Tempted by Her Boss

“Do you have a resume, Miss Stewart?” she asked when she finished listing everything.

Paige’s head spun. This was all happening so fast. “I do.” A few leftover from when she’d had some printed after losing her job with the Leonards, so she could attach them to applications. “It’s not current, though.”

“Can you send me a current one, please? I know you filled out the application, but we always like to have a resume on file.”

“Of course I can.” Could she? She had no access to a computer—she managed most of her online needs on her smartphone.

Well, she could always sneak into Matteo’s office and use his computer…

But that would be so wrong.

The woman gave Paige her email address before they ended the call. Paige cradled her cell in the palm of her hand, contemplating the best way to go about this. She’d received exactly what she wished for—an out. Leaving for another job would be a quick way to remove herself from the Renaldi household for good. Though she knew Matteo would no doubt be incredibly angry with her, she had no choice. She would miss Matty, Stasia, the apartment, everything here. The chance the Renaldi family gave her, how welcome they’d made her feel. They were wonderful, good people, every one of them.

Especially Matteo.

And Matty. Her heart would break when she told him goodbye.

But she had to leave. Her heart was cracking with every day that passed. She was near her breaking point, and being close to the man she was falling in love with day in and day out wore on both her emotions and her sanity.

Before she had a complete nervous breakdown, she needed to make her escape. It was for her own good—and Matteo’s.

Slipping her phone into her front pocket, she walked through the apartment, her mind awhirl with her plan. Matteo and Matty would be gone for at least an hour still, maybe a little longer. She’d heard Matteo discuss his plans for the day with his son and their afternoon together was action packed. Perfect, considering what she was about to do. She needed all the time she could get before they returned.

Nerves eating at her insides, she stood at the threshold of Matteo’s office, peeking within. The room was big, filled with dark, large furniture and a giant iMac computer sat on the desk, its sleek silver and black lines beautiful in its simplicity. She slipped inside the room, the hushed quiet making her uneasy as she settled into the rolling chair and scooted up to the desk.

The chair and the room smelled like Matteo. Closing her eyes, she breathed deep, inhaling his clean, soapy scent. The chair was expensive and comfortable, molding to the contours of her body as if it were made for her, and she opened her eyes, glanced about the room that her boss spent many an hour in when he wasn’t at the office.

It suited him. The colors were rich and inviting, the furniture bold and dark. Everything was neatly organized, not a mess or pile of papers in sight, and with a little sigh she reached out, grasped hold of the mouse and slid it across the leather pad to turn on the computer.

The monitor flickered to life, revealing a small box where she needed to enter a password.

Paige frowned. Crap. She didn’t know what his password could be. And using his computer for her personal use—personal use going against her boss in every way possible—was starting to feel more and more like a total invasion of privacy…

Her fingers poised over the keyboard, she typed in Matty’s name. No go. Matty’s name with his birthdate at the end. That didn’t work either. She tried a handful of variations as a password without any success, getting more and more frustrated every time the computer denied her access. Until she finally decided to be stupid and typed in Paige1 just for the hell of it.

The ridiculous password worked.

Stunned, she sat there for a moment, absorbing the tiny revelation as she gripped the mouse with tight fingers. He’d used her name as his password. She shouldn’t find any sort of meaning into it whatsoever. But still…

There was no time to wonder over it now. She quickly opened up a Word document, staring at the blank page on the monitor when she realized she didn’t have her old resume with her. Cursing her idiocy, she ran to her room and snatched it up, settled back behind the desk and started putting together her new resume as fast as she could.

Her fingers flying over the keyboard, her gaze kept straying to the clock, hoping against hope she had enough time to finish the resume before they came home. She needed this opportunity, and she needed to make it happen quick. No matter how angry Matteo would be at her leaving so abruptly, he would understand. She knew it. He had to realize where she was coming from when it came to the two of them and how no matter what they just didn’t work. Being near him was torture.