A Scandalous Attraction

Chapter Ten Part 11

"Make love, not love, love!" She clarified, feeling like he had just kicked her in the gut. The special warm glow which had enveloped her all evening fell away. Faking a yawn. She pretended to be tired. "Blake, I think we should call it a night, maybe we can do this some other time, but not now." She said feeling a strange inclination to hurt him the way she was hurting now.

His reaction to her mention of the word 'love' made her realise he would never be able to love her and that hurt her in a way which was unimaginable.

He stared at her for a long moment. "Goodnight Paige." He muttered then turned and left. Paige remained standing in the hall feeling like she had just been bulldozed.

Feeling tired and frustrated, Paige got dressed for work the next morning. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. Seeing Blake whilst harbouring a secret yearning to be loved by him was tearing her apart, but she couldn't afford to leave her job, not if she wanted to give her aunt the best care possible. The only way she could cope being at work with Blake was to try and stay out of his way as much as possible.

Hearing a knock on her front door Paige went to answer it, a crazy part of her hoped it was Blake.

"Miss Chadwick? Mr Deveraux would like me to drive you to work this morning." He stated.

Paige's eyes opened wide. Blake must have remembered she'd left her car in the office car park. She had planned on getting a taxi, there had been no need for him to send his driver for her. Instead of feeling gracious, she smiled at the driver. "I'm so sorry Mr Deveraux has wasted your time, could you please tell Mr Deveraux that I shall be taking a taxi into work this morning. Thank you." She said politely then watched him give her an uncomfortable look before hesitantly walking away.

The fact that he had gone to all that trouble to find out how to cheer her up then sending a car for her intensified her feelings for him but that didn't mean she was going to take any notice of them, she would fight her feelings with all the strength she possessed.

Paige let herself into her office and threw herself into work with one eye on the door half expecting Blake to walk in and demand why she hadn't accepted his offer of a lift. But he didn't. After what seemed like hours Paige glanced at her watch. It was late! Most of the employees had probably gone home! She hadn't even had lunch that's how engrossed she had been in her work, which was a good thing, at least it had temporarily taken her mind off Blake.

Collecting the documents which needed to be passed by Blake she placed them into an envelope and marked them for his attention then headed for his secretary's desk, she could have the pleasure of passing them onto him, the less she saw of Blake the better.

Paige frowned when she reached his office, there was no one at the reception desk. His secretary must have gone home. Darn! The papers were confidential and she couldn't just leave them on the desk. Maybe Blake had gone home, too. She could leave them in his office, they'd be safe there.

Taking in a deep breath she walked up to his door and gave a brief knock, hoping he wasn't in.

"Come in!" A deep voice barked from inside.

He was a workaholic, she should have guessed he would still be here and to make matters worse he didn't sound as though he was in a very good mood. Paige had no choice but to go in and hand him the documents.

Blake looked up from his computer the moment she entered, his hands paused on the keyboard. "Paige? What are you still doing here?" He asked curtly, looking tired and irate. There was a shadow of a stubble on his strong jaw. He looked as though he had barely slept. Paige fought against the urge to walk up to him and smooth away the frown that creased his forehead. "Well?" he demanded "Did you want something? Or are you going to stand there gawping?" He asked roughly.