by Tia Siren
“Just suck your pride up, bro. You know for a fact that this isn’t going to go over very well if you close yourself off.” He gave Luke a critical look. “I know it’s difficult for you to express human emotion at times, but this is your father’s business and your inheritance that’s up for grabs. I think you can sacrifice and afford to lose a bit of your privacy.”
A headache pounded at Luke’s temples. Even though he didn’t want to think Toby was right, he knew Peter would eventually question everything. He picked up the phone to dial Paige’s number as he let out an aggravated sigh. All this work for just a few tantalizing kisses and touches. Nothing else.
“Hello?” Paige sounded a bit breathlessly. “Who is this?”
“Luke,” he said. Suspicion shot through him when he heard male laughter in the background. “Did I interrupt something? You know that the no sex with other people rule applies to you too.”
The jealousy burning in his chest surprised him, and he twisted around sharply in his chair to guard his expression from Toby, who was watching intently.
“I’m in class,” Paige said, anger filling her voice. “I don’t sleep around like you. What is it?”
“I have to fly to North Dakota on Wednesday,” he said. “Toby thinks it’s best if you come along with us.”
“On Wednesday? I can’t do that. I have classes to keep up with. You and Toby acknowledged that last week.”
“He brought up a good point to me about us not knowing each other,” Luke said. “Our picture is on the front page of a magazine that my father’s lawyer reads every single morning. There are going to be questions, and we have to collaborate our answers.”
Paige sighed into the phone. “I suppose you’re right. I really know nothing about you besides what you told me.”
“Exactly. And if you want that credit card to stay active, we need to figure this out.”
“Fine. I’ll figure it out somehow.” There was a loud crash in the background. “Shit. I just dropped all my stuff on the ground. Just email me the time.”
She hung up without waiting for a reply. Luke twisted back around to hang up the phone.
“She said to email her the time,” he said.
Toby raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay. I can do that. You okay, boss? You look mildly pissed.”
“I’m fine.”
Thankfully, JoAnne spared him from answering anything further. She spoke through the intercom on his phone.
“Mr. Turner,” she said, “your father’s lawyer, Peter, is on line two. He wishes to speak with you right away.”
“Just like clockwork,” Luke said as he grabbed the phone. He punched line two before bringing the phone to his ear. “What can I do for you, Peter?”
“I saw something very interesting on the front page of the paper this morning, Mr. Turner. Care to explain this interesting turn of events to me?”
“What is there to explain? A picture is worth a one-hundred thousand words.”
“You would certainly know that from personal experience,” Peter said tonelessly. “Look, I was not born yesterday. I find this a bit suspicion given the conversation we had in my office two weeks ago. You’re just pretending to be in love on the front page of the paper.”
Luke clenched his teeth. “It’s not pretending. I told you about her in your office two weeks ago. Remember?”
“No,” Peter said shortly. “I don’t remember anything besides that you were very irritated at Alicia Poole not being included in this charade of yours.”
“I have dumped Alicia Poole,” Luke snapped. “We weren’t ever together. I don’t know why you think that.”
“Because Ms. Poole politely informed me this morning that she has every intention of marrying you. That was the voice mail left on my phone this morning.”
Bitch.
There was a part of him that wasn’t surprised. Alicia had never been afraid to let others know her displeasure over something.
“She’s a liar,” he said. “I told her things were over at the beginning of this month. She didn’t take the news very well, obviously.”
“Obviously not. I’ve done some research into this Paige Scott that is on your arm in the picture.”
“She’s the same Paige Scott I told you about two weeks ago.”
“Right. What is a nineteen-year-old freshman from Wyoming doing with you of all people?”
Luke gritted his teeth as he fought to keep control of his fraying temper. He knew Peter was pushing buttons on purpose to see if he snapped.
“We met through a mutual friend,” he said. “Two months ago to be exact. I didn’t mention her until now because I didn’t want Ms. Poole involving herself the way she always does.”
He glanced over at Toby, who was watching him wordlessly. They needed to prepare Paige for that too. He didn’t want Alicia figuring out their plan either. She’d spread it around out of revenge.
“I can see that,” Peter said slowly. “How long have you two been seeing each other then?”
“It’ll be three months this month,” Luke said.
“And the relationship is going well, I presume, if you brought her as a date to the event on Friday night?”
“Everything is going well.” Despite the no sex condition. He ran a hand over his face with a sigh. “She’s special to me, so I didn’t want to bring her into anything too quickly. Everything is complicated with my father’s death, and she was there for me, too, when that happened.”
“Your father never mentioned her before,” Peter said, suspicion lacing his voice again. “He seemed adamant that you were with Alicia Poole.”
“I let him think that,” Luke replied, thinking quickly. “I didn’t want my father meeting Paige. You know the condition he was in during the past few months. Would you want a love interest seeing that?”
Even if it was a lie, if his father were still alive, there would be no chance in hell that Luke would ever let his father meet Paige. The last few months of Roderick’s life had not been graceful or easy. His liver had started to shut down. Bones had begun popping out everywhere from beneath his yellow-tinged skin. His eyes had been the worst though. Even Luke couldn’t shake the image of them: sunken in, bloodshot, and parchment yellow.
