A Little Harmless Faith

by Melissa Schroeder

  He smiled at her. “That is one thing I love about you.”

  “What?”

  “Your mercenary heart.”

  She snorted as she looked out the window. “This is nothing compared to skating. Besides, he did the one thing that will lead to his destruction.”

  “And that is?”

  She turned away from the window to look at him. Her gaze steady and there was no humor in her expression.

  “You mess with someone I love, I will ruin you.”

  She said it with no malice or anger. Just as fact.

  “I would expect nothing less.”

  She offered him a small smile, then turned to look out the window again.

  He felt free to study her then. These moments didn’t happen very often. Nic kept herself busy most days, but in the few times he saw her like this, she seemed so solitary. It was something he could understand. He might have the support of his family, but they would never understand what hell he had been through. In that, he always felt the two of them shared a kinship. Leaving skating had been hard on Nicola. She never talked about it, at least not to him or in his presence. She shouldered her pain and never let it show. But he knew it was there. The fact that she never let anyone see it was awe-inspiring. And sexy. A strong woman who could submit…

  Dammit. He had to quit thinking of her in that way. She was not a sub, and she would never submit to him. And, besides that, he could never give her up as his assistant. He wasn’t sure he could run the business without her by his side.

  He had failed his family once, and he would never do it again.

  6

  Nicola sighed with relief as they walked through the door, arriving just a few minutes shy of seven thanks to the traffic. Oahu was a small island, but it always seemed to take forever to get anywhere. For a girl who grew up in a small town in Colorado, she never thought she would enjoy big cities. Still, the last few years she had grown to appreciate the vibe of the crowds.

  Jensen opened the door and waited for her to walk in. She spotted her friends in the back, seated at one of the long tables. Serenity was waving her hands around like a goofball, making it hard to miss them.

  “Does she think we don’t see her?”

  She chuckled. “She’s excited to see me.”

  “Just you?”

  “I know it’s hard for you not to be the center of attention, but yes, me.”

  “You’re such a prat.”

  “I wear that name with a badge of honor.”

  He couldn’t respond to her hit because they had arrived at the table. Serenity stepped around Mick and Adam to give her a hug, then surprised Jensen with a big hug too. She could tell because his eyes widened slightly.

  “I am so happy to see both of you again,” she said.

  Both men then hugged Nic and gave her a kiss on the cheek. When she stepped over to her chair, she noticed Jensen gave them both handshakes but didn’t smile.

  “You’re going over to Maui?” Serenity asked once they were all seated.

  “No, I’m not. Jensen is going. I thought maybe we could do a pamper day while he’s gone. Sort of a present from me for the baby.”

  “That sounds fantastic.”

  “I still don’t understand why you aren’t going,” Jensen said. His voice was light, but she detected his irritation. She was sure no one else would, but she knew him well enough.

  “Because you don’t need me, and I have a meeting with Fukasawa. He’s very influential on Maui, so I’m doing some prelim work. Besides, I don’t want to talk work here.”

  She knew he wasn’t happy about it, but he just had to deal with it. She wanted a fun night out with friends. She didn’t get many of those, as she felt she worked 24/7 for the Wulfs.

  “Serenity is the one who brought up the trip to Maui.”

  “She was trying to pretend that she likes you.”

  “Hey, I do like Jensen,” Serenity said.

  “Sure you do,” Nicola said with a chuckle.

  “Either way, I know you would like Nicola to be there, but this way, I get to see a little more of her. Plus, I get to try out that wonderful pool of yours.”

  “You can use it any time you want, even if we aren’t on the island,” Jensen said.

  She slid him a look to see if he was just saying that to get on Serenity’s good side. It would be exactly like him to be extra sweet to Serenity so she might side with him on some of their arguments. Jensen could be the most manipulative person to get what he wanted, even it if was to win a petty fight.

  “That’s okay. I already told her she could do that.”

  He opened his mouth to argue, but thankfully, Adam cut in.

  “I understand you had Dillon handle the security on that home?” Adam asked.

  “Yes. I was impressed with his services. If we get this upcoming deal off the ground, I might have him handle the security systems at the resort as well. Security is one of the things I think it’s lacking. They haven’t upgraded in over five years from what I can tell. That’s not good,” Jensen remarked. “Do you two handle things like that?”

  Mick shook his head. “We handle private security. We can handle tech stuff once it is installed, but neither of us are good with installation.”

  Serenity snorted. “Yeah, I changed their PC out for a Mac. They are still lost, and that was three months ago.”

  “We don’t work on the computer like you do,” Adam said.

  She opened her mouth to respond, but the waiter returned to take their drink orders. Once again alone, Nicola decided to push baby talk.

  “Do you have an exact due date?”

  “March fifth is what they are saying.”

  “That seems so far away.” She looked at Jensen. “You know you’re going to have to deal without me in and around March fifth.”

  “We can handle stuff,” Adam said.

  “I’m sure you can,” she said. “But I want to get my hands on that beautiful baby. They always smell so good.”

