Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
D ecember 31 st
I just looked back upon the past year’s diary entries. Who knew making a New Year’s Resolution to lose my virginity would end up like this? Jail, emergency room visits (too many of those), billionaires, cops, sex clubs, and my damn virginity flying like a flag that refused to budge from the flagpole even in the middle of a hurricane. Oh, the adventures I’ve had! And the adventures still to come. Hang on because this wild ride isn’t over yet.
Paige zipped up her bag and set it by the door. She had the last of the items packed to spend the next three days with Max. Tonight was a celebration of the year and looking forward to the year to come. She couldn’t wait to see Max’s apartment and spend the evening with their friends.
She heard Max as he walked up the stairs. She didn’t wait for him to unlock the door before she had the door open and watched him walk toward her.
“You look beautiful, duchess.” Paige looked down at her black satin pants and gold blouse. She wanted to be festive.
“Thank you. You’re looking very ducal. I’m glad I dressed up some.” Max was in dark grey slacks, a black button-up shirt, and a burgundy sweater. “You just need your hunting rifle for your annual hunt.”
“I tried to dress up for you. Too much?” Max asked.
“Oh no, I like this side of you. Very sexy. Also, kind of makes me want to do something bad that makes you spank me.”
Max’s lips turned up in a smile. “Whatever my jailbird wants, she gets.” Max reached down and picked up her bag. “Ready?”
Paige slipped her hand into his as they left her building. “I’m excited for tonight.”
“The spanking or seeing our friends?”
Our friends. Okay, that was just as sexy as the spanking. “Both.” She laughed as they drove through the city. “Max?” Paige asked as they drove into an underground parking garage with armed security. “Where are we?”
“Home.”
Max parked and grabbed her bag before hurrying around to open her door. His unmarked police car stood out in the parking garage full of exotic cars worth more than her yearly salary.
“How did you get an apartment in a building like this?” Paige asked as Max swiped a card to get the elevator to open. When he did so, she saw his badge. “Oh, you help with security here. Nice gig,” Paige said, winking at him as they got in the elevator. He pushed the top button and continued to talk to her as if going to the penthouse wasn’t a big deal.
The elevator door opened and a man in a suit stood waiting for them. Great, she was going to be arrested again for trespassing.
“Gabriel, this is Paige Turner, the woman I’ve told you about. Is everything ready?” Max asked.
“Miss Turner, a pleasure to make your acquittance. Everything is ready as you instructed, your grace. If that’s all, I will wait downstairs for your guests before heading out for the weekend.”
Paige stood shell-shocked as Max and Gabriel finished talking. The apartment wasn’t an apartment. It was a penthouse. The entire far wall overlooked Central Park and the New York City skyline. The floor was marble. The décor was masculine yet neutral and elegant. The furniture was all leather and the rugs looked soft enough to sleep on. They had to be borrowing the space from some drug dealer Max had busted.
Paige looked at the sideboard where Max hung up his key ring. Next to that key were three other keys and the emblems on them showed they were for cars she’d never drive or even sit in because they were so luxurious. But then she really looked at the framed picture there. It was Max, a woman, and Lexi. The woman looked so much like Max that it had to be his sister.
The elevator slid shut and Max’s hand rested on the small of her back, causing her to jump. “Max, what is going on?” Paige froze mid-step as Max was trying to escort her into the living room. “That man called you, ‘your grace.’ Why would he do that?”
Paige turned to stare up at Max who shrugged. “I told you. I’m a duke. I’m the Duke of Caldwell. It’s a title passed down to me by my maternal grandfather and is mostly ceremonial except for a castle in northern England.”
“B-b-but,” Paige stuttered out as she looked around a penthouse worth tens of millions of dollars, “you’re a detective, right?”
“I am a detective. I just don’t live on my NYPD salary. I donate it to charity,” Max explained. But for all her shock, she saw Max was nervous. He was trying to pretend this was all normal, but she saw the way he kept tapping his middle finger with his thumb. It was his tell that he was worried.
Paige took a deep breath and shook her head. “You know, in books this always leads to a third act breakup. The heroine is mad at the hero for lying.”
“Paige,” Max began to say, but Paige stopped him with a giggle that broke free into a laugh. “What’s funny?”
