Set In Stone

by K. M. Scott

  SET IN STONE

  K.M. SCOTT

  Set In Stone is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  2019 Copper Key Media, LLC

  Copyright © 2019 Copper Key Media, LLC

  Google Play Edition

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Published in the United States

  ISBN-13: 978-1-941594-96-4

  Cover Design: Patricia Maia at Maya’s Teasers & Designs

  Set In Stone

  The next generation of the Heart of Stone series continues with Tristan and Nina’s daughter Tressa’s story!

  Driven. Sexy. Tressa Stone wants to take over the world. As one of Tristan and Nina Stone’s two daughters, she’s got the will to do it, and when she does, it won’t be because of some man.

  But you know what they say about best laid plans.

  Killian Brenton has the world in the palm of his hand. The newest quarterback for a New York team looking to get back to the top, he’s the toast of the Big Apple and can have his pick of women. All it takes is one look at Tressa and he knows she’s the one he wants.

  Catching her might be even harder than getting to the big game, but if he does, it will be worth far more than a handful of championship rings.

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  Click on the covers below to learn more about the series:

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the Book

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Excerpt from Silent As A Stone

  About the Author

  Books by K.M. Scott

  Books by Gabrielle Bisset

  Chapter One

  Tressa

  Two hours late because I had to work on the London Richmont redesign project, I rushed around the penthouse trying to find my favorite black stilettos. Had I left them at the house? No, that couldn’t be. I’d worn them to some event in the past few weeks since I’d been staying in the city every night.

  Summer sat on the couch ready to go because she hadn’t gotten waylaid by an overzealous designer hell-bent on having her way. Leaning back, she watched in amusement as I raced from room to room looking for my damn shoes.

  “Are you like me and stuff things under your bed when people come over so it doesn’t look like you’re a total slob?” she asked, stopping me dead in my tracks.

  I leveled a stern gaze on her face and slowly shook my head. “No.”

  Used to how serious I could be, she laughed off my quiet reprimand. “I didn’t think so, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to mention it.”

  That no one had been to the penthouse other than Summer and my parents in so long I couldn’t even remember wasn’t a detail I felt compelled to mention. I did prefer to keep my personal behavior on the down low, but recently, there hadn’t been much to hide. Work had kept me far too busy to be engaging in any of the sexy stuff, except for one night a while ago.

  As I marched back into my bedroom to run my foot under the bed just in case my shoes had somehow found their way there, I cringed at how long it had been since I’d been with anyone. Had it really been four months?

  Then again, how important was something like sex when I had the world to conquer? I’d have time for all that once I proved to the world that being given the COO position of the Richmont hotel chain hadn’t been a mistake borne out of a father’s love and good old fashioned nepotism.

  My pinky toe snagged on the back of a shoe, and I crouched down in surprise to find my favorite Louboutins sitting on the floor under my bed. I must have kicked them off when I got home that night and they ended up there.

  “Found them!” I announced as I slid my feet into the shoes.

  “Where?” Summer yelled back with the clear sound of relief in her voice after being forced to wait for me for hours.

  “Back in the closet,” I lied. “Ready to go?”

  I stopped in the doorway and gave her a quick once over while she did the same for me. I could trust Summer to tell me the truth, even if it hurt and even if I lashed out because of it. My brother had not only found a wonderful person to be with, but I’d found a good friend in her too.

  “That black dress looks incredible on you,” she said with a smile. “Every woman in New York, including me, would kill for legs like yours.”

  Laughing, I motioned for her to spin around so I could see the back of her to make sure her light green dress looked perfect. “I’ll make sure to keep my wits about me then tonight,” I joked, and then added, “You look great! That dress is so cute on you.”

  Summer turned around to face me and shrugged. “I do cute quite well. It’s my thing.”

  I had a feeling Ethan had fallen in love with her far earlier than even she suspected. No wonder. Smart, funny, and cute as a button, she was the whole package. Now all my brother had to do was not mess things up with her and someday soon I might have a sister-in-law and my best friend all in one.

  “My brother is very lucky. I hope you never let him forget that.”

  “He knows,” she said with a smile.

  “Good. Where is he tonight?” I asked as we made our way to the elevator to leave.

  “He’s photographing a Great Dane on Staten Island.”

  “Without his assistant?” I asked, surprised he’d gone without the half of the business that actually handled the animals at the shoots.

  “I told him I had a prior engagement to attend,” she explained as the elevator doors opened. “You should have seen his face. I think he thought I had a date or something. He got a look in his eyes like I had told him I didn’t love him anymore. I had to explain to him right then and there that I was going to the pediatric cancer event with you and we’d planned it for weeks.”