Death had chipped away at his father for months until his heart and liver had both finally caved in. He had told the doctors to let him go. There was no point in saving a man who had literally drank himself to the bottom of every bottle of alcohol he had tastes. His mother had tried to help him for many years, but once she had passed away, there was nothing left to stop him.
“You’re right,” Peter said, and Luke could hear his grimace. “I wouldn’t agree to that either. Your father was in horrible condition when I visited him in the hospital before he passed.”
“He drank himself to death,” Luke said flatly. “What else did you honestly expect to see?”
“Nothing. I expected nothing. Speaking of alcohol, I want to ask how your drinking has slowed down.”
“Is that another term of my father’s?” Luke asked defensively.
“No. It wasn’t brought up. Your father wasn’t going to tell you how to control your drinking when he couldn’t control his.”
“Right, so it’s none of your business,” Luke said coldly. “All we are talking about here is Paige, and believe it or not, I have purchased a ring.”
The second he said those words, Luke smacked his head in exasperation. The other line was silent. He had to find a ring fast now to back those words up.
Toby sighed as he wrote that down on his pad of things to do.
“You bought a ring for her?” Peter finally asked, surprise filling his voice. “Two months into dating and you bought a ring for her?”
“Yes,” Luke said stiffly. “I did. Is there a problem with that?”
“Here’s what I think,” Peter said. “I’m tired of you running games around me, trying to figure out how to get through a loophole that doesn’t even exist. If this relationsh
ip is real—”
“It is real!” Luke said angrily.
“Then you better have a strong connection with this Ms. Scott, because I will be asking questions that only couples in love would know. Got it?”
“Whatever you say.”
“Lose the attitude, Luke,” Peter said. “You aren’t going to get anywhere with me. I’ll schedule a meeting with you both in two weeks. I expect a wedding announcement in the paper along with a date, too. Have a good day.”
He hung up before Luke could even think of a reply. Dropping the phone down onto the desk, Luke looked over at Toby with a scowl.
“We’re in over our heads,” he said. “In two weeks I have to bring Paige to meet him. I also have to buy a ring, announce this shit, and set a date.”
Toby scribbled that down on the paper as well. “We can manage these things, Luke. It’s not going to be a big deal.”
“What if I have to go through with this entire thing?” Luke demanded, rubbing his aching head in distress. “I’ll have a divorce on my record then.”
“It won’t matter,” Toby pointed out. “You’d have everything by then. Just settle with Paige on the amount if you have to go through with it. That’s all you really have to do.”
“I want a fucking drink,” Luke growled, standing from his chair. “This is too much work for me when I’m not getting anything in return.”
“What? Sex?”
“Yes, damn it. She won’t give in no matter what I say or do.”
“Play it to your advantage,” Toby said sagely. “Someone like Paige is going to work when it comes to Peter. She’s not like the other women you’ve been with. I’m telling you to have some faith in what I’m advising you to do. Have I ever steered you wrong?”
“No,” Luke replied, deflating. “You’re right. I just don’t know how much longer I can take this shit.”
“Well, work that out with Paige. In the meantime, we need to find a ring.”
****
The lodge felt pleasantly warm when they arrived in Bismarck the following week. A weight eased off Luke’s shoulders when he stood on the back patio, inhaling the crisp, fresh air. Nothing could ever replace the serenity he always felt in Bismarck when he came to check on the oil rigs. Compared to the pollution and the bustle of the city, it felt as though they were in a different universe.
He sipped from a cup of hot tea while he waited for Paige to change her outfit. They had done a quick press appearance at Toby’s bidding to add even more publicity. Paige had played the part perfectly by sticking by Luke’s side without straying. He was relieved that there were only two cameras around this time rather than a swarm of them like the previous weekend.
Now they had a dinner party to attend with some of his father’s old friends—to help spread the word to Peter more.
The sliding glass door opened behind him.
“Toby said you wanted to see me before we took off,” Paige said, stepping up alongside him. “Something about going over questions?”
“We need to go over them soon,” Luke said. “In two weeks, we will go in to see Peter when he calls with a time. It’ll most likely be up here because this was my father’s life—this lodge at least.”
Paige ran an appreciative gaze along the log walls. “It’s so beautiful here. I don’t blame him for loving it.”
The chilly wind stirred the loose brown waves of her hair. Shivering, she crossed her arms over her chest to fight off the cold. While he loved the clothes Shannon had picked out for her, nothing beat the sight of her in a pair of tattered jeans, UGG boots, and a thick navy and gold sweatshirt that said NYU on the front. Her freckles were on vibrant display as well thanks to the gray clouds over them.
“What?” Paige asked. “Why are you staring at me like that?””
“I’m not,” Luke said, clearing his throat. “I was just thinking of something is all.”
She gave him a skeptical look. “Right. I’m supposed to believe that. Do you know what the questions are about?”
