by Katie Reus
She lost track of time after they eventually collapsed on the lush comforter. It made a whooshing sound under their tangled, naked bodies. She noticed that he was careful not to land on her, but instead moved to the side, giving her plenty of space. For long moments the only sound in the room was their breathing.
“Was I too rough?” Concern laced his words as she finally stretched and rolled on her side to face him.
Smiling, she shook her head as she stretched out next to him. She reached out and ran her fingertips over his muscular chest. “I’ve missed touching you,” she murmured, trailing them all the way down to his half-hard, thick length. The man was insatiable.
He hissed in a breath as he draped an arm over her, pulled her close as he stroked a hand down her spine. “Good. Because I’m not letting you go.”
She didn’t plan to go anywhere. Scooting closer, she curled into his embrace as she leaned up to meet his lips. She knew they were nowhere near done for now. No, this was only a warm-up. They had a lot of time to make up for.
The thought made her smile against his mouth. She really had no idea how she’d ever thought she could walk away from him. It was as if they’d been given a second chance. And she wasn’t going to waste it.
Chapter 11
Cell phone against her ear, Alena sat down at Andre’s desk, a smile tugging at her lips. He’d left not too long ago for a business meeting. Last night had solidified everything for her. They were really trying this thing. She was nervous but also excited. It seemed too surreal to even contemplate a real relationship with him, but the thought of not being with him… She wasn’t walking away from him.
“You better hurry up, I’m starving,” she said to her sister. She’d finally found the energy to get out of bed. All she wanted to do was nap, but Nika had called and Alena actually was hungry. For the first time in weeks, she hadn’t gotten morning sickness. She hoped she was past that phase. Since she was feeling good, she was going to take the time to catch up on work emails, deal with a few issues with her agent and other admin stuff she’d let slide.
“I’m almost there,” Nika said. “What are we having for lunch anyway?”
Alena paused. “I didn’t actually think that far ahead. I don’t even know what Andre has here. Can you pick up some food?”
Her sister laughed. “You’re ridiculous. Are you craving anything?”
“Anything Italian.” Something hearty and even a little heavy actually sounded good. She’d been so careful about her food the last couple months, because she hadn’t been able to keep anything down. Now she felt as if she could make up for that and eat everything in sight.
“I can definitely do that. So…I can hear the smile in your voice. Did you guys have sex?”
Alena pulled up one of her email accounts and started scanning through the messages as she answered. “Yes. And it was incredible. I think there really is something between us. I felt it before, four months ago. But I didn’t want to believe it was real.” She still almost didn’t want to believe it was real. Everything about him was so damn perfect. She knew that part of the reason she didn’t want to accept this was because she’d already lost so much in her life and she was afraid to lose again.
“I’m not going to say I told you so, but I kind of did.” Nika laughed lightly. “That man is over the moon for you.”
“Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual.” Alena hadn’t wanted to fall for Andre. She hadn’t wanted to want him at all. When she saw none of the emails needed an immediate response, she closed the screen and leaned back in the cushioned chair. “So have you decided on a dress yet?”
“Yes, I’m going with the last one that made you cry. But only because the owner of the shop loved it and honestly I’m tired of trying on dresses.”
“No,” Alena said, straightening in her seat. Her sister wasn’t taking any of this seriously. “You have to choose it because it’s the perfect one. You’re only getting married once.” Of that, Alena was certain. Declan was definitely the one for her sister.
“I’m messing with you. I picked it because I love it. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”
Alena leaned back in the chair as her stomach growled. “If you don’t hurry, I’m going to go clean out Andre’s refrigerator.”
“Oh my God, you are so impatient. I’m pulling into a shopping center with a few different restaurants and one of them is Italian, so go find something to snack on. I know what you like. Eggplant parm, right?”
“Oooh, yes. And any type of fried appetizer. Something with cheese.” She was glad to finally be hungry again, to finally be craving something.
And when Andre got back she planned to jump him. Now that she wasn’t getting sick anymore—and now that she’d let herself be open to the idea of Andre—she couldn’t wait for a repeat of last night.
Alena saw a little email icon pop up on the bottom of the screen and automatically clicked on it. The second she did, Andre’s email account filled the screen, not hers. Of course, because this was his computer. She’d clicked on it without thinking.
Alena started to close out of it but stopped when she saw her name as the subject line for the most recent email. Alena Brennan. There was no mistaking that this email was about her. She shouldn’t click on it. But the address was from some attorney. One with a name she vaguely recognized. “Nika, I’m going to do something stupid.” She clicked on the message before her sister could respond.
“What are you talking about?” Nika asked.
“Hold on,” Alena murmured as she scanned the message, her stomach filling with lead. All guilt at what she was doing dissipated as she read what Andre’s attorney had sent him. It was a prenuptial agreement, which she actually understood. He was a wealthy man so it made sense why he would want one if they ever got that far, but there was also a template for a co-parenting agreement, with a whole lot of visitation rights and other garbage that seemed incredibly unfair for her.
