Undone (A Country Roads Novel) (8 page)

He pushed off the doorjamb and walked into the room, stopping next to her desk. He looked down at her feet and his gaze slowly traveled up her legs. Heat rushed into her cheeks and she was thankful she was still sitting down.

“She’s crazy,” he said, finally meeting her eyes and grinning. “I’m a pretty big fan of those shoes.”

“What are you doing here?” Paige asked, trying to focus on something besides the way he was looking at her.

“I came to pick you up. Your car’s ready.”

“Why did
you
come to pick me up?” she asked, panicked. She wasn’t prepared to be in a close, confined environment with him.

“Because I told your dad I would. I can’t believe you ripped the carpet out of here,” he said, looking down at the floor. “It looks a lot better without it.”

“Thanks. Can you help me carry the carpet downstairs?” she asked, pointing to the hallway where the rug still sat.

“Are you serious?”

“I can’t carry it by myself,” she said, standing up. If he was here she might as well get him to do something useful besides scrambling her brain.

“What’s in it for me?”

“What do you want?” she asked, before she could stop herself.

She was flirting with him. Why was she flirting with him? Stupid thing to do really.

“I have a couple of ideas,” he said as his gaze flickered to her mouth.

There was another knock and they both turned to see Mr. Adams walk into the room.

“Brendan,” he said in his big booming voice.

“Mr. Adams,” Brendan said, holding out his hand.

“You come here to check up on your girl?” he asked, shaking Brendan’s hand and clapping Brendan on the back with one of his large hands.

His girl? Brendan’s girl?

Paige’s stomach flipped. She opened her mouth to correct him but Brendan cut her off.

“Yeah.” He winked at Paige. “She’s done a good job with this office.”

“She sure has,” Mr. Adams said, looking around. He looked down at the floor, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You know, I’ve been wanting to get rid of that red carpet for a while now. And these wooden floors are looking mighty fine. Maybe you’ve got something going here, Paige. Just leave that carpet in the hallway,” he said as he continued to study the floor. “I might not want to store it after all.”

“Really?” she asked, shocked.

“Yeah,” Mr. Adams said, looking at her. “Maybe we should change things up here a little. Did you get a chance to look at the tribute program?”

“A little. I’m going to really get into it tomorrow.”

“Alright, you two have a nice night together,” Mr. Adams said, backing toward the door.

“We will,” Brendan said, waving.

Paige was too confused to say anything besides “bye.”

“Your girl?” she whispered, turning to him when she heard Mr. Adams’s loud steps descending the stairs. “Why didn’t you correct him?”

“Because I didn’t want to,” he said, turning back to her. “But I can tell you I’m disappointed I can’t get the ‘whatever I want’ for helping you move your carpet now.”

“I didn’t say you could get
whatever
you wanted. I asked
what
you wanted.”

“I guess you did,” he said, letting his eyes dip to her mouth again.

“So, uh, what did you want?”

“Is the offer still on the table?”

“I don’t need you to move the rug anymore, so no.”

“Then I’m not telling.” He grinned.

She didn’t want to know what he wanted anyways…alright, fine, she really, really did.

“You ready to go?”

“Whenever you are,” he said, taking a step back toward the door.

Paige shut her computer down, grabbed her purse, and followed Brendan down the stairs.

“You done for the day, sweetie?” Tara asked as they stopped in front of her desk.

“Yes. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be waiting to hear all about your evening,” she said, giving the two of them a sly smile. “Have fun.”

“Oh, no—”

“We will,” Brendan said, cutting Paige off. “Night, Tara,” he said, putting his hand on Paige’s arm and guiding her out of the office.

Once they got outside, Paige pulled her arm out of his hand and elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ouch,” he said, rubbing his side. “What was that for?”

“You know exactly what that was for. You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?”

“Having fun with what?” he asked as they made their way to his car.

“Letting people think we’re together.”

“Would that be so bad?” he asked as he smiled over his shoulder.

She stopped in her tracks as he continued to walk.

“You coming?” he called out. “Or are you going to walk?”

She caught up to him as he opened the passenger-side door of a black pickup truck. She eyed the high step carefully, trying to figure out how to get in. She reached up with one hand and, before she knew it, her other was in Brendan’s and he had a hand on her back helping her up.

“Thank you,” she said, turning to him when her butt was firmly in the seat.

The brief physical contact had shocked her, and she wanted to “accidentally” fall out of his truck so that he would have to help her in again.

“No problem,” he said, taking a step up onto the ledge of the truck and leaning in the cab toward her. His face was just a couple of inches from hers, his eyes focused intently on hers. “And Paige, it’s just a matter of time.”

“W-what is?”

He just grinned as he stepped down and shut the door.

Paige sat there with her mouth hanging open as Brendan rounded the truck. He opened the door and got in easily. He buckled his seat belt and started the engine, putting his hand on the back of her headrest as he looked behind himself and backed out.

Paige looked around, trying to focus on anything besides how close he was to her, or on what he’d just said. His truck was clean, no wrappers or sticky candy attached to the floor. There was a stack of papers stuck in the front right corner of the dashboard and a gym bag in the back seat. A black baseball hat with a stingray hung from the rearview mirror. There was a picture next to his speedometer of him in his teens. He was wearing a baseball uniform, which he easily filled out. Apparently he’d had muscles from an early age; they were just bigger now. His arms were stretched across the shoulders of a woman and a little girl. All three of them were wearing matching baseball hats and laughing as they looked at the camera.

