Not Actually Engaged (Otherwise Engaged #1)

by Jan Hinds

  Behind Sawyer, Walter Crawford’s face pinched into a frown, and his mother’s turned an alarming shade of purple.

  Cooper moved to Paige’s other side to distance her from the negative vibes rolling off Mrs. Crawford and her son.

  Sawyer’s eyes returned to Paige. “I cleared it with my people and our Fit Spa is available for you and Angie. I’d like to meet with her and I’ll personally provide a scholarship for her to make up for what the stipend for spokesperson doesn’t cover. Why don’t you bring Angie next Thursday night around seven and I’ll get her started?”

  Paige smiled. “That’s wonderful. Thank you. We’ll be there by seven sharp.”

  Marcus Shore offered his condolences. When he turned to leave, he gave Walter Crawford a menacing frown. “I’ve seen you around,” he said in a gruff voice.

  Walter shook his head and stepped back. “Not me. I live in Ohio.”

  Marcus peered so close that Walter staggered backwards to avoid touching noses.

  “You been to Ohio?” Walter said in a high pitched voice.

  Claudia wedged her ample frame between Walter and Marcus. Her twisted features caused Marcus to recoil from her.

  He followed Sawyer, stopping twice to look back at Walter.

  Walter Crawford glared at Cooper. His mouth pressed into a thin line that drooped down on the edges to form a frown mimicking his mother’s expression identically. “Paige,” he said, nodding to her. “I heard you got married?”

  “We will be soon. Walter, this is my fiancé, Cooper Jennings.”

  After shaking the shorter, stocky man’s damp hand, Cooper resisted the urge to wipe his palm off on the side of his pants. He stood tall with his shoulders back and draped his arm possessively over Paige’s shoulders.

  Walter’s stringy, blond hair flopped down on his forehead. His pockmarked face flushed red. He refused to look Cooper in the eyes and shrank away from him.

  Stuart Vaughn approached and stood on the other side of Paige. “Claudia, Walt,” he said shaking their hands. “Thank you for coming to express your condolences to our new son and his family. That was very thoughtful of you.”

  Claudia lifted her eyebrows. “I thought they weren’t married yet?”

  Stuart clamped his hand on Cooper’s shoulder. “We’ve taken Cooper and his family into our hearts from the moment we met them and we all appreciate you coming all this way to pay your respects.”

  Claudia nodded her head and dragged her son away without saying a word to Cooper.

  Cooper and Stuart exchanged concerned looks. Cooper took Stuart aside relaying what Melissa told Paige.

  Stuart shook his head. “Strange. I had no idea he was fixated on Paige. It seems odd for them to come all this way for the visitation. I understand Melissa coming. She and Paige were inseparable growing up. But Walt and Claudia? Neither of them strike me as being sensitive enough of someone else’s plight to go to this much effort.”

  Cooper’s brow furrowed. “Neither of them expressed a word of sympathy.”

  The line of people waiting to pay their respects dwindled. Cooper worked his way back to Paige’s side, but she was no longer standing where he left her. She was no longer in the room.

  Whitley opened her arms to draw Cooper into her overly exposed bosom.

  He stepped away from her. “Where’s Paige?”

  She tilted her head toward the hallway that led to an exit. “Her ex started to make a scene and she went outside with him to calm him down. It appears he’s still hung up on her. For the life of me, I can’t understand why all you men are sniffing after her. What’s so great—”

  Ignoring Whitley’s rant, he hurried to the exit where he heard loud voices as soon as he opened the door. The chill night air bit at his face as he followed the sounds to the parking lot.

  Paige stood with her back straight, her arms crossed over her chest. “How could you even accuse me of such a thing?” Her voice flared with anger. “Ted, in all the time we dated you knew I was waiting for marriage. Did you know me so little to think I could date you and be sleeping with someone else? Cooper and I just got officially engaged.”

