Tempted by Her Boss (18 page)

“Definitely. In fact, look at this.”
 

She went to him, thrusting the phone in front of his face, and he glanced down quickly, doing a double take when he realized who was in the picture. He grabbed the phone from her, staring at the screen. “Well, no shit.”

“Don’t you ‘no shit’ me!” She smacked him on the arm, earning a loud
ow
from her husband. “What is that bitch doing with him?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Paul rubbed his arm, his bagel forgotten. “Though I did run into her at a restaurant about a month ago and I think she was there, with that guy. Well, and with his kid.”

“What restaurant? When? Why didn’t you tell me you saw her?” Shit, the man was going to drive her crazy with his secret-keeping.

And he did it on purpose, as if he wanted to make her crazy.

It was working.

“I was at a business dinner meeting, I can’t even remember with who.” He averted his gaze, as he was wont to do when he lied. The bastard. “I know she was with a little kid because I saw her walk him to the bathroom. And I’m almost positive she was with that guy in the picture, plus a few other people.” Paul snapped his fingers, as he had a major realization. “I bet she’s his nanny.”

“What’s he doing taking his nanny to a gala? Is he that hard up for a date?” she sneered, snatching the phone out of her husband’s hand so she could stare at the picture yet again.

If she could, she would toss her phone and watch it shatter into a million pieces on the costly Italian tiled floor. But she wasn’t about to destroy her very expensive phone over a stupid whore bitch man-stealer.

“I guess she can’t help herself. Maybe she finds handsome fathers attractive. Maybe he seduced her.” Paul shrugged.

“You son of a bitch.” Carolyn punched him in the arm again, disgusted by his observation. Leaving the kitchen, ignoring Paul’s shouted complaints, she scrolled through the page of pictures again, locating a contact number in the sidebar of the webpage.

Carolyn tapped it, waiting for her phone to process the call. “Hello? Yes, I just saw the pictures you have on your site of Matteo Renaldi and his mystery date? Well, I might have some very interesting information for you regarding the woman he took with him last night…”

“What is this?”

Paige glanced up from the magazine she was looking at to find Matteo standing over her, a trashy tabloid newspaper clutched in his hand. She frowned. When had he come home? It was still late afternoon, Matty was peacefully playing in his room while she sat on the couch and flipped through a magazine for a bit. “What is what?”

“This…filth in this article.” He held it out to her and she took it from him, her eyes widening when she saw the headline.

Renaldi’s Nanny Girlfriend’s Secret Past!

Her heart dropped to her toes and she glanced up at Matteo again, saw that his jaw was clenched, his eyes dark and full of fury. “I—I don’t know what this is.”

He flicked his chin at the newspaper in her hands. “Read it.”

She did so, her eyes skimming the article. It went on about her being Matteo’s new love, a mystery woman he refused to discuss when they’d been at the gala two nights ago.

Her frown deepened. So had the media asked about her and he refused to discuss her? That hurt more than she cared to admit.

The article went on to talk about how a source had contacted them and let them in on her secret past. That she had been involved in a heated affair with her previous employer and their involvement was the reason she’d been fired. The last paragraph alluded to the fact that she appeared to be repeating history.

God.
She swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat. She thought she might throw up.

“Is it true?” Matteo’s growling voice broke through her thoughts.

Paige glanced up at him. His anger was more than apparent. He looked ready to tear someone apart. And for one scary moment, she wondered if that might be her. “I can’t believe you have to ask.” His doubt dumbfounded her.

Hurt her.

“Tell me, Paige. I have a lot on the line here. My family has been through enough scandal already. I don’t need to add to it.” He ran a hand through his hair, a thoroughly frustrated gesture. “I can’t put my son through this sort of thing again, you know. His own mother had been neglectful, careless. The stories that surround her death to this day make her sound like a lousy excuse for a human being. It hurts me to know that someday Matty will read those articles and discover the truth.”

He’d just implied he believed his poor dead wife was a lousy human being. Would he someday think the same of her? All because of a bunch of lies printed in a newspaper?

She knew he had to protect his son. She knew that he had to protect his family and the business too. But what about her? Where did she fit into all this? He’d only declared his love for her a few nights ago. Were his words nothing but a bunch of lies? “I didn’t have an affair with my former boss.”

He studied her and she noted the tick in his jaw, the irritation in his eyes not lessening in the slightest. “There are a lot of details in this article. Intimate details about your involvement with—him.”

“None of it’s true.” She knew this with absolute certainty because she’d lived it. After months of making suggestive comments and inappropriate touching, Paul Leonard had finally lost it and attacked her. He’d slipped his hand down her pants and the other hand up her shirt, his disgusting mouth meshing against hers for the briefest second as she struggled and pushed him away with all the strength she could muster.

At that very inopportune moment, his wife walked in, catching them in a seeming embrace. Paige had denied the woman’s accusations. Paul had merely hung his head and took the verbal abuse, not bothering to argue, which infuriated Paige to no end.

She hadn’t been a willing participant in his callous attack. And she certainly hadn’t asked for it. There had been no flirting like Carolyn had accused and she definitely hadn’t carried on with the disgusting man for months in a sordid affair, as it was implied in the article.

Devastation crashed through her and she pressed her lips together, desperate not to cry. She was the innocent victim in all of this yet she was the one painted to look like a complete whore for all the world to see.

The entire
world
. That realization stunned her breathless, but Matteo didn’t seem willing to console.

More like willing to accuse.

