Chapter 24
MAX
Having cleaned up and got rid of the condom, I walk out of the bathroom and stride into the bedroom.
I’m glad I was wearing a condom; that thing was full.
I don’t think I’ve ever come so hard.
Don’t get me wrong; I’ve been with women, not as many as people would think, but still, today was new for me. There’s something bigger at play than Paige and I just having sex. It felt… Fuck knows. Different? Fucking amazing.
Climbing back onto the bed, I pull back the covers and slide in beside her, lying on my side to face Paige who looks half asleep and has that whole just-fucked look about her that softens her often stoic features she paints on.
“Are you okay?” I brush her hair off her face as she gives me a dopey-eyed smile.
“Yeah.”
“You look tired.” It’s more evident to me now that I’m paying attention to every little thing about her.
“Recently, I’m always tired.”
I take a chance to ask her something I’m desperate to know, and I might be taking advantage of her while she’s in the post-sex afterglow, but fuck it. “Tell me about Alfie and what happened.” I don’t want a CliffsNotes version; I want the whole story.
With no stone left unturned, Paige tells me everything—from Marin’s addiction and when it all started to her leaving Alfie on her front porch, which I struggle to understand.
But Marin must have been desperate, and she knew Paige would look after him.
She left him in safe hands. Hands that I never want to stop touching me. Not now, Max.
“And now you’re adopting him.” It’s more of a statement than a question.
“Yeah.”
“You’re a formidable woman.” Strong and confident she might be, but she’s also surprised me with how kind she is. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. Although she’s been showing me snippets of herself during negotiations that benefit everyone, specifically when there are children involved.
“I’m also a busy woman.” I already know this; you have to book months in advance to schedule settlement conferences with her.
“And here I thought you were an ice queen who ate the hearts of small children for dinner. Turns out, you have a heart after all.”
She bites back without hesitation, “And you’re still an asshole.” I can tell from the hint of humor in her tone she doesn’t mean it. She adds, “I’m just…”
“Guarded, I know, I get it.” I see that now. “You don’t trust easily.”
“I work in a very male-dominated office. It’s dog-eat-dog. Or man-eat-man.”
“How many women are partners at Moore I mean, all I had to do was put my plans on hold because I had a job, and it’s a great one that offers me the stability I need until I revisit that option again.
I’ve had to adjust my life to accommodate Alfie, and it’s been difficult at times.
Instead of opening my own law firm, I’m considering things like moving to an area where the best schools are and saving for college for him. It’s a minefield. Scary too.”
It’s all the things I never considered, and maybe I could help ease her financial worries. “Whatever Nathan offered you I will double it. We have daycare too if you ever needed it, plus dental and medical cover and our pension scheme is top tier.” It’s one of the best.
“You can’t double his offer.” Her eyes widen in shock.
“Yes, I can. It’s my fucking firm. Cole might be a little bit scared of you though.” That makes her laugh.
“Yeah, I seem to have that effect on people. First impressions and all that. But this job has made me develop a thick skin. And I don’t trust many people. Maybe that’s because of my ex, who cheated on me, too.”
“He was a fool.”
“I was the bigger one for suspecting and not doing anything about it.” She thinks for a minute and tiptoes around her next question, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Have you ever cheated on anyone?”
“Never. The last woman I was in a serious relationship with turned out to be someone I couldn’t trust. We lived together for a while, but then she became ruthless in her pursuit to sell more newspapers, using unethical practices.”
“You dated a journalist?” she asks in surprise.
“Yeah. Julie Hanson.”
“Oh my God, I saw that on the news. The paper she worked for was shut down. You dated her?” she asks again, sounding shocked by this revelation.
“Unfortunately. But we dated years ago.” I thought she was the one.
How wrong was I? “When she started sharing with me the things she was doing at work to get a story, I asked her to move out. She did, eventually, but not before she sewed dead fish into the bottom of my curtains and stuffed my mattress with fish guts. She was fucking crazy.”
