TENSE - Volume Two (The TENSE Duet Book 2)

by Deborah Bladon

  "I'm heading home, Nick." Cheyenne walks back into my living room. She's been on the phone for the past two hours trying to put a positive spin on what's happened. It's a tall task that even she isn't equipped to handle.

  By mid-morning today, my lawyer was able to get most of the private emails that were leaked removed from the websites that posted them. By noon he had the name of the person responsible for all of it.

  Joe, the tech guy I trusted with my computer, was the asshole who sold my book and then upped the ante by selling my private emails, photographs and whatever the hell else he could from the data he downloaded from my laptop when I asked him to fix a sticky key on the keyboard.

  I thought nothing of dropping my computer off with him one afternoon a few weeks ago. When I picked it up, he made an off-handed comment about all the sensitive information on my laptop. I thought he was joking. Apparently, it was a warning.

  I made the call to Gabriel Foster once I had confirmation it was Joe. He fired him on the spot and now their tech department is reviewing everything Joe accessed and downloaded. When I last spoke to Gabriel an hour ago, he told me that one of his senior tech guys retraced Joe's digital steps. He didn't access any of the confidential files related to Foster's upcoming designs, but he had a huge interest in the contact information and test shots for the models Foster Enterprises utilizes for their print campaigns.

  "Your tech guy is a dick." Cheyenne slides her coat on before she wraps a pink scarf around her neck. "What's going to happen to him?"

  "Sebastian said he'll be arrested. It's not his division, but he said it's a clear case." I toss my phone onto the coffee table. "I need to go downtown tomorrow to fill out a statement."

  "Do you want me to go with you?"

  I shake my head. "You need a day off. I'll catch you later in the week."

  "This shows that you can't trust anyone completely." She shoulders her purse. "I thought all along it was Sophia. Your computer guy wasn't even on my radar."

  Or mine. He was so far off my radar that I accused Sophia of stealing. If that doesn't make me enough of a prick, I had to up the stakes by calling her boss before I told Claudia to steer clear of her in the future.

  "Do you want me to call for a car?" I ignore her comment. The only reason she thought it was Sophia is because I'm the jerk who told her that.

  "I'm taking the bus." She takes one step toward the door before she turns to look at me. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Nick. You'll sue Joe and the website that paid him all that money."

  "Sure."

  "Steve worked his magic and things are good with the publisher. You're going to make it out of this in one piece."

  I give her a nod as she turns to leave. I may make it out of this in one piece, but I changed the entire course of my future and Sophia's. I know she's the woman I'm destined to be with and now I'll never get a chance to tell her that.

  ***

  "Go talk to her." Liam pushes on the edge of the empty plate in front of him. "You didn't have to buy me dinner to ask me a question about your girlfriend, Nick."

  I weigh how to respond. "She's not my girlfriend, Liam. We never defined our relationship."

  He glances over my shoulder. The restaurant he chose is busy for a Wednesday night. It wouldn't be my first choice and it's not just because the food is subpar. People have recognized me all night and even though only two have approached our table, I can feel more than a dozen sets of eyes burning a path through my back at any given second.

  I wanted to order in at my place, but Liam was insistent. I met him here and agreed to foot the bill because I still feel guilty about our private emails seeing the light of day.

  "You're splitting hairs." He takes a pull from his beer. It's an expensive import that he'd never typically drink. He's making me pay, literally, for not deleting those emails when he asked me to months ago. "You like this girl. If you hadn't fucked it up, she'd be your girlfriend. She was that before all this went down."

  She was. I viewed her that way and I believe Sophia considered herself my girlfriend. The title doesn't matter. What does matter is the way I feel about her. "Tell me how to fix this."

  "I specialize in grief counseling." He brushes his hair from the side of his face. "I'm not an expert on situations where one lover accuses another of stealing their unpublished manuscript. I read it, by the way. It's brilliant as usual."

