Page 32 of Contracted and Claimed By The Boss

‘That’s different.’

‘It doesn’t have to be.’ She didn’t know what she was saying, only she could see a clear path through this, a thread of logic she could grab hold of, and then everything would be okay. ‘We’re both on the same page. You don’t want a relationship...all your energy is reserved for Amanda. Well, I don’t want a relationship either. I mean, not a serious relationship. I like...spending time with you.’

And she really did, she realised. In the midst of the mess that was her personal life, something about Max had become a talisman, a beacon of calm—safety seemed to radiate from his core goodness. ‘I’ve liked getting to know you. But I—’ She dug deep into her heart, remembering her awful past, and something about his proximity and just who he was gave her courage and comfort. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get seriously involved with anyone.’

‘Oh?’ It was a quiet noise of encouragement into the dark.

‘Are you kidding? I legally divorced my mom and dad. I had to face the fact at sixteen years of age that my own parents saw me as an income stream and nothing else.’ She shook her head angrily. ‘The guys I dated after that, they weren’t much better. I was their way to get exposure, maybe some introductions to Hollywood heavyweights, it was never about me.’ She sucked in a breath, furrowing her brow as she tried to get to the bottom of what she was feeling, what she needed to tell him. ‘And now my parents are selling me out, yet again. I’m just a commodity, not a person, not their child, they don’t love me.’

‘Paige—’

‘No,’ she interrupted whatever he’d been about to say. ‘It’s okay. It took a long time to just accept the bald truth of that fact. They don’t love me. And if my own parents don’t love me, why would anyone else?’

‘Stop.’ He groaned, catching her face in his hands, holding her steady. ‘Don’t say that.’

‘Why not? I’m happier alone; truly, I am. I can enjoy getting to know you, sleeping with you, without it changing how I feel and what I want in life.’

‘Which is to be alone for ever?’

‘Sure, why not? Is that any different from you?’

‘I have Amanda.’

‘And I have the kids I look after.’

‘You’ve just told me that your relationships are all skin-deep.’

She tilted her chin, frustrated that he was criticising her approach to life. What was wrong with it? ‘So?’

It was too dark to see his face, and he was silent, so she didn’t know what he was thinking, and she hated that.

‘What about the woman who helped you? The actress?’

Paige thought of Anna Cooper, her features not shifting. ‘I’m very grateful to her.’

‘But you don’t love her.’

‘She’s a very kind woman—’

He sighed, the breath fanning her forehead. Paige felt as though he was going to keep arguing this point and she really didn’t want to discuss her life’s philosophy vis-à-vis relationships. ‘I understand that most people don’t live like I do. I even understand that for most people, their goal in life seems to be to meet their perfect mate and give all of themselves to that one other person, that their happiness is derived from those connections. But that will never be me. Whenever I think of getting close to someone, really close, I mean relying on them and making them a big part of my life, I feel as though I’m suffocating.’

Even now, she felt the pinpricks of panic lighting her eyelids. ‘It’s just who I am.’ She held onto that, a beacon she needed. Being solitary was her choice, it was her power. ‘So if you’re worried that sleeping together is going to make me, I don’t know, fall madly, head-over-heels in love with you then you can forget it. I’m just not wired that way. I can keep my work with Amanda completely separate from...this.’

Somehow, in the midst of all the madness and confusion, she’d found the magic key to unlock the door to what she desperately wanted. ‘Max, being with you makes me feel good. Something between us just...works. We don’t need to overthink this. We both know it’s temporary but that doesn’t mean it’s not also incredibly beautiful and...’

‘Right,’ he said on a groan of surrender, and then, holding her face as though she were the most precious thing in the world, he dropped his head and kissed her, and despite everything Paige had just said, it was her heart that rejoiced the loudest, leaping through her body like a firework, exploding so she couldn’t help but be aware of the way it was practically abusing her ribcage.

But Paige wasn’t worried. She knew her heart wasn’t ever really going to be a problem. She’d locked it up nice and tight years ago and that was one key she had no intention of rediscovering.

CHAPTER NINE

WHEN PAIGE RETURNED from dropping Amanda at school the following morning, Max was waiting for her, and as she stepped from the car her stomach gave a lurch, then dropped all the way down to her toes.

He was so incredibly beautiful, she wanted to remember him like this for ever. But that was a thought Paige pushed aside abruptly.

When she left this place, she’d put Max out of her mind. She’d move on. Never get attached—it was her guiding missive. Leave before she could be asked to leave.

‘Got any plans for the day?’

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