“So,” Paige said as he made a right. “Are you really not going to tell me what you wanted in exchange?”

“Not a chance,” he said glancing over at her.

“Why not?”

“Because, if I show you the cards in my hand, I’ve got nothing left to bargain with. And with the way you need favors, I’m sure I’ll be able to get that offer back on the table.”

“When did we start playing poker?”

He just looked at her and grinned.

“Fine,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “But I’m not much of a gambling girl. So don’t hold your breath.”

“We’ll see.”

They pulled into King’s Auto and Paige jumped out of Brendan’s truck before he made it around to help her. She didn’t need him touching her again, because every time he did, all rational thought went out the window. She followed him into the office, where he pulled a folder off his desk and opened it.

“I just need you to sign here,” he said, putting the paper on the desk. “It just says you agree to pay the full amount for the work that was done.”

“What about the payment plan?” she asked, looking at him.

“What are you going to be able to do?”

“I can pay half with my first pay check, and half with the second.”

“That’s fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He nodded and grabbed a pen from one of many in a coffee cup.

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why are you doing this for me?” she asked. “I know this isn’t part of your normal billing options.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because when you offered it, Oliver looked at you like you were crazy.”

“He often looks at me like that,” he said, handing her the pen.

“Brendan?”

“I know what it’s like to have everything fall apart. Sometimes you just need a little time to get back on your feet,” he said, not elaborating.

There was a glimpse of pain in his eyes and she really wanted to ask him about it but refrained because she had no desire to discuss what had happened to her, or the credit card and student loan payments that she hadn’t been able to pay for months.

“Half with the first paycheck, the other half with the second,” he repeated.

“Thank you,” she said, genuinely grateful.

Chapter Four

One of the Gals

O
n Thursday, Paige walked into Adams and Family to loud hammering. The viewing room was in complete disorder as the pews had been shoved to one side of the room and the carpet was being ripped out.

Paige turned to see Tara leaning back against her desk, a cup of coffee in her hand, as she watched two men carry out a piece of rolled-up carpet.

“What’s going on?” Paige asked.

“Mr. Adams has been here since six this morning and so have all of these men. Apparently, the little renovation in your office has inspired him,” Tara said, handing Paige a steaming cup of coffee that had been sitting on her desk.

“Thank you,” Paige said, dropping her purse onto a chair and grabbing the cup. She leaned against the desk next to Tara and watched the chaos ensue.

“I’m hoping the wallpaper is next,” Tara said, pointing to the walls.

“You don’t like that either?” Paige asked, taking a sip of her coffee that Tara had fixed perfectly the way she liked it. Paige had to give her credit, the woman was observant.

“God no,” she said, shaking her head dramatically. “This place has needed a makeover for decades. And you were just the thing to put a bug up Mr. Adams’s butt.”

Paige inhaled her coffee and started choking.

Bad visual. Bad, bad visual.

“You okay?” Tara asked, slapping her on the back.

“I will be.” Paige coughed, eyes streaming.

“So what’s going on with you and Brendan?” Tara asked, raising her perfectly plucked eyebrows.

“Nothing,” Paige said a little too quickly, her voice going up an octave. She was lucky she hadn’t taken another sip; otherwise she would have started choking again.

“Right,” Tara said slowly.

“There isn’t. He’s just helped me out with my car a couple of times.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Paige looked down to her coffee cup, tracing the purple rim with her fingertip. She was trying not to debate the mystery that was Brendan King, but it was useless. He’d told her that it was just a matter of time.
What
was just a matter of time was still uncertain, but Paige had a feeling that she knew exactly what that
what
was, and it scared the crap out of her.

“Oh no,” Tara whispered.

“What?” Paige asked, looking up to see a clearly infuriated Verna advancing on them.

“You did this,” Verna screamed above the banging, pointing a gnarled bony finger at Paige. “You come in here and disrupt
everything
with your radical ideas. I’ve got my eye on you,” she said, squinting at Paige before she stormed out of the room.

“What was that?” Paige asked, looking over at Tara, who was laughing so hard she was snorting.

“I’ve never seen her get so worked up,” Tara said, wiping the tears from under her eyes.

“What’s so radical about getting rid of carpet?” Paige asked, confused.

Tara snorted again and Paige couldn’t help but start laughing too.

“I should get to work,” Paige said, standing up and grabbing her purse. “Thanks again,” she said, holding up her coffee cup and walking toward the door.

“Hold up,” Tara said before she had left. “We’re going to go to lunch today. The other girls are dying to meet you.”

“What other girls?”

“The other girls who do the side jobs around here. We’ll leave at one.”

“Alright.” Paige nodded and headed up the stairs.

*  *  *

Four hours later, Paige was taking pictures that she’d found on the Internet and placing them into the tribute program. She wanted to see how easy it was to replace the stock pictures. She set up a memorial slide with pictures from
The Flintstones
. Fred had died in a tragic hang-gliding accident involving a pterodactyl.