by Tia Siren
“I have to get out,” Paige said, sighing. “I honestly have so much work to get caught up on. What are we going to do?”
“You get out,” Luke said, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ll give you a good-bye kiss, and they can talk about it in the papers. It’s all publicity.”
It was also an excuse for him to kiss her again without Toby questioning any of it. Paige chewed on the inside of her cheek as she weighed out the suggestion. Finally, she grabbed her satchel from the floorboard of the SUV.
“I suppose I don’t have much a choice,” she said. “Let’s just get this over with. I hope they don’t follow me around wanting information.”
“If they ask questions, don’t reply,” Toby said. “They’ll eventually come find Luke to harass if they don’t get a story out of you.”
Luke climbed out of the SUV and into the warm morning. The flash of the camera immediately followed. He reached out a hand to help Paige out of the SUV.
“Please tell me they won’t follow me around,” Paige muttered, shouldering her satchel with an irritated sigh. “I really don’t want any more drama to deal with while I play catch-up with my schoolwork.”
Luke didn’t bother turning around to face them. He knew their cameras were poised on them, ready to get the perfect shot. Which would be of them kissing.
“If they bother you,” he said, “call me. I will phone in a couple of threats to their boss if they follow you around too much.”
“Thanks, I suppose.”
They stood in front of each other while a stream of people went by them without paying them any attention. He didn’t care that the reporters were watching them, along with Toby. Unable to resist it any longer, he cupped Paige’s cheeks in the palms of his hands.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her eyelids fluttering.
“I’m going to kiss you,” he said. “Not because of the publicity, but because I want to kiss you.”
“Luke—”
He pressed his lips against hers in a passionate kiss that effectively silenced whatever she had been going to say. Her lips were soft and tasted of vanilla lip balm. Pulling back, Luke grinned down at her stunned expression.
“I’ll call you soon,” he said. “I imagine Peter is going to want to talk with us soon.”
“Right,” she said. She cleared her throat. “I’ll see you when I see you.”
Slipping out of his hands, Paige disappeared through the door that led to the freshman apartments. She peeked through the glass window before he caught sight of her retreating from going up the stairs.
“Luke!” one of the reporters yelled at him. “Is it true that—”
Luke slipped into the SUV and slammed the door shut with an aggravated sigh. He turned to look at Toby, who was gazing at him with a frown.
“I can’t wait until the day they forget who I am,” Luke said. “You know what I mean? Find another person to follow around for a story.”
“Your life is one hell of a story,” Toby said. “That’s why they follow you. I was serious before, though, Luke. What has changed between you two?”
The SUV pulled away from the curb. Luke kept his face fixated on the traffic around them as he tried to think of a reasonable explanation. He didn’t have any answers for the shift.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t tell you what it is. I’ve never felt it before.”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do, but keep your eyes focused on what you really want here. Don’t step all over that poor girl to get to it.”
“What makes you think I’d do that?” Luke asked angrily. “I’m not that big of a prick.”
“You can be,” Toby said, shaking his head. “I’m just saying that you know she’s saving herself for someone special. Don’t masquerade yourself as that special person.”
Bristling, Luke reached into the pocket of his jacket to grab one of the flasks he had found in his father’s office before they’d left. He ignored the exasperated glance Toby gave him.
“Maybe I happen to like her,” he said defensively. “Did it ever occur to you that I might like some love every once and a while?”
The second that word slipped out, Luke grimaced while realization filled Toby’s face.
“It makes sense now,” Toby said, and he grinned. “You’re falling in love with her. That’s why you’re having such a hard time. You are falling in love with her.”
“I’m not falling in love,” Luke snapped, taking a long and angry drink to contain the part of him that agreed with Toby. “I’m not a good person to love anyway. This is just a business deal. She knows that.”
“I know she knows that,” Toby said. “I’m just wondering, crazily, if you are the one remembering that this whole thing is a business deal.”
“I just want my inheritance,” Luke said, repeating that inside his head. “That’s all I want from this entire situation—my money. That’s it. I don’t want anything else.”
Even if he did, it wasn’t possible. Being around him had already complicated Paige’s life, what with the damn reporters already following her around in search of a good story to put in the tabloids.
He wasn’t even confident he could remain in love with one person for the rest of his life.
And someone like Paige, a soft and innocent type of woman, didn’t deserve to be tied to a prick like him.
Keep your eyes on the prize, Turner. You’re only in this for the money. That’s it.
Chapter Eleven
Paige
She wasn’t surprised when she found Jessica camped out in front of her dorm door.
“I knew you’d be back today,” Jessica said, rising from where she had been sitting on the floor with her laptop. “I didn’t want to risk missing you before you holed yourself up somewhere.”
“The library is where I plan to go,” Paige said tiredly. “How long have you been sitting out here?”
She unlocked her door. Grateful to be back in her private space, Paige collapsed on her bed with a long and relieved sigh. The past few days had exhausted her in a lot of ways, but it had also elicited a lot of confusion and guilt. She had caved a bit into her desires, something Luke had taken advantage of gladly. If Toby hadn’t walked in when he had, there was no telling what would’ve happened.