“There are other articles online that are filled with speculation, all in the same vein as this one. All of them trying to paint you and me in a terrible light, as if our relationship is a fraud and you’re nothing but a gold-digging bitch.” She flinched at his choice of words and he immediately looked contrite. “I’m sorry. I’m not the one who said it—whoever the original source is did. This doesn’t look good, Paige. The press is having a field day with this. Renaldi’s name is getting splashed through the mud.”

Right, and forget about her name and reputation, since it didn’t matter? God, he was being so callous, so cruel. “I don’t know what to say. Do you want my apology? Is that what you’re looking for? Because I have nothing to apologize over—I didn’t do what they’re accusing me of,” she said firmly. “I wouldn’t do that. Ever.”

“So it definitely isn’t true, then.” His voice was calm, the fire in his eyes anything but.

How dare you?
she wanted to yell at him. How could he even think she would have an affair with her former boss? She’d told him the circumstances. Rather vaguely, but still.

Of course, she was having an affair with her
current
boss, so…

“Is this because of what’s happening between us?” She tossed the tabloid off her lap onto the couch and stood, glaring at him. “Do you believe I became involved with my old boss too, because of how easily I fell for you? That this is some sort of pattern for me? Do you really think our relationship is that meaningless?”

“Paige…”

“No, answer me,” she interrupted. “Do you really think that low of me, Matteo? That I’m some sort of dumb slut who falls under the spell of her latest magnetic boss and spreads her legs for him at any given notice?”

“Stop talking like that,” he snapped, his voice firm. “And don’t put words in my mouth.”

“You certainly seemed quick to believe the lies. Not that I can blame you, what with what’s happened between us.” She tried her best to be tough, angry, but inside she was hurting. Falling apart completely. She’d told this man she loved him a few nights ago and he said he loved her. She hadn’t been lying. She
did
love him.

And then he walked into the living room and destroyed all that love with a few choice words and unspoken implications.

“I have to be careful,” he said, his voice low, his gaze imploring. “After everything that my family has endured these last few years, any hint of scandal hurts us tremendously, and it hurts the business.”

“I completely understand. I’m more trouble than I’m worth. Perhaps I should go.” She lifted her chin and started to walk past him, but he grabbed her by her upper arm, stopping her.

“I don’t want you to go,” he whispered. “I want you to explain to me what happened between you and that man. I want to know why they’re saying this all over the media and who could’ve spread such lies about you.”

“That you make me explain myself is bad enough. Why can’t you just accept my word as the truth?” She glared at him, felt the tears starting to form in her eyes, and she blinked them away. She refused to cry. Refused. “It didn’t happen. My former boss pushed himself on me and I was struggling to get away when his wife walked in and saw us. Rather than agree with me when I told her he attacked me, he never said a word. Let her accuse me of being a slut and a whore who threw herself at her husband and then she fired me.”

“Shit,” he muttered, loosening his grip on her. His expression softened. “I’m sorry, Paige.”

Paige jerked away from his touch. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. What’s done is done. I thought I’d moved on and put it behind me, but apparently my scandalous past will follow me wherever I go.”

“Perhaps we should do a press release denying the accusations…” he started, but she cut him off.

“No. I refuse to have to explain myself. I’d rather let the story die.” If they kept talking about it, everything would become worse. She knew Carolyn Leonard was behind this. And she didn’t want to give that woman the satisfaction of letting her know it bothered her.

“But what if the story doesn’t die? What if it grows and gets worse?”

His complete lack of faith in her was so disappointing, she didn’t know how to express herself. Words failed her. She needed his support, not his doubt and his worry.

She could understand where he came from too. He had much to protect, an entire company and his family’s image. Anything said detrimentally could destroy it, piece by piece. Lies hurt just as much as truths. And Matteo, along with his family, had endured enough scandal these last few years to last two lifetimes.

Her story only added to the mess. It was best if she distanced herself. Now.

Without another word, she started for her bedroom, ignoring Matteo as he called her name, increasing her steps until she came to her room and darted inside, slamming the door behind her. Reaching behind her neck, she undid the clasp of the necklace she wore, the diamond pendant and delicate gold chain spilling into her palm. She studied it for a moment, entranced with the stone’s brilliance. The necklace, the gesture, it had meant everything to her that night.

Now it meant nothing.

She went to her dresser and set the necklace on top. No way could she keep it. It didn’t belong to her any longer. Just like she didn’t belong to Matteo any longer.

The tears started. An endless waterfall of them coming so fast she could hardly see. This was it. She was done here, at the Renaldi home, in Manhattan, in all of New York City. She should go back home, where it was safe and boring and nothing horrible or wondrous could ever happen to her again.

Frustration filled Matteo to his absolute boiling point. Paige had been locked away in her bedroom for over an hour and refused to acknowledge him when he pounded on the door, bellowed her name, demanded that she come out and talk to him.

He could just barge into her room. He’d done it before. But something told him he needed to respect her boundaries this evening. She was upset, taken to her very limits, and he was afraid she might break completely if pushed too far.

Seeing her so upset broke his heart, broke his soul. He didn’t know how to fix this problem he created. It wasn’t that he hadn’t believed her, he just needed to get to the truth. The article had devastated him and he’d immediately thought of Matty. His sister and his brothers and his mother, all the hardship and heartache they’d all endured since the death of their father and the subsequent scandal that followed when it was discovered that Stasia wasn’t a blood Renaldi after all, but a Worth.

He’d quite honestly freaked the hell out. And handled Paige all wrong. Clearly she’d been the victim of a near sexual assault. Like an asshole, he’d implied she’d actually been involved with the monster that had been her former boss.