Page 46 of Contracted and Claimed By The Boss

She stepped across the threshold and amongst the trunks, peering into the forest.

His voice came again.

‘What is it? Max?’ she called, lifting her hand to her eyes to block the falling rain. Strangely though, the same roof of leaves that prevented light also slowed the rain, so only the odd drop got through.

Silence.

Worry built in her gut.

Where was he? She moved in deeper, but it was so dark, and the path had craggy rocks everywhere. ‘Where are you?’

She stood still, listening, but all she heard in response was the call of a whip bird, and the splatter of raindrops—more now, as the weight on the leaves gave them a downward tilt.

‘Jesus Christ, Paige, where were you?’ He came almost out of nowhere, like a spirit conjured by this magical jungle of a place. But it wasn’t a spirit, it was Max, her Max.

She closed her eyes, bracing herself for reality: he wasn’t hers and never would be.

‘What’s wrong? What’s the matter?’

‘You don’t ever come in here alone—do you understand that? This is not a safe place.’

She stared at him, confused, but there was so much emotion in his face, his eyes, the tightness around his lips, that she struggled to know how to respond. ‘I only came in here because you were calling for me,’ she said, eventually, shivering without knowing why. Despite the rain, it wasn’t cold. The air was thick with humidity.

‘What’s happened?’ she asked, wrapping her arms around her chest.

His eyes bored through her soul, lancing her with their intensity; Paige’s shivering intensified.

‘Would you care to explain this?’ He reached into his back pocket and withdrew his phone, his hand slightly unsteady as he paused, scanning the screen before holding it up for her to see.

Her heart dropped to her toes. Paige had asked her boss to let her tell Max and Amanda. Evidently keeping the client happy was more important than looking after his staff.

‘I can explain,’ she whispered, lifting a hand to his chest, pressing it there, almost falling to her knees at how close she was to his rapidly beating heart, at her desperation for that heart to beat for her.

‘Can you?’ he demanded, stepping away from her, so Paige’s hand dropped into the air between them. ‘Give it a shot, then.’

She swallowed, brows drawing together, at a loss for words because, actually, could she explain? How could she tell him that she’d fallen in love with him?

She stared up at Max, mouth gaping, then shook her head. ‘I have to go.’

His eyes flashed with so much anger that she almost did a double take. This version of Max was completely foreign to her. She’d never seen him physically reverberating with emotion before. A glimmer of hope lifted inside her, because if he was this angry, maybe it meant he did actually care?

Or maybe it meant his ego was smarting, she thought. Or that he was irritated at her reneging on their contract. Those options were far more likely.

She tried to remember what she’d planned to tell him, back when she’d put this plan in motion. A sanitised version of her thoughts that made it all so calm and rational.

‘With everything going on in my personal life right now,’ she began, haltingly, ‘with the book, I just need to take some time to myself. I’m sure you can understand—’

‘You want space?’ He dragged a hand through his hair. ‘Fine. Have your space. But stay here. You can still work for me. Be with Amanda. You and I don’t have to continue our personal relationship.’

She closed her eyes, pain lashing her, because he said that so immediately and with such ease, as if he could simply flick a switch and shut down what they were doing. For Paige, there was just no way. If they were living in this house together, she’d be overwhelmed by her need for him, by her love for him. She’d want things that weren’t, and never would be, possible.

‘It’s not that easy,’ she whispered, the words almost completely drowned out by the forest.

‘To hell it isn’t. You’re making it complicated.’

She gaped. ‘How, exactly?’

‘You said you came here to hide out. To get away from that damned book. So what’s changed?’ he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at her. The sound of falling rain was like the quickening of a drum, perfectly echoing the fast pace of her heart.

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