by Tia Siren
****
Luke stared down at Paige’s neatly scrawled name on the line. He tried to keep the pleased grin off his face, but he knew he had failed when Paige rolled her eyes at him.
“Don’t look too pleased about all of this,” she said. “I still don’t want to sleep with you even if we are going to fake a relationship.”
“I don’t fake sex, darling.” The center of her cheeks reddened. “How long do you plan on teasing me with that condition?”
“I’m not teasing you. That is honestly how I feel about it. You signed the document, so you can’t convince me otherwise.”
He sat back in his chair with a frustrated sigh. If she wanted to play that sort of game, then she’d lose. “We’ll see about that,” he said confidently, and when Paige’s eyes flashed defiantly, he continued. “Moving on though. That event Toby was talking about is this upcoming weekend, Friday night. Then I have to be at another party Saturday night. Right?”
Toby nodded when he looked over at Luke.
“Yes. We are busy this month with appearances he needs to do here in New York before returning to North Dakota.”
“Why are you going back to North Dakota?” Paige asked.
“To tour the oil rigs there,” Luke said, glancing down at the documents he had been going over before Paige’s phone call. “All business, sweetheart. I plan to squeeze a trip to Alaska in there too.”
Paige’s eyes widened. “Alaska? All in one month you plan to do this?”
“Yes,” he said, shrugging. “This is my life. You’re hitched to me, so get used to it.”
“That’s fine and dandy for you,” she said, “but how am I supposed to do any of my homework? I have responsibilities here in New York too.”
“Bring it along for all I care.”
“What Luke is saying,” Toby said, shaking his head at his friend’s roughness, “is that we will work with you if you work with us. We’ve been in business for a long time. You can look at our business friendships if you are worried about us not being willing to work with you.”
“I just don’t think either one of you understands that my schoolwork means a lot to me,” Paige said. She looked over at Luke, who shrugged his shoulders. “Your business means everything to you. My schoolwork means the same thing to me.”
Luke felt Toby’s fingers dig into his shoulder. Wincing, he nodded mutely in agreement with her. “Yeah, I get it. I promise to respect that.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“All right,” Toby said, clapping his hands. “It’s settled then. We’ve got the terms spelled out for the both of you. Let’s just do some publicity leg work before we see Peter.”
“Right,” Paige said, and stood up from her chair. She slipped the strap of her leather satchel over her shoulder. “I guess we’ll be in contact, then, when you need me?”
“I’ll email you a list of everything and a schedule,” Toby said, smiling. “Just so you have a heads-up with your schedule.”
She started in the direction of the door, but Luke stood up from his chair. He needed some air and food.
“I can have my driver take you back to NYU,” he said. “I’ll walk down with you.”
Paige hesitated before nodding. She waited patiently as he left instructions for his employees before they took the elevator down to the lobby. He couldn’t contain his glee, but neither could he contain his nerves. Paige was going to be perfect in Peter’s eyes, but he knew he had to keep things to himself for the next thirty days too.
A group of reporters appeared in view when they stepped out of the elevator. Luke reached out to grab Paige’s arm before they could see them. He tugged her back into a small hallway out of their sight.
“What is it?” Paige asked, confused. “I thought that was the way out.”
“One of the ways,” Luke said, texting his driver to pull around into the private garage. “There are reporters out there. They’ll bombard us with questions the second they see you, along with plastering our pictures all over.”
Her eyes widened. She glanced around the corner to watch the group of them mill about the front of the building with bored expressions. “Are they paid just to sit there and wait?”
“They are paid for a story shot,” Luke muttered grumpily. He was in no mood for them to harass him before they were prepared to face the cameras.
“How does an oil tycoon get front-page coverage?” She blushed when he looked at her sharply. “No offense. You aren’t a celebrity who is seen on the front page of magazines all the time.”
“No, I’m not. I don’t like being there either.”
“What put you there then?”
It was the last thing he wanted to explain to Paige. What was he supposed to say? I got skunk drunk one night, had sex with a complete stranger in an elevator, and the whole thing was recorded on camera. Then, my father released a furious statement about it. That’s why they follow me. They thrive off that drama.
His phone buzzed as the driver confirmed he was in the private garage.
“This way,” Luke said, nodding to Paige to follow him. “I don’t care what people say about me in the papers, but it gets annoying to have cameras shoved up in your business when you step outside.”
“I imagine,” she replied.
Once in the garage, Luke opened the passenger door and helped Paige climb in before rounding the SUV to hop in himself. The second they pulled out onto the street, cameras flashed, but it was too late. They had already merged into traffic.
Luke sat back in his seat with a relieved sigh. His stomach growled hungrily, and he looked over at Paige, who was toying with her phone nervously.
“Do you want to get something to eat?” he asked.
“What?”
“There’s a diner that my mom used to own. No one knows about it besides a few people.”
Paige chewed on her lip in contemplation. “I guess. I haven’t eaten today yet, but I need to get back to NYU soon. I have a class.”
“We won’t be long. I promise.”
