25. Maxon
The dining room goes into a tizzy after Katie’s exclamation. Katie and Aspen darting upstairs to get their bags while Paige hops on the phone and gets an airline ticket figured out. Katie’s sister, Kimmy, wasn’t supposed to be due for another two weeks, a birth that Katie desperately wanted to be there for despite it only being a couple of weeks before the wedding.
I’m leaning in the doorway to the living room as Paige paces watching her while she deals with the airline and figures out the fastest way they can get to Milwaukee. I grin as I watch her, this is her zone, the crazy of dealing with people, the insanity that comes with organization and planning. She’s a mastermind. She’s been the best assistant to Mrs. Bennett in the years since her mom left, since she got back from taking care of her gram. She came home from taking care of one person just to start taking care of an entire family.
“Yes, they’ll be there. Okay, thank you.” She grins at her phone as she hangs up, then starts typing on its screen.
“All good?” I straighten slightly and she nearly jumps at the sound of my voice.
Her steely eyes catch me and she gives a tight lipped nod, then looks back down at her phone. I heave a sigh, shoving my hands into my pockets as I step closer to her, closing the French doors into the living room behind me. Her entire demeanor had changed the second I said I was going back to LA. For a minute I thought it was because of how quickly the conversation had switched to where she was staying while I dealt with her landlord. Kimmy’s sudden birth interrupted that conversation though, forcing it to come to a sudden halt and saving her from having to come clean about her current living arrangements.
Paige’s mood, however, did not change.
When I followed her out here, I’d gotten nothing but quick side eyed glances and tight-lipped smiles. Paige may be able to fool a lot of people with quick smiles and witty words, but I know her too well to be fooled.
I knew that the conversation at the table bothered her more than she would let on. That she tells Mrs. Bennett that her being set up on blind dates is fine because she knows Mrs. Bennett means well, even if it’s not what Paige really wants.
But Paige is a people pleaser, she gives and gives and gives and never takes for herself. I love her for it, but it also drives me nuts because she never actually says what she wants. I figured out a long time ago that I have to take for her, then give it to her without letting her argue.
There are some things I can’t just take for her though, there are some things I need her to spell out for me. I need to hear her say that it’s what she wants and then I’ll shake the world until I’ve made sure she’s gotten it.
And this was one of those things.
“Are you okay?” I ask and her steely eyes dart from her phone to me.
“Yeah.” She says shortly, then looks back down at her phone.
I step closer, so that the only space between us is the space her phone takes up while she hunches down over it. Her body tenses at my proximity, which only confirms my thoughts that she’s upset with me.
“You’re terrible at lying.” I say, placing a finger beneath her chin and lifting so that she meets my eyes and I gulp when I see the storm brewing behind hers.
“And you’re terrible at knowing when to stop talking.” She shoots back, her jaw is set beneath my fingertips, and I fight the urge to run my palm along her jawline… yet, she hasn’t pulled away from me either.
I narrow my eyes on her. “I’m not exactly sure what you’re mad at me about this time, please do elaborate.”
She huffs with a roll of her eyes and I drop my hand from under her chin, but still neither of us makes a move to widen the distance between us. “The whole ‘date me’ act you had going on in there. That was a little ridiculous don’t you think?”
I shrug. “I thought it was believable.”
“You were on your knees.” She crosses her arms over her chest as her gaze darkens on me and my own irritation begins to boil.
“I have already told you my feelings Paige. Is it really that absurd to think that I would want to date the woman I’m in love with?”
Her brows shoot up at my declaration and she looks around the room in a paranoid frenzy before lowering her tone and hissing her next words. “Be quiet, someone will hear you.”
“And that would be so awful?” I say, although I do drop my tone so that we’re now trapped in the intimacy of a whisper.
Something dances behind her stormy eyes as they examine me and I feel as if she can see into the very depths of my soul. “Maxon, it doesn’t matter, you’re going back to LA soon.”
There it is.
She’s mad that I didn’t tell her about my plans to go back out west. Truthfully, it wasn’t that I was trying to avoid the discussion, just that I hadn’t found a good opportunity to bring it up. I didn’t actually think she would care this much about it, and I can’t help the slight smile that crosses my lips knowing that she does, in fact, care.
“I don’t have to go… I can stay if you want me to.” I say my voice still in a whisper as I move even closer.
She watches me, her expression set in that analyzing look she gets when she’s trying to figure out a problem. It’s only when I lift my hand and move a chunk of hair away from her face that her expression softens slightly, her pupils dilating when I palm her neck and let my thumb run along her jawline.
“All you have to do is say the word.” I whisper, drawing her closer and suddenly I’m breathing her in. If someone were to step into the room now there would be no denying the very thing she was so worried about keeping a secret during our youth. And still, she doesn’t pull away from me, but instead her lips part slightly, her eyes growing hazy with anticipation.
I drink in the look of her in this state, and even I’m surprised at my own willpower not to close the distance between us and devour her lips like I want to. But I need to hear her say she wants me to stay. I’ll throw all caution to the wind, I’ll tell Fiona exactly what I think of her threats, I’ll deal with the paparazzi myself if my staying is what she wants.
But I need to hear her say it.
“Maxon… I,” she starts but stops herself, closing her eyes and I can tell I’m losing her, that she’s getting inside her own head again and she won’t admit she needs anyone ever. Not when she has the independence of a mule.
I rest my forehead against hers, my thumb tracing the delicate skin along her jaw. “Please, Paige… just say what you want.”
Silence stretches between us, a deafening silence that broadcasts our dueling feelings. Her reluctance and my desperation. Until she takes a shuddering breath and lifts her face toward mine.
“I need to help Aspen and Katie.” She says, pulling away and starting towards the doors out of the living room, leaving me standing there on my own.
And just like before, I watch her go.