  I take the compliment with a smile. It would have done well if I had been given the opportunity to release it. "Thanks, Wolf. I appreciate that you took the time to read a pirated copy of my book."

  He laughs. The sound is rich and warm. "You lost a few million in that, didn't you?"

  That's a low estimate. The advance alone was near eight figures. "Around that. I'll recoup some one day if this thing goes to court or it settles before it comes to that."

  "You're lucky you've got a big bank account to fall back on."

  I swallow a mouthful of the wine I ordered with my dinner. "Whatever I recover I'll donate. The book is out there now. I might as well turn this into something positive."

  "You're a good man, Nick."

  "Tell me how to convince Sophia I am."

  He finishes the last swallow of his beer. "Start with an apology."

  Chapter 6

  Sophia

  I stare at the soft blanket in Cadence's hands. It's the first gift I've given her for Firi. She hasn't said one word since I handed it to her. I'm beginning to wonder if I should have gone to the store she's registered at and chosen something that she actually needs instead of this.

  "You don't like it," I say. It's not a question. I don't want to give her an out. I'd rather just state the obvious so we can move on.

  She shakes her head slightly.

  I tug at the corner of the blanket. "I'll get you something else, Den. I'm sorry. I just thought you'd like this. Obviously, I suck at making things for a baby."

  "Don't." Her voice cracks. "Don't take it back."

  My best friend rarely wears her heart on her sleeve, but right now she is. I recognize the quake in her tone.

  "I love it," she continues. "I can't believe you'd do this for me."

  I suck in a sharp breath. I don't want to cry. If I do, I already know that my tears of joy for Cadence will morph into something else quickly. I've been on the precipice of an emotional meltdown for days and I'm not about to let it happen right now. "I wanted to make something special for the baby."

  "You didn't throw out my old baby clothes." Her hand runs over one of the patterned rectangles that make up the blanket's border. "This is that pink dress I told you I wore when I was three-years-old."

  It is. When we were still living together, Cadence's mom had come for a visit along with a trunk full of keepsakes from when Den was a kid. Inside were old report cards, a catcher's mitt and a bag filled with clothing that Cadence wore when she was an infant and toddler.

  Many of the pieces were too worn to save for another generation, so Cadence made the decision to toss them in the trash. I told her I'd take the bag down to the dumpster, but I kept it. I hid it in the back of my closet because to me they were treasures that I knew I'd eventually make use of. I had no idea back then that many of the pieces I salvaged from her old sleepers, dresses, and T-shirts would become a blanket for her first child.

  "I know there's a lot of pink in it." I laugh. "But I added some odds and ends I had to make it at least a little more masculine."

  "It's everything, Soph." She reaches for my hand. "You don't know how perfect this is. I can't wait to show my mom."

  She won't have to wait long. I spoke to her mom just this morning about her surprise visit next week. She hasn't seen Cadence since she found out she was pregnant and now that the nursery is almost complete, it's the perfect time for Firi's grandma to come to town.

  "I'm glad you like the blanket." I glance down at my watch. "I made a reservation for us at seven. You're sure you're not too tired for our dinner?"

  She gi
ngerly lays the blanket across the back of her couch. "My best friend is the lead designer on what is going to be the fashion line everyone is talking about this fall. That calls for a celebration. I'm not bailing on you, Sophia."

  "You're just excited to see Tyler." I slip into my coat.

  "I didn't choose Nova for our celebration dinner because of my fiancé." She picks up her coat from where she slung it over a chair. "I chose it because the food is the best in the city."

  She's right about that. "I'm going to have the striped sea bass."

  "You should look at the new menu before you decide."

  "I don't need to." I slip my arm around her waist. "It's my favorite meal and I'm going to enjoy it with my favorite person in the world."

  She wraps her arms around me. "I love you, Soph. I've never been more proud of anyone. By this time next year, everyone is going to know exactly who Sophia Reese is."

  ***

  "Sophia?"

