“I doubt very much that you know anything about me.”
He met her eyes briefly in the rearview mirror. “I know that your father was a controlling and angry man. I know that your mother deserted your family, or died, or did both when you were thirteen. Your brother clashed with your father over her disappearance so he left you, too, and was in a not-so-private war with your father until the day he died.”
“Okay, enough. So my private life is not very private. I get it. What’s your point?” Really, could this day get worse?
The sympathy in Jeff’s eyes only made Nicole cringe more.
He said, “You’re not the only person to experience abuse or loss. You should talk to someone about it.”
“Like a shrink? Or a nosy limo driver?”
He shrugged. “Either. Both. I just can’t sit here and watch you fall apart without telling you what you’re going through is normal. You survived an abusive parent, now comes the hard part.” Nicole gave him no encouragement, but he didn’t seem to require any. “Finding out who you are without him.”
What if I’m no one?
“And I do that by buying my own toothbrush?”
“It’s a start. Then we have to do something about your clothes. You look like a rich librarian.”
How rude. “Wow, you really know how to build a girl’s ego up. Most drivers worry more about the road than their boss’s attire.”
“What are you going to do? Fire me? You don’t even pay that well.”
“I don’t?”
“No, you don’t, and your father never did.”
Just add that guilt to my tab.
“Then why does your father stay?”
“Because he likes you. He says you are like a flower in the middle of a thornbush—not your fault you are there, and almost impossible to save.”
Is that how people saw her? As a helpless victim? Someone who needed to be saved? No wonder she was alone. “I don’t want to be that person anymore, Jeff,” she said and realized how deeply she wanted to make that change.
“You’re young, you’re beautiful, you’re rich. What’s stopping you?”
A huge weight lifted off her chest. Nothing was stopping her. Absolutely nothing. “So, where does one go shopping when they don’t want to look like a librarian anymore?”
“With your credit limit, anywhere they want.”
Exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time, Nicole dropped several bags down inside the door of Stephan’s penthouse. She felt years younger in her new blue polka-dotted Oscar de la Renta dress. She was used to concealing what she had always considered boney shoulders, but she refused to hide anymore. As she’d entered the building, she’d caught a couple of men turning to give her a second look. Her heart skipped a beat and she wondered if Stephan would feel the same when he saw the new her.
She turned back to Jeff, who was barely visible beneath the packages he was laden with. She asked, “Do you believe in happy endings?”
“As in, happily ever after?”
“I guess.”
“That’s not reality, Nicole. Life doesn’t stop when the book ends.”
“But some people find love and stay together their whole lives. A love like that’s possible, right?”
“My parents have been married for forty years. That’s what they are celebrating this summer with their extended vacation. Dad still gets the biggest kick out of Mom’s sense of humor. So, yes, it’s possible.”
“How do you think they do it?”
“Why are you asking, Nicole?”
“Stephan and I had a real connection once.”
“And now?”
“I want to believe it’s possible to find that again, but men don’t stay with me, Jeff. Why don’t they stay?”
“Why do you think they don’t stay?”
Nicole shrugged helplessly.
Jeff put the packages aside and said, “Listen, I don’t know your history with men.” Nicole opened her mouth to share, but Jeff raised a hand and added quickly, “And I don’t need to. But from what I know about Stephan, I wouldn’t suggest you throw yourself at him. He won’t respect anything he gets easily.”
Nicole chewed her bottom lip. “He might not even be interested.”
“He moved you into his penthouse. He’s interested. Just be careful.”
Stephan’s penthouse was a disappointment. Sure, its location near Central Park had likely cost him well over twenty million, and the interior was modern and spotless, but it reminded Nicole of the stark house she’d just escaped.
Where were the photos of Stephan’s family? Every decoration had been perfectly placed to balance the room. She’d been hoping to find something of the old Stephan within these walls. Nothing.
A short tour of the other rooms did not make Nicole feel any better. She went back to meet Jeff in the living room. He was seated on a couch whose crisp lines and modern design did not appear to provide any comfort. Just like my father’s house: all for show.
“The penthouse only has one bedroom. Just where does he think I’m going to be sleeping?” Nicole asked, as much to herself as to her driver.
Jeff rolled his eyes.
So, you think it’s going to be that easy, Stephan? Move me in, enjoy yourself for a few weeks, then toss me aside like every other woman you’ve dated?
I don’t think so.
She walked over and opened the door to his home office again. “Do you still have the number to those movers, Jeff? I’m not done shopping yet.”
Chapter Nine
It was pretty obvious that she hadn’t heard him come in. She was standing on top of a small chair, attempting to hammer a nail into the wall with the tiny heel of a shoe. The image of her bare shoulders, hair loose down her back, olive cotton sundress—simple, yet mouthwateringly sexy at the same time. And completely unexpected.
What was she up to?
Her slim hips swayed slightly to the music blaring through the penthouse. He had to say something. In fact, the longer he said nothing, the more he was imaging how quickly he could get that little sundress off.
He stepped into the room and turned down the music.