  “I didn’t know you liked babies,” Jensen said.

  She looked at him. “Who doesn’t? Okay, maybe some people don’t, but I love babies. New life and all that.”

  “Don’t let her fool you, Jensen,” Serenity said. “She just wants to buy clothes and toys for the baby.”

  Nicola laughed. “That’s true. Plus, his or her first skates. That baby is going to skate.”

  “See,” Serenity said with a laugh. “She wants a protégé.”

  “Do not. Not really. But then, wouldn’t it be cool to have an Olympic ice skating champion from Hawaii?”

  Serenity shook her head. “You think you’re going to get some kid to concentrate on skating when there are waves out there to ride?”

  “Probably not, but it was worth a try.”

  As the evening progressed, Nicola got a sense that Jensen was relaxing. Most people wouldn’t think the charmer of the Wulf family had such issues, but she knew better. When he was off kilter, she knew it was harder to deal with his addiction. As he talked soccer with the guys, she motioned to Serenity.

  “If you gentlemen will excuse us,” she said with a smile. Serenity stood and followed her to the bathroom.

  “Good God, I had no idea Mick and Adam knew that much about soccer,” Nicola said once they were in the bathroom.

  “They really don’t, but they assumed that Jensen would, and they wanted to impress him.”

  “That’s worse.”

  “Yeah, it is,” she said with a laugh. She picked one of the stalls and went in. Nicola freshened up her makeup while she waited.

  “Is something bothering you?” Serenity asked.

  “No, why?”

  “You just seem to be on edge.”

  Since she was the second person to remark about her behavior, it gave Nicola pause. “Do I?”

  “Only someone who knows you as well as I do would notice. What gives?”

  Nicola waited for Serenity to come out of the stall. “Jensen thinks I’m
jealous of your baby news.”

  She frowned as she washed her hands. “What a load of shit. You aren’t jealous.”

  “That’s what I said. Then he remarked that you were younger than I am—”

  “Oh, no he didn’t.” She grabbed a paper towel and dried her hands. “Let’s take him out back and beat the crap out of him.”

  Nicola chuckled. “Good. I thought for a second he might be right.”

  “Could it be the problem of finding a partner?”

  Out of all of her friends, Serenity was the only one who knew of her lifestyle. Even before Serenity had met Mick and Adam, Nicola had confided in her. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t trust people. Okay, she didn’t trust people. She knew it had a lot to do with her life in the spotlight and how painful the fall from grace had been.

  “It might be. I’ve not been with a Dom since…Jesus, I lost count. Tokyo?”

  Serenity’s eyes widened. “That’s been over a year. What’s up?”

  She opened her mouth, then shut it.

  “Ohhh, you have a secret. What’s the secret…tell me,” Serenity demanded.

  She sighed. “I’m having really inappropriate fantasies.”

  Serenity studied her for a long, silent minute. “Oh. My. God. You are having fantasies about Jensen!”

  “Shh, Jesus, like I need him to find out. It’s just every now and then, he uses a tone with me that gets me bothered. Like hot and bothered.” When Serenity kept staring at her with no expression on her face, she panicked. “I think it’s because I haven’t been with a Dom in so long. I just need a good session to work the idea out of my system.”

  “Is he the only one getting you hot and bothered?”

  “What?”

  “I mean, what about Adam and Mick?”

  “Jesus, Serenity, no.”

  “I think it has more to do with the man and your feelings toward him.”

  “No. We’re friends—at best. There are times I’m not sure I even want to know him.”

  Even to her own ears her proclamation didn’t sound all that strong.

  “You could always try a night at Rough ‘n Ready. See what happens.”

  She had thought the same thing before they’d arrived in Hawaii. Now, though, the idea held no excitement.

  “Ah,” Serenity said.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “You don’t want to do that. You want Jensen as your Dom.”

  “Do not. Why on Earth would I want that?”

  “Talking like an Austen reject again. You are defensive.”

  Even though she was worried Serenity was right, she shook her head. “We better get out there or the guys will be worried about us.”

  “Tell me about it. Those two are being overly cautious about everything. Well, almost everything,” she said with a grin.

  There. That was what she was jealous of. Knowing there were two men in the world who loved and adored her. Nicola would never begrudge her friend that feeling, but she wanted it too. Well, one man. The sad thing was that she knew it would never happen. She wasn’t cut out for the happily ever after story. She had proven it with Oliver.

  “What did I say?” Serenity asked, concern lacing her words.

  Nicola smiled as she opened the bathroom door. “Nothing at all. Let’s see if they moved on to cricket now.”

  With a hearty laugh, Serenity walked past her. “They’ve got such man crushes on Jensen.”

  As she followed her friend, Nicola was worried she was way past having a crush on her boss.

  As they walked out of the restaurant and down the street to the parking lot, Jensen walked about ten paces behind the women.

  “I take it you don’t need us to stop by,” Mick commented.

  “You mean while I am in Maui? No. The house is a fortress and knowing Nicola, she’ll be in bed by nine every night.”

