“Hey,” Edward said with a half a grin, “if it helps any, tapioca pudding makes me gag. Just seeing it. Blech!”
“Yeah, well … we have a meeting with Moira Kennedy.”
Edward froze. Ho-ly fuck. Moira Kennedy. Damage control expert to the stars. Things were even more fucked up than he imagined if Mickey was calling in the big guns.
“Here’s what we’re going to do …”
She was wearing a path in the carpet with her relentless back and forth pacing. Not that she cared. The guys had been off the radar for hours and Paige was at the end of her rope, so who cared about a little rug damage at this point?
After hobbling home on her banged up knee yesterday, she’d been less-than-happy to discover that she was being frozen out of whatever had Mickey and Edward by the throat.
They were both nice about it, but some serious shit had to have gone down after her visit to the gym. Without any explanation, both men rather sternly told her to take care of her injury and not to worry—that they had everything under control.
Pfft. Who the hell were they kidding? She knew damn well that Perry Waterman yanking Mickey Klein's chain was a huge deal. She’d worried and fretted all night about the ramifications of the unusual powwow.
Probably explained why she’d tossed and turned all through another restless night. She was worried about Edward. Worried about what the nasty minded media would make of the reignited scandal.
He’d made a lame attempt to cajole her out of worrying when he’d called her right before the late-night shows came on. Halfway through a pint of Chunky Monkey when the phone rang, Paige had gone on a roll. She’d demanded he keep her in the loop while he made light of the secret meeting on the next day’s agenda and cracked jokes about her clumsy crash and burn off a moving treadmill.
A monumental hissy fit had been gathering steam inside her when he changed the subject and threw her a curveball.
“Missed you today.”
“Yeah, well …” she spit out. “That’s what you get for keeping your assistant in the dark.”
She heard his sigh and stopped.
“I wasn’t referring to my assistant.”
The rest of the conversation didn’t matter. Not really. Not after his quiet admission that he’d missed her. Her. Not the employee.
Which would then totally explain the very sexy dream that had chased her throughout the restless night.
Eek. Just thinking about it …
She shivered slightly then rubbed her hands briskly up and down each arm.
Glancing at her reflection in the big mirror at the far end of the long conference room, she almost laughed. All that naughty talk about being tied up and naked for his pleasure had made Paige permanently horny.
Not even a steamy shower or the painful shock of the water hitting the rather nasty gash on her knee managed to cool her jets. Needing to be the unflappable professional she was under ordinary circumstances when she went to the closet to choose an outfit, her inner librarian took over.
Her choice was a silky t-shirt style blouse tucked into a cute skater skirt that looked business-like without seeming stuffy. She ran her fingers on the cool silver balls of the Tiffany necklace Edward had given her then gently tugged on the matching earrings.
She swept her hair into a tidy chignon and slid on a pair of yummy shoes that were just short of being hooker heels to complete the look.
A noise in the reception area had her running for the door. Careful not to fling it open and break into a madwoman performance, she cautiously peeked first, holding her breath as she searched the open space.
Edward and Mickey were standing just outside the elevator in deep conversation.
Oh, thank god. Back in one piece. Well, at least there was that.
People were milling about in the office bullpen. From the corner of her eye, Paige saw Mickey’s curious junior assistants looking back and forth between her door peeking, the hot movie star, and the crazy Russian agent.
Quietly muttering, “Enough of this,” she straightened and strode confidently across the reception area, stepping right into the middle of the men’s conversation. “Gentlemen,” she stated in a no-nonsense tone. “Let’s take this to the conference room, shall we?”
Putting her hands up, Paige gestured for them to move along as if she was herding puppies. She ignored the surprised expressions and the faint gasps that wafted through the air at her blatant ‘handling’ of the super-agent and his number one client. Clearly, not something that happened every day.
Mickey’s deep laugh cut through her tension. “Tell me again why you don’t work for me.”
“Because I won’t put up with your bullshit, Mr. Klein. That’s why.”
Edward chuckled as he slipped off his suit jacket to the evident delight of an admiring audience of females and quite a few guys, too.
“It’d take a duel to the death to get her away from me,” he mocked. “That and the fact that you’re too damn tightfisted to afford her.”
Good grief. Their audience was enjoying this too much. Careful not to roll her eyes, she tugged on Mickey’s arm and whispered, “Ovaries are bursting and panties melting as we linger. Could you pleeez move it along?”
Both men simultaneously looked at her. It was like being in the bright lights of an interrogation coming at her from all sides. An odd feeling snaked through her system. Worry and a warning bell invaded her mind.
Oh, great. Swallowing past a jolt of nerves, she made it clear with her expression that they’d better get moving and take this somewhere private if they hoped to avoid a scene. And she didn’t exactly mean just from the starstruck employees watching with avid interest.
Paige stiffened. Dammit. Dollars to donuts at least one of the people present was probably speed-dialing TMZ right this moment. Everyone wanted to be part of a juicy scandal, especially when it involved a sex god with an enormous …
“Now. Conference room,” she bit out sternly and marched away. She didn’t have any other choice—not once she felt a damning blush heat up her neck before moving on to her face. She really did need to watch that video and find out for herself. After all, there was big and then there was … whatever came after that.
A couple of things hit him the moment Mickey and he came into the long conference room fifteen seconds behind Paige.
First and foremost was the scent of wintergreen that hung in the air. A half glance in the trash by the door revealed a bunch of green scraps and some silver foil littering the bottom of the can. He figured she’d chewed through almost an entire roll of Breathsavers while waiting for them.
Right behind that amusing observation was an awareness that hit Edward quite forcefully. The lady was not anywhere near as calm and controlled as she was pretending to be, and anyone with half a grasp of physical nuance and body language could easily see from her posture that she was operating on raw energy.
Her shoulders were never that stiff, and if she fussed with her skirt one more time, he was going to have to intervene. No way could he take seeing her so…jeez. So, what? Paige and the word undone just didn’t seem like a reasonable fit, but that was the vibe he was picking up.
“We are fine, solnyshko moya,” Mickey assured Paige, following her to the other side of the room.
Edward liked the pet name. It meant my little sun or something like that. Mickey liked to pontificate from his soapbox, and comparing Paige to a bunch of celestial bodies was a favorite theme. He insisted she brought rays of happy sunshine wherever she went, but if you didn’t watch out, that same happy, little sun could burn you alive.
Hmph. Apt description.
Her eyes swung to his. No way had he misunderstood the look. Mickey reassuring her was all well and good, but she needed to hear it from him. The problem was, things weren’t all well and good, and if Mickey’s plan was how they moved forward, well … there was every possibility that Paige would have none of it.