Power Play: A Romance Collection

by Lauren Landish

  “Accepted.” I offer a hand, and he shakes, but he’s crushing my hand in his grip.

  He pulls my hand toward his gut instead of letting go. “I do not like surprises. There will be no more.”

  I meet his eyes, threat for threat, squeezing back just as hard as he’s trying to crush me. “Agreed, and I assume that holds true for you as well.”

  Chapter 25

  Emma

  We’re in Nathan’s car, heading for his house, but I have to call Carly. We left and I couldn’t find her anywhere. I’m scared, but she’s a grown woman who knows her way around a party and NYC, so it can’t be too bad.

  I hope.

  “Carly?” I say when the line connects. “Where are you?”

  “Em, something has come up,” she says evasively, but at least she sounds like she’s not drunk or frightened or in danger. She just sounds . . . tense. “Like something major. I’m, uh, I don’t know if I’m going to make it to the play tomorrow.”

  Her words are stilted, like she’s still searching for them even as she speaks. Okay, more than tense. Rattled.

  “What? Are you okay?” I say warily. “What’s going on? Do you need me to come get you?” I glance to Nathan, silently hoping he’d do that if she needs help, but his eyes are fastened on the road.

  There’s a shuffle on her end, and then her voice quiets. “No, no. I don’t need you to come and get me. I feel like a shit friend for doing this, but that mystery guy? He . . . uhm, he, well, he showed up at the party in a major way and got me out of a bit of a situation.”

  Christ, now I’ve got two sets of alarm bells ringing in my head, one for Carly and one for me. “What kind of situation? Carly, you’re talking in circles and not answering the question. What’s going on? All of it.”

  “Okay, short version now, long version later. Robert was at the party and started some shit, and Kyle put a stop to it. He’s here, in the US, in New York City, and he took me back to his hotel. I’m fine, better than fine, actually.” Her voice lowers even more, barely a whisper. “He kissed me. Em, this is it. It’s my shot and I have to take it. I’m so sorry, really, I am. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “You’re really okay?” I ask, not liking what she said about a situation with Robert. She never told me the full scope on his asshattery, but I know Carly isn’t a ‘fraidy cat that would run over nothing. She bailed for a reason, a good one.

  “I really am,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. I haven’t heard her like this in a long time, a really long time.

  I swallow thickly, wishing I had the full story, but her happiness is apparent. “All right, as long as you promise you’re fine. I can’t believe the guy you’ve been chasing all over Italy is here in the US at the same party. I don’t know how that even happens. Must be some serious fate intervening on your behalf.”

  I look up at the stars above the speeding car, wondering if there’s some magic woven into tonight.

  “But here’s what I do know. You are a wild child, but you’re not stupid. So if you like him enough to skip the play and jet off into the sunset with him, it’s gotta be good. You deserve for this to work out for you, and I really hope it does. Normally, I’d go with ‘chicks before dicks’, but I’m giving you a pass this time because I love you, honey. As long as I get the long version later.”

  She squeals in my ear then hisses. “Ooh, sorry, that was really loud. Thank you, Emma. So much. I love you, babe.”

  I shake my head, teasing. “I can’t believe I finally got you to come all the way back to the US and you’re ditching me for a guy.”

  “Hey, what about you? Where are you?” she asks. “Still at the party?”

  I have no idea how to answer her. “I’m actually somewhere between ‘lost and confused’ and ‘alive and well’. I’ll have to give you the long version later too.” I glance at Nathan, who has both hands on the wheel.

  Carly whispers in my ear. “He showed, didn’t he?”

  “Yep,” I say, not sure what else to say about how Nathan swooped in and saved my ass with Nikolai by telling the Russian mob that I’m his secret agent-slash-property.

  “You good?”

  “I think so. We’re almost to his house, so I’m going to let you go. Holler when you figure your stuff out. And Carly?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Go get him, girl.”

  “You too, babe.”

  We pull into the garage and silence reigns as we go inside. It’s not manufactured. I honestly don’t know what to make of everything that’s happened tonight. My heart is reading so much into his actually coming and that he swooped in like a white knight to save me, even if his methods were a bit unorthodox.