They pulled up to the small diner ten minutes later. Just seeing it filled Luke with a painful nostalgia for the days when he would come in with his mother whenever they were in the city. Surprisingly, his father had been supportive of his wife owning a diner. She had a talent for cooking.
The smell of chocolate milkshakes and cheeseburgers filled Luke’s lungs as he guided Paige inside. He nodded his hellos to the few employees who had worked there since his mother had owned it.
“Just the usual?” one of the waitresses asked kindly. “Cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake?”
Luke nodded as he held up two fingers. “Make it double. She has to try my mom’s cheeseburgers and fries.”
Paige looked mildly impressed as she gazed about the diner curiously. “I have to admit,” she said, looking back at him, “I didn’t think you’d be the type of guy to order a cheeseburger. You look like you count calories.”
“Fuck no,” he said. “The only way I ever bulked up was eating meat and working on that oil rig for years.”
“Makes sense.” Paige took a sip of water when the waitress returned with their drinks. “So, your mom owned this place?”
“Up until she passed away,” Luke said, smoothing his hands over the tabletop. “She was a fantastic cook, but she loved dinner food in particular. My father encouraged it because it gave us something to do while we were in New York for business.”
“It’s just so…” She trailed off while searching for the right word.
“Random?” he supplied, and chuckled when Paige nodded. “It is, but it made sense to my mom at the time.”
“Why don’t you own this?” she asked curiously. “If it was your mom’s—”
“My father sold it,” Luke said, sharper than he meant. Anger bubbled in his chest still despite how many years it had been. “I was too young to run it when my mom died, so he sold it because he had no idea how to run it.”
“Oh.”
>
They fell into silence while Luke squashed the anger in him. This wasn’t the time to hash out the screwed-up things his father had done over the years.
“Your childhood wasn’t the best,” Paige said quietly then. “Shannon told me about your dad. I don’t blame you for being so angry.”
“I’m not anymore,” Luke said, even though it was a lie. “I channeled all of that into everything I do for this business.”
As she ran a hand through the curly waves of her hair, Paige used her straw to stir her water around. “My parents aren’t perfect examples either. They didn’t even want me to come to New York in the first place.”
“They’re strict Christians, right?” When she looked at him in surprise, Luke added with a smile, “Shannon told me about your family.”
“Shannon is the middle woman here,” Paige said. He picked up the anger in her voice. She obviously still hadn’t forgiven them for how they had gone about trying to woo her into his arms. “To answer your question, yes. They got to church all the time. They don’t believe in sex before marriage. They didn’t agree with me coming here because they are afraid that I’ll go back on my vows.”
“Vows?” he repeated, scoffing. “No offense, Paige, but this is the twenty-first century. People have sex before marriage all the time.”
“And you’re a prime example of that,” she said cynically. “It’s a long story how I got to those vows. I’d rather not tell you about it.”
“I don’t care to know anyway. I’m just saying that you’re an adult. You aren’t controlled by your parents here in the city.”
“It’s different for you though. I have to rely on my parents to help me get through college. Their opinion does matter to me to an extent.”
“So, you’re saying they’d disown you for having sex with me before our wedding?” Luke asked.
That pretty red color returned to Paige’s cheeks.
“First off,” she said, “it’s not a real wedding, right?”
“It might have to be depending on what my father’s lawyer says.”
“You’d be stuck with me then,” Paige said. “I don’t believe in divorce either.”
Luke drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “It doesn’t work like that. You wouldn’t want to be stuck in a marriage with me, anyway.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m not a good guy to be with long term,” he said, catching her eyes. “I don’t believe in marriage, or waiting for the wedding night.”
“Don’t you think it would be better to wait for thirty days?” she asked. “Imagine the anticipation behind that.”
He couldn’t tell if Paige was teasing him intentionally, but it aroused him. He had no plans on waiting thirty days to persuade her into his arms. Even if he had to exhaust every move in his book, he planned on getting Paige Scott in his bed well before the date they set.
“You don’t know me very well,” Luke said, grinning at her. “I’m a very impatient man. There is no such thing as anticipation for me. I can build it up in other ways that you don’t even know about yet, baby. Trust me on that.”
Chapter Seven
Paige
“I don’t know about this, Paige. Are you sure you can trust these people?”
Paige clicked through the schedule that Toby had sent to her school email. Her stress levels rose just glancing through it. He hadn’t been kidding when he said they were going to travel a lot. Most weekends for the next thirty days, she wouldn’t even be in New York.
“I don’t know,” she said, and turned in her chair to look at Jessica. She was going over the document, and she looked apprehensive. “It’s the only way, though, that I thought of to keep going to school here at NYU.”
“Did you call to check with financial aid yet to see if he actually sent over a check?” Jessica asked. “I’d check there first before you commit to this event thing at the end of the week.”
“Good point,” Paige said. She rose from her chair. “I’ll just go down there, and we can grab a bite to eat for dinner before I respond to this.”
“It’d be smart,” Jessica said. “I mean, this man does business every single day of his life. I don’t want you to get screwed over in all of this.”