  Ted grabbed her shoulders. His hair had been dyed a white blond color and stood in spiked tufts on his head. “You string me along for two years and then just jump into his arms as soon as you break up with me? That doesn’t sound like the Paige I know.” He spoke in a voice so loud he drew the attention of people exiting the funeral home. “You were cheating on me all along. Falling in love with him while we were still together.”

  Cooper took out his phone and snapped a few pictures of Ted and sent them to Dan Cavanaugh.

  Paige wrenched her arm out of Ted’s grip. “I don’t know why you’re so upset. You can hardly call what we had dating. What are you doing here? I thought you’d left the country.”

  Ted laughed. “It wasn’t too hard to throw the Feds off the scent. I sent random people free plane tickets and hotel stays bought with my credit card. Meanwhile, I’ve been biding my time until I got a chance talk to you. I’m not giving up on us.”

  Paige stomped her foot and fisted her hands. “There is no us! There was only you. You never cared about anything except what you wanted.”

  “How can you say that? I’ve been doing everything I was supposed to do to win your heart.”

  Paige pointed at him. “Ha! I knew it. You found some dating how-to post and made a project out of me.”

  Cooper took off his suit coat and draped it over Paige’s shoulders. He kept his arm wrapped around her and pulled her snug to his side.

  Paige smiled up at Cooper with intense love and adoration shining in her eyes. “I guess you’re right that I fell in love with Cooper while we were still dating. I just never dreamed he would love me back. I’m sorry that I led you on. I didn’t think you were that emotionally invested in me.”

  Ted shoved his hands into his pockets. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”

  Paige touched Ted’s arm. “You need to turn yourself in, Ted. I may not be in love with you, but I still care about you. I’m afraid you’re in way over your head and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Sirens drew closer. Ted scowled at Cooper before he fled across the parking lot and disappeared down a side street.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “He walked right into the funeral home. He took Paige out of the building. He could have—”

  Paige touched the side of Cooper’s face, forcing him to look at her. “But he didn’t, thanks to you. It’s my fault. I thought I could talk him into turning himself in. I should never have gone out there with him.”

  Cooper crushed her to his chest, oblivious to Dan Cavanaugh, her family, his family… “Promise me you’ll never do anything so foolish again. I can’t lose you.”

  “You won’t.” She eased from his embrace and looked at Dan. “I think I can help you find him.”

  Dan lifted one skeptical eyebrow. “The entire cyber division hasn’t been able to locate him for weeks. What do you think you can do?”

  Paige put one hand on her hip and pointed to herself with the other. “I can recognize his game identity for any game he’s ever played. You give me an Xbox One, an array of games, and my Xbox gold account and I’ll have him beating down my door in an hour. Heck, I can even use his own avatars and make him look so inept, he’ll contact me just to chew me out for making him look bad. I know his hidden moves, his secret cheat codes. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.”

  Three days after Matt Jennings’ funeral, Paige hunkered down in the comfortable sofa she and Cooper had purchased together. She logged onto one of the games she’d helped Ted beta test. She wished she could see his face and then quickly wondered if she’d miscalculated. What if he wasn’t gaming while in seclusion?

  Fifteen minutes into the game another player logged on and began sparring with her hijacked game character. She grinned at Dan and mouthed That’s him.

  Dan’s hands flew over the keyboard at t
he makeshift computer station he’d set up in the hallway.

  Ted’s voice cut in over the computer screen. “Paige, what are you doing? You haven’t been gaming for months. Why are you using my game character and how did you access it?”

  Cooper’s head snapped up, but he remained out of sight of the camera.

  Paige leaned forward with the controller dangling from her fingers. “I wanted to talk to you and couldn’t think of any other way to get your attention. And for the record, just because I’m not a total geek, doesn’t mean I wasn’t paying attention to all the technical jargon you were spewing at me. I’m not a moron and what else do you think I was doing on the weekends when I was a teenager? I’ll bet I could seriously give you a run for your money in a game of Lego Indiana Jones.”

  Ted’s face appeared in the corner of her screen. He chuckled. “I’m sure you could. I know you didn’t do this to play. What do you want? Did you think I wouldn’t know it was you? No one else could know my sign on. In less than five minutes I can find your location.”

