by K. M. Scott
I shut off the car and sat back in the seat, drained from my trip. I'd flown halfway around the world at times and not felt this exhausted. I didn't know how I'd face Nina now. She had no idea of the kind of people I came from. How would she ever forgive me for what my family had done to hers?
I sat there staring into the darkness until I knew I couldn't avoid facing her any longer. As I walked through the door, Rogers met me, almost as if he'd been waiting for me. His expression was stony, instantly making my blood run cold. Had something happened and Nina was already gone?
"Tristan, Jensen needs to speak to you. He's waiting in my part of the house."
"What's this about? I'm tired, Rogers. I'll deal with him tomorrow," I said as I brushed past him to see if Nina was still there.
"She's in her room, Tristan. That's what Jensen needs to talk to you about. He's worried you're going to fire him this time."
I spun around to face Rogers, my heart racing wildly in fear. "Did something happen? Is she hurt?"
He slowly shook his head. "No. She's fine. I think it would be better to hear what Jensen has to say before you speak to her."
"Rogers, what the fuck is wrong? If Nina isn't hurt, then what could Jensen be worried about?"
I turned to leave and he caught my arm. Surprised, I turned my head and looked at him and saw a look of concern I hadn't seen on his face since those days when he was rescuing me from my self-destructive behavior.
"You need to speak to him. Take a few minutes before you go to her to hear what Jensen has to tell you."
Something in his voice convinced me and I followed him to his part of the house. I found Jensen a worried wreck pacing the floor of Roger's personal study.
His usually calm expression twisted into one full of fear. "You told me to make sure she was safe, and I know the bodyguards are always there, but I thought I should step in. I meant no harm, Mr. Stone."
"Stop. Tell me what happened."
Jensen took a deep breath as he quit his pacing. Hanging his head, he said, "I took Miss Edwards to pick up her friend Jordan and then took them to a restaurant. When West and Varo told me her friend had left, I pulled the car around to pick her up, but instead another person joined her. A man she obviously knew. I didn't want to intrude, but as I watched, she gave him money. I finally did interrupt them to tell her the car was ready because I was afraid he was going to take even more money. I'm sorry if I was out of line. I was concerned she was giving this strange man so much money."
So this was what Daryl was talking about when he texted that he had interesting pictures of Cal. Nina had met him again, and now he was busy trying to con her out of money, as he had with other women, and doing it quite successfully, it seemed. On top of everything else I'd felt that night, jealousy and rage now burned in my gut.
Struggling to hide my feelings, I patted Jensen on the shoulder, thankful for his attempt to keep Nina safe. He'd done the right thing.
If only Nina had.
Chapter Seventeen
Tristan
Instead of going to see Nina after hearing Jensen's report, I went to my room alone, thankful in some ways for having a reason to avoid seeing her. On the floor just inside the room lay an envelope with my name written in her handwriting and a tiny smiley face drawn on the front. As with her other letter, fear flared inside my mind at the thought of what she might have written. Maybe she'd confessed to giving her ex-boyfriend money while they sat at a restaurant earlier that night. Or maybe she'd remembered something and this was the letter in which she finally told me she couldn't forgive me for what my father had done.
Fuck. Not knowing was like torture. If only I could dismiss her as easily as I'd always been able to dismiss the rest of the world, but I couldn't. I loved her to distraction, and even the unknown words she'd written on a sheet of paper inside that envelope could tie me up in knots.
I slid my finger under the flap of the envelope and tore it open, unable to wait any more. Unfolding her letter, I silently prayed for some release from all of this soon.
Dear Tristan,
I like our letter writing back and forth. It feels like we're romantic pen pals separated by some huge distance and someday someone will find our letters and see that no matter what separated us, we ended up together because we loved one another. What can I say? I'm an incurable romantic. Y You didn't answer your phone, so I'll tell you what I wanted to say here. I hope your day was good. I missed having you near me. Come find me when you get home. I'll be waiting up for you.
I love you.
Nina
I didn't go see her right away. I needed to be able to look at her without feeling guilty, but that wasn't going to happen without at least taking a shower. Maybe if I did that I'd find some way to wash off some of the ugliness and be able to deserve someone like Nina.
Half an hour later I'd stood in the shower until my fingertips wrinkled but it hadn't worked. The reality of what I was—the son of the man who'd done so much to hurt so many—couldn't be washed away, no matter how much I tried.
The story Jensen had told me rattled around in my head as I walked over to her room. I didn't want to be jealous, believing the whole thing had been just another example of Nina's goodness in helping that manipulative fuck of an ex. I couldn't help it, though. Anything that made me feel like it would take her away I hated instinctively.
She was already asleep when I reached her room, but I quietly slipped in and stood beside her bed watching her as she softly breathed in and out, her mouth in that beautiful pout she hated and I loved. I wanted to kiss that mouth and wake her up, my Sleeping Beauty who I could whisk away to another kingdom and take care of forever.
Nothing was stopping us. I had enough money to last for this lifetime and the next. We could run away and never be found again, just the two of us living for love. No more of Karl and the Board. No more Cal. No more anyone but us.
