to pop one into her mouth, she never stopped scrolling—throwing the roll back onto the cold marble where it rolled, wobbled at the edge, and then fell to the floor with a plunk. She never reacted—just kept scrolling.

Silent scrolling … the new waterboarding. If she didn’t look up or say something soon, he was going to freak.

Harry Potter chose that moment to join the fun when her phone started ringing. At any other time, it might have been funny, or ironic, or both. Right then, it had the chilling effect of a death knell. And so it began …

She looked at the screen, went still, and then growled real low. “Rrrr, damn.” Without so much as a half glance in his direction, she tapped the call button, turned away from him, and rested a hip against the island.

“Hi, Mom,” he heard her say. “I was going to call you and …” Pause. A long silent one. “Uh-huh. I know.” Another pause. She reached up and massaged the back of her neck. “Yes, that part is true, but …”

Edward swallowed hard. He didn’t exactly know Paige’s parents. Not like she knew his, but he had met them once or twice. Briefly. They were good people. Her dad, Mark Turner, was a textbook, middle-aged, Southern fried good ol’ boy complete with a modest beer belly and a recipe for smoked pork butt that earned him a coveted BBQ cook-off trophy. They got along well enough. Edward’s military record and the fact that they were both vets made up for their very different lifestyles.

Her mother, on the other hand, was a bona fide piece of work. Rose Turner’s ability to deliver a shocking slap in the face disguised as a glowing compliment and her, well … there was no other way to say it except, her balls. Her balls were legendary and made her very, very scary; those two things alone put the Redneck Queen of Blueberry County in a category all her own.

Humph. And the daughter hadn’t fallen far from that tree.

“Mom,” Paige snapped. “It’s not like that. Why are you even reading … what? What do you mean they called you? Who called you?”

That didn’t sound good. Maybe he’d better call his dad back sooner than later. Something wasn’t right.

“Mom, for god’s sake—just zip it and let me talk. Please.”

Rose must have been getting in a final barrage because Paige’s hand went from her neck to a hard, flat-palmed slap on the marble. And then she went for it.

“Either you let me talk, Mom, or put Daddy on the phone. I’m serious. Okay, that’s better. Now listen carefully and do not give me any guff.”

Thirty seconds of tense silence told him that Paige’s tone probably hadn’t impressed her mother.

“Whatever. Now first, don’t answer the phone. Screen the calls, Mom, and let the machine pick up. Second, just say no, okay? By that, I mean don’t talk to the gossip mamas in town, pleeease. I’m not a news story. I’m your daughter. My life, all our lives, is none of anyone’s business.”

God, he felt for her. She did not sign on to having her privacy trampled all over. Ignoring the fact she’d turned away from him, he went to her and wrapped his arms around her middle from behind. Relief surged through him when she relaxed and let him hold her close.

“We’ll come see you guys soon. Edward wants to talk to Dad.”

He chuckled, and she turned her head to look up and gave him a wink. In-laws. Holy crap. He was going to have in-laws.

“Mom, relax, okay? I love you guys, and everything’s going to be just fine. There’s what’s real, and then there’s what the media reports. You need to trust me.”

He didn’t resist when she turned in his hold, softly kissed him, and then stepped away, heading for the deck. He got it. She had some damage control to do with her parents. Maybe he should do the same.

S
itting cross-legged on a deck lounger, the sun warmed Paige while she took care of business. Wishing she had a change of clothes instead of her slinky black dress that was wardrobe department perfection for a morning-after walk of shame, she ignored everything going on around her and focused on the issues at hand. But there was only so much she could do from the deck of a Malibu beach house.

The terse conversation with her mother had been a wake-up call but instead of feeling peeved, she kind of got excited about wrestling that beast to the ground. She was a problem solver. People counted on her to put out the fire. Why should this situation be any different? Because she had a starring role?
Pfft
.

Mickey wanted to hear from her ASAP, and remarkably, Carolyn was using her head and cc’ing Paige what she was handling. The girl was proving to be savvier than her offbeat lifestyle had suggested.

She hadn’t read much else. There had been the usual requests for Gideon’s time and talents and a couple of long-winded dog and pony shows from a production company trying to pique their interest but nothing that required her immediate attention.

A bird flew by overhead. Looking up, she shielded her eyes from the bright sun and caught the glimmer of the diamond sparkling on her finger. An engagement ring. Edward gave her a family heirloom, something that had belonged to his grandmother.

Her heart filled with emotion. He was, at his core, a family guy. Edward wasn’t a player even though he certainly knew how to make it seem like he was. The indulged, kid-in-a-candy-store lifestyle at the beginning of his climb to fame hadn’t lasted long. Thank god and despite an early string of starlets and models, he’d been less a man-whore with each passing year.

She wasn’t completely dense. Pussy was still pussy, and a blowjob was practically Hollywood currency. But unless he was scoring top-secret strange in some alternate universe she didn’t have twenty-four-seven access to, it had been quite a long time since there’d been even the hint of a female in his life. Gideon’s life, anyway, because, besides her, nobody was in Edward’s life.

He was worried about her, and she felt bad about the way she’d initially resisted Moira and Mickey. It all came at her too fast, and she hadn’t had time to put the changes in her relationship with Edward into perspective before being sucked into the Gideon Affair. What a difference a day made.

Leaving the sunshine behind, she headed into the house in search of him. Managing was what she did. It was up to her to show him that she was handling the weirdness they found themselves in before he worried to death.

“I’m not sure, Dad. Probably a week. I want to take Paige to Denver first. There’s a hotel there she’d like to visit. Yeah.” He chuckled. “That one. A bunch of art, blah, blah, blah.”

She paused in the study doorway and leaned against the doorjamb enjoying the way he spoke to his dad. Steven was one of the good guys. So were his sons, and Edward adored his father. The man had been an excellent role model.

“Really?”

Paige heard a note of real surprise in the word. She wondered what had so affected him.

He followed up with a cheerful laugh. “No, nothing Marsh does ever really shocks me. How long’s this been going on?”

Marshall. Of course. Edward’s younger brother. The free spirit with a head full of dreams and a list of adventures to go on a mile and a half long. She smiled. Marsh was easy to like, and Paige knew that despite the half-assed dead head reputation he had, the guy was impressive smart. Like almost
Big Bang Theory
smart. She was in no way surprised to learn he was up to something. Good for him, whatever it was.

There was a bit more back and forth, and then, without warning, he turned and looked at her. She hadn’t moved a muscle, but he’d known she was there. He patted the sofa next to him and gestured for her to sit.