  “That long? Are you losing your edge?”

  Ted laughed. “Hardly. I’m taking a page from your playbook, if you’ll pardon the football reference in deference to your new boyfriend. I thought I’d try something novel and ask what you wanted to talk about.”

  Paige looked down at her hands. When she raised her eyes, she asked, “Did you do what they said? Did you commit corporate espionage with your computer hacking?”

  Ted tilted his head. “Now you know I can’t allude to any of that. I’m sure your beefy boyfriend is just out of camera shot and that someone else is monitoring or recording everything we say.”

  Paige narrowed her eyes. Understanding dawned on her. “That’s wise, Ted. I’m proud of you and I’m glad to know you didn’t willingly betray the country. What was it? Some kind of crowing competition that someone put you up to and you couldn’t resist showing off?”

  His mouth dropped open. “How did you figure that out?”

  “All the time we spent together, with you oblivious to me, I was watching you. You are brilliant, but your biggest weakness is your competitive nature.”

  Ted sighed and shook his head. “Brilliant? Hardly. If I had an ounce of intelligence, I’d have turned off the computer and focused on you. You were the best thing I never had.” His sad smile tugged her heart.

  “So do you know who set you up?”

  “I’ve almost tracked him. That’s why I didn’t turn myself in. I figured if I could serve up the real thief, maybe I could cut a deal. Maybe you can put in a good word for me? I never meant to do anything wrong. I opened a door, so to speak, but I never went through it and I never took anything.”

  “I’ll tell them.”

  Ted raised his eyebrows. “Have they found me yet or do I need to give them the address?”

  Paige chuckled and glanced at Dan who grimaced and then gave her a thumbs up signal. She turned back to Ted. “I think they’re on the way. I’m sorry to set you up like this.”

  “Paige, you know I never would have connected with you if I wasn’t ready to turn myself in. You might tell whoever is in charge to bring their toys over here. I’m about to hand the real criminals over to them on a silver platter.”

  Dan backtracked to grab his laptop and ran down the hall.

  “I assume your fiancé is there with you?” Ted asked.

  “He is.

  Cooper sat down next to Paige and nodded to Ted.

  Ted shook his head. “I hate that the two of you look so good together. For the record, I wanted you both to know I never did anything to either of you—besides spying on where Paige was. I never compromised any of your data. I’m sorry if I scared you, Paige. I was just venting. You’re probably right about my competitive nature, but I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

  “That’s what she’s been telling us all along,” said Cooper.

  “You have? Maybe we can still be sort of friends? I do think the world of you, Paige.”

  “Absolutely we can be friends,” Paige said as she swiped a tear from her cheek.

  “Jennings, I hope you realize what you’ve got in her. I also wanted to apologize for the other night. That was completely insensitive of me to barge in on the visitation when you were grieving. I am sorry you lost your father.”

  Cooper hiked up an eyebrow. “Thanks.”

  “I’m going to log off now. If you ever want to talk again, I’ve got a program set up that notifies me if you ever log into your account.”

  Paige laughed. “Good to know. If you manage to deal your way out of prison, you should put your new dating skills to good use.”

  “Goodbye, Paige. I’m sorry I wasted my time with you. Be happy.”

  “I will. Behave yourself.”

  Cooper took the controller and turned off the game console. “I never knew you were a gamer.”

  Her smile was half-hearted. “Just one of my many mysteries to discover.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  When Thursday rolled around, Paige pulled into the parking lot of Sawyer Pierce’s temporary Fit Spa and found it so full she had to park in the far corner of the lot. She was glad to see Sawyer’s business taking off.

  Apprehension filled her that she’d yet to mention the advertising opportunity to Angie. She could claim the funeral and helping capture Ted kept her from talking to her friend, but in truth, she was afraid if Angie knew about the opportunity, she’d back out of even meeting with Sawyer. Angie’s camera shy tendency bordered on a phobia. Paige suspected insecurity fueled Angie’s aversion.