“Just for a few minutes,” Jessica said, closing the door behind her. “So, how did this weekend go?”
Paige lifted her head from where it was buried in her pillow. “I don’t even know how to explain how this weekend went.”
“Why is that?” Jessica asked, frowning.
“Because we—” She cut herself off, not even sure how she could describe what had happened over the weekend. If there was one thing she did know, it was that Toby had been right: something had changed between them. Neither one of them wanted to think about it either.
Jessica took a seat next to her on the bed. A frown tugged at her lips as took in the uncertain expression Paige’s face.
“What happened?” she asked.
“We almost, you know…” Paige trailed off with heated cheeks while Jessica’s eyes widened in realization. “It didn’t happen, but it almost did. Things were just different this weekend.”
“So you’re telling me that you almost slept with him this weekend?”
“Almost, yes.”
“And you think something changed this weekend?”
“I don’t know if it did. It just—”
“I don’t want to ruin this for you, Paige, but you need to remember that Luke is going to leave you after he gets his inheritance.” Jessica shook her head while pushing back a strand of her hair. “I don’t want to see you get your heart broken here. Luke’s older. He’s got experience on you. He could be making you feel these things on purpose because it has to feel real to his father’s lawyer.”
“I don’t think so though,” Paige said, sitting up to look down at the engagement ring on her finger. She toyed with the gold band. “I don’t know how to describe it, Jess. It just felt s
o real.” She looked up at Jessica. “People can’t be that cruel when giving someone an engagement ring, right?”
Jessica smiled grimly. “I’m not a good person to ask that question. I don’t think you’d like the answer if I told you the honest truth.”
“You’re probably right. I don’t want to think any of this is fake. It feels so real now.”
Tears filled her eyes. There was no denying it. The arrangement between them had transformed into something else entirely. Paige slipped the ring off her finger and placed it on the table next to her bed. Keep it off as a reminder that it’s only a business deal.
“Are you going to be okay?” Jessica asked, patting her shoulder and giving her a sympathetic smile. “At the end of this, it’s only going to be you. Just try to remember that over the next few weeks, or else it’s only going to get more complicated.”
Paige wiped at her eyes with an irritated sigh. “I know. It’s already complicated enough. Did you see the reporters out there? They took pictures of Luke and me kissing good-bye.”
“It’s only going to get worse,” Jessica said. “And you should tone the kissing down if you aren’t sure what is real or not.”
Paige opened her mouth to reply, but her phone went off from inside of her bag. She slid off the bed to dig through her bag, grimacing when she found it and recognized her parents’ house number. She had completely forgotten about calling them the previous night when she had been upset.
“Shit,” Paige muttered, briefly debating letting it go to voice mail. “I forgot I called my parents last night because I was upset with Luke. They’re probably freaking out from trying to get ahold of me all day.”
“You better answer it then,” Jessica said. She got up from the bed. “Be honest with them too. Like I said, it’s only going to get more complicated the more you let this continue. Come find me when you’re ready to get something to eat, and we’ll talk more about it as we do homework.”
“Thanks,” Paige said, smiling at her in appreciation. She hit the answer button. “Hi, Mom, Dad. Let me—”
“Is everything okay, sweetheart?” Harry asked curtly. “We got this unsettling message from you last night. Your phone has also been off a good majority of the day.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It was just a stupid fight that Luke and I had is all.” She grimaced at the memory of it. “Everything is fine now. I’m back in New York in my room.”
“I don’t know if I approve of you traveling all the time,” Harry said. “You’re only nineteen years old. You shouldn’t be just jumping on a plane whenever he beckons.”
“Oh, I think it’s okay, Harry,” her mother said with a sigh. “Flying is the safest form of traveling these days, but a heads-up would be nice, Paige.”
“Right,” she said. “I will let you know.”
“And what was this fight about?” Harry asked suspiciously. “This Luke Turner is ten years older than you, Paige. His grandfather and father are oil tycoons, too, from what I’ve read on the Internet.”
“And we are hearing rumors that you two are engaged,” Marie said. “We saw the pictures of you two at an event when visiting Bismarck. Don’t you think this is moving too fast?”
“The press is making it seem like that. Nothing is going fast.” She hesitated before saying the next part. It was the only thing she could think of that would appease them aside from being honest. “You can meet him if you want. Come down to the city on family weekend.”
Not that they planned to be together still by then, but a part of her hoped that maybe the change she felt was a sign of something else brewing between them.
“That would be a good idea,” Marie said. “Don’t you think, Harry?”
Paige let out a relieved breath. “Yeah, Dad. Let’s plan for you two coming out here in two weeks.”
“I suppose,” Harry said slowly. “I just hope you remember what we talked, about sticking to those values you were raised with. Men like Luke Turner have a tendency to be a bit fast.”
No kidding. She swallowed thickly. “Yes, I know. Don’t worry about it, Dad. I’ll talk to you guys next weekend. I have a lot of homework to do.”
