by Dez Burke
Nick had insisted she play her part as his new fiancée – a role now obvious to the outside world thanks to the huge engagement ring he’d placed on her finger. Kaycie wondered if he’d got her a new one or it was the same one Rachel must have worn. Not that it mattered to Kaycie either way.
This wasn’t a romantic relationship – it was a business arrangement. He got his bride and hence his precious inheritance – while Kaycie got...well, she was spared having to lose all she’d ever worked for. Day by day, she reminded herself how Nick’s cruel blackmail had forced her to agree to marriage to him – and yet if she was honest, it wasn’t all angst.
Nick Vitale was a handsome man; and very charming when he chose to be. In public, he was the perfect companion, attentive and even romantic. Every time he placed a kiss on her cheek or took her hand in a warm grasp, Kaycie squirmed with hidden embarrassment. Even with the envy she saw on every woman’s face who happened to be present, she couldn’t help the feeling of resentment. Once, she asked him privately if all the show of affection was really necessary.
“All eyes are on us, in case you didn’t notice,” he murmured, looking his usual debonair self as they arrived at another one of the high-society dinners he made her attend with him. “We have to come across as authentic as possible. Especially since my father’s lawyers have to be sure none of this is a sham. I’d hate to jeopardize anything just because anyone suspected this is less than a romantic union.”
“I see,” Kaycie had replied, quelling an exasperated sigh. She was sure neither of them had been able to fool any of Nick’s relatives whom Kaycie had met over the past week; she could tell they looked far from pleased that Nick was marrying her instead of Rachel. She could almost read the disdain on their aristocratic faces each time they looked at her. Not that Kaycie could say she blamed them but still.
She just simply couldn’t understand the real reason Nick had picked her instead of any of the other women he could have had. In fact, Kaycie thought he seemed to enjoy the look of surprise on people’s faces when he introduced Kaycie as his ‘fiancée’ especially in those ultra-exclusive gatherings they were invited to. It was times like those that Kaycie was glad she’d agreed to Nick’s insistence that she get a whole new wardrobe.
Kaycie had assured him at first that her own clothes were perfectly fine, but being the alpha male he was, he soon had her with no choice but to give in to the two days of designer shopping which saw Kaycie up to her ears in shoes, bags, outfits and jewelry that cost more than she’d make in five years.
An all-round makeover seemed inevitable as her hair, nails and even her body was given the movie-star treatment. Now when Kaycie looked into the mirror she hardly recognized herself. She looked like a million dollars – which she was probably worth if she added up the cost of what she was wearing at a particular time.
Kaycie told herself she’d never asked for any of this, and though she hated every second she had to play a part, she couldn’t deny her feelings for Nick were starting to change.
He was still insufferably arrogant – but spending more and more time around him gave her some insight to the man beneath the mask. When he was around family or friends, he seemed a whole different person. She got to see him laugh more, talk more. She loved listening to him speak Italian; it was the sexiest language a man’s tongue could utter and with his cousins, uncles and aunts, he usually slipped into their native language while Kaycie was present but she never really minded. She could pick a few words here and there, and besides this was a part of who he was. She could begrudge him all she wanted for putting her in this situation, but deep down she knew that bit by bit, she was losing her hold on reality.
How many times in the past two weeks had a simple goodnight kiss from him almost had her wanting to pull him into her apartment with her and finish what he started that first time he’d come calling? It wasn’t just because it had been many months of celibacy for Kaycie; she really was genuinely in lust with Nick and being around him day in and day out wasn’t helping her hormonal balance one bit.
She could tell he wanted her too; it wasn’t something he’d ever tried to hide. Not since that first time when he’d slipped a finger deep into her pussy and he’d growled deep in his throat with carnal appreciation. He’d known then how much she’d melted for him, despite her defiant words.