“Toby has a draft of questions for us to look at,” he said. Then he pulled out the small box he had been carrying around since the beginning of the week. His throat clenched before he shook off the feeling. “I got this because we need to put the rumor in the press that we are engaged.”
Her mouth parted in surprise when he lifted the box up for her to take. Shaking her head, Paige took a step back with a grimace. “That’s way too much, Luke. I can’t take a ring from you. It feels a bit—”
Real. That was how it had felt when he’d been picking one out, too. Luke kept his face straight as he pushed the box into her hand.
“It has to look real,” he said tightly, and then he changed the subject before Paige could say anything else. “We’re going to go visit one of those oil rigs I told you about. Stay by me, because most of the roughnecks there haven’t seen a pretty woman in a long time.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Don’t trust your employees?”
“I trust them to do their jobs and to make money. That’s about it.” He glanced up at the overcast skies. “Let’s go before the snow comes in. First snowfall of the season too.”
When Paige climbed into the SUV after him a short while later, Luke glanced down at her hand to find the ring glittering there. He looked away sharply when that unexpected and indescribable emotion filled him again. They spent the next few hours down at one of the rigs, Paige staying at his side as he had asked her to. Still, he caught the men’s lingering glances on Paige, and it caused his chest to tighten with possessiveness.
The drive back to the lodge was a tense and silent one, aside from Toby chatting absently with the driver in the front passenger seat. A trickle of snowfall had started on the drive back from the rig, but now it was a downfall. The roads to the lodge were slick and snow-packed. They would be snowed in with Roderick Turner’s friends in his lodge, much to Luke’s frustration.
At least the lodge was big enough to house twenty something guests in either separated or shared rooms. There were only two bedrooms that were private and away from everyone else’s—his and Paige’s.
That realization caused him to harden with the possibility. He still had his hopes and plans to get Paige to back down from the no sex rule. Desire, lust—the feeling that had been in some of his employees’ eyes as they had looked at her—all of that swirled in Luke’s veins.
He was going to burst if he didn’t find a way to release himself.
They arrived back to the lodge to a fully cooked dinner and several of Roderick’s friends already drunk and happy. It took little on Luke’s part to convince them he had known Paige for a while now and had just kept their relationship out of the tabloids as long as possible to protect Paige’s privacy as a freshman student at NYU. The lies came as easily as his ability to drink without pause, and the stress lifted from his shoulders.
Luke glanced down the dinner table they had been seated at to where Toby sat. He was in the middle of a conversation with John Miller, one of his father’s closest friends, and only glanced up at him in a wordless question. Maybe it was the whiskey, or the lust searing through him, but Luke reached underneath the table to place his hand on Paige’s knee.
She visibly tensed in surprise at the contact, but the smile on her face never faltered as she continued the conversation she was in. She wouldn’t risk losing her precious NYU education. Everyone had their price when it came to helping him.
Bitterness shredded through his heart when Paige shifted her knee away without even bothering to glance at him.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, Luke tried to keep the scowl on his face under control. He reached for Paige again, but she shifted away with a pointed glare. That was when he felt Toby’s intense stare as well.
“Let’s get up and go for a walk,” Toby said, grabbing him by the arm. “Sorry, gentlemen. We need to have a quick conversation. Paige?” He turned to look at her. “Do you mind coming with us?”
She rose from her s
pot after hesitating for only a moment and grabbed ahold of Luke’s arm to steady him when he felt gravity give out. They stumbled down the hallway together as Luke breathed sharply through his nose to get control over the swaying world.
“We need to slow the drinking down a bit, bud,” Toby said, sighing. “You’re about to rip everyone’s head off in there.”
“I didn’t drink that much,” Luke growled, and he tugged away from Toby to lean on Paige, who stumbled under the extra weight. His lips and throat felt parched. “I need some water to get rid of this feeling.”
“We’ll get you water,” Toby said. “Just come sit out here in this hallway with Paige while I get some water.”
They coaxed him to sit down on the bench. Paige took a seat next to him as Toby hurried down the hallway. Burying his aching head into his hands, Luke tried to regain control of his rapidly fraying senses. Too much. Way too much.
“Why do you drink like that?” Paige asked quietly.
Luke looked over at her with surprising clarity on his part. “I don’t know. Maybe I have dark and horrible things to kill inside me.”
“So you’re going to drown yourself in the process of trying to kill those things?”
“It’s working to a degree,” he remarked snidely. “I don’t feel half those things anymore thanks to the bottle.”
Paige chewed on her bottom lip. Concern filled her eyes when he sank back against the wall behind them with a groan.
“Your father was an alcoholic, right?”
His eyes fluttered closed when the world gave a nauseating tilt. “You could check every hiding spot in this lodge and still find bottles hidden in random places. Does that answer your question?”
“It does,” Paige said. “I just see you doing the same thing now.”
“I’m—” He couldn’t finish that sentence even if he had wanted to. That dark and ugly part of his father festered inside him too. They both tried to fill it with alcohol, but it was bottomless. It never filled up.
Toby returned a minute later with a glass of cold water. He handed it to Luke, who snatched it immediately to down it and clench his thirst.