“So, now what?”
“Well, she’s not answering any of my calls and since I don’t know where she lives anymore, I’ll have to try and see her at work,” he said, hoping like almighty hell that she was still employed at The Main Event, otherwise he’d have to spend some time trying to track her down. “I’ll go in the morning.”
“I know you’re upset with her, because of the book and the house, but when you talk to her, please be nice.”
“I’ll be as nice as I can.”
“I mean it, David. I don’t want you being mean to her.”
“She can hold her own, Mom, so you don’t need to worry about me being mean to her. In fact, you should probably be worrying about her being mean to me.”
Chapter 33
Paige had literally just planted her ass in her office chair the next morning when Andrea called her.
With an aggravated groan, Paige picked up her phone. “Whatever it is can wait until I’ve had a cup of coffee—”
“‘Houston, we have a problem’,” Andrea said, delivering the quote in her best talking-someone-off-a-ledge voice.
“What?”
“‘Houston, we have a problem’. It’s from—”
“I know what movie it’s from.” Jesus, the day had barely started and Paige already wanted it to be over. “Andrea, here’s where you cut to the chase and tell me what’s going on. And it better not be bad news, or a real problem I have to fix, because I’m not in the mood for either of those scenarios right now. And why are you whispering?”
“A man claiming to be your ex-husband is here, demanding to see you. And I’m whispering because I don’t want him to hear me.”
“What the fu—” Paige barely stopped herself from swearing out loud at hearing that unwelcome nugget of information and had to make do with swearing in her head. Fuckfuckfuck.
“Paige? Are you—”
Paige hung up the phone, somewhat clumsily. David was here?
Reluctantly, she called Andrea back.
“Did you just hang up on me?” Andrea asked.
“No, I accidentally dropped the phone. So, what did he say?”
“He said he needed to see you. I told him you were busy, but he’s not having it. And right now, he’s staring at me like a serial killer.”
Paige thought about doing her breathing exercises, but she didn’t have time; plus they probably weren’t going to do jack shit in this situation. “All right. Send him back.”
On slightly unsteady legs, Paige stood up and squared her shoulders and a moment later, David stepped into her office.
He was dressed in olive green cargo pants and a white button-down shirt, and his hair was pulled mostly back in a man bun; never in her wildest imaginings would she have thought that would appeal to her, but he made it look good.
Asshole.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, striving to sound calm and business-like. “I have an appointment in thirty minutes.”
David, who had been on the verge of just laying into her, faltered, and instead drank her in for a moment. Since the last time he’d seen her, she’d had her hair cut to her shoulders and she looked even better than she had at Bender’s.
He was further struck mute by the sight of her in a black pencil skirt that stopped several inches above her knees. It was paired with a long, white tunic made of jersey fabric that draped softly over her curves, gathering tightly at her hips. The wide, rounded neckline and short sleeves were adorned with tasteful bling—patterned rows of black, silver, and crystal beads that gave the blouse an expensive, high-end look.
His eyes seemed to want to naturally gravitate to her chest and he had to make a concerted effort to re-focus on why he was in her office, which had nothing to do with what she was wearing. Or how great she looked in it.
“I’m sorry that I just showed up here,” he apologized, even though he wasn’t really sorry at all. “But you’re not returning my texts or my calls and—”