  Neither men said a word, so he glanced over at them. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Adam said.

  “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “No. I just think it’s funny how men always think they’ve figured out women, but we always get our asses handed to us,” Adam said with a smile.

  “True enough.”

  On their drive back to the house, Jensen couldn’t let go of the conversation. “Do you have something planned while I’m gone?”

  Nicola looked at him, but it was hard to see her expression in the darkened car. The streetlights were little help in that regard.

  “I told you. I’ve a meeting or two, and then there’s laying by the pool.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “Do you mean am I going to have a party and invite all the kids over while you’re on Maui?”

  “No,” he said, thankful that it was dark in the car since he started blushing again. This woman always knew what button to push. “The guys were cryptic.”

  “You mean the two men you were very suspicious of before we went to dinner? Normally, this would piss me off, but since I get two days of mostly hanging out by the pool, I will ease your mind.”

  She placed her hand on the seat and leaned closer to him. In this position, he could see more of her. Her hair slipped down and brushed against his arm and then there was her scent. It wasn’t perfume. He knew it came from the lotion she slathered on her skin. Jasmine. Bloody hell.

  “I am going to relax. It is going to be nice just to enjoy Hawaii for a couple of days this trip. We have only stayed a few days here and there.”

  “Okay.” He was fighting dual urges. One told him to lean further back from her. She was a temptation that he was having more and more trouble ignoring. The other need coursing through his body told him to take one big bite.

  Thankfully, she moved away from him allowing him to breathe again. Where was his control? Everything he had learned during his BDSM training had taught him to use his own inner strength to control his actions. One whiff of her lotion and he wanted to tear off that blue dress and plunge into her.

  This was not good. It was bloody fucking horrible. Once he was done in Maui, he would definitely have to make a trip to Rough ‘n Ready to work out the demons plaguing him. Nicola was too important to him and the family to risk an affair with her.

  7

  Jensen looked out the expansive windows of the Mauka Resort. It was a little drab outside, with light rain falling, but it didn’t matter. It was still beautiful.

  The massive pool was empty, but you could still see a few people out on the beach. He didn’t blame them for braving the crappy weather. It would clear up soon, he was sure, and besides, it was Hawaii and no matter what, it was always beautiful.

  This view, along with the massive acreage, were the top two reasons they wanted to invest in the resort. And he should be happy. Negotiations were going better than he thought they would. With half the family wanting the investment, he knew that he only had a slight edge. The other half knew they needed an infusion of capital to keep the place running. They weren't happy about it; but, in the words of Nicola, life didn't always make you happy.

  Damn, he was missing her. She hadn't even come to the plane to see him off. He knew he wasn't being logical, but damn, he wanted her there. She was right. He didn't need her. But he wanted her there with a ferocity that truly irritated him. He could and had functioned without her before.

  He watched Alfie’s reflection as he made his way through the board room. He stopped beside Jensen.

  “It's hard to tell what they're thinking.”

  He nodded. “Very stoic. I think we have a good chance though.”

  Alfie sighed. “I agree. They need the help, and I don't think they have another company offering our type of package. I thought Nicola was going to come.”

  “She's in Hawaii.”

  “No. I mean here.”

  “Oh, I thought she told you. She stayed on Oahu. She had some work that she could do from there.”

  “Oh.”

  His disappointed tone had Jen
sen turning to look at him. Nicola had been right, they had been best friends at Eaton. They came from different worlds. The Wulfs had a long history of being a silent but powerful family in England. Alfie Thompson was new money. It was odd, because if someone heard their last names, most people would think Alfie was twenty-fifth in line for the throne. Wulf sounded like some weird family name made up by an actor. Instead, Jensen could trace his family history all the way back to before the Norman invasion. Wulf had been Wulfgang, so after World War I, they had changed their name. Well, shortened it.

  “How long are you going to be here?”

  He had arrived the night before and now he was ready to head back. It was as if he couldn’t go twenty-four hours without seeing Nicola. Pathetic.

  “What did you say?” he asked Alfie.

  “Sorry. Lost in my thoughts.”

  Alfie smiled. “Hawaii does have that effect on me. Hard to hold onto thoughts.”

  “Excuse me,” Robert Johnson said.

  He turned with a smile. “Yes?”

  “We are going to need a few days to consider this option.”

  “Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  “We might have a counter offer.”

  Alfie opened his mouth to respond, and Jensen knew it would be negative. “Any response other than no makes me happy.”

  Robert’s rigidity seemed to melt a bit.

  “I understand you’re staying on Oahu?”

  “Yes. We have a house over there, or I would stay here for the negotiations.”

  “Why don’t I fly over there next Monday? That way you don’t have to make the trip over here again.”

  “Of course. Give Nicola a call with your details and we will be happy to get together.”

  He nodded and walked back to the rest of his family.

  “Well, that’s brilliant. Now I can head back early.”

  “Of course.”

  There was a thread of irritation in Alfie’s voice that caught his attention.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “No, I just don’t know why I’m here.”

  He waited until the rest of the Johnson family had left them alone.