Now, each time his knuckles brushed against the bare skin of her arm, or whenever she felt the warm gust of his breath on the back of her neck, Kaycie shivered with helpless desire. Nick was all-man, certainly more man than she’d ever had the fortune to come across. Every other guy she’d met over the years had always seemed to fall short of her perfect fantasy lover. Nick, on the other hand, fell short at nothing.
Kaycie would always remember the sheer size of him, even when restrained beneath his expensive dress pants. He’d been so hot and hard for her that every night, she moaned in her sleep with her thighs pressed tightly together as she berated herself for passing up that one chance in his arms.
And yet, with every look he sent her way when no one else could notice, Nick gave her no doubt that he was merely biding his time. He smiled that rakish smile of a man who knew the prize was there for his taking. And yet the handsome devil seemed to torture himself – and her as well, with the prospect that sometime soon, all the breathless waiting would come to an end.
Being an only child and with his mother dying when Nick was just a child, Kaycie soon learned that Nick had grown up pretty much raised by close relations and family friends. His tough as nails father had never had much time for his young son which meant Nick learned early on in life to stand on his own.
Kaycie respected that even as she wondered if that was all that had happened to turn him into the enigma he was now. Always, she sensed there was something beneath the surface, still locked away from her. A part of him she’d never get a glimpse of or even understand.
Why she’d want to understand Nick Vitale was beyond her. The man was a heartless beast. He’d as much as held her future in his hands when he’d bought that company handling her life’s investments.
That’s what you get for putting all your eggs in one basket, thought Kaycie. Though, in the back of her mind she was reminded that she’d brought this all on herself that night she’d flown into his arms and kissed him in full view of Mark – and unknown to Kaycie, Nick’s fiancée Rachel Conte.
None of that mattered now. Kaycie had vowed to put that all behind her and move on, taking each day at a time. And when she went to bed at night, she prayed that when she woke up the next morning, it would get easier and easier to face the future.
But it never did.
KAYCIE HEAVED A DEEP sigh as she heard Nick’s powerful car drive off into the night. Pushing away from her front door, she slipped out of her designer high heeled pumps and headed straight for her bedroom.
It had been another one of those evenings; dinner with a handful of Nick’s most important business associates. The closer they came to the wedding date, the more pressure Kaycie felt when she thought of the role she’d have to play as Nick’s wife. People expected much from the woman wearing Nick Vitale’s ring.
If she’d thought it would be in name only, he showed her many times that she was wrong. He wanted a wife in every sense of the word and now that the wedding was only a week away, Kaycie had that sense of panic as she wondered if it wasn’t too late to back out of it.
Especially when she knew how much things had changed – on her part at least.
She frowned, pulling the pins from her glossy dark hair as she thought of how preoccupied Nick had been all through the dinner in the exclusive Italian restaurant they’d dined at. She wondered if he too, was having second thoughts about them. A part of her shriveled to think that Nick might end up changing his mind about the whole thing.
Maybe he’d decide he preferred someone more suited to what was expected of the handsome billionaire who’d dated models, beauty queens and heiresses? Like, what on earth h
ad he been thinking, deciding to hook up with some barely-known interior designer with a small-town background who was trying to claw her way to the top?
Kaycie felt her heart sink and pushed those disheartening thoughts aside. Billionaire or not, she told herself Nick would be lucky to have a woman like her. She didn’t care about his money or name. None of that mattered when he was close to her and she could inhale that special, heart-tripping scent that was all Nick.
When he covered her hand with his, even with just a light touch, she felt it right down to between her legs. A man like him was what fantasies were made of and Kaycie realized she must have been an idiot to hold back this long, keeping her desire for him at bay.
All night, she’d been aware of him like never before. Even in his distant mood, she’d been drawn to how devilishly handsome he’d looked in his formal evening suit and impeccable tie.
His hair, so dark and silky, had made her almost weep inside in longing to sink her fingers in the tempting locks. Every other woman in the room had found it hard to resist taking more than a second look and Kaycie had felt an almost irrepressible urge to scream, “He’s mine!” to let them know Nick was out of bounds.
