Page 34 of The Payback Plan

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Man, she reallyhadcrammed it in there.

Giving a triumphant little squeak, she yanked it out. ‘Well, whaddya know,’ she said, brandishing it.

He huffed out an annoyed breath, his eyebrows forming a deep V. ‘I did search there,’ he muttered, holding out his hand. ‘I must have unknowingly knocked it further back.’

Paige slapped it into his palm like he was a surgeon and she was passing him an instrument. ‘Or you just had aboylook.’

‘Or, you could leave the remote on the coffee table next to the other ones where it actually belongs and I wouldn’t have to spend the first hour of my day, looking for it.’

‘Considering that’s about the most energetic thing you do all day, you should be thanking me. Think of it as your cardio.’

She was aware of the dog’s head ping-ponging from one to the other. Christ, she’d been here for ten days and they were already sounding like an old bickering couple. If only there wasn’t that zip in her blood right now. Or that funny breathless feeling causing her chest to rise and fall a little faster. Something Oliver had clearly noted as his gaze dropped briefly before returning to meet hers.

From the outset, Paige had thought undertaking this exercise in karma would be fun. She’d definitely felt it was justified. Why should he be able to jilt Bella at the aisle and just carry on with zero consequences or disruption in his life? But she’d not realised it would be… stimulating on levels she didn’t even want to think about.

The last four years she’d been going through the motions. Getting by. Until this little challenge had come along and… excited her. And not just because Oliver Prendergast was a bastard getting his comeuppance.

Not if that hitch in her breath was anything to go by.

Casper gave a little whine then, like he couldn’t bear it when Mummy and Daddy fought, which was enough to break through the sudden weird tension. ‘It’s okay, lovely,’ Paige crooned, crouching beside the couch to run her hand up and down the dog’s side which he lapped up like it was his due.

Oliver sat his ass down in his usual spot beside Casper, flicking on the television before making a production of placing the remote back in its place. If it was meant to irritate her, it did but then he slipped his hand onto Casper’s head and absently toyed with his ear and it was hard to stay irritated with a guy who petted a dog he hadn’t even wanted two days ago.

Raising his foot, Oliver placed it against the edge of the coffee table. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him barefoot; in fact, that was pretty much his state of being, but it was, owing to her crouched position, the first time she’d been this close to one of his bare feet and lordy they werebig. She supposed it stood to reason given the general symmetry of the human body. He was a tall guy after all but, yeah…wow.

Preferring not to think about the size of his feet, Paige also sat her ass on the couch, the other side of the dog. ‘What are we watching?’

He frowned. ‘Aren’t you working?’

‘I can take a break for a while.’ Especially if her mere presence was going to annoy the crap out of him. Bonus points for that!

‘It’s a TV show based in the US.Inside the Actors Studio. They interview a lot of actors but also directors and writers.’

Paige shrugged. ‘Okay.’ She settled back into the couch. ‘Cool.’

But before the opening music had even finished she noticed a little pile of ripped-up paper on the coffee table that looked like the remnants of an envelope that had clearly been torn up with the letter still inside it. She assumed it was the letter she’d put there earlier after she’d picked up the post off the doormat this morning.

Most of the delivered mail since she’d been living here had been the usual array of junk mail – shopping catalogues, sales promotions and flyers with discount coupons. An actual letter with a stamp had been a real curiosity.

Who even wrote letters these days? Didn’t everyone just email?

‘Is that the letter from earlier?’ she asked.

He didn’t take his eyes off the screen. ‘Yep.’

‘You didn’t open it?’

‘Nope.’

‘But you ripped it up anyway?’

‘Yep.’

‘So, you know what was in it?’ she pressed, casting him a sideways glance. ‘Or, you didn’t care what was in it?’

He grimaced but still didn’t look away from the screen. ‘Both.’

‘Okay…’ Applause was happening on the TV as Paige sat forward a little, casting her eyes over the torn paper, wishing she’d scrutinised it closer when she’d picked it up. But, other than the first-class stamp, there’d been no indication of who it was from. No return name or address on the back – that had been the first thing she’d checked.