Anyone But Nick

by Bloom, Penelope

  “What?” I asked.

  “I’m hoping it won’t be the last time.”

  I smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “I guess that’s a step in the right direction. At least you’re not planning on the old ‘hit it and forget it’ strategy that seemed to be your MO lately.”

  “That wasn’t what it probably looked like. I watched my brothers pair off and saw how happy it made them. Then when I looked in the mirror, I saw how much I wanted it. I wanted somebody who could make me feel like Kira and Iris make my brothers feel. Whole, I guess. And I didn’t actually sleep with any of those women I dated the past few months. In case you were wondering.”

  I smiled to myself even more at that. “I might’ve wondered a little bit. Why not?”

  “Whether I realized it or not, I think I only ever wanted you.”

  I swallowed hard at that. As much as my brain wanted to accept all the things he was saying, it was too much to process all at once. “You said you wanted to feel whole,” I said slowly. “But how do you know you’re not just shoving something in the empty spot? What if it’s shaped like a square, and I’m a triangle? How would you know?”

  He laughed. “I think I’d know if I tried to shove a triangle inside a square-shaped hole.”

  I groaned. “Okay. Bad example. What if I’m a small circle, and you have a big circular hole in you?”

  “A big circular hole, huh?”

  I turned around so I could swat at his arm. I wasn’t ready for the sight of him lying so close beside me, though. “Can you stop acting like Cade for a second and take me seriously?”

  “I am—sorry,” Nick said. “I’ll admit I’m a little distracted right now. You just smell so damn good.”

  I licked my lips. “Yeah, well, stop smelling me and listen.”

  He grinned. “Okay. I’m listening. No more sniffing, I promise.”

  “I’m just saying, How do you know we’re a good fit? What if it’s just a good-enough fit?”

  Nick had a funny look on his face.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I shouldn’t. You told me to be serious.”

  I sighed. “Just get it out of your system.”

  “I was going to say there’s only one way to find out if I’ll fit, and I think we’d both enjoy the experience.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Having good sex wouldn’t mean we’re compatible.”

  “Then why do you seem so afraid of trying it?”

  “Because I don’t want to get confused. I want to know this isn’t a mistake.”

  “If people got to know whether a relationship was a mistake or not before they tried, it wouldn’t be much fun. Would it?”

  I closed my eyes and curled up until my head was against his chest. “Most guys can’t hurt me like you could. The moment I stop holding back, I’d be giving you the power to do that again.”

  He stroked my hair slowly, sending shivers down my neck. “I’d never hurt you. Never again.”

  “I believe you,” I said.

  I let the slow, gentle pattern of his fingertips against my scalp pull me closer to sleep. It felt good lying with him. It felt right. And if I bought into his stupid analogy, it felt a whole lot like a medium-size circle fitting into a medium-size circular hole. But it still felt like I was waiting for something—some sign that it was time to take the final step. I knew one thing: I needed to find a way to tell him about Robbie’s job offer. I didn’t want Nick to think I was considering it or trying to use it to gain leverage, though. I’d need to make sure I chose my words carefully and found the right timing. Easier said than done.

  Chapter 18

  NICK

  Miranda and I spent the morning completely ignoring work, which was starting to feel like business as usual on this trip. After we had breakfast in my room, we took an unofficial tour of Julian Ridge. We played a round of bowling so bad that one of the employees at the alley had to ask if we wanted bumpers in the gutters. After bowling, we watched a screening of Die Hard in the theater.

  It wasn’t until we’d sat down in a little pizza café around lunchtime that our conversation finally took a turn toward the business.

  Miranda was still wearing my shirt from last night, and she had stopped by her room only to grab a pair of shorts in place of the sweatpants I’d picked for her. More than once, I’d wondered if she was wearing the red, lacy thong I’d picked out for her too. In uncharacteristic fashion, she hadn’t even stopped to do her makeup or spend more than a few seconds throwing her hair in a ponytail. It was the most natural I’d seen her. Considering she normally used perfection like a wall to keep everyone at arm’s length, seeing her like this felt like a sort of private invitation into her world.

  I leaned back in my chair and took a sip of beer. “I’ve never had this much trouble focusing on work.”

  She smiled, then popped a bite of pizza in her mouth. “I’ll take that as a compliment. But I’m in the same boat. Before you, I don’t think I ever went a full hour without thinking about my career, let alone a few days. It has actually been nice. But I did think of something the other day. I was just too pissed at you to want to talk about it at the time.”

  I laughed. “Was it around the time of Max Frost?”

  “Yes, and your jealous explosion.”

  “Are you implying I didn’t have a right to be jealous?”

  “No. I think I’m actually glad you were. It was like a wake-up call. Before that, I really believed you didn’t have any feelings for me. Once I saw the way you acted when I showed up with Max, I wasn’t so sure anymore. But I guess I was too much of a chicken to talk to you about it.”

  “So,” Nick said. “What was it you were too pissed to tell me?”