That wasn't right, though. There would always be something we couldn't run away from. Someday she'd remember who I was and what part my family had played in taking her father from her, and then there would be nowhere in the world I could go for forgiveness.
I had to tell her what I knew. I had to tell her why her father had been taken from her. I had to tell her everything.
As I stood there watching her, she stirred awake and smiled up at me. She had no idea the man she was happy to see could very well be the one person she'd never want to lay eyes on again.
"Hey, what are you doing there staring at me as I sleep?" she jokingly asked. Stretching her arms above her head, she pushed away her drowsiness. "I missed you."
"I missed you too. I got your letter."
Nina sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Did you like it?" Looking up at me, she held out her hand. "Sit down. Tell me about your day."
I sat down beside her and ran my fingers through her hair. "I'd rather hear about yours. Jensen tells me you and Jordan had a girl's night out."
"I'm guessing he told you about me seeing Cal too."
"He did," I said flatly, hoping to hide how jealous it made me.
She squeezed my hand. "Don't be angry, Tristan. He's down on his luck and I did him a little favor. That's all."
"I don't think you know your friend Cal very well, Nina. What you call down on his luck is actually his con. He does this to women all the time."
"No, you're wrong. Remember, he didn't come looking for me. I found him after all these years. He's just going through some bad stuff now. You'd help someone like him too. I know you would."
I lifted her chin with my forefinger so her gaze met mine. "You're too nice. I know all about him and I'm telling you he's playing you."
"I don't believe it. No girlfriend cheating on him and leaving him with an expensive apartment to pay for? He told me his mother died too. Was that a lie?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I admitted I knew nothing about either of these things. "But I can find out. Whatever he's claimed, I'm guessing it's a lie. He does this all the ti
me, Nina. You're going to have to be careful now that you have money."
"About that. Why do I have all that money? You can't be paying me that much to be your private art curator."
"I can pay you whatever I want."
Nina pulled me by my T-shirt until my mouth was next to hers. With a smile, she said, "Well, I guess that answers that, now doesn't it?"
I kissed her lips and whispered against them, "Now promise me no more money to Cal."
"If what you say is really true, I won't give him any more."
"You doubt me?" I asked, half-teasing and half bothered that she might not trust me on this.
"You know I like to question everything. I thought you liked that about me."
"I like you questioning other people, not me."
"Cro-magnon much?" she said with a giggle. "Somebody has to keep you on your toes, Mr. Stone."
"On my toes?"
Nina playfully ran her tongue over the seam of my lips. "And all those other fine body parts."
My cock stiffened as she teased me, and for at least a little while I wanted to believe I could forget all the bad I needed to confess and get lost in her. Fisting my hand in her hair, I tugged her head back and covered her mouth with mine, thrusting my tongue into her mouth to find hers. I wanted to escape inside her body.
"I want to be inside you so bad," I groaned as I trailed kisses down her neck.
She arched her back, rubbing her breasts against my chest and cooing as she wrapped her legs around my waist. Looking down at the silk pajamas I wore, she licked her lips and slid her forefinger just under the waistband. "Then get these off."
Not waiting for my answer, she tugged them down over my hips while I pulled her shorts and panties off. I threw them away from me and watched as she did the same with my pants.
"Didn't we buy you something nicer to wear to bed?" I asked as she stripped off my T-shirt.
Nina skimmed her hands over my stomach and looked up at me, her eyes sparkling with desire. "Uh huh, but what's the purpose of wearing them if it's just me?"
I tore her shirt from her and pulled her to me. "It's never just you. I'm always nearby, even if I'm not right next to you."
Her teeth nipped at my collarbone as she mumbled against my skin, "I like it better when you're right next to me."
I loved the feel of her mouth on me, exciting me as she showed how much she wanted me inside her. Slipping my hand down over her stomach, I probed between her legs, loving when I found her dripping wet.
"Tell me what you want, baby," I whispered as I pushed a single finger inside her eager cunt.
She wriggled against my hand, desperate for the pleasure I wanted to give her, and whimpered, "I want you. Inside me. Fucking me until I come and then until I come again."
I loved when she talked like that. There wasn't a man on Earth who didn't want exactly this kind of woman—a lady in public any man could be proud to show off and a whore in the bedroom who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to let her man know. That Nina could be both thrilled me and made me love her even more.
Her hand stroked my cock from base to tip, making my control ebb away. Struggling to hold back, I had to give in and pushed her back onto the bed. I wanted to feel her warm and wet cunt surrounding my cock as I thrust into her to reach that place where I could give her what she wanted and find some peace from everything that plagued my mind.
Taking a nipple into my mouth, I sucked it hard and bit down gently until she cried out more in pleasure than pain. Her heels pushed against my lower back, urging me to enter her and leave the foreplay for another time.
"Don't tease, Tristan. You always tease," she whispered in a needy voice as she clawed at my back to pull me close.
"Not teasing, princess. Control," I said low in her ear as I slowly eased my cock inch by inch into her eager body.
She thrust her hips upward to welcome me into her and pressed her fingertips into my back. "I don't want controlled Tristan. Let me see what's inside your heart instead of always being so in control."
