“Or one of us will step in,” Olive said. “But in any event, I think you should set some boundaries for yourself with Sean.”
“Good idea,” she agreed. What should the ground rules be? Well, first and foremost, no lies. And she also needed to know what kind of man the father of her child was. The headlines and his reputation didn’t really paint a good picture of the type of guy she wanted to raise a baby with. Yet Jack had been different. A quiet, honest man...which she now knew was a lie. She needed to know who Sean O’Neillreallywas beyond the public persona and if she could trust him to co-parent her child with her.
Sean had no real idea of what Paisley wanted from him. He thought maybe he should do the humble thing and try to win her forgiveness. Except he’d never been humble. And the more he tried to come up with ideas that fit that way of thinking, the more he realized that it wasn’t going to work. He wasn’t going to be all “sorry, ma’am”—that wasn’t who he was.
He’d screwed up and he knew it. He couldn’t change it, and even if he could, he doubted he would have. He had liked the quiet life he’d had with Paisley. It had kind of felt like playing house, and as a man who’d always been moving on to the next big thing, it had been a nice reprieve.
But it was over. He wasn’t that simple man he’d been portraying and it was time for Paisley to meet therealSean.
To that end, he’d demanded her company do the press and promotional events for the movie and he’d gotten a text from his agent overnight confirming she’d accepted.
That made him realize that boldness was the only way to go with this woman. Sean took care getting dressed for the meeting with her. He’d shaved because he knew that it would accentuate his strong jawline. And he’d styled his hair the way he usually did when he wasn’t filming, with some extra product to create a look that suggested he was tousled, but in the best way. As for his attire, he’d pulled out a Hugo Boss suit that he’d received when he’d done a photo shoot with them back in October, when he’d told Paisley he’d been visiting his sick grandmother.
To be honest, when he looked back on his actions, he realized that he had known she wasn’t going to just seamlessly slide back into his Hollywood life. But he did wish he’d been able to break it to her himself.
He took a last look in the mirror and knew he had dressed to woo her as he strode out of his hotel suite. He had his team looking for a house for him to rent near Paisley so that he could move out of the hotel. Part of him wanted to get her to come back to Hollywood with him, but he knew better than to ask. At least right now.
Sean’s car was waiting and he walked through the lobby slowly, aware of the many stares that were on him. He smiled at fans, stopped to sign autographs and pose for selfies, then he was in the car and on his way to Paisley’s office. Michigan Avenue was decorated for the holidays and though he usually did his best to stay busy so he didn’t have to face the truth that he was alone, this year he felt like his world had sort of crashed into Paisley’s.
Normally he wouldn’t have done all this holiday-themed press, but he wanted Paisley and doing press with her company was the only way he could make her talk to him. And while he wasn’t sure if they had anything that would last, he needed to be back in control of their relationship and he wasn’t going to settle for anything less.
The driver pulled up in front of the building where her offices were and Sean waited for him to open the door, then got out and let the man know he’d text when he was ready to be picked up. He entered the building, signed in and got on the elevator to go up to her office. A feminine hand stopped the doors from closing and Paisley stepped on, a friendly smile on her face as she looked up. It dropped the moment she realized he was the passenger.
He reached around her to hit the button to close the elevator door and then turned to face her. The flowery scent of her perfume surrounded him and he couldn’t stop staring at her mouth. It felt like it had been months since he’d held her in his arms.
They were alone for the first time since that paparazzo had ambushed him and Sean wanted a chance to win back some of the trust he’d lost by not getting to tell her the truth. He knew she was still upset with him.
That made perfect sense, but he wanted her back. He couldn’t say if it was emotion driving him, but he suspected it was lust. He knew that he connected with her through their bodies and right now his instinct was to get her back into bed so he could start to make this right.
“I hear we are going to be working together,” he murmured.
“We are. I didn’t realize you were going to be here. I think we have a Zoom meeting set up—”
“We do,” he said. “But I figured it’d be silly for me to do it from my hotel when your office was close.”
“Next time please check with me first,” she said primly, pulling her red wool coat closer around her.
“I texted you.”
“Oh. That’s right. I guess put ‘work’ in the message heading so I’ll know to read it.”
She was playing it cool and he didn’t blame her at all. He got it. But he wasn’t going to settle for that. He hit the elevator’s stop button and turned to face her.
“Let’s clear the air. I’m sorry. I know I’ve already said that, but I want to make this right,” he said.
“You can’t.”
He frowned at her. “Not if you aren’t going to let go of your pride.”
“Pride?You lied to me for months!”
“I did. But I’m not now and eventually you’re going to have to let it go,” he said gently. “I mean, you can treat me the way we both know I deserve, or you can be the bigger person and let it go.”
“The bigger person? I don’t want to be. You’re right. I am going to have to move on, but right now—”
She broke off and then reached around him, hitting the button to make the elevator car go again.
“‘Right now’ what?” he asked as the doors opened on her floor and he gestured for her to step off first.