  “That Bark Bites might not just have failed because of some shady accounting tactics. Sure, it still seems like somebody was screwing with the finances, but we could just hire a new staff if we can’t find out who. But maybe the problem is bigger than that. I’ve been watching everyone here with their dogs. What if the problem is that Bark Bites aimed too small? What if it was an all-inclusive, dog-friendly resort, like a Julian Ridge of our own, but amped up in every way to make it dog friendly? A dog movie theater, bowling alleys with lanes for dogs, and everything else you could think about.”

  I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward. At first, I couldn’t decide if it was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard or one of the best. Then I thought about what I’d seen since we’d come to Julian Ridge with all the Bark Bites employees. Everyone had been having a blast terrorizing the typically no-dogs resort with their pets. I wasn’t sure if it was the most representative sample of people to base a business decision like this on, but she might be on to something.

  “We’d have to do some testing,” I said slowly. “Surveys, test groups . . . we’d also need to talk to legal about potential pitfalls as far as liability goes. But yeah.” I nodded as I felt the idea solidifying in my head. “I think that’s an amazing idea.”

  “Really?” she asked. She flashed the most genuine, excited smile I thought I’d ever seen from her.

  I wanted to reach across the table and pull her in for a kiss, but I was doing my best to respect the fact that she still wanted space. It was killing me inside, but I’d already made such a mess of things with her that it was the least I could do. “Really,” I said. “I think that’s exactly the kind of idea we needed. And I’m exactly the right kind of guy to make it happen.”

  “You mean because you’re loaded?” she asked.

  I laughed. “That’s partly it, but I still try to fund our acquisitions with investors’ money instead of our own, when possible. The ultimate goal is to hand the company off once we’ve made it profitable to sell, and we’ve found that investors are much more motivated to keep a business on the right track. Besides, paying for it all out of pocket takes some of the challenge out of it.”

  “I’ve always wondered what motivates someone in your position. Is that it, the challenge?”

&
nbsp; “My position?”

  Miranda shrugged, maybe a little self-consciously. She probably wasn’t comfortable talking directly about money with me. Most women weren’t, and I didn’t blame her. It was a sensitive subject, where even a few careless comments could make somebody seem like a gold digger. “I mean somebody who appears to have it all. Most people are motivated to work hard because there’s always something bigger and better they want to buy. I can’t imagine there’s anything you couldn’t have with a snap of your fingers, so it made me wonder what gets you out of bed in the morning.”

  “Do you remember when I said my brothers and I had reasons for wanting to buy Bark Bites? Personal reasons?”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “I might’ve fibbed a little. The truth is that I had personal reasons. The companies Sion acquires are usually massive, almost faceless organizations. There’s hardly any personal stake in the success of the business. It’s just numbers and investor expectations—that sort of thing. For once, I wanted to feel like I was helping turn around a company people cared about. Instead of heartlessly streamlining it and turning it into a money printer, I wanted to make it better.” I laughed softly. “I’m not sure that makes as much sense when I say it out loud.”

  “No. It makes a lot of sense, actually.” She looked down at her fingers, clearly deep in thought. I wondered if she was disappointed in my answer.

  “What are you thinking? That I’m an idiot to imagine what I’m doing with Bark Bites is any different?”

  “Actually, I was thinking how the Nick King I knew back in high school must really be in there, after all.” She narrowed her eyes at me and then laughed. “Did I just make you blush?”

  I took a sip of my drink, partly to cover my face a little. “Life didn’t go exactly as I planned, so I guess I had to change and adapt.”

  “What part weren’t you planning for?”

  Letting you slip through my fingers. “You know . . . You said there’s nothing I can’t have at the snap of my fingers, but that’s not entirely true. There is something I never managed to get, even though I wanted it more than anything. Are you implying I should try snapping my fingers and seeing if she comes?”

  She drew her eyebrows together in confusion, then her cheeks went red. “Unless she’s a dog, I don’t know if that would work. It might take more work to get her to come than that.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think making her come would feel like work at all.”

  Miranda nearly choked on the sip of her drink she was taking.

  I watched her, barely containing the urge to reach across the table for her hand.

  “You never answered my question,” she said a little awkwardly. She was clearly trying to change the subject. “What gets you out of the bed in the morning? Is it really just trying to make more money?”

  “No. At this point, my brothers and I donate almost everything we earn. I couldn’t spend a billion dollars in a lifetime, let alone several billion. I also have no interest in hoarding a giant pile of money to create a legacy of entitled children. I enjoy the work, and if I can take the money and do something good with it, then I see no reason to slow down.”

  “So you do want children?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Eventually, but only if I find the right person to have them with. Then again, I wonder if anyone ever really knows.”

  “I’ve always thought it’s like those kid toys. A circle fits in a circle-shaped hole and so on. And when you find the right hole, it just fits.”

  “Hmm,” I said. “Why does that sound vaguely sexual?”

  She flashed a wicked smirk. “Maybe because you’re wondering if I could fit in your hole?” Miranda clapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh God. I’m terrible at flirting. I meant—”

  I almost spit out the beer I’d just sipped. I coughed, then shook my head, smiling. “I feel like there’s no way to answer that question without compromising my . . . manhood. But I’ll say this: I have no way of knowing if we’re right for each other. Maybe it’s just feeling like I’ve wanted a chance with you for over seven years. I know what it feels like to regret missing an opportunity to be with you, and I don’t want to have to live with that again. I don’t know much more than that, except that I feel good when I’m around you. I feel like work isn’t everything. I don’t feel as lonely.”