"You don't want that, Nina," I said in a strangled voice as I began to slowly make love to her.
Cradling my face, she stared deep into my eyes as I continued to push my cock into her. "I do. Show me that man," she moaned.
I slowed to a languid pace in and out of her body. I wished I could show her that man—the one who didn't need to be in control of everything in fear that if he didn't, his life would spiral down to nothing. Burying my head in the pillow next to hers, I said quietly, "I am who I am, Nina."
She stopped my motion with her heels against my back, keeping me inside her as she threatened to tear away the walls I made sure to protect myself with at all times.
"I love who you are, Tristan, but I know there's someone else inside there. Someone who has nothing to do with control or money. That Tristan wants to say things to me. I wish you'd let him."
"I love you, Nina. I love you with an need that scares me sometimes. I've never loved anyone like this. I spend my days dreading that you're going to wake up one day, realize who I am, and tell me you can't do this anymore. That you can't live with someone who's as fucked up as I am."
She kissed me softly on the lips as tears welled in her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about. You're not fucked up. Why would you say that?"
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. "There's so much about me no one would want."
"That's not true, Tristan. No matter what you think, you're wonderful."
I stayed silent for a long time until I finally admitted the truth at the heart of us. Opening my eyes, I whispered, "One word of rejection from you would kill me, Nina. Please tell me that even if you ever think that you can't take who I am anymore, you won't leave. Give me a chance to show you I love you."
No matter how much I asked for her to make that promise, I knew there was the real risk that she would leave again when she found out what my father had done and how much I'd known about it all this time. This time I'd make sure things turned out different, though. I had to.
"Tristan, I'm not going anywhere. I promise no matter what. I love you. That means no leaving."
We made love sweeter than it had ever been before between us or between me and any other woman. Deep inside, I hoped that Nina would want to live up to the promise she'd made. The time was coming that I'd have to finally confess everything. Each day that passed meant the risk that she'd remember everything grew, but until I knew the whole ugly story, I had to wait.
I just hoped that when the time came, it wouldn't be too late.
As always, I slipped out of Nina's room after she fell asleep and returned to my room. I'd grown used to my nightmares since the plane crash, but I knew tonight would be filled with more than usual. Over and over, I was haunted by the image of Taylor and my father standing over two dead bodies. I got less than an hour's sleep total, tossing and turning until I woke up in a cold sweat twice before I just gave up and got ready for work.
I stood in the kitchen hoping coffee would undo what my lack of sleep was working hard to accomplish, but even the caffeine in the special blend Rogers bought for me wasn't able to do the job. My eyelids drooped heavily as I leaned against the center island, my day ahead and all that I'd learned in Pennsylvania weighing on my mind.
My eyes closed, but I felt a hand touch my arm and I looked around to see Nina standing in front of me, her expression full of concern.
"Hey, are you okay?"
I shook the grogginess from my head and forced a smile. "I'm fine. Good morning." Bending down, I kissed her softly on the lips. "Sleep well?"
She stroked her fingertips down my tie. "Better than you, I'm guessing since I'm not sleeping standing up. I thought only horses did that."
"I'm fine. Long day ahead of me."
Nina wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her. "I'm worried about you. Why don't you ever stay with me all night?"
I couldn't tell her the truth—that I wasn't sure she was ready
to see the real me, the man who suffered through each night with nightmares, sometimes just one but other times dozens. Would she even want me if she knew I was so fucked up?
"I'm one of those workaholic types. My brain never shuts off, so a lot of times I get up and do work when you're sleeping. I don't like to bother you, so I go back to my own room."
She squeezed me in her arms and looked up at me with a smile. "It wouldn't bother me and it would be nice to see you there when I wake up."
I couldn't say no when she looked at me like that, with those blue eyes so sweet. "Okay." I didn't mean it. There was no way I could stay with her all night feeling like I did now.
Nina turned to pour herself a cup of coffee. "I'm going to do some work on the Atlanta suite today. I have some good ideas, I think. How's your day look?"
Atlanta.
"I need to move up our trip there. Be ready to leave this afternoon," I said before I took my last sip of coffee.
Spinning around, she splashed coffee down the front of her shirt and rushed to pat it dry with a towel from the counter. "What? I'm not ready. I need more time."
"I have things I have to take care of there, and they can't wait. I'm sure whatever you choose will be great," I said calmly. "Be ready to go by three. I'll be back in a few."
I left Nina stunned in the kitchen and quickly got away from the house before she could ask any questions. I wasn't ready to explain everything yet.
Michelle was waiting for me when I got to my office, along with Daryl and Karl. While I would have liked to make both of them disappear, I had to deal with them. As I breezed past them on my way in, I decided Karl and his threats would be the first hurdle of the day.
"Karl, how nice to see you. Join me in my office."
He barely let me sit down before he began. "Is there anything you want to tell me, Tristan?"
I looked up and saw him standing in front of my desk. He held his chin high, as if he was looking down on me or had something over me.
"Other than what I told you last time, Karl, no. So if you're here with some bullshit bluster, I'm not in the mood. Go bother someone else."
