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“Who? And why don’t you like him? Is he mean?”
“Well, it’s not nice to talk bad about other people but…yes. He was very mean to me once and I can never forgive him.” Shaking her head, she offered a reassuring smile. “But he’s no one you know or should worry about, trust me. Now, are you ready to go?”
“Yeah!” He beamed at her, his little wiggly body looking ready to sprint forward. She grabbed hold of his hand before he ran off, led him out of the bathroom and walked straight into the chest of the waiting Paul Leonard.
“Paige.” His voice was warm and inviting as he curled his hands around her forearms, pulling her to him for a hug. “So good to see you again.” The overt friendliness that was so clearly an act disgusted her.
She stiffened within his arms, everything within her trying to recoil from his touch. She had no choice but to let go of Matty’s hand so she could forcibly remove herself from Paul’s embrace.
“Let go of me,” she whispered, the temptation to knee him in the balls so strong it took everything within her to fight it off.
“You never protested before.” He withdrew from her, slowly dropping his hands away from her arms. He was a handsome man. Tall with light brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes, his expression at the moment deceptively easygoing, though she noted the shrewdness in his gaze.
He wasn’t pleased that she spotted him with another woman. She knew it, felt his worry and irritation vibrating off of him in palpable waves, and she stepped back, taking Matty’s hand in hers once again. “Goodbye, Paul,” she started to say, but he stopped her, his hand resting on her shoulder, fingers digging into her flesh.
“Wait a minute.” His voice was low and he stepped close, his mouth near her ear. “You best keep this to yourself, do you understand? I will destroy you if you leak one word of this to my wife.”
Like she would. The very last person she wanted to talk to was Carolyn Leonard. Paul may have intimidated her physically, but his wife flat out abused her verbally. The woman could cut with a single word, slice with a look and utterly devastate with a few precisely chosen sentences.
“You don’t have to worry. I won’t tell.” She jerked away from Paul’s touch and fled down the little hall with Matty in tow, bursting into the main dining area. She saw that everyone at her table was getting up, looking ready to leave, and she rushed over, thankful that they would be making their escape.
Hopefully Paul wouldn’t interfere again. She didn’t know if she could endure a confrontation with Matteo as a witness. Bad enough he knew mere hints of what happened between her and her former employer by the small bits she’d fed Claudia when she was first hired. For him to discover exactly what happened and how guilty she felt in the entire situation, even though she wasn’t? She knew she hadn’t done anything wrong, but still.
She’d want to shrivel up and die of embarrassment if Matteo thought less of her.
“Are we all ready to go?” she asked brightly when she returned to the table.
Stasia offered her a wan smile. “I’m suddenly exhausted and Gavin refuses to let me sit here one minute longer. Bossy man.”
“Your eyelids are drooping,” Gavin pointed out. “You’re about to fall asleep at the table. I think that’s a clue you need to get some rest.” The love and concern on Stasia’s husband’s face was unmistakable. How she wished for a man to love her like that…
Paige shoved the wistful yearning deep inside her. No time for that tonight.
She needed to get out of here.
“Thank you for including me in your celebration.” Paige went to Stasia and drew her into a quick embrace.
“Thank you so much for coming. You know you’re always welcome to spend time with us. You’ve become part of the family, Paige.” Stasia smiled, then looked at her brother. “Take her home, Matt. She looks as tired as I feel. No offense,” she said quickly to Paige.
“None taken.” Tired and scared, more like it.
The faster they got out of this restaurant and away from Paul Leonard, the better.
Chapter Three
Paige was quiet the entire ride home. Matteo had driven them all to the restaurant, meeting Gavin there. Paige and Matty had sat in the backseat, his sister in the front, Stasia rambling on about baby names and colors and how she was going to redo one of the bedrooms and make it into a baby heaven, direct quote.
Matteo had half-listened to her, nodding, making all the right noises at the appropriate times. His gaze had constantly gone to the rearview mirror, where he could watch Paige as she spoke with Matty, ruffled his hair or laughed with him. She’d gone pensive as she stared out the window, her profile so heartbreakingly beautiful he’d wanted to pull over the car, open the back door and pull her into his arms. Whisper that he made a mistake, pushing her away after their one explosive night together.
