Tempted by Her Boss: The Renaldis, Book 1

by Karen Erickson

  Leaving him staring at the empty hallway for longer than necessary, his mind filled with questions about the sweetly and suddenly mysterious Paige.

  Chapter Five

  “The position calls for you to start in one week, provided you’re qualified for the job. Hopefully the timeline won’t be a problem for you.” The woman paused, shuffling through some papers. Paige clutched the phone tight and waited breathlessly, her heart pounding so loud it roared in her ears. She swallowed hard to get past the lump in her throat. “And from what I’ve gleaned so far from this quick interview, Miss Stewart, I think you’re definitely a strong candidate.”

  Relief flooded her, followed by a swift wave of worry. Matteo would be furious if she gave a one-week notice before his trip to Italy. But Claudia was there and surely she could take care of Matty… In fact, Paige knew his grandmother loved spending time with him and would probably want him with her twenty-four-seven. And Matteo had to understand that this was for the best. Despite his insistence she go with them, he had to understand how it was for the best that she stay home. They needed to learn how to not depend on her so much anymore. Soon he’d even be relieved to find a new nanny who didn’t make living in his own home awkward.

  And was not accosting him with kisses.

  Embarrassment rushed through her again.

  “You mentioned an in-person interview?” Paige asked.

  “Yes, of course. We’ll need to have one before we make our final decision. Can you meet with me tomorrow at nine a.m.?”

  She had Matty tomorrow. Not like she could take him to the interview. That had disaster written all over it. But maybe she could organize a play date. “Do you have anything later in the afternoon?” She could always tell Matteo she had a dentist or doctor appointment. He’d come home early for that. Being the CEO of the company gave him some perks, though he rarely took advantage of the leaving early one.

  “The earlier the better, Miss Stewart.” The woman’s voice was crisp. She was a representative from the hiring agency Paige had contacted first thing this morning. She’d filled out a form on her phone, hoping like crazy they’d call her with a list of prospective jobs, email her something, anything. She certainly hadn’t expected a call within a few hours.

  “Nine should work, then,” Paige said, her voice weak, her brain scrambling. She would have to make it work. There were a few other nannies she’d become friendly with who lived in the building and the neighborhood. She could possibly call one of them and arrange a play date for Matty. The interview hopefully would take no more than an hour.

  The agency representative rambled off a spot to meet, somewhere relatively close, thank goodness. Paige wrote the address down, listening as the woman offered a few more details as to what the interview entailed, as well as the position.

  “Do you have a resume, Miss Stewart?” she asked when she finished listing everything.

  Paige’s head spun. This was all happening so fast. “I do.” A few leftover from when she’d had some printed after losing her job with the Leonards, so she could attach them to applications. “It’s not current, though.”

  “Can you send me a current one, please? I know you filled out the application, but we always like to have a resume on file.”

  “Of course I can.” Could she? She had no access to a computer—she managed most of her online needs on her smartphone.

  Well, she could always sneak into Matteo’s office and use his computer…

  But that would be so wrong.

  The woman gave Paige her email address before they ended the call. Paige cradled her cell in the palm of her hand, contemplating the best way to go about this. She’d received exactly what she wished for—an out. Leaving for another job would be a quick way to remove herself from the Renaldi household for good. Though she knew Matteo would no doubt be incredibly angry with her, she had no choice. She would miss Matty, Stasia, the apartment, everything here. The chance the Renaldi family gave her, how welcome they’d made her feel. They were wonderful, good people, every one of them.

  Especially Matteo.

  And Matty. Her heart would break when she told him goodbye.

  But she had to leave. Her heart was cracking with every day that passed. She was near her breaking point, and being close to the man she was falling in love with day in and day out wore on both her emotions and her sanity.

  Before she had a complete nervous breakdown, she needed to make her escape. It was for her own good—and Matteo’s.

  Slipping her phone into her front pocket, she walked through the apartment, her mind awhirl with her plan. Matteo and Matty would be gone for at least an hour still, maybe a little longer. She’d heard Matteo discuss his plans for the day with his son and their afternoon together was action packed. Perfect, considering what she was about to do. She needed all the time she could get before they returned.

  Nerves eating at her insides, she stood at the threshold of Matteo’s office, peeking within. The room was big, filled with dark, large furniture and a giant iMac computer sat on the desk, its sleek silver and black lines beautiful in its simplicity. She slipped inside the room, the hushed quiet making her uneasy as she settled into the rolling chair and scooted up to the desk.

  The chair and the room smelled like Matteo. Closing her eyes, she breathed deep, inhaling his clean, soapy scent. The chair was expensive and comfortable, molding to the contours of her body as if it were made for her, and she opened her eyes, glanced about the room that her boss spent many an hour in when he wasn’t at the office.

  It suited him. The colors were rich and inviting, the furniture bold and dark. Everything was neatly organized, not a mess or pile of papers in sight, and with a little sigh she reached out, grasped hold of the mouse and slid it across the leather pad to turn on the computer.

  The monitor flickered to life, revealing a small box where she needed to enter a password.