It looked as if…he wanted full custody. He’d said he didn’t want to involve an attorney. She hadn’t even called hers because she’d thought they really could figure things out just the two of them. God, she really was stupid. She’d used him, and now, what—he was using her and getting an attorney behind her back? He’d simply wanted to blindside her. Was this how he’d felt when he’d discovered she’d used him? Tears pricked her eyelids, but she blinked them away. Alena cleared her throat. “Can you come get me instead of getting us food? I need to get out of here. Now.”
“What’s going on?” Nika’s voice was sharp now, alert.
“I’ll tell you when you get here. And please hurry. I don’t want to be here another second.”
“Okay. I’ll be there in five to ten minutes. But no longer than that. I’m leaving the parking lot right now.” Nika didn’t press for details, thankfully.
Not that Alena was surprised. That wasn’t Nika’s way. “Okay, thank you,” she said. After they ended the call, Alena left Andre’s office and hurried up to his bedroom where he’d moved her clothes only hours before. Nausea swirled inside her and it had nothing to do with morning sickness. How had she had been so dumb? She should have seen this coming.
She’d thought he was a decent guy, but he must have decided that… Who knew what he’d decided. He was a better liar than she’d ever imagined. More hot tears stung her eyes as she hurried up the stairs. One of the security guys smiled politely at her and she managed to smile back, before swiping away a few stray tears. “Stupid pregnancy hormones,” she murmured to him as a way to explain her tears. Not that he’d even asked. But still, she didn’t want him to alert Andre that something was wrong. Andre had said he had a meeting and would be back later.
“I understand,” he said. “My wife went through the same thing with both of ours.”
Smiling politely while her heart broke, she continued on to Andre’s room and quickly packed her bag. She didn’t have much here, thankfully. And if she had, she would have just left it. Once she had everyth
ing together, she’d just started to call her sister when she received a text.
At the security gate. Want me to drive up or wait outside the estate?
Alena texted her sister back quickly. Meet me by the front door, I’ll be out in one minute.
The walk down the driveway would have been long and she could admit that she just wanted to get in her sister’s car and leave. Then cry. And probably sleep.
True to her word, Nika pulled up as Alena stepped out onto the front steps. By the time she’d descended to the bottom, Nika was out and had the trunk open. Alena’s bag wasn’t even big but she tossed it in and got into the passenger seat.
“So…what the heck is going on?” Nika asked as she steered down the driveway.
“I’m a dumbass,” Alena muttered.
“Seriously, you went from happy to upset in the span of a short phone call. What happened?” Nika asked as she reached the end of the long driveway.
The gate was wide open and Alena was glad to be able to leave without having to talk to Andre. Because right now she didn’t trust herself to not have another stupid hormonal breakdown. She didn’t want to appear weak in front of him. “I was using Andre’s computer and when an email notice popped up I automatically clicked on it. I was going to close the program down when I saw my name as the subject line. It’s—”
As Nika steered out onto the quiet street, a giant van rammed into the back of them. Alena jolted forward under the impact as her sister let out a cry of surprise. All her muscles went tight as the car flew forward. Nika turned the wheel, trying to gain control as the van slammed into them again, sending them into a tailspin.
This was no accident!
As the back of Nika’s car hit a telephone pole, the seat belt jerked tight across Alena again. She let out a cry of pain and grasped onto the center console and door to steady herself. The belt wasn’t directly across her belly but she still had to shove back panic. What if—
The van stopped ten feet in front of them and when the driver’s side door opened, she blinked.
It was Harold Brady. Declan had called and told her and Andre that the New Orleans PD had gotten a tip that he’d been seen in New Orleans. Near her house there. Which made sense that he’d go to her known residence. The police there were staking it out. He couldn’t be in Miami. She looked over at her sister, who was shaking her head, but seemed otherwise fine.
“Are you okay?” Alena asked as raw fear slammed through her. “Because we need to get the hell out of here now.”
“Yeah…” She tried to start the car but the ignition made a clicking sound.
A waterfall of panic started to punch through Alena as Brady stalked toward them. Wearing simple jeans and a T-shirt, he could be anyone on the street. But she knew how dangerous he was. At his side, he held a weapon. A gun.
“Oh, God. Nika…” Scrambling, she reached for her fallen purse. There was only pepper spray in there but if she could get close enough to him she was going to use it. She fumbled once as she tried to pull it out.
Nika pulled a gun out of the center console as Alena’s fingers clasped around her pepper spray.
Of course Nika would have a gun for protection. Alena wasn’t thinking clearly. She couldn’t believe Brady was heading toward them. It was something right out of a nightmare.
“You’re mine, Alena!” the man screamed as he stalked even closer.
Alena felt almost frozen in place as he reached the hood of the car. “Nika—”
“Crouch down as low as you can—”
He jumped on the hood, weapon raised right at her.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Brady froze for a moment, almost as if his body was suspended in air, when suddenly the string holding him snapped. He slammed forward, his entire body hitting the windshield and hood. His eyes were wide but unseeing as blood trickled down on the glass, a small stream at first.
“Did you…” No, of course Nika hadn’t shot him. It would have killed their eardrums. That was when she saw the swarm of Andre’s security guys moving in on the car like the trained experts they were.