  In the living room, he offers me a drink and then moves to the bar to pour for the both of us as I sit down on the couch.

  “So, how was it?” a voice asks from the doorway.

  I turn and meet Caleb’s eyes and his smile falls. “Well, that answers that. Guess I’ll leave you two to your makeup sex. Keep the goddamn noise down, and pick up your undies when you’re done. I don’t want to step in anything. Later.”

  Nathan stops him. “Caleb. Nikolai was there.”

  I see Caleb’s eyes tighten, the smallest sign of fear, but it’s a telling chip in his devil-may-care attitude. “Shit.” He walks over and steals the drink Nathan poured and tips it back in one go. “Again.”

  Nathan pours for himself before refilling Caleb, who takes it and sits in the adjacent chair, and then finally one for me. He hands it to me. “Drink. It’s been a rough night and this will settle your nerves.”

  It’s an order, but it’s soft. My Nathan, not the character he plays for Nikolai.

  I take a sip as he sits beside me, doing the same.

  Nathan tells Caleb about the run-in with Nikolai and how he’d basically given me up to the mob in a twisted way of saving me. I’m still not sure what I think about that, but I don’t know that there was another play to make that would’ve gotten us out of that room both alive and with Nathan’s deal in place.

  “So, you got your permission? When do we leave?” Caleb asks.

  Nathan shakes his head. “I need you here to take care of the company. Someone killed Dad, and we don’t know who. It’d be real fucking convenient for us both to go off to the Brazilian rainforest and wind up dead. We can’t risk it. I’ve got to go and you’ve got to stay.”

  Caleb leans forward, pointing at Nathan. “Fuck that. You’re the brains of the operation. You stay and I’ll go.”

  “You don’t even want to do this, Caleb. But I need to. I’m going, and that’s final.”

  They’re talking in circles, factors I can’t even imagine at play. From their childhood, with their dad, with the business.

  “Take me,” I offer. “I can help. I told you all about the maps and artifacts. I know more than either of you about the civilization’s history, and I’ve been doing the research you assigned me. Take me.”

  Caleb looks at me sharply. “You’re volunteering to go into dangerous cartel territory, so remote they probably haven’t seen a woman in months, if not longer, to hike to a cave for a reason you don’t even understand. You can’t use a gun, you don’t know how to fight, and Nathan’s influence won’t mean shit in that area.”

  None of what he said is a question, more like he’s trying to wrap his head around my sudden offer.

  “For Nathan, yes.” I’m being honest. It does sound like hell, but if he’s going, I want to help however I can.

  But Caleb obviously doesn’t believe me. “Whatever. You’ll quickly learn that suicide sure as fuck ain’t painless.”

  “Both of you, just stop. We’ll see. Nothing has to be decided tonight.” Nathan’s words close the matter for now, though Caleb and I stare each other down.

  Caleb gets up, tossing back the rest of his drink before setting it on the table, immediately ignored. I wonder vaguely how many of Caleb’s glasses Grant has to pick up each day.

  Nat
han takes all three to the kitchen, leaving them in the sink, and I smile. I guess not as many as he could.

  “It’s late. Let’s go to bed,” he says. I take his hand and let him lead me down the hallway to his room.

  My heart soars and I think he’s finally going to touch me, right up until he slips a T-shirt over my body and hangs up my dress.

  He pulls the blankets back, helping me to lie down, and then he curls up behind me, the big spoon to my little spoon. I wiggle my ass a bit, hoping to encourage a little action, but he grips my hip, keeping me still.

  In the darkness, his voice is deep and quiet. “Tonight could’ve been really bad if it’d gone differently.”

  “I know, but you took care of it,” I reply, totally at home in his arms. Sometimes, sex isn’t all that’s needed. “I was scared there for a minute because I didn’t know what to say, and I’m still nervous about a guy like Nikolai knowing all that about me. But you did the right thing.”