  I pressed the button for the lobby. “Keeping him on his toes. Good. Don’t let him get complacent with you.”

  Summer smiled and chuckled like she did whenever I warned her about how to handle my brother. “Don’t worry. I won’t. I just hope that Great Dane doesn’t take his head off. Ethan’s not usually the dog whisperer.”

  As the elevator descended to street level, I secretly hoped my brother didn’t end his career as a photographer that night. He’d finally found a way to do what he loved and do it in a way that didn’t involve sleeping with women across the world. I didn’t know what he’d do if that all came
crashing down.

  Hearing the worry in Summer’s voice, I reassured her. “He’ll be fine. Ethan can charm the birds out of the trees. I’m sure one dog won’t be difficult for him at all. I’ll tell you what, though. If you want to duck out of the event early after we make our presence known, you can do that and take the car service out to join him.”

  “See? This is why I tell him he’s wrong about you. He’s convinced you two are mortal enemies,” she said as the doors opened to the lobby.

  “Not anymore,” I said with a chuckle. “When my brother and I stay in our appropriate spheres in this world, I feel nothing but sisterly love for him. It’s only when we wander into places we shouldn’t that we get into trouble.”

  “I’ll have to tell him that.”

  “He knows I love him,” I said with a wink. “We’re just total opposites. Always have been.”

  And that right there was the absolute truth. My brother would feel perfectly comfortable walking into this charity event tonight more than an hour late, and he’d fully expect everyone would just be happy he showed up. I, on the other hand, knew I’d spend the entire car ride over there thinking of excuses for anyone who asked why I was late.

  Just a few steps into the ballroom at the Stilton Hotel and I couldn’t help but be impressed by the work the organizers had done for the event this year. The crowd seemed much larger than in years past. Each May, the Pediatric Cancer Foundation went all out to celebrate their highest donors, of which Stone Worldwide certainly was, but because Summer and I arrived late, we’d missed that portion of the event. I vaguely remembered seeing something about an auction on the invitation, so I hoped we hadn’t missed that entirely. While I didn’t really travel in antique circles, I thought I might pick out a good piece if I saw something my mother may like.

  “I’m going to get a drink. Do you want one?” I asked Summer as I looked back toward the bar.

  Her eyes widened and she nodded. “This is incredible. I thought we were going to be sitting at a table like every awards dinner I’ve ever had to attend. Is that a runway? What’s that for?”

  I shrugged but didn’t bother to look at whatever she’d become fascinated with. I needed a drink before any fascination could happen for me.

  “No idea. White wine?”

  Again, she nodded, so I headed off to get us two white wines. Thankfully, the line for the bartender’s attention wasn’t long, and after pushing through a crowd of people that seemed to suddenly crop up behind my back as I waited for our glasses of wine, I finally reached Summer again.

  “Where did all these people come from?” I asked as I handed her the glass.

  Still taking in the scene happening around us, Summer shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess something big’s about to happen.”

  Something big at a charity event to celebrate major donors? Highly doubtful. I’d attended dozens of these kinds of events, first with my parents when I was younger and then on my own when my father finally decided he could bow out of obligatory events on behalf of Stone Worldwide because I could step in, and never once had anything big happened at any of them. It was always the same, staid event, just at different locations around the city.

  Looking at all the people standing around us in the Stilton Hotel’s ballroom at that moment, though, I had to admit tonight felt different. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to give a speech extemporaneously. I hated those, so I avoided them like the plague. Now that I was there, I couldn’t avoid it if it happened, though.

  Maybe I needed another drink. Tipping my glass back to finish my first wine, I let it dribble down my throat and then turned to Summer. “Want another?”

  She looked at me with surprise. “No. I barely took two sips out of this one. Since when did you become a big drinker?”

  “It’s been like ten minutes since I gave you that drink,” I said with a chuckle. “If you weren’t spending all your time people watching, you might want another one too. I’ll be right back.”

  Nearly fifteen minutes and a line twenty deep later, I began walking back to where Summer stood near what I now recognized looked like a dais and a runway. People chattered loudly, making me wonder if I’d missed something. Were they having a fashion show or something tonight? I thought the invitation had said auction, but I’d just glanced at it.

  The lights of the crystal chandelier in the center of the room dimmed, and all of a sudden, bright white spotlights focused on the dais at the back of the room. As I wondered what could be happening, people began to cheer and a voice came over the sound system announcing the auction would begin.

  All this excitement for what? A rocking chair George Washington may have sat in a few times? A pen Bill Gates may have stuck in his pocket back in the seventies?

