by Jan Hinds
As he inched closer to her, he asked, “Are you asking me to marry you?”
Paige raised her eyebrows. “No,” she said in a squeaky voice. She moved away from him and stooped to pick up the books from the floor, returning them to the shelves.
She stopped in the doorway, not looking at him. “My mom’s right. Whitley’s right. I’m not the kind of woman you’d ever really choose. You shouldn’t toy with me. I don’t want to hope for something I can never have.”
“They’re wrong. Are you hoping for us?”
He limped to her and touched her arm, but she backed away from him. “I can’t keep things the way they’ve been. I have to go out.”
“Paige, wait. Honey, please don’t leave like this. Stay and talk to me. Where are you going?”
She grabbed her coat and purse from her office. “I think it’s time I talk to Ted.”
♥♥♥
Try as he might, Cooper couldn’t engage Paige in any conversation topics that didn’t relate to classes or business. Even more disturbing, after declaring she had to speak to Ted, she hadn’t come home that night. Sunday morning, she came home to get ready for church and went alone. In the afternoon when they finished with homework, she left again and only returned the next morning in time to drive him to their Monday morning class.
They hadn’t driven far when the silent treatment was more than he could bear. “Paige, please talk to me. Did you get back together with Ted? How could you spend the night with him after you said you loved me? Please stop freezing me out. What’s going on?”
Paige remained silent and Cooper was about to have an emotional eruption when she stopped at a stoplight. “I’m not back with Ted. I saw him that night and told him I couldn’t date him anymore because I—I—my feelings for him are only friendship. I want him to move on.”
The relief Cooper felt was tempered by confusion. “Then where have you been the last two nights? Why haven’t you talked to me?”
She started driving again, focusing all her attention on the traffic.
Cooper remained turned toward her, his hand on the top of her thigh. When she parked in the student lot his hand held her in place. With his other hand he gently caressed her cheek and turned her face until she looked into his eyes. “Where have you been? Talk to me.”
Her eyes dropped to his shirt collar. “I don’t count what we said the other night as a declaration that you—or I—need to be embarrassed by.” After a quick glance at his eyes, her gaze dropped once more. She took a deep breath before she continued. “You’re still on meds and I won’t trust anything until you aren’t.”
He framed her face with both his hands and forced her to look at him. “Okay. I understand that. We’ll take things as slow as you want, but where have you been the last two nights?”
“I slept at Tina’s apartment. You may want to give her a wide berth for a few days. I didn’t tell her why and she’s assuming the worst of you.”
“Why didn’t you sleep at home?”
Her gorgeous blue eyes met his. “I’ve never felt anything like this before. I don’t trust that it’s real for you. I don’t trust myself feeling this way around you. I’m afraid that if we get too serious and it doesn’t work out, it will ruin our friendship and our ability to work together.” She gave him an embarrassed look and shrugged. “I guess I’m the one who’s a chicken.”
Cooper released both their seatbelts and hugged her. Gratitude swept through him when she hugged him back. With his lips pressed against her ear, he said, “You don’t need to be afraid of me. Of us. I won’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Please come home. I miss you.”
He felt the tension in her shoulders. “As an employee and a friend?” she said. She hugged him briefly, gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek, and before he could follow through with the searing kiss he ached to give her, she was out of the car. “You won’t lose me. Come on. We’re going to be late for class.”
Missing the feel of her in his arms and regretting not pressing her with that kiss, he reluctantly got out and hobbled toward their class. As they walked together, he asked, “What about Whitley? Are you going to have any problem with me finishing the project with her?”
Paige slowed her pace. “Suppose for a moment that I have a project to work on with Ted. Say he wanted me to decorate the interior of his house. How would you want me to approach handling that job?”
Cooper stopped. “Did he ask you to do that?”
She shrugged. “He was grasping at straws for a way to keep in contact with me. This is hypothetical, to put you into my mindset. Now stop evading and answer the question.” She raised her eyebrows waiting for him to respond.