But then common sense prevailed as she recalled that Nick Vitale wasn’t hers. Soon, he would be but only on paper. Why was that prospect becoming more and more distasteful to her? Was she beginning to want something more?
Before Kaycie could dwell on that possibility, she heard the doorbell ring. She was so surprised to have someone at the door at that time of night that she didn’t think twice before going to answer it.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation when she saw Mark standing there.
“Mark, seriously?” she said, staying put in the middle of her front door in case her ex had any thought of letting himself in. In the past few weeks she’d had to ignore a load of his messages and calls, thankful that Nick never found out about them since she could never be sure what he’d be capable of if he knew Mark was still trying to contact her.
And now here he stood, his handsome face strained, his hands shoved into his jacket as he waited on her doorstep with a lost expression.
“You never gave us that chance to talk, Kaycie. I couldn’t stay away,” Mark said deeply before heaving a deep sigh. “And now I feel like you need to hear my explanation before you go ahead with your marriage to Nick Vitale.”
Kaycie shook her head in disbelief. “Nothing you could say would change the fact that I’m getting married to Nick in a week’s time. Why is this so hard to understand, Mark? Whatever we shared, it’s over. No amount of explanation can bring us back together. I don’t love you,” she told him clearly.
“And you love him?” Mark asked with a twist to his lips. “I was parked across the street waiting when I saw him drop you off just minutes ago. And I couldn’t help thinking; what does he have to offer you that I can’t? Oh sure, he’s almost rich as Rockefeller and then of course he’s got this fancy Italian heritage that seems to get women all in a tizzy. But you never seemed the type to fall for all that crap, Kaycie. You were always my girl; the kind I always thought I’d find waiting when the time came for me to come home.”
“Well, you thought wrong,” Kaycie said quietly. She couldn’t believe he’d been staking out her apartment, waiting for her to return. Just imagining if Nick had run into him was enough to make goosebumps rise all over her skin.
Hiding a shiver, she went on in a tight voice, “Things might have turned out differently if you’d worked as hard at our relationship as you did with your career in the military. You never bothered to call or even write me for more than a year before you got back, Mark. Now I can’t say what you must have gone through back there but if you cared, you’d have stayed in touch to make sure I knew you were okay, and that you were coming back to me. For all I knew you’d moved on with some other girl or had even gotten married. What did you expect me to think? What’s done is done. Just go home, okay? I’m sure you’ll have someone filling the space pretty soon anyway. Girls had never been a problem for you so I guess you’ll be fine.”
Mark’s eyes looked pained as they held hers. “There may be other girls but it was always you, Kaycie. Yeah, I messed up. I don’t need a crystal ball to tell me that. But back there in Afghanistan, I was facing a lot of stuff that just had me blanking out the world just so I could make it through the ordeal. I kept thinking that was the best way to deal with things but now I realize I was wrong. I convinced myself that the life I knew would be waiting for me if I ever got through that last mission. But then there was always one more operation, and then another until months passed and before I knew it, it was two years since we’d last spoken. I’m sorry I threw away what we had but if you give me one more chance.”
Kaycie bit hard on her bottom lip, flinching slightly. She really, really hated to do this, especially when she thought of what they’d once shared. It had been innocent and sweet, and Mark had never ever done a thing to cause her pain while they were together. It was just never meant to be. She shook her head one last time at him, her eyes apologetic.
“I’m sorry too, Mark. But no. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. And please, it’s best if you never tried to see me again, or call me. Goodbye, Mark.”
Slowly, Kaycie closed the door on his broken expression. She released a deep sigh as she moved away to head to the kitchen for a glass of water and some aspirin. The strain of the conversation had her wondering about her closing words.