It touched Paige then how much Jessica seemed to care. She smiled thankfully at her as they left the freshman apartments to head over to financial aid office. They ran into Professor Grey as he exited the glass doors.
“Ah, good afternoon, Paige,” he said, smiling at her and Jessica. “I was just in there talking with a financial counselor regarding the question you asked me the other day.”
“Oh, right.” She had completely forgotten about asking Professor Grey if there were any scholarships or ways that he could think of for her to keep going to NYU. “Did they say anything?”
“Well, it was a bit strange,” Professor Grey said, frowning then. “We were in the middle of talking about what we needed to do for you when your counselor received a phone call from someone over at Turner Oil.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. There had been a very skeptical part of her that didn’t think Luke would hand out a check to pay for the rest of her college education. Then again, she supposed two hundred thousand dollars was chunk change to a man of wealth like Luke.
Professor Grey was studying her intently. “Do you know who Luke Turner is?”
“Sort of,” she said. “What did he say on the phone?”
“It wasn’t him on the phone. It was his secretary arranging your financial account with NYU. The next three years are paid in full, including supply fees as per Luke’s instructions.”
“Holy shit!” Jessica exclaimed. “He did it.”
She winced when Paige nudged her painfully in the side. Professor Grey watched their exchange before placing a hand on Paige’s shoulder. Concern stretched across his bearded face.
“I know you are new to this city, but Luke Turner has a reputation among the female population that isn’t favorable. A man like him uses wealth to get what he wants out of a woman.”
No kidding. Unable to stand the intensity of his gaze, Paige dropped her eyes to the sidewalk while she nodded quickly. “I understand, Professor Grey. You see, I promised him a painting.” The lie came to her surprisingly quickly. “It was an agreement, because he wants a painting in his office and I agreed to do it, and that was the price I asked for.”
He didn’t believe her. The skeptical look on Professor Grey’s face spoke volumes regarding how much he doubted that.
“I’ve dealt with Luke Turner quite a bit, believe it or not,” he said. “It isn’t in his nature or character to do something this charitable.”
Desperate, Paige glanced over at Jessica, who seemed equally floored about what to do. She grabbed ahold of Jessica’s arm then. “We have to get going, Professor. It’s been a long day, we’re starving, and we have tons of homework to do.”
“Get along then,” he said, but he stopped Paige before she could go. “I’m just warning you about him, Paige. I don’t want to see a good woman like yourself get taken advantage of.”
“I’m not, Professor,” she replied thickly. “I’ll see you in class on Wednesday morning.”
She hurried along the sidewalk with Jessica until they were both confident that Professor Grey was well out of earshot. Paige let out a strangled, pent-up breath when she looked over at Jessica.
“I didn’t think he’d actually do it,” she said, still in shock. “I thought he’d wait it out for the next thirty days.”
“I thought so too,” Jessica said. “What is he going to expect from you in return?”
Paige’s throat clenched thinking about those conditions they had talked about. There was no doubt in her mind that Luke was not happy about the no sex condition. She had seen that challenging glint in his eyes.
“I can think of a few things,” Paige said nervously. They entered one of the many restaurants on NYU’s campus that accept their dinner cards. It was busy, as expec
ted for 5:00 p.m. on a Wednesday night.
Once they had their sandwiches and bowls of soup, they sat down at an empty table in front of the windows that overlooked the sidewalk. The sun had started to dip down earlier than what they were used to, a sure sign of the pending fall season.
He can’t honestly expect me to have sex with him. Paige looked down at her sandwich when a wave of nausea crashed over her. He signed that contract. He agreed to the terms of it.
Except, she knew Luke didn’t follow the rules. He had enough money to buy himself out of legal troubles anyway.
“He can’t force you to have sex with him,” Jessica said then, reading the expression on Paige’s face. “He really can’t. There are many things he could face if he did.”
“He wouldn’t force me. As sleek as he is, he isn’t a guy who just goes around forcing women into his bed.”
“That’s true I suppose. He’s attractive, so I’m sure it’s easy to fall for those charms.”
“It is,” Paige said, sighing. “It’s just so strange, because there are times when he’s calm and relaxed. He seems completely at ease and normal, but then it changes within a matter of minutes.”
Jessica looked thoughtful for a long moment. “Brooding is what they call that, but I’m pretty sure he had a rough childhood. That tends to play on people quite a bit.”
“I know he has. I don’t know much about it besides what Shannon has said to me, or what he has said himself.”
“If you’re in over your head, then back out,” Jessica said. “You have to admit that Luke is way experienced in certain areas that you’re lost in. I just worry that he’ll charm you before the end of this contract.”
“He won’t,” Paige said firmly, even though she had her doubts too. “I vowed to myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t give in before marriage. He can’t change my mind no matter how hard he tries to.”
Jessica gave her a long, hard look. “If you’re sure about that, Paige. I just know what marriage means to you because of the values you grew up with. I don’t think it matters if you even wait until beyond the wedding—he’ll still leave.”