63. Chapter 63
Chapter 63
“This just came for you,” Andrea said from the doorway of Paige’s office.
Paige glanced up to see her assistant holding a medium-sized box, emblazoned with the Amazon logo and frowned. “For me?”
“Yes.” Andrea looked like her patience was being tested. “It’s addressed to you.”
Paige’s frown deepened. The only time she ever ordered from Amazon was when The Main Event needed a particular item in a rush, and it couldn’t be quickly procured from one of their regular distributors and Paige hadn’t done that recently. “I didn’t order anything.”
“You must have. It’s addressed to you,” Andrea repeated.
“Fine. Just set it … wherever. Somewhere on the floor.”
“You’re not going to open it?”
“I’ll get to it later.”
“It might be important. The label says ‘Same-Day Delivery’.”
Now even more perplexed, Paige stood up, motioning for Andrea to bring the box over. Once Paige had it in her hands, she checked the mailing label for a possible clue, but the only return address was that of the nearby Amazon fulfillment center, telling her nothing about the sender. However, as soon as she got the box open and the contents were revealed, Paige knew exactly who they were from …
… and quickly slapped the box flaps closed so Andrea couldn’t see.
“What is it?” Andrea wanted to know, surprised at Paige’s reaction.
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
“It’s got to be something.”
“Seriously. Never mind.”
“‘What’s in the box’?” Andrea semi-wailed, channeling Brad Pitt’s character in the movie, Seven.
The absolutely perfect line at the perfect time actually made Paige chuckle, distracting her enough so that Andrea was able to pry up one of the flaps and peek in the box.
Paige exhaled heavily; God, she hated Andrea.
When Andrea saw what was in it, her eyebrows drew together in confusion before turning her eagle eyes on Paige. “Hershey’s kisses?”
“Yes.”
“Who are they from?”
“No one.”
“No one? Someone sent them to you.”
“It was … me,” Paige quickly improvised. “I sent them to myself. I mean, I ordered them.”
“Two minutes ago, you were swearing you didn’t order anything.”
“I was wrong.”
“So, you did order multiple bags of Hershey’s kisses and had them same-day delivered to you at work?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because …” Paige went completely blank for a several moments, before thankfully coming up with a reason that might be believed. “It’s that time of the month.”
“One bag wouldn’t have sufficed?”
Jesus, what was with all the questions? “It’s better to stock up. Then I won’t have to buy any for a while.”
Andrea clearly didn’t believe the story she was being fed and even though Paige honestly wouldn’t have either, she also didn’t think it was too much to ask that Andrea fake it.
“Seems like you should’ve known what was in the box, then,” Andrea mused. “Especially since you ordered them today.”
“I know, right?” Paige exaggeratedly scoffed at herself, then picked up the box and moved it to the floor before sitting down, as if she was getting back to work.
“Well, now I know where to come if I need chocolate,” Andrea said, seemingly in no hurry to leave.
“Absolutely. I have plenty,” Paige agreed with a smile, before plucking a random contract off the top of the nearest pile on her desk and turning all her attention to it, so Andrea would see how busy Paige was and leave, only to belatedly realize the contract was upside down.
The hope that Andrea wouldn’t notice died a quick death when she reached over and rotated it one hundred and eighty degrees, so that it was actually readable. Then, with one last, lingering look, Andrea left.
Thankfully alone, Paige retrieved one of the bags and opened it, eating a few kisses as she texted David.
PAIGE: Six bags of Hershey’s kisses? Really?
DAVID: I was sending a message.
PAIGE: And what message would that be?
DAVID: Please … I’m not buying for one second you don’t know why I sent them. Or that they didn’t make you immediately think about our make-out session last night.
DAVID: Speaking of our make-out session, was it as good as you remember?
Paige stared at his text, not knowing how to respond. Should she lie? Be honest? What would be the point of telling him it was better than she remembered? They were divorced, for crying out loud.
Her phone rang with a FaceTime request from David. She hesitated for a moment and then reluctantly accepted it, knowing that if she didn’t, he would probably threaten to come see her at work and then follow through on it. And while Paige really didn’t want to talk about what happened last night over the phone right now, it was better than doing it in her office, with Andrea nearby.
“What?” she answered, in a low voice.
“Why are you whispering?”
“Because I’m just at work.”
“Do I need to whisper?”
She sighed. “What do you want?”
“Was it as good as you remember?”
