CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Paige spent the next two nights tossing and turning on the lonely expanse of mattress and cursing Gannon King and his somniferous body. Her only joy came from seeing him exhausted and pissed off on set. At least she wasn’t the only one suffering.
The show’s teaser had been viewed over one million times, cementing to the network that the subplot of a rocky romance between Gannon and Paige was ratings gold.
She spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about what he’d said about Meeghan. Was it true? Was there really no relationship there? Why was Meeghan so committed to pretending?
Tensions were already running high on set. It was the last day before the family came home, and there were fifty million things to do and zero time to do them. Adding Paige and Gannon’s shitty moods to the mix didn’t help. People were avoiding them both like they were stomach flu carriers.
Gannon was a roiling temper tantrum waiting to happen while Paige played Ice Queen. Their first interview together for the show was so awkward and full of eye rolls that it took nearly half an hour until Andy let them go back to their separate corners. And then he called in the big guns.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Cat approached Paige in the replacement craft services tent where Paige was debating between an apple or a pack of jellybeans for a mid-afternoon snack. “It’s important, and I don’t know who else I can talk to.”
“Of course,” Paige said, dropping the jellybeans and running through all the possibilities of things that could worry Cat. Sometimes the things that threw her were… unexpected. They ran the gamut from seeing a stray cat that she thought was too skinny to men problems.
Cat yanked open the sliding door of the production van and ushered Paige inside in front of her.
“You’re not pregnant are you?” Paige asked over her shoulder.
“Pregnant?” Gannon’s voice cracked like a whip.
“What’s he doing in here?” Paige demanded, trying to turn around but finding her exit blocked by Cat. Cat yanked the door closed behind her.
“What’s your problem with me being here? My sister asked me to be here. What are you doing here?” Gannon snapped.
Cat clapped her hands. “Enough! Guys, I’ve been elected by the entire freaking crew to sit you both down and talk to you about how your preschool behavior is affecting our team.”
Paige closed her mouth with a snap. Gannon, the picture of apathy, kicked back in the one and only chair at the crowded workstation.
“Now, I say this with love, but you two need to get your heads out of your asses,” Cat said, hands on hips. “You’re driving us all nuts during what’s already been the toughest shoot we’ve ever had. You got hurt,” she said, pointing to Paige, “in front of all of us. And there were a few seconds when we thought we might have lost you.”
“I’m sorry—” Paige began, but Cat cut her off.
“We’re working on a house for a little girl who might not be here much longer to enjoy it if her treatment doesn’t take a turn for the better. Walking on eggshells around you two idiots is hurting our abilities to do our jobs.”
Gannon started to argue, but Cat pinned him down with a stare. “Uh-uh. I talk. You listen. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but I need you to fix it. We need you both on top of your game if we’re going to deliver the house that little girl deserves. So play nicely, work it out, and get your heads out of your asses!”
“Sorry,” Paige sulked.
Looking uncomfortable, Gannon avoided eye contact with both of them.
“Now, on a personal note. I know you two have feelings for each other. Shut up,” she ordered when they both opened their mouths. “I think you’d be idiots if you let that go just to rebel against the network and the gossip sites. Figure out what you want, go after it, and forget about the rest of it. Understand?”
Paige and Gannon nodded.
“Good. Now get your asses back to work so we can finish this house.” Cat wrenched open the door and stormed outside.
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They managed a tremulous truce for the rest of the afternoon, and the work pressed on despite the steady rain that began to fall. Paige pushed them all to get as much footage of the finishes as possible. Gannon installed the hardware to the new kitchen cabinetry while Cat jumped in to help with the tile backsplash. They shot Flynn connecting overhead light fixtures and Brunelli’s crew attaching the custom-built bookcases to the living room wall around the TV. Everyone else was painting every vertical surface in the house.
Furniture move-in needed to be shot in daylight, not downpour, so Paige and Andy juggled the schedule, which was, at this point, broken down into hour intervals. It was the final sprint when everyone was already tired and the amount of work to be completed seemed never-ending. The pizza shop in town sent over three-dozen pies to feed their army of crew and volunteers, and the delivery girl was welcomed like a hero. Paige gritted her teeth when Gannon obliged the girl with a smiling selfie before handing her a paintbrush.
By the time there was nothing left for her crew to do, it was after midnight the morning of reveal day. Paige surveyed the nearly finished house with tired pride. They’d pulled it off again. Providing move-in went well in the morning, they’d be filming the reveal and tour by early afternoon, and Carina and Malia would spend the night in their brand-new home.
And Paige and her crew would sleep like the dead before catching a flight out the next afternoon.
Upstairs, the carpet installers worked to finish the bedrooms while the tile guys wrapped up in Carina’s paradise of a master bathroom. Malia’s room had blush pink walls and a deep window seat filled with pink and purple cushions. Paige had gotten a peek at the bed that Gannon would assemble in the room tomorrow, and it was indeed fit for a princess.
She touched base one more time with the overnight Brunelli foreman who assured her she had everything under control and called it a night.
Soaked to the bone with not an ounce of energy left, Paige left a trail of wet clothes from the door of her hotel room to the bed. She didn’t bother turning on any of the lights except the one on the nightstand. There was no energy for a prolonged bedtime ritual. She triple checked her alarm. It was one in the morning now, and she had to be back on set no later than six-thirty. Ugh.
Paige flopped down on the mattress assured that tonight she was too tired to lay awake thinking, missing, yearning. She wouldn’t think about Cat’s lecture, wouldn’t think about Gannon’s claims that he and Meeghan had been a publicity stunt. Nope. Wouldn’t think about that at all.
She waited for sleep to come. And waited. But she was still wide-awake minutes later when she heard the knock at her door. She debated ignoring it.
“Paige, open up.” Gannon’s voice, tired and annoyed, came from the other side of her door.
Grumbling under her breath, Paige yanked a tank top on over her head and stumbled out of bed.
“What?” she demanded, opening the door a crack.
He pushed past her into the room, his wet t-shirt molded to his chest, his sneakers squishing with every step. Without bothering to look at her, he peeled off his shirt and let it land in a wet heap on the floor.
“What are you doing?” She was too tired to work her way up to anything other than mild irritation. He toed off his shoes and peeled off the damp, dirty socks.
He shoved his thumbs in the waistband of his shorts and looked at her, annoyed. “Do you want to sleep? I do. I’m not in the mood to spend one more night staring at the fucking ceiling wondering why I sleep so much better with you next to me.” He shucked off the shorts and stood defiantly before her in grey boxer briefs.
His body hypnotized her. It was Paige’s only explanation for why she didn’t stop him when he yanked the covers down and flopped onto the mattress.
What the hell was she supposed to do? He’d just charged in here and taken over her bed. If she climbed in, she’d be surrendering. But did she really have the energy to fight him?
Gannon held the covers up, and after a second of internal debate, Paige gave in. She climbed in, settling her back against his delicious warmth. His hard thighs and broad chest cradled her body, and she bit back a sigh. Whatever the reason, she slept better with Gannon King’s spectacular body wrapped around hers, and tonight she was too tired to question it.
Gannon slapped at the nightstand lamp until it turned off. Darkness settled once again, but this time, Paige knew sleep would come. He shifted behind her just enough to nuzzle against the top of her head.
“I can hear you smirking,” she yawned. “Don’t think we won’t discuss this tomorrow.”
“Shut up, princess.”