She shook her head and whispered, “I can’t do it again, Josh.” Standing, she headed for the adjoining bathroom.
Desperation gripped him, and he cut straight into her path, halting her. “Paige-”
She pressed her fingers to his lips, cutting off any further debate. Tears welled in her eyes, and her bottom lip quivered. “Don’t make this any harder than it already is, okay, Josh?”
She didn’t wait for an answer. Stepping around him, she sequestered herself in the bathroom. After a moment, the sound of running water filling the sunken tub broke the silence.
Sighing heavily, Josh dropped back onto the bed and scrubbed a hand over his face, mentally berating himself for being such an idiot. Christ, what a mess he’d made of things. He’d pushed Paige before she was ready, and although she’d yielded to his physical seduction, he now realized the emotional scars her husband had inflicted were a long way from healing.
After the hell Anthony put Paige through, Josh was seriously beginning to wonder if he had the right to make his own selfish demands.
WORK WAS her only refuge. Paige welcomed the afternoon diversion of helping Liz unpack a new shipment of spring outfits, accessories and lingerie and putting them on display. Too soon, Josh would arrive to whish her back to the beach house where she’d have to endure another long, tense evening of polite talk with a man she’d never before had any trouble conversing with-until her life had been turned upside down.
Between Liz’s surveillance at the boutique, and Josh shadowing her the rest of the time, she was feeling cooped up and boxed in. If she wanted solitude, she escaped to the bathroom, and even then she’d learned i she exceeded the paranoid cops’ time limit, they rapped on the door for a response, shattering the private moment.
Liz accompanied her to lunch every day, and to run errands and do the banking. The woman was never more than a scream away, and though she had a lively personality and appeared slender and unsubstantial beneath the facade, Liz was one tough officer. Per Josh’s instructions, during lulls in business Liz had taken Paige into the office and taught her basic self-defense maneuvers. Paige had been awed by Liz’s strength and agility, and the variety of ways a woman could disable a man if the need arose.
Ultimately, Paige couldn’t wait to get this entire mess over with. Couldn’t wait to resume a normal life. And in that vein, she’d called her sister, Valerie, earlier tha morning to touch bases and chat, needing that familia connection she’d missed so much the past three years While she couldn’t give her sibling an exact day for he homecoming, she’d promised Valerie she’d be return- ing to Connecticut soon. Not wanting to worry her sis- ter, or her parents, she refrained from mentioning he current predicament, or the danger her life was in.
“Wow, would you take a look at this stuff?” Liz exclaimed excitedly as she pulled a froth of silk and lace from a box she’d just opened. Satiny jeweled tones in amethyst, emerald, sapphire and ruby shimmered beneath the overhead lights and slid through her fingers like quicksilver. “These nightgowns are gorgeous, and so sexy! How am I going to choose just one color?”
Paige laughed, enjoying Liz’s enthusiasm, and the diversion from her thoughts. It hadn’t taken long for Paige to realize that Liz was a clotheshorse at heart, and her current assignment allowed her to indulge the habit on a daily basis. “Well, you could always buy one of each.”
“You’re absolutely no help to my addiction,” she complained good-naturedly. Holding up a sapphire gown to her slim figure, she gazed thoughtfully at her reflection in the mirror, located in the back storeroom, where they tagged merchandise before putting it out on the floor. “Before this case is over, I’m going to have to sign my month’s salary over to you.”
Paige smiled as she attached price tags to the lingerie. “But you’re going to look absolutely fabulous.” And at m excellent price, too, since Paige had offered Liz the employee thirty-percent discount as compensation for actually working at the boutique while she was on assignment. Paige wanted to do something for the other woman, who’d proved her worth as an employee, as well as a guardian, and the savings seemed to thrill Liz.
“Oh, and I just have to have one of these,” she said, putting aside a teddy designed in cream satin and french lace. Her blue eyes twinkled merrily. “There’s nothing that feels sexier than silk and lace against your skin or beneath your clothes. And my boyfriend enjoys the surprise, too,” she added with a wink.
“Looks like he’s got quite a few surprises coming, Paige teased.
Liz laughed and agreed. Picking up a gown Paig had tagged, she slipped it onto a matching satin hange and adjusted the thin straps. “Considering you get first pick at everything, I’ll just bet you have a ton of this stuff at home, don’t you?”
“Some,” she admitted, though she’d never receive the dual enjoyment Liz boasted.
“Well, with your auburn hair and great figure, this one would look fantastic on you.”
Paige eyed the calf-length nightgown Liz had retrieved from another shipment of lingerie. Emerald satin made up the skirt, but the bodice was sheer black lace, which matched the trim edging the thigh-high slip. “Uh, that one is a little risqué for me.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “That’s complete nonsense. I wearing this makes you feel good, then there’s nothing indecent about it.”
Paige noticed that Liz deliberately hung the gown on an empty rack next to the mirror, away from the other priced merchandise ready to be displayed in the boutique. Not wanting to make a fuss or elaborate on the issue, she made no comment. Later, she’d slip the gown back with the others.
They worked companionably for the next hour tagging the stock while Pam handled the front end of the store and the steady stream of Friday-afternoon customers. Paige instructed Liz where she wanted the merchandise, and the other woman scooped up an armful of clothes and headed out of the storeroom to hang the garments. While she was gone, Paige picked up the sexy, shimmery gown Liz had put aside, intending to put it back into the inventory.
Despite her remark about this piece of lingerie being too risqué for her, she gave in to temptation and lifted the vibrant gown to her figure, holding it snugly against her body with an arm across her waist. She imagined the rich, cool texture of the material sliding across her bare skin, the sensual rasp of black lace across her nipples… imagined feeling sexy, desirable, excited.
She drew a deep, shuddering breath. Lord knew she’d tried enticing Anthony with provocative lingerie, but he’d been so distracted and distant after their first year of marriage that all her attempts at seduction had failed to stir his interest. Those nights ended with her in bed alone, hurt and angry, while Anthony roamed restlessly through the house. When he had made love to her, it had been quick and emotionless, and she’d accommodated him out of duty, since Anthony gave little time and effort to her pleasure. And then he’d stopped touching her altogether. Tantalizing nightgowns were even less effective when divorce loomed on the horizon.
Her eyes fluttered closed, and she automatically thought about Josh, the way his hands caressed her body so lovingly, making her feel worshiped and incredibly voluptuous. The way his mouth, the stroke of his tongue, could ignite flash fires of need within her until it was all she could do not to go up in flames.
She’d never burned like that for Anthony, had never begged him to touch her, kiss her the way she’d shamelessly begged Josh. Just remembering how effortlessly she’d come undone for him made a delicious heat pool in her belly and brought a tingling flush to her skin.
“Very nice,” a rich male voice murmured from behind her.