Page 84 of Mr. Fixer Upper
“When you start shopping at Target,” Paige said, returning the hug.
“Lunch then. I hate not seeing you every day. Paige is not just a brilliant field producer. She’s also a wonderful human being,” Cat told Drake.
With Cat joining them, even more photographers began to circle, and Paige felt her skin flush.
“Cat, do you know Drake?” Paige began the introductions, and the two began to chat animatedly. Her entire system was on fire with Gannon standing so close, staring at her. His eyes telegraphed messages to her.
I’m sorry. I miss you. We need to talk.
She needed to escape. She’d shown her face, let the network have its little fun, she’d even given the photographers shots of her with Gannon and Drake. No one could ask her for more, and if they did, she had two middle fingers itching to be used.
“Would you two excuse us for a minute? I’d like to talk to Paige alone,” Gannon interjected.
Cat and Drake shared a look, and Paige started to shake her head, but his hand was closing around her wrist, and if she resisted it would be one more scene for the cameras.
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Gannon felt her working up the urge to fight free as he tugged her up the ugliest staircase he’d ever seen in his life. It looked like the result of a drunken one-night stand between an escalator and a glass elevator.
“Keep it together, princess.” He nodded at the photographers shooting from below. Cat, his favorite sister in the world, had blocked them from climbing the stairs after them.
Beyond the glass railing, an acre of nearly black carpet stretched out in some useless open gallery area that housed a few pieces of ugly art. There were two bedrooms and a handful of people touring both. Gannon tried a door at the far end of the loft and, finding it empty, dragged Paige inside.
“Are you kidnapping me?” Paige yanked free and tried to get away from him in the cramped space.
“It’s a linen closet, not a secret passage,” Gannon argued. “You look incredible by the way.” She did. He’d spotted her the second she’d walked in, taking in the view like a fist to the solar plexus. She was gorgeous in everyday shorts and tank tops with no makeup and sloppy hair. Now, she was downright stunning.
“What the hell are you doing?”
There’d been a time when he’d teased her just to see a flash of anger, curious to see what was below that calm, frosty surface. And now he needed to put the beast back in the cage.
“I’m explaining.”
“What’s there to explain? You lied to me, and I fell for it. Lesson learned.”
He grabbed her, gripping her arms. He couldn’t keep his damn hands off of her. “No, you’re listening, and I’m talking. Meeghan and I were never in a relationship—”
“But you still had sex.”
“Paige.” The deep breath he took wasn’t helping his blood pressure out of the stratosphere, and when she lunged to get around him, he moved first and thought later.
He spun her around, wrapping her in a bear hug from behind and pinning her against the empty shelves. “Goddamn it. Listen to me. I went on one date with her. The network set us up and sent us to some stupid party just like this one.”
She stopped struggling in his arms.
“It was a publicity thing. The show was getting ready to film, and they were trying to build the hype. I went from Googling bankruptcy to taking my first ride in a limo and standing on a red carpet. The booze was flowing, and when she put the moves on me, I didn’t stop her. I thought…” He shook his head, embarrassed at the memory. “I thought my big break had finally come. I could save my grandfather’s business and enjoy a piece of the good life. But I didn’t know.”
He released his hold on Paige and let her turn around.
“I left immediately after. She’s fucking terrifying. Needy and mean and—it never happened again. But the press, the viewers, they ate up the idea of some kind of relationship. We showed up at a couple of events together and kept the ‘relationship’ alive. But the whole thing was a fucking lie. And I never touched her again.”
Paige bit her lip and clasped her hands in front of her.
“Meeghan knew it was fake, but she’s used to getting her way. She’d come at me every time we went somewhere together, expecting me to go home with her. She’d threaten, beg, try to seduce me. But once you know what’s under all that shit on the outside? You don’t ever have the desire to go back. I felt… ashamed of myself.”
She reached toward him and then pulled her hand back, but he saw the gesture, took comfort in it.
“Gannon, why didn’t you tell me this before?”