After a brief self-appraisal of how he’d feel to have her working with Ted, he answered, “I don’t think I’d want you to be alone with him ever. I’d insist on being present for every meeting.”
“So if we shift it back to you working with Whitley?”
Dawning awareness, and a little ego boost brought a smile to his face. “So you’re jealous and you want to be present at any meeting I have with her?”
Her eyes squinted in warning. “I think what you meant to say was, out of deference to our budding partnership, you want to have me present for all future meetings with her.”
He stopped her while he adjusted his bag on his shoulder and grinned. “I like that plan. I have an even better idea. Let’s subcontract Ted’s job to Whitley. Win. Win,” he said with a wink. “Will you text her and set up an appointment to go over the model prior to presenting the design to the customer?”
Paige took out her phone and sent a text. They began walking again. Her phone pinged before they reached their classroom. “We meet with Whitley this afternoon at four and present the design to Mr. Stanova tomorrow at noon.”
Cooper shifted to hold the door for her. “Excellent. Please, let my dad know so he can be there too?”
♥♥♥
Whitley sashayed into Cooper’s office on her stilettos, her crimson hair flouncing around her shoulders. Her seductive expression shifted to a sneer when she saw Paige standing next to Cooper.
With her focus on Cooper, her lower lip stuck out in a petulant pout. “Coop, you can’t be serious that you think we need a chaperone to work together. We are, after all, adults and professionals.”
Cooper felt comforted by Paige’s presence beside him. “Paige pointed out that I should have rebuffed your tactile advances from the start. I apologize if I gave you the impression your affections were acceptable or desired. They are neither. As far as the project goes, I’ve added the designs you told me about and wanted to know if you want me to change anything before we present it to the buyer.”
Whitley folded her arms under her breasts, shoving her silicon orbs nearly out of her low cut sweater. She studied the house, nodding at the finishing touches Cooper had added. He’d split the model open to show the interior. “It’s—” She cleared her throat. “I’ve never worked with an architect before like this. The model is like an elegant doll house.”
Her eyes traveled through the rooms of the model. “It is lovely, isn’t it?”
Paige cleared her throat. “Did you want to make any changes?”
Whitley pulled out a small sample bottle of red paint. “I want to change the color of the dining room to this color. It better matches the flower in the upholstered chairs, and the accents in the living room.” Her eyes scanned the model again. “You’ve done a wonderful job, Cooper.”
Cooper smiled. “Thanks.”
Paige frowned. “Whitley, about your design…”
Whitley turned to Paige with her hands on her hips. “What about it?”
Paige let out her breath slowly. “I’m familiar with the fabric collection you chose. I was wondering why you selected the floral instead of the diamond or stripe in the same color palate? Since Mr. Stanova is single, I thought those fabrics might appeal more to him.”
Whitley’s lip twitched. “I happen to know Phi
l is in the market for a wife. A man who is looking for a wife doesn’t want his home to look like he’s a confirmed bachelor.”
Paige tilted her head. “If you say so. Can you be here tomorrow when we show the designs to Mr. Stanova and Dad—I mean Matt Jennings?”
Cooper saw the hesitation at what he knew was a strategic slip of the tongue by Paige. At the gleam in Whitley’s eye, he braced himself for what he knew was coming.
Her mouth transformed into a wide grin. “Tomorrow will be wonderful. I can’t wait to see your father again. It will be like old times, Coop.
He cringed at the nickname he’d always hated and felt Paige stiffen next to him.
Paige folded her arms, clearly displaying the elaborate diamond ring he’d given her. She thought it was cubic zirconia. He didn’t tell her the diamonds were real and that the ring had belonged to his grandmother.
Whitley’s gaze fixed on the ring and then swept over Paige. She sneered before giving her a dismissive shrug. “If either of you think you’re an equal match for each other, you are sorely mistaken.”
