Page 14 of Contracted and Claimed By The Boss

‘Have we—?’ He frowned. It was a stupid question to ask—he knew the answer. And yet... ‘Have we met before, Paige?’

Her smile dropped instantly and her eyes darted towards the door. He recognised the emotion: panic. Suspicion took his breath away.

‘No, of course not,’ she said, the words high-pitched.

Something shifted inside him. A warning. She was lying. His instincts were rarely wrong and she was a terrible liar. He wanted to believe her, he realised, but it was so clear that she was hiding something from him.

This woman he’d invited into his house wasn’t being honest with him.

And he was trusting her with his child.

Had he been so blinded by desire that he’d missed obvious, earlier signs of this? Anger, entirely directed at himself, made his face tighten.

‘I don’t believe you.’

She started, eyes wide. ‘Well, I’m telling you the truth.’ Her voice faltered. ‘We’ve never met.’

But it all made sense. Why else would he have felt this drugging sense of need for her from the first moment they’d met? He’d seen her and wanted her and it had been so blisteringly overwhelming. Besides, now that he’d seen that look of panic in her eyes, he knew she wasn’t being honest with him.

‘Damn it, Paige, I need to know the truth. You’re caring for my daughter. I have to be able to trust you.’

‘You can trust me,’ she insisted, and when she flinched a little, he realised he’d come around the table and was now standing only inches away from Paige.

‘So you’re being completely honest with me? You’re not lying?’

Her lips compressed and her hesitation was the beginning and end of the confirmation he needed. ‘Why are you so sure I’m lying?’ she asked, going on the defensive.

Max’s hackles rose. But it wasn’t just this conversation, so much as the tumult of feelings he’d been putting up with since Paige arrived in his life. Desire was unwelcome and desperate and so too his sense that he was wading deeper and deeper into the ocean.

‘I’m a good judge of people. I can tell you’re hiding something.’

‘I’m not hiding anything relevant to my job,’ she responded, and this time it was Paige who moved closer, her eyes locked to his, her expression defiant and angry, so a thousand questions burst through him.

‘Aren’t you?’ With effort, Max made his voice sound as though he were in control, when his insides were rioting, thrown into total chaos by her nearness.

‘You have no right to interrogate me like this.’

‘I have every right. You are my employee—’

‘Yes, but I am still my own person entitled to my own private life and thoughts.’

‘Not if that life involves secrets that somehow endanger my child.’

Paige glared at him, her face pale. ‘I would never do anything that would put a child in my care at risk. How dare you even suggest it?’

‘Because I don’t know you,’ he hissed. ‘You have arrived out of nowhere.’

‘I came from an agency. I know you’ve seen my references.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed, wishing she didn’t smell so good, that he weren’t conscious of her warmth and softness and curves. ‘But what do they really tell me about you?’

‘We are both unknown quantities and I cannot see that it matters. Are you telling me I know all your secrets, Max?’

He flinched. ‘That is not the same thing, and you know it.’

‘Of course it is,’ she disputed quickly, pressing a finger to his chest. ‘You know I’m a good nanny, this isn’t about that. You want to know more about me because of this.’ She gestured from her chest to his. ‘Because of whatever is sparking in the air every time we’re together.’

‘It’s insanity,’ he muttered, reaching for her hand, but instead of removing it from his chest he held it there, his eyes issuing a challenge she didn’t back down from.

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