“David …”
“The sooner you answer—truthfully—the sooner you can be rid of me.”
“Fine. It was as good as I remember.”
“Was it maybe better than you remember?”
“You said if I answered you truthfully, I could be rid of you—”
“I said you could be rid of me sooner. I didn’t say immediately. So, was it maybe better than you remember?”
“I’m done answering any more of your questions. I’m at work.”
“So am I,” David said dismissively. “And I’ll take that as a yes. It was better than I remembered, too. I’m not exaggerating when I say I felt it in my balls.”
His balls? They were talking about his balls while she was at work?
Paige took a deep breath, not surprised when it did nothing to calm her down. “You know, I think it’s best if we both quit talking about it, actually. Or, better yet, pretend like it didn’t happen at all.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t do either.”
“Oh, for God’s sake—”
“And for the record, I have zero regrets about kissing you.”
“Well, I do.” She looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Look, I’m not going to try and pretend I wasn’t enjoying it, because I obviously was, but—”
A sudden, loud knock at her door startled Paige, causing her to drop her phone onto the floor.
The door immediately opened and Andrea stuck her head in. “Paige, I—” she broke off with a frown. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Why? What do you want?”
“It doesn’t look like ‘nothing’. You look like I just walked in on you watching porn or something.”
From where the phone had fallen, Paige heard David start laughing.
Andrea looked down at the phone, which had unfortunately fallen in plain sight, face-up, so David could plainly be seen. “Oh, you’re on the phone? I see. I’ll come back in a little while, when you’re not busy.”
“What did you want?” Paige repeated.
“It can wait.”
Then with a long look at Paige’s phone, Andrea left.
The second Paige picked up her phone, David asked with a grin, “Has she caught you watching porn before?”
“No. And I have to go.”
“Okay. We can continue this conversation another time. How about tonight?”
“Sorry. Tonight’s no good.”
“Tomorrow night then.”
“That’s no good, either. I have to work.”
“Jesus Christ. The night after that?”
“Working.”
They went through the next several days and Paige kept shooting him down.
“I’m sensing a pattern here,” he finally said. “Are you going to be working every night I suggest we get together?”
“Maybe. I work a lot.”
“I understand that, but there’s no way you don’t have a night off in the next fifteen days. So, you’re obviously just trying to avoid continuing this conversation.”
Paige remained silent, which was answer enough.
He seemed to be considering something, then told her, “Fine. We won’t continue this conversation.”
“Thank you.”
“But we still need to get together one night.”
“We do?”
“How else am I supposed to collect on our bet? Remember? My victory dinner?”
Paige groaned. “That stupid bet. I was really hoping you’d let that go.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because it would be the gentlemanly thing to do, that’s why.”
“I’m not sure how backing out of a bet I won fair and square is the gentlemanly thing to do, but I’m not doing it.”
“Fine,” she grudgingly capitulated. “Thursday night’s open.”
“Is that the same Thursday night that less than a minute ago you said didn’t work for you?”
She just looked at him.
He looked back. “That was a real question.”
“Yes, that’s the same Thursday,” she answered.
“All right. Pencil me in for Thursday. I’ll be at your place around, say 7 p.m.?”
“Fine.”
“Don’t you want to know what you’ll be making?”
“Of course.” Paige rolled her eyes. “What will I be making?”
“Spaghetti.”
“With meatballs?”
“God, yes.”
“Anything else?” Her tone was sweetly fake.
“Salad with Ranch dressing. Maybe some French bread. Actually, no. Make it garlic bread. Oh, and green beans.”
Paige blinked at him for a moment, then said, “Is that it? His majesty doesn’t want dessert?”
His only acknowledgement of the ‘majesty’ comment was a slight drawing together of his eyebrows before he said, “Yes, thank you. Tiramisu. It doesn’t have to be homemade, though.”
“It doesn’t? Aww, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You can bring the wine,” she told him. “And I mean the good stuff—not that shit in a box.”
“I love boxed wine.”
“I know you do. And it’s wrong. Wine is supposed to come out of a bottle.”
“Jesus, someone’s still a wine snob.”
“Says the person who only drinks craft beer with crazy names,” Paige countered pointedly, before administering the coup de grace. “From a glass.”
At first David looked as if he was going to dispute that and then shook his head, laughing out loud. “Shit, you got me there. You win. Wine in a bottle, it is.”