As soon as they bid their good-byes, Paige dropped her phone on the bed with a sigh. She had no idea how this was all going to end, but now her parents were going to be affected by it too.
It wasn’t until Wednesday morning when Luke left a voice mail on her phone telling her to call him back that Paige sucked up her courage to tell him what she had planned.
“If you want me to do this, you have to meet my parents,” Paige said, washing out her paint brushes as Luke sighed in aggravation in the phone. “It’s the only way they aren’t going to disown me after all of this goes down.”
“You honestly can’t live without your parents?” Luke asked.
“No,” she said shortly. “I can’t. I didn’t come from a dysfunctional family like you.”
“Is that supposed to hurt me?”
“No. That’s the condition you agreed to. Remember?”
“I guess I have no choice then,” Luke said dryly. “We need to fly out tonight by the way.”
Paige lowered her paint brushes into the oil can she kept them in. She grimaced at the thought of getting on a plane when she had tons of homework to do already.
“I can’t—”
“You can,” Luke said. “It’ll only be for tonight too. We can fly right back if you need to get back to NYU right away.”
“Why tonight?” she asked grumpily. “We were just up there.”
“Peter wants to meet with us tonight. All you have to do is come with me, talk with Peter, and that’s it. We’ll fly back late tonight. I promise.”
“I guess I have no choice then too,” Paige said, sighing. “Fine. As long as you bring us back tonight after meeting with Peter.”
“I promise I will.”
It wasn’t until they landed in Bismarck a few hours later that Paige realized with a sinking feeling there would be no flying back as Luke had promised. A snowstorm came sweeping through the northeast right as they pulled up to the lodge where Peter waited for them with a large smile. He led them into the living room, where he had hot tea waiting.
“Let me first congratulate the both of you,” Peter said, swirling his tea bag in his cup. “I have to say that I’m impressed Luke found you, Ms. Scott. You are not the type of woman I expected to stick around.”
Paige kept the smile on her face straight and fixed as Luke wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders. She leaned up against him without thinking about it, savoring the warmth and strength radiating off him.
“Well, it happened a bit fast,” she said, catching Luke’s eyes. Her stomach fluttered at the grin tugging at his lips. It’s not real, Paige. All of it’s an act. “For us both, I think, but I can’t wait to spend my life with him.”
A wintery blast of wind pushed against the lodge. The lights flickered off before the generator kicked the electricity back on.
Peter glanced out the living room window with a sigh. “I suppose I’d best be going before this blizzard hits full force. I hate to cut this short because I have many questions, but when is the date exactly?”
“Tomorrow,” Luke said immediately, and that filled Paige with a rush of heat. “We decided to make it official tomorrow privately. She has school, so we’ll do a celebration this summer with her family. We want to surprise her parents when they come in next week.”
“Let’s talk tomorrow then,” Peter said. “I have to drive back to my hotel.”
Luke’s face tightened in displeasure. “I’d rather do this now if—”
“I don’t have the time, Luke. We will talk tomorrow. If this is real, as you both say, then you will be here tomorrow to do that marriage license.”
Peter shot them both a smile as he set his teacup down on the table. Grabbing his jacket from where it was draped over the couch, he nodded good-bye to them both. As soon as the front door clicked shut, Luke lifted his a
rm from Paige’s shoulders with a sigh.
“That bastard is determined to see us through,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Paige. We can’t leave tonight. Look outside.”
Paige looked out the windows with a sinking feeling at the sight of the snowflakes blowing about the landscape. The lodge groaned from the strong wind. A second later, it went dark, and Luke let out a string of curse words as he rose from the couch.
They were alone at the lodge with no electricity and heat. She couldn’t shake the fluttering sensation in her stomach she’d had the last time Luke had reach out to touch her in the dark. They were utterly alone this time with no one to bother them and their “wedding” tomorrow morning.
God only knew what would happen.
****
It was cold—so bitter cold that Paige couldn’t stand it any longer. She threw her lighter down in frustration before rising from her crouched position in front of the fireplace. Shoving her bare feet into a pair of UGG boots, Paige draped a wool blanket over her shoulders before hurrying out of the room she had insisted on having to herself. Luke hadn’t been able to fix the generator no matter how hard he had tried to figure it out. They were stuck using the fireplaces in their rooms, but Paige couldn’t get hers to light, and she had no intention of freezing to death.
It’s back luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding. She shook her head. It’s only bad luck if you’re actually getting married.
The hallway was dark, and Paige found Luke’s door firmly shut. Firelight danced out beneath it, and she heard him flipping through what sounded like papers or a book. Nerves took over then, but her cold limbs won that fight. She knocked twice before taking a step back, hugging the blanket close to her.
The door opened. Firelight spilled out, but it was the sight of Luke standing there in a pair of cotton sweatpants that dipped low across his hips and bare chested that took her breath away. His long blond locks were pushed back messily, and he gazed at her with a frown.
“What are you doing?” he asked.