Page 34 of Their After Hours Playbook

“I know I am. Honestly, I would send you flowers every day, Paige. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me...” He scanned her face, his eyes so honest and full of hope that it broke her heart a little. “Ever.”

Paige’s heart jumped up into her throat. What defense could she possibly have for that? “I love our time together, Zach. I do. And I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want it to continue.”

“But? I sense a ‘but.’ And not the good kind.” He reached down and squeezed her ass to punctuate his point.

“But I know a side of Tom that you don’t. And I can’t fathom him being okay with this.”

“I think you’re wrong. He’s changed.”

Paige didn’t know how she was supposed to argue the point. She had her evidence and Zach had his. They contradicted each other, but the way she saw it, he had a lot of familial bias mixed in with his. Whereas hers was based purely on events she’d personally endured. “You aren’t thinking about telling him, are you?”

“Well, yeah. You make me happy. I want to share that with the people I love the most. That means my mom and Tom.”

“I really don’t think you should say anything. In fact, I’m begging you not to tell him.”

Disappointment crossed his face. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay. If that’s what you want. But I can’t keep it a secret forever. At some point, I’m going to tell both of them. And we’ll just have to deal with the fallout, okay?”

Paige pulled him closer for a kiss. She had a bit of a reprieve, but something told her that this wouldn’t last. Either he was going to slip or she was, and the secret would get back to Tom. When it happened, it would be the end of the road. Her fun with Zach would be over, and she wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. “Look. I trust you. But I would be happier if you didn’t say anything. At least for a little while longer.”

He hesitated. “Okay. I can do that.”

She decided a change in subject was a good idea. “What do you have going for the rest of the day?”

“I’d love to work from home since it’s Friday, but I really need to go back in.” He cleared his throat. “Tom is coming in Monday morning for a meeting. It’s his first time in the office since his heart attack, so it’s a big deal. People are excited to see him. I just want to be sure I’m fully prepared so I can relax over the weekend.”

From where Paige was sitting, Zach’s upcoming meeting with Tom was reason enough to stay quiet about them. No reason to rock the boat when there were other, bigger things to discuss. But she had to put her faith in Zach. She wasn’t going to offer her advice. “I’m hoping that your relaxing weekend will include me.”

Zach snaked his arm around her waist. “Are you kidding? I’m expecting nothing less.”

Ten

This was the first time Zach had ever been truly both nervous and excited to see Tom. That day when he’d gone out to Long Island to pitch his expansion of the agency had been one thing, but it was all hypotheticals at that point. Today would be Tom’s first time back in the office since stepping away from the agency, and he was coming in for an update on the progress of Zach’s big plan. Zach needed to impress.

He paced in reception, glancing at his watch. It was 10:03 a.m. Tom was three minutes late, which wasn’t like him at all. Was everything okay? Zach sure hoped so. By 10:07 a.m., he was really starting to worry, but then the elevator dinged, the doors slid open and Tom appeared. To Zach’s great surprise, he was wearing a suit. It looked like any other day at Armstrong Sports before Tom’s heart attack. It made Zach feel like he was in a bit of a time warp.

“Morning. I was about to send out a search party.” Zach hugged Tom.

“Traffic is horrible. I don’t miss that part of the job,” Tom replied.

“Exactly why I live in the city.” Zach spread his arms wide. “Welcome back. Everything is pretty much the same.”

“Except that I’m not here.”

“Right.” Zach nodded. “Let’s go back to my office. We can talk over things, then I figured you’d want to make the rounds and catch up with folks.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Tom and Zach headed off down the hall, Zach purposely slowing his pace to allow for Tom to keep up. Tom had been steadily recovering since his heart attack, but he wasn’t one hundred percent healed yet. When they approached Zach’s office, Teri got up from her desk and gave Tom a big hug.

“Tom. It’s so good to see you,” she said.

“Same to you, Teri. I hear you’ve been taking very good care of Zach here.”

“More like he’s taking very good care of me,” Teri quipped.

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