She jumped, nearly toppling from the chair. He caught her just in time, pulling her against him and letting her bare feet slowly slide to the floor. He could have let her go, but when she looked up at him, he saw a memory in her eyes—a memory of another time and place when he had held her this closely.
“I didn’t think you’d be home until tomorrow,” she said breathlessly.
“I left earlier than expected.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I made a few changes.”
She referenced the room behind him as if he’d noticed anything but her when he’d walked in. He hadn’t seen her with her hair down and in a dress since . . .
“I don’t mind at all,” he said as his hands naturally found the small of her waist and settled her more fully against him, not caring if she could feel what her nearness was doing to his body.
Her acceptance of the situation was exciting, even if it came with a twinge of disappointment that the chase was over before it had begun. She was already here in his arms, her nipples already pushing against the thin material of her cotton dress, eager for his attention.
The next few weeks were going to be exhausting, but oh, so pleasurable.
He swooped down to take her lips, but she turned her head to the side and his kiss fell on her cheek. His head drew back with a frown. He hadn’t fallen victim to that move since the third grade, when his first crush hadn’t reciprocated his affection.
And he didn’t like it.
She pulled out of his embrace and took a few steps away from him. “I think it’s a good idea, Stephan, to discuss some ground rules.”
“Ground rules?” he growled.
“Yes, so no one gets confused.”
“I’m not confused.” He moved closer.
She moved further away. “This arrangement is strictly business.”
<
br /> “It doesn’t have to be.”
“I’m only here to save my father’s company. In a few months, we’ll be out of each other’s lives again.”
“Even more of a reason to take advantage of this time together.”
“I don’t agree, and that’s why I converted your home office into a second bedroom.”
My office? He stalked to the door of a room where he normally banned everyone and whipped it open. Sure enough, his black and gray office furniture had been replaced by an explosion of white and lavender feminine crap. On one side of the room, a small twin-sized bed stood where his desk had. She’d even repainted the walls white, with what looked like a flower stencil near the baseboards. “What the hell did you do with all of my stuff?” he yelled.
Nicole didn’t so much as flinch.
“Everything that looked important was boxed and sent to your main office. The rest was put in storage. Isn’t that why you sent the movers? So I could make myself at home here?” Her innocence sounded a bit calculated.
He’d underestimated Nicole, and he found that incredibly hot. Excitement drove his blood—along with all of his irritation—clear out of his head. He wanted to lift that dress and taste her right there on her new chaste linens.
“How long do you really think you’ll be sleeping in there?” he purred.
Instead of coyly pretending not to understand or retreating, Nicole surprised him by stepping closer to him. She stopped just before their bodies touched. Close enough he could feel the heat of her skin. Slightly above a whisper, she said, “If you want to sleep with me, Stephan, you’ll have to do a whole lot better than cheap come-ons and well-worn lines. In fact, you’ll have to do something that probably isn’t even possible.”
Sheer willpower stopped him from pulling her that last half inch that separated them.
Their mutual attraction slowed time for a moment, until the only thing that existed was the two of them. She raised a hand toward him, and his entire body tightened instantly in expectation of her caress.
God, he wanted her.
He was ready to promise whatever it would take to get her into his bed.
Her playful, dismissive pat on his cheek took him completely off guard.
“You’re going to have to get me to like you,” she said and pushed a stunned Stephan back a step, out of her room, and closed the door.
Leaning against the inside wall, Nicole let out a shaky breath. The shocked look on Stephan’s face had been priceless. He probably didn’t get turned down often. His ego could use the trim.
Would playing hard to get give them the time they needed to rediscover their old connection? Or would he lose interest and move on to someone else? For once, the uncertainty didn’t scare Nicole.
The challenges Nicole had faced and overcome recently had left her feeling empowered. Regardless of his feelings, she’d convinced Stephan to help her. Corisi Ltd. and its top executives would soon be safe. As soon as the paperwork was completed, she could start pulling her company out of the red and show everyone she wasn’t some helpless, tragic victim who needed rescuing.
She’d won.
She’d finally won.
The confidence it gave her allowed her to look inward with more strength. Her past was a part of her, but it would only rule her if she let it. She refused to settle for being the sum of everything that had happened to her. It was about time she figured out exactly what she needed to be happy and fought for it.
That might mean rediscovering love with Stephan—if he was ready for something real.
Or it might mean leaving him in her dust.
Either way, she was taking control of her life.
Watch out, Stephan. It’s all or nothing, and I’m done playing by other people’s rules.
Chapter Ten
Stephan was not in a good mood the next morning. Falling asleep had been damn near impossible until the wee hours of the morning, and waking to see not a trace of Nicole in his penthouse irritated him.
And it shouldn’t—which only irritated him more. Stephan padded from the shower to his bedroom closet in a towel. He chose what his father would call one of his power suits. In less than an hour, he’d likely be knee-deep in legal jargon when he met Nicole at her lawyer’s office.
His mood went from bad to worse when his phone rang. Dominic? He must be getting desperate.