She’d meant it when she’d said she couldn’t be with Mark even if she’d wanted to. A bit of it had to do with the fact that she was being trapped into marriage to another. But as she searched the deepest recesses of her heart, Kaycie knew that she’d fallen into another trap of a more dangerous kind. The one which involved her heart...
Kaycie jumped when, for the second time that night her doorbell rang. What on earth? She banged down the glass of water and virtually stalked to her door and flung it open with a warning growl in her tone as she blurted, “Mark, I told you...”
Kaycie stiffened with surprise. Standing there this time wasn’t Mark as she’d thought, but Nick. His playfully cocky smile disappeared at the sound of Mark’s name.
“Mark was here?” Nick snarled, his face darkening with fury. Deciding she didn’t need this, Kaycie let out a huff and swirled round to stalk back to the kitchen.
Nick was hot on her heels, the front door banging shut after him. Kaycie rolled her eyes and chose to ignore the throbbing increasing in her skull. She went for the glass of water she’d been interrupted from drinking and raised it to her lips.
“I believe I asked you a question,” Nick said through gritted teeth, his hand closing tightly around her elbow.
“Yes, Mark was here!” Kaycie snapped, finally facing him as she spun round. Her eyes held his with her own share of anger. “He showed up moments after you drove off. Don’t worry; he didn’t stay very long.”
“Let me guess,” Nick sneered, “He was here to give his good wishes for your upcoming wedding.”
“Something like that,” Kaycie said, with equal sarcasm. She gasped when Nick grabbed her shoulders and pulled her hard against him, his face a mask of rage.
“If he touched you...laid even a finger on you...”
Kaycie felt a cold thrill slide down her spine, feeling that same sweet hot rush she got from being so close to him. It had been a shock to find him standing on the doorstep and a delayed reaction began in her knees which were starting to wobble. His hold over her couldn’t be explained and yet somehow she could guess why she was becoming more and more vulnerable to his dominance.
“He only wanted to talk,” Kaycie finally said, forcing the defiant tone from her voice. “I didn’t even let him in the front door. He...well, he tried to make one last attempt to change my mind about leaving him, but I told him in no uncertain terms that it was over and that I was definitely going ahead with my marriage to you. Needless to say, I advised him never to bother trying to see me again.
”
Nick’s lips thinned in a cold smile. “I hope for his sake, he heeds that advice. I’ve warned him more than once to stay away from you and I’m a man who hates to repeat himself. The next time, I might do just more than warn him.”
“I’m sure he got the message this time,” Kaycie said with a twist to her lips. Seeing a jealous Nick would have been such a romantic, delicious buzz if she understood why the hell he could be jealous. It wasn’t like he was in love with her or anything. He’d made it clear that he’d have gladly married Rachel and had only chosen Kaycie out of necessity. He also claimed to desire her sexually so then maybe he was that type of man who hated to share his toys or whatever he felt was his property.
Reminding herself of just what they had between them and that it had nothing to do with romance, Kaycie sighed and tried to pull out of his hold.
“Just what did you come back for, Nick?” she asked tiredly, her palms flat against his chest. He merely tightened his grip, and when she made herself look into his eyes, she saw them soften with a glowing enticement.
“My goodnight kiss,” he rumbled, his dark gaze deepening almost to black as they rested on her lips. His hands slid up her arms to encircle her throat lightly, and Kaycie hummed softly in both protest and pleasure, her heart pounding faster than ever.
She felt all giddy and silly at the same time. She had wondered at how preoccupied he’d seemed all evening, so much so he hadn’t given her the custDaniely kiss goodnight he usually did. She’d always felt it was just something perfunctory on his part; nothing dreamy about it but simply his gentlemanly way of reminding her she belonged to him.
Kaycie had certainly noticed he’d neglected to bestow the parting gesture earlier that night after he’d seen her to her front door, but she’d put it down to his strange mood all through the dinner.
Now, she laughed in disbelief as her eyes danced playfully. “You came all the way back just to get a goodnight kiss. Yeah, right.”