Cooper slid his hand around Paige’s waist and drew her closer to him. “Then I hope she never figures out she’s too good for me.”
Whitley’s left eye twitched. “Humph. We’ll see.” She raised an eyebrow in amusement. “I assume you’ll be attending the Open Hands Auction in two weeks? It’s going to be a great place to network. I heard Garrett Marcel is performing.” She raised her eyebrows toward Paige. “It’s black tie. You are aware women wear evening gowns to these events. Although, with nothing marketable to auction, I doubt you have the donation required to get in so I see no point in you attending.”
Paige tensed until Whitley’s heels clicked to the front door where she slammed it closed behind her. “This auction, is it something you’re involved in?” she asked.
Cooper sat down and rubbed his sore leg as he straightened it. “She’s right, it is a wonderful opportunity to make business connections. It’s usually a great party. And it’ll be nice for us to have a last fun night before my next surgery. Will you go with me?”
Paige perched on the edge of Cooper’s desk and folded her arms. “Stop evading. Exactly what is the Open Hands Auction?”
Tina walked up to the open office door. She crossed her arms and leaned on the door frame. “The Open Hands Auction is not only the charity event of the season; it is the social event of the season. People donate products or services; sometimes celebrities will donate a date with the winning bidder. It’s a lot of fun and the street walker is right, everyone dresses to the nines. The proceeds are donated to several charities to help spread Christmas cheer to the less fortunate.”
“Have you attended the event yourself?” Paige asked her friend.
Tina grinned. “My senior year in high school my cousin was one of the Mad Ants basketball players. He was one of the bachelors auctioned off that year and didn’t want to go to the event alone, but he wanted to have the option to leave with someone else if he chose to.”
“Did he—leave with someone else?”
The smile vanished from Tina’s face. She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. He ditched me and my dad had to pick me up. A young college student whose father is a prominent lawyer in Fort Wayne won him in the auction. They married six months later and are expecting their second child.”
Paige looked at Cooper. “So what are you auctioning off?”
Cooper loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “I’ve been, uh, signed up for the bachelor auction.”
Paige shot to her feet. “What?”
Her indignation gave him hope. “Honestly, I’d forgotten all about it. Tina, please get Natalie Pratt on the phone for me. She’s on the auction committee.” He rubbed Paige’s arm. “I’ll get it changed.”
Paige shrugged her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. It isn’t like we’re really engaged. Why shouldn’t you be auctioned off? It isn’t like I have any real claim on you.”
Cooper frowned. “We have a deal and I’m not breaking it.”
When Tina put the call through, Cooper picked up his phone. “Natalie, thank you for taking my call. I have a bit of a wrinkle for my participation in the auction this year. I’m no longer single.” Cooper listened a moment. “Paige and I are engaged… Thank you.” He glanced up at Paige. “I am a lucky man…I was wondering if we could offer a free design consult instead.”
Paige paced back and forth in front of his desk, with her arms wrapped tightly around her.
“I understand… No, I realize this is short notice and you have already emailed the auction list...I don’t understand…Early bids? I didn’t know you did that…If you can’t take me off, how can you add Paige?” He grimaced. “Oh, a supplemental email. Yes, by all means, add her.
Paige gave him a deer in the headlights look and shook her head while waiving her hands in a no-way motion.
Cooper nodded his head. “You’re right, it is a wonderful opportunity to give back to the community and gives us great name recognition.... Yes, absolutely. Add our design offer to the silent auction.”
Cooper hung up the phone. “I’m sorry, she couldn’t change the auction, but on a positive note, with you added to the auction, and our design donation, we won’t have to pay the fee to get in and Tina can come as an employee. I have a savings account you can use to bid on me.”
Paige threw her hands up. “Bid on you? Who cares about bidding on you? How could you let her add me? I’ll be humiliated. No one will bid on me.”
Cooper rounded the desk and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll bid on you. No way will I let anyone else outbid me.”