“I was worried you wouldn’t have space for the book club party tonight.” Max looked at her as if he couldn’t tell if she was furious with him or about to have a breakdown. “You actually never lied to me though, did you? You told me you had room. You told me you were a duke. Ugh! The gala was in the spring. I introduced you to Jack and Patrick and you’ve probably all known each other for years.”
Max nodded. “Are you angry?”
“I feel a little stupid.” Paige shook her head and laughed again. “Okay, the books got this part wrong. I might feel a little silly, but I’m not mad at all. I’m a little bit in shock, I think. At the same time, it suits you. Just like me, you’re so much more than one thing.”
Max visibly sighed with relief before reaching for her. “I love you, Paige. None of this really matters to me. Only you matter.”
The elevator opened and her friends peeked out. “Paige?” Leah called out.
“In here,” Paige called out. “This is going to take some getting used to,” she whispered to Max as she took her hand in his to greet her friends.
“Are we going to be arrested for being here?” Leah asked as she and Noah walked in first.
“If we do, I’m blaming it on the only one of us who’s gone to the slammer,” Eli said, staring at their surroundings in wonder.
“It was just the one time,” Kenneth blurted out.
“Right on,” Griz said, fist-bumping Kenneth as he kept an arm around Gina.
Eli’s head spun to look at his boyfriend. “I was talking about Paige, but now we need that story.”
“I feel like we all need to hear this story. But first, Paige, where are we?” Amelia asked, holding tightly onto Felix’s hand. “And who is ‘his grace’ that this guy downstairs said was waiting for us?”
Max cleared his throat and forced a smile onto his face. “That would be me and you’re not trespassing. This is my place.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Leah snorted, smacking Max’s arm, which made Paige laugh. Soon they all were, but only Paige knew this wasn’t the joke they thought it was, which made her laugh harder. The elevator opened and more people entered.
“No, really. He’s Max Caldwell, Duke of Caldwell,” Paige said between laughing fits as Jack, Moxie, Roman, Kitty, Dracklen, Lenora, and Rocco stepped from the elevator.
Uh-oh. Max might not like Rocco being here.
“Going by your middle name now?” Lenora asked, coming up and giving Max a kiss on the cheek.
“Middle name?” Paige asked as Lenora looked between them and frowned.
“Where’s your detective?” Lenora asked, looking around.
“Right here,” she said, pointing to Max, looking as confused as Lenora.
“He’s not a detective. That’s Pierre Maxim Caldwell d’C?ur IV, or as you know him, Mr. Paris.”
Paige felt her jaw drop even more than when she’d seen the penthouse. Paige caught the shocked expressions on her friends’ faces, all except Jack and Dracklen.
Paige turned slowly to Max. “ No! What? You said you’re an English duke. How can you be French?”
Max had that frantic, guilty look on his face again. “I’m both. My mother is British and my father is French.” Max let some of his French accent come through and Paige gasped in recognition.
“You are Mr. Paris! Oh, merde. ” Paige wasn’t sure if she was delighted or if her head was about to explode.
“I haven’t been part of that life in five years. They can tell you that,” Max told her, clearly worried that she thought he was a regular at the club. But she already knew he wasn’t. “I quit the family business around seven years ago and became a detective five years ago. I didn’t have the time or the desire to go to the club anymore. I only came back for you. I knew you were on your adventures and I knew you didn’t want a relationship. But this was a way I could show you how a man should treat you. How one man could be all the adventures you’d ever need. I thought you only liked me as a friend so I hid that part of my life, not wanting to ruin our friendship.”
Paige was struggling really hard to come to terms with all of this. “Halloween and the dance floor?” Paige asked. “You could have told me then.”
“You’re right. I could have. I probably should have. But that’s when I realized you wanted me for more than a friend and you thought I wasn’t interested in you. I was afraid if I told you then, you’d never speak to me again. Mr. Paris disappeared after that night. Instead, I set out to prove I was worthy of you.”
“That’s when the texting, the stopping by . . .” Paige knew he was telling the truth. That was the night Max Caldwell stepped up his game.
“Yeah, you kind of messed up here,” Leah said slowly, “But I understand why you did it. But I don’t count. What do you think, Paige?”