  His voice sends a shiver down my spine. I haven't heard it since that night at Hibiscus. I've missed its textured nuances. I've missed him.

  I turn on my heel. He's less than a foot behind me. "Nicholas."

  "I saw you leaving Nova with Cadence." His gaze jerks from my face to my hands. "I had dinner at a place down the block from there."

  I don't ask who he had dinner with because it doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters except the fact that he called me a thief.

  "I don't think we should be talking to each other." I fish in my purse for my phone. "I have a lawyer. I can give you her number. I think you should be talking to her."

  "Why would I need to talk to your lawyer?"

  I scan the contact list of my phone, searching for Zoe's number. "I have the right to remain silent."

  He huffs out a laugh. "I'm not arresting you."

  "I know. You're suing me. My lawyer would tell me not to talk to you," I shoot back, annoyed that he's finding humor in this.

  "Your lawyer doesn't know what I want to say to you," he says smoothly.

  I roll my eyes. "It doesn't matter what you want to say; you need to say it to my lawyer. That's not hard to understand, Nicholas. Her name is Zoe Beck. Her number is…"

  "I don't want her number." He steps even closer. He's so close that I can smell the scent of his skin. "I want to tell you that I'm sorry. I need to tell you I regret everything I said to you that night and I want you to understand that I'll do whatever it takes to make this up to you."

  Chapter 7

  Nicholas

  She bites her red stained bottom lip as she stares at me.

  "I'm sorry, Sophia," I continue since she's not saying a word. "I was a royal asshole to you that night. I did shit I'm not proud of. I look back now and I can't believe I accused you of that."

  "I can't believe it either." She sighs. "I'm not capable of stealing anything from anyone."

  "I realize that." I want to reach out and touch her, but I stop myself. It's not just because we're in the middle of a crowded sidewalk. It's because her body language is screaming at me to fuck right off. "I wasn't thinking clearly."

  "I appreciate the apology." She takes a step closer to the curb. "I'm going to find a cab and head home now."

  She's as cold as ice. Her expression hasn't faltered, her voice hasn't given away anything about what she's feeling inside.

  "Can we talk more about what happened?" I move toward the curb too. "I need you to understand where my head was at."

  She glances over my shoulder at the oncoming traffic. "There's nothing to talk about."

  "There's a lot to talk about," I argue. "I fucked this up. I want a chance to make it better."

  A smile tugs at the corner of her lips. "I don't want to discuss anything with you."

  The grin on her face isn't because I followed her down the street so I could grovel. It's because she thinks I'm fucking pathetic to assume she wants another chance to be with me. She's right. I stomped all over her heart and called her boss to get her fired. I admit I'm not the definition of a good boyfriend.

  "I care about you," I say that because I've gotten nothing else waiting on the tip of my tongue.

  That prompts a raise of both of her brows. "Don't go there."

  "Go where?"

  She crosses her arms over her chest. "Don't think you can tell me you care about me after what you did. It's obvious you don't, so I'm prepared to let our lawyers figure this out between themselves."

  "I don't need a lawyer to tell you that I'm crazy about you."

  "Why are you doing this?" She glances at a couple arm-in-arm as they stroll past us. "You think I stole your book. You're going to sue me. We can't exactly sleep together while that's going on, can we?"

  I swallow. A vivid vision of the last time we fucked envelops me. I instantly recall the smell of her skin, the taste of her lips and the sounds she made when she came around my cock. I want that again but more than that, I want her to look at me the way she had before I saw her at Hibiscus.

  "Give me thirty minutes, Sophia."

  "I'm going home, Nicholas." She waves her hand in the air at an approaching yellow cab.

  "Can it be another night?" I step to the curb as the taxi slows. "Give me thirty minutes one night this week."

  "Is this about the lawsuit?" She steps onto the street.

  "I'm not suing you." I follow her lead and reach for the handle of the passenger side door of the cab. "I'm sorry I threatened you with that. It was wrong."

