Chapter 9 Zach
Zach
“Arm candy? I’ve never heard a woman refer to herself like that.” I contemplate grabbing my phone—anything else to look at but her. “And no, Paige, you could never be arm candy, as delectable as you are.”
I wink to offset the faint flush decorating her cheeks at my blatant attempt at flirting. Even if what I said is all true.
She is mouth-watering in the dress, more so than I imagined. Her hair is swept up to one side with cascades of rich chocolate curls spilling over one shoulder.
When she opened the door to her place, a sharp stab punctured my chest and cut off my oxygen. It almost hurt to look at her. Perfect on my arm, that’s what she’ll be and without a doubt, she’ll charm and befriend many tonight, effortlessly.
Paige could fit easily into my life.
It’s the one thing I’ve come to realize in such a short period of time—even with our differences. She could fit into my world.
But this isn’t real.
That’s why I grabbed my phone and reread emails for no reason other than to keep myself busy. I needed to be so engrossed in something else that I wouldn’t have to look at her, talk to her.
“Let’s talk about Donovan, since he’s going to be here tonight.”
This woman.
Headlong into any situation is her way even when the topic is uncomfortable. It works for me. I’m more than fine with direct. Let’s clear the air and clarify a few things.
“The two of you were pretty chummy for only having had one date.”
“He kept in touch while in Europe. He sent letters and postcards. And he called when he came back to Canada.” She shrugs, her expression blank. “And even though I was seeing someone else at the time, my first really serious relationship, we stayed in contact for a while.”
“Only one date. Must have been some date. Did you sleep with him?”
She narrows her eyes, her look implying I’m skating on thin ice. “No, I didn’t. I don’t put out on a first date.”
I’m content with her response. Fuck no, relieved to hear Donovan Wilkes didn’t get her into bed.
“What about on the second?” I’m joking and give her a cocky grin to make sure she’s aware.
“Contrary to any assumptions you’ve made or what you think of me, I don’t sleep around.” She sits up straighter, not a hint of a smile in sight. “I don’t sleep with guys on a second, or third date for that matter, not that I owe you an explanation.”
“I wasn’t asking for one and you don’t owe me anything. But for what it’s worth,” I take her hand in mine, “I’m glad you didn’t sleep with him.”
Our arrival at the dinner causes quite a stir, which is no surprise to me. Paige is the first woman I’ve ever brought to one of these despite the incessant badgering of Nan and the nosy inquiries of board members.
While the dinner is a business affair, since we’re all connected by Rothwell Enterprises, not much business is discussed with significant others present. Tonight’s dinner is one of two times annually where we gather some of our most senior executives and the board for a night of entertainment.
“Zachary. Paige.” Nan glides over to us, beaming at the woman on my arm. “It’s so lovely to see you again, my dear. That dress is simply exquisite, dare I say you’re going to outshine Rosa.”
“Nice to see you, too.” Paige smiles, then follows with a confused frown. “Thank you, but sorry, who’s Rosa?”
“Rosa Drake. She’s the wife of Anton Drake, a member of the board, and she’s also—”
“One of the most beautiful women in the world,” Paige finishes my sentence, although it isn’t what I was going to say.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Nan pats Paige’s hand and adjusts her position so she’s standing beside my date. “She is a model and beautiful, that’s for sure. As a matter of fact, she’s over there in the Versace.”
Always discreet, Nan tips her chin in the direction of the Argentine model, and Paige’s mouth gapes open. Quickly catching herself, she snaps it shut—but that does nothing for her widening eyes, now double their size and glued to Rosa.
“What are we looking at?” Morgan, my wayward cousin, joins us.
“Darling, here you are.” Grandmother pulls Morgan closer. “I want to introduce you to Paige Hayes, Zachary’s date.”
“Zach has a date?” Morgan pokes, her amber eyes glittering with the promise of causing trouble. “I definitely want to meet the woman brave enough to come into the bear cave with the grumpiest bear of them all.”
Morgan laughs, Nan tsks, and Paige looks bewildered as I drag my cousin over to me and peck her on the cheek. “Stop, Paige will believe every word you say.”
“Oh, we can’t have that. Would it scare her off?”
“Doubt it. Paige doesn’t scare easily.” I press my hand into my date’s lower back in reassurance.
“No, I don’t. I’ve already seen Zach’s grumpy side.” She hooks a thumb in my direction. “And I’m still here. Not sure what that says about me.”
“Paige, this is my cousin and all-around troublemaker, Morgan Rothwell.”