Paige suddenly bit her lip and Max took a breath to beg for her forgiveness, but it wasn’t tears she was holding back. It was laughter. “Holy bookworm, I’m so stupid!”
“No, duchess, you aren’t. You’re brilliant and—”
“I knew it was you. Deep down, I knew Mr. Paris and Max were the same person. I just didn’t make the connection until right now.” Paige’s face turned red as she leaned forward so she could whisper to Max. “That thing you do with your tongue?”
“When I kiss you?” Max asked aloud as everyone leaned forward to listen.
“No, when you—” Paige lowered her gaze and Max followed. “You knew exactly how to turn my pages in the exact same way Mr. Paris did. I should have known. Oh, and that voice, the dom voice! How did I miss all the signs? And how could you not tell me?” Paige turned on Jack and Dracklen and posed that question to them.
“Club policy. I could be fired,” Dracklen told her, clearly amused by the situation. “But I did try to get you to see that he was the man for you.” True, Dracklen had done that. He’d introduced Paige to Mr. Paris and also told Paige to go for Max by walking her through her lust to get to her real feelings.
“I thought you knew,” Jack told her with a shrug. “You two have been joined at the hip all year and it was clear back at the charity gala in the Spring that you two were into each other.”
“Can you ever forgive me?” Max asked her so earnestly she’d felt bad for laughing.
“Yes. But no more secrets, Max!” Paige barely finished talking when Max had her in his arms before she could finish telling him that she forgave him.
“I love you,” he whispered to her. “How can I make this up to you?”
“Lots and lots of gazies is a good start,” Moxie called out with a wink.
“Secret billionaire duke, how’s that for your last trope of the year, Paige?” Eli asked, still clearly processing this news.
“You’re not secretly pregnant, are you?” Leah asked Paige as Max held her.
Amelia shook her head. “No, they had to have met years ago and had a surprise baby that she didn’t tell him about. Is Lexi really yours and Max’s secret child?”
“No way,” Eli said. “Paige is clearly in witness protection and Max is the man who saved her from . . . you,” Eli said, looking at Rocco. “Oh my! You’re a bear, aren’t you, darling?”
Rocco snarled. Eli fanned himself. Dracklen raised an eyebrow in interest.
“Wait, why are you here?” Max asked Rocco.
“That’s on me,” Lenora said, holding out a bag for Paige. “I was bringing Paige a gift. I’m meeting Nikolas to ring in the New Year at The Red Door and Rocco’s driving me. I think an enforcer in your living room is the least of your problems, Pierre.”
Max rolled his eyes. “I hate that name. I’ve always told you to call me Max.”
“Wait a second. I’m just catching up,” Rocco said, sounding very serious. “Miss Turner, are you sure you want to forgive him? From what I gathered, this is the guy you told us about in Italy. But he’s lied to you about who he is. You want me to take care of this for you?” Rocco crossed his arms over his chest and stared Max down.
“You’re so sweet, Rocco,” Paige said, meaning it. She had friends who would kill for her, not that she’d asked him to do that.
“Paige,” Max groaned. “Please try to remember I am a cop.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been listening to her talking about you all year and you don’t tell her the truth even after I set you up for the win. I was close to knocking you out myself, listening to how you kept missing your shot,” Dracklen told Max, crossing his arms over his chest and staring him down. Rocco gave Dracklen a head nod of approval and the two smiled at each other. Hmmm, plot twist.
“Paige,” Max said, making one last plea to her and to her friends. “I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about all of this.” He motioned to the apartment. “And I shouldn’t have gone to the club in secret. I’ll never go again. Please give me another chance. I’ll never lie or omit anything to you again because you’re the most important person in my life.”
Deep down, Paige had known Max was the one from the moment she met him. His wealth didn’t define him, and it made perfect sense that his job in the family company was with the foundation. He was a good man. One she loved very much. “I forgive you and even understand it. But, I mean, don’t say never to going back to The Red Door. It would be a shame for us not to use that membership every now and then.”
“Get it, girl,” Eli hissed in a faux whisper.
“I plan to,” Paige said, throwing her arms around Max’s neck and kissing him for all she was worth. It only took a second, but then Max was kissing her back.
Her friends cheered and whistled. When they pulled apart, the look in Max’s eyes told her everything she needed to know. He was exactly who she’d fallen in love with.