  "You're not suing me?" Her voice softens. "I should thank you for that but I won't because it was baseless and if you had sued me, I would have countersued you."

  I know she would have and there's no way in hell she wouldn't have won. I should be the one thanking her for not dragging my ass to court.

  "Give me thirty minutes to plead my case. I promise that's all I want."

  I want more. I want much more but I'll take thirty minutes of her time if that's all I can get right now.

  She smiles at the cab driver before she slips into the back seat. "I'll text you if I find the time to meet."

  "When you find the time," I correct her. "You'll text me when you find the time."

  "It may not be for days." She reaches for the handle of the door even though I'm still leaning against it. "I'm busy so it could be weeks."

  "I'll wait forever," I say before I shut the door and watch the car speed away with Sophia inside.

  ***

  "You can't write an email worth shit, Nick," Crew says as he picks up the tumbler of bourbon I poured him.

  "What the hell does that mean?" I furrow my brow. "I take it you read my emails that were posted online?"

  "They were boring as hell." He takes a sip of the drink. "I had to bail after three of them. Thank Christ you can write a book. If you had to rely on your email writing skills to bring home the bacon, you'd be camped out on my couch."

  That wouldn't be a bad thing. I've been to Crew's apartment. I thought my place was the definition of luxury. Compared to Crew's, I'm living modestly. "They were never meant for public consumption."

  "You're telling me." He leans forward to place the glass on the coffee table. "In all seriousness, I want to introduce you to a guy I know. I think he could help you out."

  "With what?" I ask suspiciously. I trust Crew but in my personal experience when anyone tells you they know a guy, it's always because they think you need a hand. The only thing I need help with is getting Sophia to listen to me.

  "You need a better negotiator than your agent." He exhales harshly. "From what I read in those emails, that guy isn't going to bat for you. He's settling and you're worth more. If you want someone who can get you what you deserve, I'll set up a meeting between you two."

  I've been considering ending my agreement with Steve for some time so I'm open to the idea. "Is he an agent?"

  "He does a little of everything." He barks out a laugh. "Take the meeting and get a feel for him. If you two click, you can give me a ten percent finder's fee
on the first contract he negotiates for you."

  I cock a brow. "I'll buy you a bottle of scotch and we'll call it even."

  "That's a deal." His fingers drum against his knee. "You're a better negotiator than your agent. Maybe you should skip the meeting and work out your own deals."

  "Speaking of meetings," I segue into the real reason I invited him over. "I asked Sophia if she'd meet me for thirty minutes last week and I haven't heard a word from her since."

  "Do you blame her?" He glances at his watch. "I'm not through foreplay in thirty. You need to learn to pace yourself."

  I shake my head. "You're a fucking jerk."

  "No." He leans forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. "You're the fucking jerk. I know what you said to her. You're damn lucky I'm your friend too, Nick. If I weren't, I'd take you to task for what you did."

  I assumed Sophia had told him but when I called him earlier to ask him to stop by on his way home from work, he seemed fine. Apparently, he's not. I get it. They're friends and he's right to defend her.

  "I was wrong," I admit easily. "I fucked up what I had with her. I want it back."

  "It's not that simple." His gaze narrows. "Sophia's special. She's also smart. If she thinks a situation is bad for her, she'll avoid it at all costs."

  I still. "You think I'm bad for her?"

  He doesn't back down. Instead, he leans forward, his finger pointing directly at me. "I think your ego got in the way of what could have been a great thing for you both. You need to check it at that door if you want another chance, but I'm warning you. Don't fuck her around again. If she lets you back in, that'll be your last chance. She won't put up with your bullshit again."

  I know he's right. "You think I have another chance?"

  "You broke her in two, Nick, and do you know what the first words out of her mouth were the day after you tried to ruin her fucking life?"

  "What?"

  "She called me to ask if you were okay. She was worried about you. So, yeah, I think you've got a shot at another chance. Make it count. Sophia's one in a million."