  Paige frowned. Crap. She didn’t know what his password could be. And using his computer for her personal use—personal use going against her boss in every way possible—was starting to feel more and more like a total invasion of privacy…

  Her fingers poised over the keyboard, she typed in Matty’s name. No go. Matty’s name with his birthdate at the end. That didn’t work either. She tried a handful of variations as a password without any success, getting more and more frustrated every time the computer denied her access. Until she finally decided to be stupid and typed in Paige1 just for the hell of it.

  The ridiculous password worked.

  Stunned, she sat there for a moment, absorbing the tiny revelation as she gripped the mouse with tight fingers. He’d used her name as his password. She shouldn’t find any sort of meaning into it whatsoever. But still…

  There was no time to wonder over it now. She quickly opened up a Word document, staring at the blank page on the monitor when she realized she didn’t have her old resume with her. Cursing her idiocy, she ran to her room and snatched it up, settled back behind the desk and started putting together her new resume as fast as she could.

  Her fingers flying over the keyboard, her gaze kept straying to the clock, hoping against hope she had enough time to finish the resume before they came home. She needed this opportunity, and she needed to make it happen quick. No matter how angry Matteo would be at her leaving so abruptly, he would understand. She knew it. He had to realize where she was coming from when it came to the two of them and how no matter what they just didn’t work. Being near him was torture.

  A torture she didn’t want to deal with any longer, no matter how much that hurt.

  Resolve filling her, she entered the information regarding her working for the Renaldi family, leaving Claudia as the reference. No way could she list Matteo as one and besides, it was Claudia who hired her in the first place.

  Paige frowned. Okay, maybe that was cheating, but she knew she’d receive more support from Claudia than she ever would from Matteo, at least in this matter.

  After o
pening the Internet browser, she went into her email account and started a new message, addressing it to the woman at the hiring agency, typing in a quick letter confirming tomorrow’s interview appointment. She went back to the resume and read it over, correcting all the mistakes she could find, saving the document onto the desktop so she could go back and delete it after she was finished.

  Her heart hammering, she attached the resume to the email, icy dread creeping over her when she heard the distinct sound of the front door opening and Matty’s little voice calling out for her.

  Crap. She needed to get out of there quick!

  Practically bouncing in the chair, she waited for the resume attachment to load to the email, clicking send as fast as she could. Pushing away from the desk, she fled the office and started down the hall, stopping short when Matty and his father appeared before her.

  She didn’t dare remember the last time Matteo caught her using something of his…and what happened afterward.

  She’d been in the bathtub, and he’d seen her soaking in bubbles because Claudia had given her the green light to use it. How embarrassing it had been when he caught her sneaking out of his bathroom. And the way he’d kissed her, touched her…her most fond memory ever.

  Now she was sneaking around again and she’d barely escaped unscathed.

  “Hi,” she said breathlessly, brushing her hair away from her face. “You’re home earlier than I thought you’d be.”

  “The weather turned,” Matteo said, his voice low, his head inclined toward the wall of windows in the living area.

  Paige looked to her left, where indeed she could see the dark clouds, the rain falling heavily from the sky. “Of course, it did.” That was such a close call. If they’d arrived a few minutes earlier…

  “Matty’s tired. Though it’s probably too late for a nap.” Matteo’s velvety deep voice snapped her from her thoughts.

  “Early bedtime, then,” she said as she started for Matty.

  “No,” Matty wailed with a furious shake of his head, indicating that he was very much exhausted. “I want to stay up longer.”

  “It’s not bedtime yet, you silly goose.” She ruffled Matty’s hair. “Come on, let’s go fix you dinner.”

  She took his hand and led him toward the kitchen, glancing over her shoulder to see if Matteo was watching.

  But he was already gone.

  Matteo entered his office, stopping at the edge of his desk, his nose to the air. The unmistakable, contradictory, erotically sweet scent of Paige lingered in the air. Subtle, but so very much there. As if she’d been in the room recently.

  Of which she had no reason to be.

  He ran his gaze over his surroundings, the desk, glancing about the room. Everything was clean, still in its place, just as he’d left it. The disturbance in the air was more from her scent than anything else. Though he swore her presence still haunted the room, almost as if he could feel her eyes on him.

  Such nonsense. He shook his head at his foolish thoughts.

  The afternoon with Matty had been fun. He’d enjoyed seeing the zoo and all its wonders through his son’s eyes. They’d gone to lunch, they’d talked, they’d spent far too much time at a giant toy store and then the rain started, immediately dampening both of their moods.

  On the drive home, Matty had declared, “I miss Paige,” rather loudly and Matteo couldn’t help but silently agree.

  He always missed Paige when she wasn’t around, as reluctant as he was to admit it.

  Settling in behind his computer, he turned it on and typed in his password, wincing at his choice. He’d changed it only a few days ago, a habit he’d formed from working at the office and needing to change his password every few months. Paige had been on his mind—nothing new there—and he’d decided if he couldn’t have her, he could at least have the thrill of typing her name in every time he needed to use his Mac.

  More foolish thoughts. The woman had turned him into a downright foolish man.