One of them was at her door, knocking insistently on the window. Feeling numb, she fumbled with the door lock even as Nika opened her own.
The man said something to her, asked her if she was all right. She must have nodded that she was, but all she could think about was getting to her sister. Ignoring the man, she hurried to where Nika was on the other side of the vehicle and pulled her into her arms.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed out, shaking all over. She couldn’t look at Brady’s body.
“Oh, honey, you have nothing to be sorry for.” Nika rubbed her back in soft little circles.
“Not for this,” she rasped out. She was sorry for everything, for the way she’d dragged Nika into her need for revenge. Nika might have forgiven her, or even be okay with it. But too many emotions swelled inside Alena right now, and seeing a dead guy on her sister’s car hood, knowing that this man might have ambushed them somewhere else and taken Nika from her… That she could have lost her baby! The tears kept coming. “Oh, God. I’m so fucking sorry.” She couldn’t stop crying as sobs racked her body. She needed to find out if her baby was okay but she couldn’t let go of her sister.
For years she’d been compartmentalizing her life, and everything was fracturing and blistering up to the surface. And right up until this moment, she wasn’t completely certain how she felt about her pregnancy.
Icing on this shitty cake: Andre had lied to her. And that cut deep too.
The only thing she knew without a shadow of a doubt was that she wanted to be a mother. She was still terrified that she’d screw it up, but she wanted the chance.
The sound of sirens rang out in the distance and soon she and Nika found themselves being checked out by EMTs and then driven to the police station. There would be questions to answer but they were alive. And a madman was dead.
She finally stopped crying halfway to the police station. And she couldn’t dredge up any emotions for Brady. All she cared was that her wonderfully brave sister was alive. And they’d walked away from this unhurt, that she and the baby were okay. It all seemed so surreal, had happened so fast.
Just another reminder that life changed in a second. Something she didn’t need to be reminded of. Her life had changed drastically at the age of ten. And that change had shaped the woman she had become. She might not want to do this on her own, but she would be a strong single mom. Andre wasn’t going to take anything away from her.
* * *
Andre barely kept his panic in check as he followed the uniformed officer down a long hallway. He passed men and women in uniform, and some in suits, but he tuned them all out. His only focus was on getting to Alena. He knew she was alive, unharmed.
But he needed to see it for himself, needed to hold her in his arms.
“This is it,” the woman murmured as she knocked once on the door. She opened it and stepped back for Andre to enter.
His gaze was immediately drawn to Alena, who sat in front of a desk next to her sister, in a surprisingly lush office. Her eyes were red, puffy, and she looked away from him.
Nika and Declan occasionally worked with the police, though he had no idea how they assisted the cops. And at this moment he didn’t care. But he assumed it was why they’d been put in such a nice office to wait.
Declan, who was on his cell phone, nodded once at him before ending his call and shoving his phone in his pocket.
Andre shut the door behind him and made a move toward Alena. To his surprise, she remained sitting where she was, and just looked at him with the most neutral expression. Cold, almost. If it wasn’t for her red eyes he’d wonder if anything had happened to her at all.
Maybe she was in shock? “I got here as soon as I could,” he said, kneeling in front of her. He took her hands in his, but she stiffened. “I know what I was told, but are you okay? Is our baby okay?”
“I’m okay. So is our baby.” Placing a protec
tive hand on her bump, she flicked a quick glance at her sister, who then murmured that they were going to give the two of them privacy.
When Declan and Nika shut the door behind them, Alena pulled her hands away from him. “You didn’t need to come down here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Why wouldn’t I come down here? What the hell is going on?” One of his security guys had told him that she’d packed a bag and had tossed it into her sister’s trunk before leaving. Before all hell had broken loose. Andre had thought maybe the guy had been confused.
“I just meant that I’m okay. And I’m going to be staying at my sister’s house tonight. I just need some space. So much has happened today.”
He sat in the chair opposite her, stunned by her words. After last night, he’d thought they had cemented a real bond. They’d even talked about it, about her staying at his place indefinitely, about figuring things out between them. “Stay with me.”
The smile she gave him was completely fake and didn’t reach her eyes. “Not tonight.” The way she said it, it sounded like not ever in his head. “I’ve been looked over by the EMTs and I have an appointment set up with Dr. Freeman this week.”
“You’re more than welcome to stay with me.” In fact, he would prefer it. He never wanted her to leave. Something he thought she would know by now. Especially after what they’d shared.
She gave him another one of those fake smiles. “Of course, I know.” Standing, she wrapped her arms around herself, clearly keeping a wall up between them. “Nika and I are actually done here. We were about to head out when you called Declan.”
Why was she acting this way? She was completely different from the woman he’d held in his arms last night. The one who’d come apart in his arms. “I called you first.”
“I don’t have my phone on me. I think it’s still in Nika’s car.”
“I can drive you to your sister’s.” Because he wanted to continue this conversation, to figure out what the hell was going on. She was pissed at him. He hadn’t realized it at first but now he did. She was angry about something. Considering everything she’d just been through, he didn’t want to push too hard. But there was a thinly veiled anger under the fake smile. As if she wanted to punch him right in the throat.