“Holy shit.” Paige gasps, amusement dancing all over her face.
I can laugh about it now; I didn’t at the time.
“Oh, it gets better. She gave my new car a paint job.”
“That’s wild.”
“There’s more, but I won’t bore you with the details.
Let’s just say there was a restraining order in place.
” Not anymore because she’s in prison for hacking celebrities’ phones, using their personal conversations and emails, even photos, to bribe and extort them.
“I’m well aware of thinking someone is one thing and they turn out to be someone different altogether.
” Although I think I’ve done that to a degree with Paige.
She’s beautiful in every sense of the word.
“She was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“Exactly.” I’m surprised she didn’t hack my phone too; there were plenty of opportunities for her to do it.
To this day I have never understood it, and the only answer I have ever been able to come up with still doesn’t make sense to me: that she did love me like she said she did.
But how could she have when she subsequently went on to try to damage my career, publishing fake stories about me and my firm?
“I heard the last woman you dated was Juliette, the influencer. You seem to have a thing for women with similar names,” she teases me. “Julie, Juliette.”
I have a thing for someone who goes by the name of Paige. “Juliette wanted something I couldn’t give her.”
“Is that code for she wanted to settle down and have babies?”
How the fuck does she know that? “Maybe.”
“Definitely.”
“Okay, you got me, so I’m a commitment-phobe.” That’s what my brothers call me.
“So instead, you screw around.”
I scowl at her because that’s an assumption she’s made. “I know that’s what the gossips would have you believe, but I promise you I haven’t been out on a date or slept with anyone since Juliette and I broke up, and that was months ago.”
She stays quiet before she summons the courage to ask me, “So you don’t do things like booking presidential suites every week, then?”
“This is a first for me.”
“Me too.”
I clear up any other assumptions she’s made about me. “And I’ve never dated the opposition.”
“Neither have I. But we’re not dating, Max.”
Such a fucking pity. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you?” Maybe another orgasm might help to convince her.
“We can’t. You know that. And I can’t stay.”
I roll over to check the time on my cell phone. “We still have a couple of hours left.” Enough time to make her come again on my cock, tongue, fingers…
“Well, you better make the most of your time, because after today, that’s it, Max. We can’t meet up again like this.”
“Okay.” I climb on top of her and gently roll her onto her back.
“I mean it,” she admonishes.
“I know.” I murmur the words as I plant soft kisses down her neck, trying to pull her mind away from her insistence that we should never do this again.
I continue my slow distraction, pressing my lips to her collarbone, taking my time, not missing a single inch as I travel lower.
My teeth gently tease her nipple, drawing a gasp from her as I lick it with my tongue, before I move to her stomach, kissing along her soft curves, savoring the warmth of her skin.
Finally, I settle between her thighs, covering her pussy with my mouth.
She grabs hold of my hair and pushes her clit against my tongue as I flick it then suck it into my mouth.
“Why do you have to be so good at that? It’s not fair that you work for the opposition.
” She bucks her hips, grinding her pussy against my mouth to chase her release, writhing and moaning, her whimpers building when I insert a finger inside her wet heat.
I massage her inner walls as she digs her nails into my scalp, sending shivers down my spine.
Unable to take my eyes off her, I look up and watch her fling her head back, and whether she likes it or not, I know she’s enjoying everything about our illicit affair.
“If only we could do this every day.” She sighs in a blissed-out state.
If I have it my way, we will be.
I’ll make her feel so good, she’ll forget she ever hated me.
“We could do the same tomorrow,” I suggest.
“You know I love the way you push me to be bad, Max.” Another moan escapes her lips. “Don’t ever stop chasing me.”
Her command makes me smile against her pussy.
If I knew she wasn’t into it, I wouldn’t pursue her like a starved animal, but with her permission, and the way she just gave me the green light, I will because she’s the one in control here, not me.
And I know she likes nothing better than being caught.
Only the thing is, I thought I was hunting her, but from the minute she moaned my name, she had me on a leash all along.