  With the lights dimmed, finding Summer became next to impossible. Everywhere I turned, I ran into someone and spilled not only my drink but the one I’d gotten for her too. As the crowd roared for something, a man announced over the loudspeaker, “Ready to start big?”

  Everyone around me yelled and clapped, so I became disoriented and couldn’t find Summer in the sea of people with their arms raised. The screaming grew so loud that the voice of the man running the auction became drowned out. I had no idea why the hell all these people were so excited at a charity auction, but I wanted no part of this craziness.

  Raising my arms in the air to salvage at least the half of each glass of wine I held in my hands, I pushed through the crowd toward where I’d last seen Summer and hoped to find her there. Focused on reaching her, I ignored all the madness around me like I’d always had a knack for doing and soon got to her.

  “Where did you go?” she yelled as she grabbed a half-empty glass of wine from my left hand.

  I leaned down so I didn’t have to yell back at her and said into her ear, “This place is crazy. What the hell are all these people screaming about?”

  She didn’t answer and instead simply pointed at the dais as I realized this was no ordinary auction of boring antiques. Standing there with all the lights trained on him was a man more beautiful than I’d ever seen in my life. He stood well over six foot and filled out the tux he wore perfectly. My eyes slowly scanned his body from his feet up, and by the time I got to his light brown hair that just barely hit the collar of his white shirt, I’d forgotten there was anyone else in the room but him.

  Who was this man?

  Then before I could turn to ask Summer, he began walking down the runway and my instant admiration for him quickly cooled. Sure, he was gorgeous, but as he basked in the attention of the crowd of screaming people I now noticed was mostly female, I saw someone who had no problem drawing attention to himself.

  Of all the character flaws a man could possess, that was the worst.

  Too bad. Other than his being an attention whore, I would have liked to find out more about this stunning specimen of manhood. Disappointed, I wondered what kind of man allowed himself to be involved in a bachelor auction.

  Nobody I’d want.

  He walked out to the end of the runway and winked at someone, which caused the crowd to erupt again. All it did for me was make me feel more disappointed because up close he was even more attractive with pale green eyes and dark lashes that made him look exotic. For a moment, I fantasized about what kind of perfect body existed under that tux, but that served no purpose. He wasn’t anyone I could ever be with.

  As he turned to walk back toward the dais, he looked down at where we stood and suddenly it felt like time stopped. Those incredible green eyes stared into mine, and even as my mind dismissed this man as the attention whore he clearly was, my body reacted quite differently. That familiar ache between my legs I hadn’t experienced in far too long and thoughts of how good he’d feel satisfying that ache made me instinctively sink my teeth into my lower lip. He smiled and ran his tongue over his bottom lip, and for a moment, nothing in the world existed but him.

  I felt an elbow crash into my side, tearing me out of my imagination, and
Summer yelled into my ear, “Oh, my God! Do you realize who you were just giving the eyes to?”

  Shaking my head, partly to answer her and partly to get rid of the incredibly sexual thoughts still lingering about what I wanted to do with him, I stood there speechless, not able to say a thing.

  “That’s Killian Brenton!”

  She said that like I should know the name, but it didn’t register. Who was Killian Brenton?

  Summer’s eyes opened wide, as if she’d heard the dumbest thing ever spoken in the world. “He’s the new quarterback for New York. He was traded from Miami this spring. He’s the biggest thing in town, and you were just checking him out like you wanted to sink your teeth into him.”

  I waved off her ridiculous comment. There was nothing wrong with appreciating a good looking man, even if he was an attention whore I’d never sleep with.

  “Two thousand! Do I hear three? It’s for a great cause, ladies!” the announcer said in an amused voice.

  Summer leaned over and asked, “Why aren’t you bidding like everyone else?”

  I shook my head and waved the question away.

  “But it’s for charity. You don’t have to marry the guy.”

  After I watched him flirt with another woman in the audience, I turned to her and said, “These things aren’t even real. No one expects either party to follow through on the deal.”

  “Then why not bid for him?” she asked, practically goading me to do it. “It’s for a good cause.”

  Clearly, I couldn’t deny that, so I raised my hand when the announcer said five thousand dollars. Turning to look at Summer, I smiled. “Happy?”

  “Yes. Do you know that he signed a contract for over three hundred million dollars guaranteed and much more in bonuses?”

  Three hundred million dollars? For that much, he should just stop parading around like a peacock and simply donate to the charity. But as I watched him interact with the women in the crowd, I saw he was incapable of not being in the spotlight and letting people fawn all over him.