Chapter 39 Mr. Carnegie, Unassuming yet Handsome
"What are you doing?"
The unexpected voice startled Paige, already feeling guilty, and she spun around.
Raymond sat in his wheelchair, having evidently navigated his own way up the elevator.
Paige stepped forward awkwardly like a child caught in the act by a parent, not sure whether to offer an explanation. Without noticing the abrupt distance between her and Raymond's wheelchair, she stumbled after just one step, tripping over it.
She was truly thrown off balance, and there was no time to recover. Paige tilted forward, plummeting towards Raymond.
In her mind, she had a plan; she could brace herself against Raymond's wheelchair and perhaps execute a backward flip to steady herself.
But then, how would she explain her skills to her ordinary husband?
Paige immediately squashed the thought, only to find herself toppling right into Raymond's arms.
In that frozen moment, Paige was mortified; she wished she could just disappear in the thin air.
But as her hands clung to Raymond's shoulders, a strange sense of familiarity surged over the embarrassment.
The breadth of his shoulders, the embrace-like posture... How could it feel so familiar?
It was a physical memory that resonated deep within her; a muscle memory.
Over the past five years, Paige had honed her skills through relentless self-discipline. Her muscle memory was formidable.
Just yesterday, someone at the café had steadied her with a similar shoulder width and firmness.
Out of sheer need for confirmation, Paige measured Raymond's shoulders with her hands. The more she compared, the more uncanny the resemblance...
Raymond's eyebrows knotted into a vee. He clearly felt Paige tighten her grip on his arm.
A tumble into his arms? Forgivable. But this intentional clinging...
Was she flirting?
Was this her idea of fun?
To reject marital intimacy, yet to tease so deliberately?
This deceitful woman... She deserved every bit of his wrath!
Even after witnessing her pick the lock of that secret room through his security cameras, even with the seething furry he harbored all day, he found her unexpectedly enchanting now, soft, warm, and fragranced with a mix of tobacco and fruit.
Raymond was a man; a man who had abstained for years, but now on the brink of indulgence, his desires surged.
Before his body could betray him, Raymond spoke with an edge of accusation, "Did you smoke?"
Paige, still piecing together her physical memories, was caught off-guard and red-handed...
She braced her hands on Raymond's chest, intent on pushing herself up.
He swallowed hard, his frown deepening as he felt the unexpected warmth from his body, even through the barrier of clothing.
Paige finally rose to her feet, while Raymond discretely adjusted the throw blanket over his legs, comfortably concealing any telltale signs she could have noticed.
She was a rebel by nature, troublesome and defiant. Jailed and branded with accusations, she embraced vices like smoking, drinking, and brawling, picking up more than her share of bad habits.
She could have unleased all of her rage on Northwind, dominating its summit and causing mayhem across the town, but she restrained herself for her mother and for the kind and ordinary, good-looking Raymond that she stumbled upon.
Paige stood still, noticeably tense, "I've used mouthwash and breath spray. Can you still smell it?"
Raymond’s face darkened, his brows furrowing so deeply that they formed a frown that wouldn’t flatten out.
Raymond snapped, "Either quit smoking or stay ten feet away from me!"
Paige retorted, "The house is too small for ten feet!"
Raymond, face still grim, ignored Paige’s attempt at humor and wheeled himself to open the door, with Paige following into the house behind him.
Although Paige didn't say a word, she made a mental note; Raymond truly despised the smell of cigarettes. From now on, she had to time her smoking so that she wouldn't reek of it when she came home. High-end perfumes weren't a match for her current status either.
Even if Raymond was no more than a regular handsome guy, he was employed by a big corporation, had female colleagues, and was well-cultured. She couldn't withstand cheap scents, and how could she explain any lavish spending on luxury perfumes to Raymond? She had to maintain her ordinary façade, bare-faced and being a maid by day.
Knowing how much Raymond detested the smoke, Paige was ready to take a shower first.
But Raymond beat her to it, "I’m showering first tonight."
He needed that cold shower more than anything, to cool off. The thought of her picking the lock of his secret room again meant there was no way he could broach the subject of marital intimacy that night.
With no other option, a cold shower was the quickest way to calm the unwelcome heat rising in him.
Locked out of the bathroom, Paige mumbled like the regular wife she pretended to be, "Looks like the overtime wore you out today. Good; the sooner you shower, the sooner you can rest."
Under the cold shower, Raymond closed his eyes, letting the water cascade down his sharply defined cheeks, jawline, and throat, continuing over his sculpted chest and defined abs...
Except for an area on his chest that felt warm from ‘the touch’, the cool water's coolness crept into every inch of his flesh, enveloping him in a pleasant, refreshing sensation. It felt as though that lingering heat carried a piercing quality, reaching straight to his heart.
Yet, his mind was playing out scenes like a blockbuster, from Paige collapsing onto him to her deftly picking the lock with a small, black hair clip.
Raymond, a man renowned for his decisive ruthlessness, found himself at a loss for how to deal with her at the moment.
In the sanctity of his bathroom, Raymond wrestled with how to discourage Paige from the very thought of picking his room lock.
Meanwhile, Paige, having securely locked her room door, drew from her bag the lock-picking tools she’d purchased that day. She hadn’t yet familiarized herself with the tool which might require some adjustments to feel just right in her hands.
If given the chance tomorrow, she was determined to crack open that door and rummage through the secrets it guarded. After meticulous scouring, she ruled out every other corner of the villa, all except for that one mysterious room.
No missteps were allowed; the entrance to the concealed space was within that room.
As Paige focused on her lock-picking venture, her casually tossed phone on the bed suddenly buzzed...