  She was biting her lip. “You mean all that?”

  “Yes. Every word.”

  “Oh God,” Miranda said. Her eyes were focused on something behind me.

  I rolled my eyes in preparation for seeing Cade strolling toward us, but it wasn’t him. It was Max Frost, and he was wearing a smug expression I didn’t like one bit.

  “Hey, kids,” he said. He grabbed a nearby chair and plopped it beside our table, then sat. “Yes, I survived the rabid bears, and I came back because my friend didn’t hear back from Miranda about his offer. He asked me to come clarify some things for you two.”

  “I was holding Miranda last time I wanted to punch you,” I said. Then I showed him my very empty hands. “You sure you want to keep talking?” I was starting to develop a working theory on this situation with Max Frost and the person named Robbie he’d been on the phone with, and it wasn’t a theory I liked at all.

  “You’ll want to hear this,” Max said. “So, that story I was working on was a little different than I led Miranda to believe. It was actually a piece about a spoiled playboy billionaire who forcefully took over a local company just so he could make a move on his old high school crush.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. My heart was pounding, and my blood felt cold.

  Shit.

  I rapidly played through what he’d just said again and again, searching it for any holes. There didn’t seem to be any. He could very easily spin what had happened that way, and it would look horrible not just for me, but for Sion. Considering we were a company that relied heavily on public trust of our good intentions to do the right thing with the businesses we took over, the results of a story like that could be catastrophic.

  Miranda looked at me with a questioning expression. I thought she was trying to silently figure out if what Max was saying counted as a valid threat. I gave her a small, grave nod.

  “When are you going to run the story?” I asked.

  “Never, as long as Miranda does what my friend wants.”

  I resisted the urge to grip his collar and squeeze until his face went red. Anger wasn’t going to help anything here. “Does your ‘friend’ know you were trying to drunkenly sleep with his ex-girlfriend?”

  Max looked a little startled at that. “According to you,” he said.

  I decided not to press the issue anymore. I at least knew Robbie hadn’t sent Max to sleep with Miranda, which meant it might be an angle I could use later. There was no use in making that any more clear to Max at the moment. “And what does your friend want?” I asked.

  “Robbie has a new company and a perfect position available for her in LA. All she needs to do is accept his job offer. That’s it. No strings, no expectation of her taking him back. He just wants her for the job.”

  “Like hell he does,” I said tightly. “She breaks up with him, and now he’s, what, paying you to blackmail us to get his ex-girlfriend to move across the country and work for him? And you expect us to believe he doesn’t have any plans beyond that?”

  “Frankly, it doesn’t really matter what you believe. The deal is on the table.” He rapped his knuckles on the wood cheerily and then stood. “Your move.”

  Chapter 19

  MIRANDA

  Nick wanted to go back to his place and talk about what Max had said, but I told him I wasn’t feeling well and needed a little time in my room.

  I lay in bed for hours while I ran through the possibilities. My favorite was hopping on a plane, finding Robbie, and strangling the life out of him with some of the dental floss he never left the house without. As amusing as that idea was, I unfortunately didn’t have the same murderous instinc
t that Iris did. I also couldn’t floss my teeth without breaking a string, so I doubted I could choke a grown man to death with it, but a girl could dream.

  Admittedly, the job offer was tempting. For starters, there would be nothing except a few hundred miles stopping me from dating Nick freely. I’d also be back at the kind of job everyone expected me to take. As much as I’d wanted the Bark Bites job to feel like I was actually contributing somewhere, part of me hated the thought that everyone would see me as a joke for working at a company based around making a dog-friendly restaurant.

  Taking Robbie’s job would also mean leaving behind everything I’d already started to build here. Bone Thug was contractually bound to the company as its mascot, as ridiculous as that sounded, so I couldn’t take him with me. I’d also be leaving behind my plans for the future of Bark Bites Resort.

  There was no easy answer. Staying would be selfish on so many levels, but leaving would feel like I was stepping back into being that person I was before everything with Nick happened. I’d be letting my obsession with my image take back over, and now that I’d had a taste of shedding that part of myself, I hated the thought of going back to it.

  The question that kept tormenting me was whether I could really do it. Could I really keep going after what I wanted when I knew how much damage it could do to Nick’s company? It wasn’t even just Nick that would suffer from a story like that. Rich, Kira, Cade, and Iris were all tied to Sion now. With one selfish move, I’d be potentially harming everybody I cared about.

  Potentially.

  It was the little word that kept bringing me back full circle. Could a single news story really do any noticeable damage to a billion-dollar-business empire? Even if it did, would the King brothers miss a few million dollars or even a few billion?

  I turned over and groaned into my pillow. There wasn’t an easy answer. A few hours ago, I’d been on the fence about what to do with my feelings for Nick. Did I sit on them and wait to see what happened? Did I pounce on them while they were still so strong? Or did I shelve them entirely and focus on my career? Now that my options felt like they’d been stripped from me, the answer seemed so obvious it hurt.