Page 58 of Demo

“Well,” he put his phone back in his front jeans pocket, “I assume you’re going to be buying a replacement table similar to the one we just destroyed for here. There is no way inhellwe are never doing this,” he pointed between the two of them, “again. Fuck no. I don’t know about you, but that was the best sex of my life.”

Her rosy cheeks answered that rhetorical question for her, to which Demo felt a surge of masculine pride. Fuck, he loved making her blush.

“So I got us a massage table for your house. One that’s a lot sturdier and can handle all the pounding I plan on us doing on it.”

Paige’s expression was a mixture of lust and aghast. “I feel like I should scold you for the audacity of ordering us asextable,” she emphasized the change of category, “or being so turned on that I suggest we go into the other therapy room and test out the sturdiness ofthattable.”

Demo gave a full belly laugh. He snagged her around her waist and brought her to his chest. “Fuck, Paige Hannigan, where have you been all my life? How could you have been right under my nose this whole time? I feel so blind and stupid for having not realized how utterly perfect you are.”

“I’m not perfect,” she corrected with a note of sadness in her voice. “But Iampretty awesome.”

“Fuck yeah, you are,” he agreed before bending to claim her lips.

Pounding on the clinic’s front door interrupted them before he could deepen it. Demo’s head shot up with a scowl.

Paige giggled, patted his chest, and then headed to answer the door.

After Paige workedher witchy magic, his shoulder feltbetterbut not great. News of their romantic moment in the diner had spread through the club like wildfire. All of the ol’ ladies kept asking Demo to “describe the moment” to them and then looked utterly disappointed when all he would say was “we made out like teenagers before fucking like rabbits”. Despite his crude words, Paige laughed anytime she heard them and then would take over the story. Somehow, she always seemed to add more detail than Demo remembered.

Demo’s club brothers would not let the broken massage table go and Demo couldn’t help the surge of pride whenever it was mentioned. He may or may not have exaggerated the stability of the table prior to its breakage.

The two had created a routine of sorts over the next week or so. Paige was not yet comfortable with Demo sleeping over at her house with the boys. Demo understood it but wasn’t happy about it. However, he would never overstep or pressure Paige into doing something she wasn’t ready to do or didn’t feel the boys were ready for. That did not stop them from taking advantage of their new massage table during the boys’ naptime or in the small gap of time they had from when they arrived at Paige’s house to when the boys were going to be dropped off by their grandparents. It just meant that their time was more limited and Demo had to drive back to the clubhouse each night before rising early to meet them for breakfast.

It was Demo’s hope that the more he was around the boys, the more Paige and they would get comfortable with his new presence in their lives. Declarations of love aside, he could still see the hesitation in Paige’s eyes. They’d only been dating for two weeks. It was going to take time to get her to trust him with more than just her body.

Demo was fine with that. He could handle late-nights and early-mornings with lots of extra driving if it got her to finally believe he wasn’t going anywhere. He’d come to realize that Richard had abandoned Paige in their marriage long before the club had captured and killed him.

After purchasing the required car seats, Demo had started chauffeuring Paige and the boys around too. First, because taking her to and from work and the boys to and from Cindy’s house gave them all extra time together. But also because Demo wanted to contribute in a small way to her financial situation. Him driving meant she didn’t need to pay for gas and it was less wear and tear on her cage. He already felt guilty enough for keeping the fact that he was paying for her electric bill a secret. Mind, when he’d done it, he hadn’t been in love with her and had thought nothing of having Keys intercept her call to the electric company to discover she had a credit instead of an overdue amount.

Susan Black had also gotten Paige in touch with a lawyer who claimed to take her case onpro bonowhen, in fact, Demo was paying the bill. He made itveryclear that she was the client and he was just the money. All decisions were Paige’s and Paige’s alone.

Based on Thad’s and Clifton’s threatening voicemails, Paige was able to secure a restraining order against her stepfather and her stepbrother. Once the order was approved by a judge, it would be served within the week and included virtual contact.

Demo encouraged her not to give a dime to her stepfamily unless they could provide a contract that stated the money they had given Richard was a loan and not a gift. He made sure she understood that, unlessshehad signed the contract, she was not liable for Richard’s debt regardless of marital status.

Since she was currently in the process of serving a restraining order against her stepfamily, it wasn’t like Paige could call them to ask for such a contract. She told him her fear was, if there was a contract, that Richard had forged her signature as she’d discovered he’d done on other occasions. Like their second mortgage that had not been done through a reputable bank.

As the Barringtons were currently facing an investigation for embezzlement that Keys promised he hadnotfabricated butmay haveclued the authorities in on, they had more pressing matters than coming after Paige for Richard’s debt. Her stepfather could be facing up to twenty years in jail if found guilty. While they might still try to get Paige to pay Richard’s debt to help them with legal fees or to keep up with their lifestyle, the threat of having her boys taken away was now just empty words. They had nothing to hold over her.

Once Paige learned of this, she would be able to take the money she’d been putting aside to pay back her stepfamily and apply it towards her current financial needs. It wouldn’t fix everything, but it was certainly a start.

The acupuncture clinic, with its new massage table, was holding steady thanks to its new clientele and increased appointments. To the point where Paige was no longer able to keep running it on her own. After discovering that her former receptionist had understandably already taken another job, Abby stepped up and offered to help out.

Bulldog was both thrilled and concerned about her decision, but never uttered a word of his reservations to Abby. There was no doubt in Demo’s mind that she still knew about them though. Those two were always on the same brain wave.

Abby was starting out slow on a part-time basis. She would help with organizing files, answering the phone, and greeting patients as they came and went. With no work experience, Abby was having to learn certain things from scratch. But she was a fast learner and wanted to expand her circle outside of the club.

And since Abby was working, Paige’s clinic got a new bodyguard in the form of a very overprotective, hovering Bulldog. Demo certainly was okay with that.

It amazedher how seamlessly Demo had inserted himself into their lives. After the wreck that had been her marriage, Paige would have thought it would take longer. But it was like he was the missing piece of her family. He hadn’t molded himself or changed her to fit the puzzle. He justfit. All on his own.

Demo didn’t hold it against her that she had two boys from a failed marriage. From what she could see, he loved being around them. He’d even hinted at maybe having more kids one day. Paige wasn’t sure she was up for that. Not that she didn’t want to have a larger family. The idea of having kids with Demo was tempting, but she wouldn’t be able to do so until she had her finances back under control.

If she could just pay off her debts, maybe she could sell this damn house. Even if she took a small loss or just broke even, she’d consider it a win.

Paige didn’t know where she would move to. She knew Jasmine lived in an apartment complex in town. Maybe there would be availability there for her and the boys. Demo lived in the clubhouse, so it wasn’t like they could move in with him.

This ridiculous house didn’t even have a backyard for the boys to play in. It was all driveway and fancy porches.

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