Page 28 of Contracted and Claimed By The Boss

He hadn’t had sex since his wife’s death. There had to be a heap of emotional baggage to go along with what they’d just done. So he was taking time to process it. Regretting it? Wishing he hadn’t done it? She hated the thought of that.

‘What now?’ Amanda asked, clearly doing her best to be helpful.

‘Now...’ Paige smiled encouragingly ‘...we check the rice.’

‘The timer went off already.’

‘Yep, once the timer buzzes and we turn off the heat, the rice needs to sit a few minutes. Now, we fluff it with a fork.’

Amanda let out a tiny giggle—it was music to Paige’s ears. ‘Fluff it?’

‘Sure. Here. Give it a try.’ She handed a piece of cutlery to the girl, then stepped back, waiting for her to approach the pan.

‘Um, how do I “fluff” rice?’

‘Exactly like it sounds,’ Paige explained. ‘Take off the lid, and lightly move the rice around until it’s separated. Just watch for the steam as you remove the lid.’

Amanda did as Paige had instructed, flicking a glance at Paige. ‘Like this?’

‘Perfect. You’re a natural.’

Amanda rolled her eyes but her demeanour was sweet. ‘Like making rice is hard.’

‘Perhaps not, but fluffing it well is an artform,’ Paige teased. ‘Okay, time to cook the chicken.’

They worked mostly in silence after that, but Amanda’s face was the most relaxed Paige had seen since arriving. In fact, she even looked, to Paige’s attentive eyes, as though she was enjoying herself. In the back of her mind, Paige began to collate some other recipes they could try, easy things that someone Amanda’s age would enjoy making—and eating—and for the first time since arriving in Australia, Paige allowed herself to relax, just a little. She felt that she’d won a crucial battle with Amanda tonight, and turned a corner with Max, too.

The book was coming out soon, yes, and anxiety about that hovered on the edges of her mind all the time, but there was something about this house and family that made the rest of the world, and all her worries, feel so very far away.

He didn’t know what he’d expected when he came home but it wasn’t this. Max had needed space, to process what had happened firstly with Amanda and then with Paige, but he’d come home knowing he’d need to roll up his sleeves and deal with his daughter and her behaviour.

Only instead of finding the house in sullen silence, he saw Paige and Amanda were in the kitchen cooking, side by side, and while they weren’t talking non-stop, they were making companionable remarks to each other. Amanda was even smiling.

He stood unobserved with a shoulder against the wall, silently watching, his heart twisting painfully in his chest. Because it had been so long since he’d seen Amanda at ease? No. That wasn’t it.

It was seeing them together. It was the first time Max had witnessed Amanda and Paige and the bottom was falling out of his world because they looked so good and right together, it was like walking into one of those houses of mirrors at an amusement park—a thousand different images flooded his brain, including a future filled with moments like this.

What if he got Paige to stay?

What if she wasn’t here for just three months, but for ever? What if he could give Amanda a proper family?

His stomach churned because he thought he’d been enough, that by prioritising Amanda the way he had, by moving out here away from the trappings of his former life, by keeping her home with him rather than sending her to boarding school, he’d provided her with all that she could need. He hadn’t realised that a gap had been forming in their lives, that the two of them were rattling around like pinballs in this big, empty house. Until now.

And just like one of those haunted houses, the visions shattered and tore away from him with psychedelic speed.

He couldn’t ask Paige to stay longer. Even if they hadn’t slept together, it would have been too complicated, but, given what had happened between them this afternoon, their relationship had to remain strictly business from now on.

And if he needed any further reminder of why that mattered so much, seeing his daughter and Paige locked in a scene of such happy domesticity reminded him squarely of why those boundaries mattered.

He’d told Paige when she arrived that this was temporary, and that he didn’t want Amanda getting hurt. Well, fine, but if he let Paige become a part of the family for the next few months then wasn’t hurt inevitable?

His glance flicked to the horizon, as if seeking signs of the storm he felt brewing, but it was clear, all the way to the edge of the ocean.

He frowned, turning his attention back to the kitchen right as Paige glanced up and their eyes met so the air sparked between them and he had to shove a hand in his pocket to anchor himself to reality and his realisation that he needed to make sure nothing more happened between them.

‘Hi,’ she half whispered, then cleared her throat and blinked quickly, as if to return her voice to normal. But he’d heard the husky sweetness in her tone and it was doing strange, looping things to his insides.

He turned his attention to Amanda. This was all about her, after all. He had to stop thinking about Paige, even when that seemed almost impossible. ‘It smells so good in here, honey. Did you cook dinner?’

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