“Hi, Paige.” They shake hands. “I’m joking about some of it and if you’ve seen his not-so-nice side, then you know what I’m talking about.”
“Okay, that’s enough. Let me take you around.” I look to Paige, ready to whisk her away.
“No, let me do it.” Morgan wedges herself between us. “Before Zach bores you to death,” she mock-whispers as if not wanting me to hear when that’s exactly her point.
“Morgan,” Nan chides, and I laugh, used to my cousin’s antics.
I’m not in the least bit perturbed at the thought of Paige alone with my cousin. She’ll like Morgan. My younger cousin considers herself the black sheep of the family when neither Nan nor I think of her that way. But she is different.
As the only child of my uncle Bernard and without a mother for most of her life—she died in a tragic skiing accident—Morgan wanders the globe looking for something I fear she may never find.
Once the younger ladies leave, Nan and I talk a bit of shop before agreeing to split up and work the room. Every so often, I drop in on Paige, usually in conversation with someone, to make sure she’s okay.
We have dinner and afterward, we mingle some more.
I feel like I haven’t spent a lot of time with my date and surprisingly, or maybe not, she hasn’t sought me out.
We sat next to each other at dinner and while we were able to chat a bit, we spent most of our time occupied by the guests on our other side.
“How do you think the evening is going?” Nan moves in the second Humphrey Jones excuses himself for another drink.
“Good. Humph and I are going golfing. I plan to get him to back the marketing campaign.”
“Excellent. And Paige? How do you think she’s doing?” She scans the crowd, stopping at the same time I spot her.
“You tell me.”
“She’s a natural. This may be new to her, but you’d never know it. Did you see her talking to Cormac?”
“Yes.”
“She had the old man blushing and actually letting her lead the conversation.” She shakes her head as if still disbelieving what she saw with her own eyes.
“She is something.” My throat tightens at the admission and Nan’s perceptive gaze searches my expression for some sign.
Her hope is painted all over her face. She is likely hoping for Paige to be the one I’ll settle down with. Isn’t that what I want her to think? She needs to believe Paige and I are the real deal.
“Look at her now with Bettina—aren’t you worried?” I’m deliberately prodding as Bettina van der Jagt is a tough, old biddy and a thorn in Nan’s side.
“I’m not,” she says confidently. “Paige has it under control, I’m sure. Look, Bettina’s laughing. When’s the last time you saw that? I can’t say I recall. I think it was the Ice Age.”
She’s dead serious and I belt out a laugh, surprising us both. Not too long after, we go our separate ways. While talking to the chairman of the board, I catch sight of Paige coming from the direction of the ladies’ room when Donovan makes his umpteenth move, cornering her.
All night, she has steered clear of him even when he’s obviously been trying to get her alone.
With every attempt, she’s dodged him, either leaving the group when he joins or inviting someone else into the circle so as not to be alone with him.
I contemplated uninviting him tonight. He doesn’t have a seat on the board, or any real reason to be here other than his connection to most of the people in the room.
This kind of event is just as much about being seen as it is about business.
Donovan now has her alone and I’m deep in conversation with Cormac Wilkes, the chairman of our board and Donovan’s father. Unfortunately, while Cormac is a valued member and a good man, he can be a bit of a blowhard.
And right now, he’s regaling me with a story about fishing in the Bahamas and how he caught a tiger shark. I’ve heard the story a hundred times if I’ve heard it once. Funnily enough, every time the fish gets bigger and deadlier.
Luckily, Cormac’s wife joins us and I expertly excuse myself, making a beeline for Paige. I slip my hand in hers and Donovan pauses mid-speech, arching a brow.
“Hi, Zach. Did you know Paige’s uncle owns Hayes Construction?”
I didn’t, but I should. Instead of letting on that’s the case, I nod. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re leaving. Good night.”
We leave before he can get in another word and once far enough away from him, Paige says, “Are we leaving? I’m beat and my feet…but you didn’t have to be rude.”
“That wasn’t rude. Why were you avoiding him all night?”
Her gaze widens as she stares up at me and I weave us through the crowd, stopping once or twice to briefly say good night before we’re finally free of the room.
“Were you watching me?”
I nod, send a text to my driver, and lead her outside to the front of the building. “Answer the question.”
“I wasn’t avoiding him. It’s more that he’s built me up to be something that I’m not. As if things would have been dramatically different between us if he hadn’t left for Europe. Who knows if we’d have lasted past another date? I get the feeling he thinks we’d be married or something.”