  “I could’ve lost you.” He sounds like that would be devastating to him, and my heart opens up to him just a little bit more.

  “You didn’t. I’m right here.” I almost tell him what I’m feeling again, but he’s still not ready, especially after such a dramatic evening, so I bite my tongue. That’s okay. My love is not contingent on his. He may never love me, may never forgive me completely, but I will always love him anyway.

  His hand slips from my hip, encircling my waist to pull me against him, and I feel a soft brush of his lips against my shoulder through the thin fabric. “Good night, my Emma.”

  Slowly, he drifts off as I listen to his breathing grow even and deep. I’m exhausted, but I just want to bottle up this moment a little longer. Sometime later, I fall asleep too.

  Chapter 26

  Emma

  I’m so fucking nervous, I barely notice anything until I feel a stinging pain and realize I’ve chewed my nails down to the quick.

  “Ugh,” I say, forcing my hands down. I broke that habit years ago, but it’s trying to get its claws in me again. My lips tilt at the stupid pun. Claws will be right if I don’t stop gnawing on them.

  By way of distraction, I go over to one of the mirrors backstage. Wig, ironed flat and perfect. Makeup, heavy for the stage. Costume for the opening scene, properly spirit gummed in place. Lines could be practiced. I know them by heart, but it never hurts to have them fresh in your head when you step out into the spotlight.

  I spend twenty minutes in a quiet corner with my eyes closed, visualizing the stage, my costars, and going through every line.

  “Emma, you’ve got a couple of visitors over by the side entrance,” a backstage costume assistant tells me. “Make it quick, though. Curtain in thirty, and we’ve got the opening night cheer to do beforehand.”

  Curious, I hurry over and see Claire and Nathan standing there, lifting my spirits. I’m still surprised Carly ditched me, but I truly hope she figures out whatever deal she’s got going with her Italian stud.

  Claire smiles warmly at me, but I can see how she’s holding herself apart from Nathan. Like they’re not standing there together for the same reason. Me.

  Well, at least she isn’t drawing down on him.

  And Nathan is holding a bouquet of deep red roses.

  “Hey! Thank you so much for being here. I’m nervous but excited too, you know?” I shake my whole body, letting the feeling of ants on my skin fling away into the air around me, and settle into myself. I’m Emma, but only for a few more minutes because when the curtain lifts and the lights shine, I’ll be Cleopatra for the next hour and a half.

  Claire hugs me and then holds me at arm’s length. “You’ve got this, Sis. No doubts, no worries. Just breathe and become that old Egyptian queen. Live in her and bring her to life for the rest of us plebeians in the audience who couldn’t act our way out of a paper bag.”

  “Just remember I get to die as her too,” I joke, loving her for her silly pep talk and for being here. She’s my sole family representative in the audience tonight because I didn’t tell my parents about the play. I’m sure they would’ve come, but they don’t get my desire to ‘play pretend’, and they never will.

  They simply don’t want to. And I didn’t want any negative energy tonight when such a big dream is coming true.

  I did want Nathan here though. After last night, I knew he’d come, but the roses are a sweet surprise. “Are these for me?” I say with a smile, accepting them.

  “Of course,” he says, handing them over and then pressing his forehead to mine. “Although I’ve heard tradition says to save them for after the play, I couldn’t help being a bit of a rebel.” His lips quirk like he’s proud of the joke.

  I grin, resisting the urge to kiss him because Stephanie the makeup artist would kill me if I messed up the red lip stain she spent fifteen minutes getting just right.

  “Break a leg, Emma. Though I don’t think you need any luck. I’m sure you’ll be brilliant up there since you’re such a great actress.”

  He says it with a cocky smirk, so many layers to the compliment.

  Is he talking about my gig as Kitty at the party, the FBI spy, the double agent, as his obedient girlfriend, or even just a truly straightforward compliment from watching me rehearse?

  More layers than an onion, but I choose to take him at face value.

  “Thank you. And thank you for the roses too. They’re beautiful.” I sniff them, loving their rich, deep aroma.

