Page 44 of Stuck On Them

She straightened so she was no longer hunched over. “Do you believe in fate?”

“I can’t say I do.” I wasn’t sure where she was going with her question, but I hoped it wasn’t in the direction of wolf shifters… or rat shifters. I could get on board with aliens walking among us but drew the line at shapeshifting.

But if she wanted to stick a wolf tail butt plug in and growl at me, I wouldn’t have been opposed.

Man, I really needed to stop listening to my sister babbling on about the books she read.

“There’s never been a time in your life where you’ve thought, oh, shit, all the stars aligned to make this unbelievable occurrence happen?” She finally turned around, and I was glad I had my fingers curled under as I brought the knife through a tomato. Otherwise, I would have chopped off a finger.

She was breathtaking with the glow of fading light behind her. Was this what she meant by fate? Because I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be even though the whole situation was messy as hell.

“I don’t know if I’d call it fate, but I’ve had moments where everything seemed to fall into place like puzzle pieces. Why do you ask?”

Her eyes were fixed on mine as she walked to me in the kitchen. It felt like she was trying to see inside my soul. “Sometimes it feels like the universe is trying to tell me something, you know? Like there’s this pull towards something or someone, and no matter what I do, I can’t fight it.”

She took the knife from my hand, her fingers brushing against mine, and set it down on the counter. Her touch sent a flurry of desire and emotion through me. My God, what would it feel like to be buried inside her?

There was no explanation for why I felt such a strong urge to make her mine. Was this what Luca felt? Like he was under her spell and there was no way to stop it?

“Paige...” I turned toward her, bringing the hand without tomato all over it to her cheek.

She leaned into my touch, closing her eyes with a resigned sigh. “It was just one night. You didn’t even speak.”

“I know.” I was fighting the urge to brush my thumb across her bottom lip. If I did that, I was done for.

Paige opened her eyes and looked at me with a hint of sadness. “Then why do I feel like I can’t stay away from you?”

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief wash over me as her words confirmed that I wasn’t alone in the way I felt. “I don’t know, but I feel it too. Maybe it’s fate, or maybe it’s just our own messed up version of attraction fueled by loneliness.”

“It’s only messed up if we define it that way.” She stepped back, clearing her throat. “Sorry, I’m being ridiculous.”

But she wasn’t being ridiculous; I knew exactly what she meant. There was something about her that drew me in, and I couldn’t resist it... none of us apparently could. It wasn’t just physical attraction, although that was a part of it. It was something deeper, something that felt like it had been a long time coming and all I needed to do was reach out and seize it.

I didn’t know anything about her, but in a weird way, I felt like I knew everything. Talk about a mind fuck. “Maybe we’re both coming down with whatever Ryker has. His texts were really strange today, like his brain had been hijacked.”

“Oh, the penis pals thing?” She laughed and shook her head. “I think he double-dosed on the cough medicine by accident.”

The oven beeped that it was preheated, and I quickly turned back to the cutting board. “Why don’t you grab a knife and finish cutting these up while I get the onion and garlic done. That doesn’t require using the stove.”

“You know, I’m not a complete lost cause in the kitchen. I only burned the soup because I was rescheduling some meetings Ryker had for tomorrow and Friday.” She grabbed a tomato and cut it in quarters just like I’d been doing.

“Why would you reschedule them?” I got started on cutting up onion and garlic.

She shrugged. “He’s not going to work. There are a couple you or Luca are also involved in too and trying to find a new time with how you currently have things set up is nearly impossible. Your previous assistant must have spent a solid ten to fifteen minutes each time she had to schedule one with you all.”

“So, you’re our assistant again? I thought you were let go, but then quit.”

“I don’t know what I am. The whole point of me applying for the position I did was to have a low-stress job that didn’t require a lot of brain power.”

I could tell there was more to her story than she was letting on, but I didn’t want to push her. Why take a lower-paying job when she had the skills she had? Was she really that messed up over her ex-fiancé?

Instead of asking twenty questions, I finished putting everything on the pan and popped it in the oven. I could feel the unresolved tension between us, but neither of us seemed to want to make the first move. Or in our case, I suppose it would be the second move.

“This will take about fifteen minutes. Would you like a glass of wine?” I pulled a bottle of Chardonnay from one of the bags. “Just because Ryker is sick, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves.”

“I’ll take a glass.” Ryker’s scratchy voice came from the entryway like I’d summoned him, and then he appeared, looking like he’d just rolled out of bed. His t-shirt was wrinkled, and his hair was sticking up in all directions.

It had been a long time since I’d seen him looking so out of it. Hopefully, none of us got whatever crud he had going on.

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