  The browser was open to an unfamiliar email account and he studied it, realization dawning when he saw Paige’s name in the upper left corner.

  So she had been in his office. Using his computer. He’d told her before, when she first started working for him, that if she needed to use the Internet for anything personal, she was more than welcome to take his laptop. But he’d left it at the office lately, rarely bringing it home now that he had the iMac to work on.

  Matteo frowned. He couldn’t blame her if she had a deep need to use the computer, since the one he was supposed to provide her was nowhere in sight. But why didn’t she ask? She asked before doing just about anything. For the love of God, he’d had to break her of the habit of asking to take Matty out to the park when she first started. He was surprised she didn’t ask if she could use the bathroom those first few days she’d been in the apartment, she was so timid.

  Knowing he shouldn’t, he glanced at her inbox, his gaze running over the subject lines, the names of the senders. Mostly junk mail from a variety of stores, an email indicating her cell bill was due, another email from someone with the last name Stewart. A relative, most likely.

  He was invading her privacy and he wasn’t proud of that fact.

  Moving the mouse so the cursor hovered over the red button and exited out of the browser, he paused, jerking the mouse with his hand just as a new email landed in her inbox.

  An email sent by the Pavilion Nanny Agency with the subject line Resume Attached.

  Anger did a slow burn in his stomach, easing into his veins, pounding a throbbing rhythm through his blood. Christ, he knew it. She’d acted suspicious when he found her in the hallway. From the time noted beside the email, she must’ve just sent it when they arrived home.

  She was trying to find another job and leave him—and his son—without his knowledge.

  The idea both terrified and infuriated him.

  Paige avoided him all evening. Not a surprise, considering what he’d found, though she hadn’t a clue that he knew her secrets. Had she planned on sabotaging him right before they were supposed to leave the country? Abandon him and Matty so she could stay behind in New York and start her new job?

  At first he’d been angry. So furious he could hardly see straight. But the emotion had slowly worn off as the night went on, until it became a low, worrisome ball of sadness in his gut. That she would walk away so easily, without hardly any notice, hurt him.

  Devastated him.

  But how could he approach her? Confront her pointblank with what he discovered on the computer? It was her own neglectful fault, leaving the browser up for him to find. Yes, he knew he shouldn’t have dug deeper into her email inbox but it was too late for regret now.

  Memories of his past with Lucia crept in. How dramatic she’d always been, how volatile their entire relationship had been from the very start. They’d loved passionately and fought just as passionately those first few years they were a couple. He’d felt a sort of adrenaline-filled madness every time he and Lucia were in a room together and she’d experienced much the same. While the arguing had been dramatic and loud, so had the lovemaking. And in those early years, he’d reveled in it. Thought she was what he wanted.

  That desperate sort of madness had slowly ebbed once they were married, until they became so completely dispassionate toward each other, it was difficult to believe they were the same couple. She’d become so cold, distant. To get away from her, he’d thrown himself into his work, their son. When Lucia died, they hadn’t had sex in nearly a year.

  He’d become a shell of a man, unfeeling, not caring for his wife. She didn’t matter. So when she was gone, the guilt that had settled over him had been enormous.

  Paige was the first woman who made him want to feel again. And she was so wrong for him, it was as if the fates had brought her into his life merely to test him. He’d almost failed many times.

  Yet he could let her walk and pass the ultimate test. Let her slip away before he made the fatal mistake of tossing he
r naked into his bed so he could have his way with her. All night.

  Every night.

  Running his hand over his head, he gazed unseeingly at the television. He didn’t want her to go. He wanted to keep her. Possess her. Make her his.

  It could never be. Not like that. But he’d be damned if he’d let her slip through his fingertips a few days before he left the country. If she made her escape now, he’d never see her again.

  He could hardly stand the thought.

  Quietly, he plotted. And waited for over an hour after Matty finally went to bed later than usual, considering Matty’s renewed burst of barely contained energy. Finally, Paige had calmed Matty down enough to get him into bed.

  All the while, Matteo ran over and over what he would say to her.

  Pretending to watch some horrendous movie in the living room, something he rarely—if ever—did, he was extremely aware of Paige’s presence in his home. And he knew without a doubt she was also equally aware of his presence, and it made her uneasy. She spent most of her time in the kitchen while he waited, he could see her from where he sat on the couch. Packing up portable snacks for Matty for the next few days, like she always did. She then sat at the kitchen table with a notepad, no doubt plotting her desertion.

  Matteo breathed deep and shook his head. Lord help him, his mother was right. She was prone to the dramatics and so was he.

  Finally he couldn’t stand it any longer. After flicking off the TV, he tossed the remote onto the coffee table with a clatter and stood, striding straight into the kitchen toward the table.

  She glanced up from her notepad, her eyes going wide when she saw him, her expression full of apprehension. “Is everything all right?” Her voice shook, betraying her nerves.

  “No,” he bit out. He thought he could be subtle but the truth was dying to burst out of him. “Tell me why you sent your resume to an employment agency.”

  Her lips parted and the pen slipped out of her hand, falling to the tiled floor and rolling under the table. “Wh-what are you talking about?”