  Claire clears her throat, and when I glance over, her face is pinched tight. “You’d better get going, right? I’ll be in the audience, cheering you on.”

  She’s so transparent, trying to break up any moment I might have with Nathan. I know she doesn’t agree with what I’m doing, and I hate that.

  She’s always been with me, and I think this is truly the first time we’ve been on such diametrically different sides of something.

  She glowers at Nathan, cold and suspicious.

  But she is right about one thing. I need to go. I point back and forth from one to the other. “All right, you two. No fighting in the audience, and if you insist on shooting each other, do it honorably, ten paces at sunrise. You have a reputation to uphold, Agent Daniels. And you don’t need any bad press, Mr. Stone. Can you play nice while I go do my thing?”

  Claire sticks her tongue out at me, making me grin. She may be a fierce FBI agent, but she’s still my big sis, and on some level, we’ll always be those annoying kids we once were. I give her another hug, “Thanks again. I love you.”

  I turn to Nathan, who winks, but there’s something serious hiding in the depths of his eyes. I freeze under his gaze, my body pulled to him without his even touching me.

  My voice is soft, hazy, as I whisper in his ear, “Thank you.”

  His breath stutters, and I think he’s going to say it first. It’s right there, plain as day in his eyes, and I stand taller, wanting to get as close to the words as I can when he speaks them. But they don’t come.

  Instead, his mouth presses to mine gently.

  He’s slow and easy about it, but the intensity is just as consuming as when he was fierce and possessive.

  “Emma,” he groans. I can feel his emotion bleeding out in the word, pain and heartbreak, hope and love. At least I think that’s what I’m hearing. I pray it is.

  I want to stay here and find out, but the assistant speed-walks by and grabs my arm. “Time to go!” She drags me away, and as I look back, Claire and Nathan are talking as they head to the theater lobby.

  That’s a start, I think.

  The play goes amazingly well for opening night. No flubbed lines, no missed marks. I don’t even try to look out into the audience, experience telling me the stage lights would blind me in a moment if I did, but knowing that Claire and Nathan are out there makes me happy.

  As soon as the curtain closes on the last bows, I’m running for my things. I don’t bother taking off the stage makeup. I can do that later. I only change out of my last costume because t
he wardrobe crew would have my ass if I tried to leave in it.

  Instead, I hang it up neatly and turn it in, glad for the dress I brought to toss on after. It’s soft and flowy, bordering on being a cotton nightgown.

  I grab the wrap sweater I brought to toss over it to stave off the evening chill, and I’m out, heading for lobby with my roses in my arms.

  I see Claire first, and she hugs me again, gushing, “You were amazing!”

  I smile big and wide, hugging her as tight as the roses will allow. “Thank you! It felt really good. Everyone did such a great job.”

  I look left and right, curious. “Where’s Nathan? He run to the bathroom or something?”

  Claire’s eyes darken and I see her swallow hard. “He, uh . . . Emma, honey, he left.”

  She reaches for my arm with a comforting touch, the glitter of tears visible and not letting me pretend she’s lying.

  She has to be lying. He wouldn’t leave. I could see the words on his tongue, feel them in his kiss. “No. No, no, no,” I ramble, getting louder. “DAMMIT!”

  Claire tries to wrap me in a comforting hug, but I shake her off.

  My heart shatters as the roses fall to the floor and I run. But I’m not running away. I’m running toward something.

  Him.

  I won’t let him do this to me. To him. To us.

  The night air is cold as I burst through the lobby door, hailing a cab. As I slam the door and tell the cabbie to drive, I see Claire following me.

  Through the glass, I can’t hear her, but I see her lips form the word, “Emma!”

  But I won’t let her stop me.

  I can’t.

  The cab pulls up to Nathan’s place, and I toss money over the seat, slamming the door before he even fully stops. I fly up the stairs to the front door, banging on the wood and ringing the bell obnoxiously as if I can make Grant hurry to answer it faster.

  But it’s not Grant who opens the door. It’s Caleb, and I instantly want to wipe the smug grin off his face.

  My breath heaving, I demand, “Where is he?”