As soon as Stephan answered, an accusation boomed out of the telephone. “What the hell are you doing with my sister, Stephan?”
“I don’t think you want the graphic details.”
Dominic hissed out an angry breath. “Why is she at your house?”
“Shouldn’t you ask Nicole? Oh, wait, she won’t take your phone calls. She hates you as much as I do. That has to hurt.”
“You’re a new kind of low, Stephan.”
“Maybe, but at least I don’t kidnap my women.” Oh, yes, he’d seen the news. The debate finally declared Dominic an over-the-top-romantic, but Stephan knew the truth: the little school teacher had never stood a chance against someone like Dominic. He felt sorry for the woman who had tried and failed to escape him.
Nicole was different. She’s using me as much as I’m using her. “Your sister happily moved into my penthouse,” he taunted.
“Leave her out of any vendetta you have against me.”
Why, Dominic, you sound almost desperate.
How does it feel?
Wait, because it’s going to get a lot worse.
“I can’t. You haven’t heard? We’re engaged. That makes us practically family, Dominic.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Just be a man and don’t send your goons. Unlike some, I don’t hide behind security. But I guess someone like you, someone who collects enemies like others collect coins, would have to.”
“You’re not going to win, Stephan. I’m going to crush you.”
“Is that any way to talk to your future brother-in-law?”
Dominic was voicing some new threat when Stephan laughed and hung up. He had Dominic exactly where he wanted him: furious and distracted. By the time he went back to check on his coveted new software, it would be too late.
Stephan headed to his home office, only to remember it was now a bedroom and swore.
Normally his instincts were dead-on when it came to reading people, but every time he thought he knew what Nicole would do, she did the opposite.
The only thing about her that he was 100 percent certain of was she monopolized far too much of his thoughts.
Nicole pretended not to notice when Stephan entered the outer office of her uptown lawyer. She turned a page of the women’s magazine she’d stopped reading the moment she’d seen him exit the elevator.
You would have thought Stephan was a movie star by how flustered the secretary became when he addressed her. Who could blame her? He belonged in a calendar gracing any month that represented hot. He didn’t even have to get undressed to make women drool. He had the kind of animal magnetism that worked on the female libido regardless of what he wore.
Nicole turned another page of the magazine.
That was part of Stephan’s problem. He expected women to fall at his feet.
“Nicole,” he said as he stood above her, about a foot away.
“Oh, Stephan. You’re here, great. I told the secretary not to announce us until you arrived.”
“I expected to come here together.”
Poor Stephan. He didn’t look very happy about being ditched. Nicole fought back a smile. “I had a few places I needed to go this morning.” She laid the magazine down and stood, watching Stephan’s reaction and hoping. The dark-blue dress she’d chosen for the day was perfectly acceptable for a business meeting, but it also hugged her lean frame and left just enough of her legs exposed that she felt sexy in it. Another perk of having money was with one phone call she’d found a makeup artist who was willing to meet her that morning and give her some tips on how to subtly accentuate.
The effort proved worth it. Stephan leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You look incredible in that dress, but I’d love to see you out of it even more.”
She looked up at him from beneath her now-long lashes and teased, “Has that line ever worked on a woman?”
He went a sudden shade of pink. “Yes,” he said defensively.
And she burst out laughing at the expression on his face.
He didn’t share her humor.
Nicole didn’t gloat long. Stephan leaned forward, his hot breath tickling her ear before his words did. “So, that dress isn’t for me? You didn’t imagine how my hands would feel as I slid . . .”
Further conversation was halted by the inner door of the office opening and Gavin Burke, Nicole’s personal lawyer, coming out to greet them. Despite the interruption, it took a moment for Nicole to shake the image Stephan had whispered. Her skin quivered in anticipation of his hands sliding her already short hem higher, cupping her, pulling her against him. She prayed the light flush that spread across her chest would go unnoticed.
Gavin took both of her hands in his. He was several inches shorter than Stephan, but attractive in a “cute boy next door moves to New York and becomes a corporate lawyer” sort of way. There had never been any chemistry between them, but Stephan didn’t know that. Gavin gave her a kiss on one cheek, then stepped back and held her hands away from her sides to appreciate her transformation. “Wow. Look at you. You look good.”
Nicole graced him with a huge smile. Gavin had always been kind to her. No legal request was too small. He was only in his late thirties, but he’d made a fortune by helping influential people find creative ways to interpret documents. He could have tried to use their acquaintance to facilitate a connection with the powerful men in her family, but he never had.
And that was why she trusted him.
“I thought it was time for a change,” she said.
He held her hands a moment longer. “You were always beautiful, but now you’re glowing. It’s nice to see you smiling.”
Nicole felt her face flush as she remembered exactly which comment had put that glow on her cheeks.
Stephan stepped closer, looking less than pleased at their conversation. “Stephan Andrade.” Somehow he made his name sound like a threat. He slid a possessive hand onto the small of Nicole’s back.
The Legacy Collection Box Set Page 8