  Angie chewed on her fingernails and shifted from one foot to the other as she waited by the door. When Paige walked up, Angie turned around and headed back toward her car, saying, “I can’t do this.”

  Paige hooked her elbow and swung her back around. “Yes you can do this. Look, Sawyer’s not here all the time. He made a special trip to meet with us. Let’s hear what he has to say. If you don’t like it, we won’t come back.”

  “He’s too good looking. I won’t know how to act around him,” Angie said as she swung Paige around until she faced her car again. “My dad would lock me up if he knew I was meeting with someone like Sawyer Pierce. Even he has heard of him.”

  “Sawyer is just a man who wants to help you succeed. You’ll see. He’ll be nice to you. Besides, Marcus is probably here,” Paige wiggled her eyebrows and grinned.

  The door opened and Sawyer winked. “Can anyone join this dance?” he asked. He wore a sleeveless t-shirt with basketball shorts and had a groomed scruff on his jaw. “You must be Angie. I’m Sawyer and I’m very pleased to meet you.” He enveloped Angie’s hand in both of his and pulled her through the door. “Please come in. I’m glad you could make it.”

  He led them to his office where a desk, topped with a computer, stood in the center of the room. A four-drawer file cabinet sat in the corner, and a row of metal folding chairs crowded the wall across from the desk. He motioned to a woman with short-cropped, black hair, skin the color of milk chocolate, and friendly, dark brown eyes. “This is my spa manager Willa. She’s also a personal trainer and will work with you when I’m gone. And you both know Marcus Shore.” He nodded to the big man standing by the door.

  Marcus stood taller and dipped his head to each of them in turn. “Miss Paige, Miss Angie, it’s good to see you again.”

  “I apologize for the condition of the facility. We are a bit cramped right now, but once we are up and running in the new location, you’ll see what a wonderful job Cooper and Paige are doing with the designs.”

  Angie managed a frightened smile and Sawyer looked at her with concern. “Paige suggested you serve as a success story for our franchise. As such, we’ll use before and after pictures of you in our advertising. In turn, I’m prepared to provide a scholarship for you to go to veterinary school, or whatever graduate school you desire. Why don’t we start with taking your weight and measurements and talking about your goals? Then we can take a before
picture of you.”

  Angie shot to her feet shaking her head. “Whoa, I didn’t know about any advertising. I can’t be on your advertising and I certainly won’t let you take my measurements. This is a bad idea. I need to leave.”

  Sawyer rounded the desk as if he was afraid a quick movement might spook her. When he spoke, his voice was soothing. “I can see you’re uncomfortable with me. How about we let Willa take your measurements. She’s very kind and I know you’ll like her.”

  Angie looked at Willa, who smiled, nodding her encouragement.

  Angie slumped back down in the chair. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She kept her eyes trained on the floor while she spoke. “I do want to do this—lose weight, I mean. I have to. There’s just no way that I can be a public face for your company. That would mess up my entire plan. I appreciate you wanting to help me, both of you.” She glanced up from Sawyer to Paige before resuming her focus on the floor. “I wish I could help your business, Sawyer. I simply can’t have any publicity with my image associated with it.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “He’d find me if I did.”

  Sawyer sat down next to her and hesitantly took her hand. “What is your plan? Who are you afraid of?”

  Angie took a shaky deep breath and let it out slowly. She looked longingly at the closed door. “Can I trust all of you?” She looked at Sawyer and Willa who she’d only just met.

  Instead of Sawyer, Marcus spoke up. “I’ve run background checks on everyone here. You’re safe and you can trust all of us.”

  Angie took another deep breath and let it out slowly. “You must all promise me that what I’m going to show you now can go no further than this room.”

  Everyone nodded their agreement.

  Angie stood with her back to the others in the room. She unzipped her hooded jacket and dropped it onto one of the chairs. Crossing her arms to grab the hem of her t-shirt, she lifted it up to expose her back up to her shoulders. Stripes of scars crisscrossed her back, with fresh swollen welts, some oozing serum, covering her midsection beneath her sports bra.