She pressed her hands against his chest. “What if someone outbids me?”
“Who would want a broken down ex-football player?”
“Uh, Whitley?” She tilted her head and squinted her eyes at him. “Does she have some kind of connection with Natalie?”
Cooper’s mouth dropped open and his eyebrows rose. “We all went to high school together. She and Natalie were cheerleaders and best friends all through school.”
“How coincidental that I’ve been added to the auction to be publicly humiliated when no one bids on me.” Paige’s eyes narrowed. “Did you ever date Whitley?”
Cooper ran his finger around his loose collar as if it were choking him. “I took Natalie to the prom our junior year. I dated Whitley senior year. We were homecoming king and queen. And prom king and queen senior year.”
Paige slapped her forehead. “Whitley is the one who ditched you at the prom and ran off with Sawyer?”
Cooper slashed the air with his hand. “You know I’m not interested in her.”
Paige folded her arms across her chest. “How could you work with her and not tell me the history you have with her?” She twisted the diamond ring on her left hand. “I feel like I’m stuck in one of my mother’s soap operas.” She barked out a derisive laugh. “Listen to me. I’m such a fool. I’m starting to believe our lies too.”
Cooper tipped her chin up, forcing her to look in his eyes. “I didn’t pick her. The customer did. All her touchy feely mannerisms are the way she has always been. I have no interest in her other than a business contact. And even if she, or anyone else, does win the bid for me, you will be going on the date too. I won’t go anywhere alone with her or anyone else. And I won’t let you go alone with anyone else either.”
Paige searched his eyes. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. You’re going to be embarrassed to be seen with me,” she whispered.
He cupped the side of her face with his palm. “I’m never embarrassed to be seen with you.”
Tina cleared her throat. “Paige is going to need some serious retail therapy to prepare for this event. I’m volunteering my expertise to the cause. You’d better be prepared for a bidding war by the time I finish getting her ready.”
♥♥♥
Cooper spoke to his father ahead of time and explained that Whitley was trying to humiliate
Paige.
Whitley arrived early the next day, watching anxiously for Matt Jennings to arrive. When he came in he ignored Whitley and went straight to Paige. “There’s my daughter. You and Cooper have been making yourselves too scarce. I insist you let me and Mom take you both out to dinner this evening.”
“That would be lovely, Dad,” Paige said with a smile.
Cooper stifled a grin. “Dad, this is the homeowner, Phil Stanova, and the interior designer, Whitley Barrow.”
Matt shook their hands and Whitley gushed, “It’s great to see you again, Mr. Jennings.”
Matt gave her a puzzled look. “Have we met before?”
Whitley’s face color approached the same shade as her hair. “I—I went to high school with Cooper.”
“Did you now? Well, small world, isn’t it?”
As Phil Stanova looked over the model and the fabric and paint choices, he nodded his head. “I love the house design. You’ve incorporated every feature I want in my home in a design that will still fit in with the surrounding homes without looking like a cookie cutter replica.” He frowned as he looked over the interior plans. “I must say, I’m not crazy about the flowery fabric for the dining room chairs. I’d rather have something less feminine.”
Paige picked up the coordinating fabric swatches. “Here are the other fabrics you mentioned as options, Miss Barrow,” Paige said.
Phil’s face lit up. “That stripe will be perfect. Excellent, Whitley,” he said.
Cooper swelled with pride that Paige never tried to humiliate Whitley. It was far more generous than he would have been.
Chapter Nine
“Cooper, have another piece of pie? There’s plenty left,” Evie offered.
Cooper rubbed his stomach. “Thank you, but I can’t eat another bite. Everything was wonderful.” He stage-whispered against the back of his hand. “Don’t tell my mom, but this is the best Thanksgiving dinner I’ve ever had.”
Sylvia raised an eyebrow to her son. “I heard that, young man,” she said with mock anger. Her face quickly shifted to a smile. “I have to agree. Evie, you are a fantastic cook.”