The next half hour was a whirlwind.
Obviously, there was a lot of double-checking to make sure the numbers made sense, but it was barely more than basic math. When Rajesh Desai suggested a third recount, the looks everyone gave him were enough to convey the message that he was being foolish.
Following that, Kelly Maddox was immediately in a corner with Amber, Rajesh, and Nina talking in low, fervent whispers. Hiro immediately asked to have a private chat with Carla, who looked smug even as she left the room to have an aside with the husband she’d just fucked over. That was ballsy enough, but to appear as if she didn’t give a fuck that she’d just offended the old man… that was another level of gumption. Either she was stupid—something I was becoming increasingly convinced wasn’t the case—or she had no sense of fear. One glance at Chloe was all she needed to get the message: Don’t let Carla Tanaka leave the building.
It was baffling to try to understand why Carla had done it. As the wife of one of the wealthiest men in the world, she had it made. Why would she throw it all away for a promise I didn’t have to legally keep?
I glanced at my phone. Was that actually true, though? She’d said she hadn’t been able to get my promise in writing, but texting was a type of writing.
Once again, I cursed myself for possibly tripping headfirst into a whole world of hurt all because of a pretty woman. Granted, my motivation hadn’t been solely because Astrid was beautiful; she had something I needed, and I’d struck a deal based on all the information I had. It just so happened that a bottle-blonde harlot tricked me into thinking she was Astrid.
At least I was showing some personal growth.
Eventually, the board began to split up and go their separate ways. Karl had me pinned down, confessing his concern about the incredible maneuver I’d somehow pulled on the shrewd businessman, Hiro Tanaka. While that was happening, Nina Haley left without even a glance over her shoulder. Amber Bell was right behind her, and my stomach tied itself in knots over whether she would be detained by my security.
Karl backed off when Kelly Maddox approached me, doing his best to avoid her deadly gaze by slipping off to talk to Chandler. Wearing a power suit, Kelly seemed to be towering in front of me despite only reaching 5’4”, plus whatever her heels added. Her fair skin was well cared for, and the application of her makeup was perfect—not too much or too little—just the right amount of blush, lipstick, and eyeliner. They were darker in color, coordinated to compliment her maroon-painted fingernails, which seemed to emphasize the sharp edges of her personality. Her hair fell in loose waves around her head, covering her ears and falling to the nape of her neck. The perfume that wafted off her smelled earthy, with a hint of cinnamon, and somehow reinforced the idea that she was a down-to-earth, grounded woman. She was an immovable rock.
And I had moved her.
Kelly offered me a perfectly manicured hand. “Well played, Mr. Gerrard,” she said. Her dark, red-painted lips were compressed into a thin line of discontent as she stared up at me.
I took her hand in mine, noting the soft feel of her palm and the firm grip underneath her smooth flesh. It felt like velvet-covered steel… same as the rest of her.
“It’s Upton,” I said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as I said it. “Thank you, Mrs. Maddox.”
“It’s Miss,” Kelly said, not breaking eye contact with me. There was an emphasis on the ‘s’ sound in ‘Miss’ as if to impress upon me that petty mortal concerns such as companionship were beneath her. It didn’t surprise me in the least that she was single. In the hour or so that I’d known her, I could only imagine killing myself if it meant staying out of having to share a home with this frigid ice queen.
“Okay,” I said, letting go of her hand. I spied Astrid standing only a few feet from us, watching as she apparently waited for one of us to become available. “Excuse me,” I said, starting to walk away from Kelly.
“I certainly hope you know what you’re doing,” Kelly said, eyeing me.
Halting, I turned around, looked directly at her, and said, “Not a clue. That’s why I voted for Chandler.” Then, I promptly turned around and made my way to Astrid.
“I just wanted to tell you congratulations before I left,” Astrid said, offering me a warm smile as I fell beside her, making our way toward the door.
“Thanks,” I said as we walked out the open door and into the hall. “I couldn’t have done it without the help of my team.”
She halted mid-stride, and I followed suit a beat later, turning to look at her.
“I underestimated you,” she said as she reached up and tucked a few strands of white gold hair behind her ear. “I didn’t think you had what it took to pull something like that off. I was wrong.”
“That’s kind of you to say,” I said, “but some of it was just luck.” Something about her made me want to tell her the truth… to tell her that I thought it was her making the deal with me.
Before I could say anything, though, she continued, “Using Tanaka’s own wife, though… I didn’t think anyone was that brave.”
That raised some red flags. I remembered Desai saying something about Hiro earlier in the break room that sounded vaguely threatening. Now that a second person had alluded to the idea that he was a man not to be trifled with, I was starting to pay attention.
I was about to ask what she meant by that but was interrupted by a couple of the company’s executive officers who stopped on their way out just long enough to shake my hand and congratulate me.
“Listen,” Astrid said, touching my arm when they left us alone, “I’m busy today and have plans tomorrow, but are you free for dinner on Wednesday?”
“Yeah,” I said, happy she was still open to meeting with me even though the meeting hadn’t gone her way. Astrid seemed nice, level-headed, and knowledgeable, and building a relationship with her certainly couldn’t hurt my chances of garnering support among the board in an attempt to create a united front. It didn’t hurt that she was also incredibly easy on the eyes. “I’d like that.”
We made plans to meet up at seven on Wednesday for dinner. She clasped one of my hands in both of hers and gave me a smile that reached her eyes as well as her lips. “It really was good to meet you, Marcus. I hope we can work together more in the future.”
“Hopefully on the same side, next time,” I replied.
Her smile grew a little more. “One can only hope.”
After saying our goodbyes, I returned to the board room. By this time, Chandler and the CFO—some guy named McClane, I think—were the only two left. They both saw me approaching and wrapped up their conversation. The financial officer gave me a smile, muttered congratulations, and left.
Grinning ear-to-ear like a schoolboy, Chandler approached me, placed a hand on either side of my face, and said, “I don’t know how you bloody did it, but good job, my boy!”
“Thanks,” I said, grinning at him sheepishly, wondering if he was about to kiss me on the mouth. “Talk about luck!”
“That was no luck!” Chandler said as he let me go and started aggressively packing up his briefcase as if he were gathering spoils of war. “That was sheer genius and manipulation the likes I haven’t seen in years from your grandfather! My word, he would have been proud! The way you worked out a contingency—oh…”
Chandler had looked up from his bag, and the manic grin he’d been wearing quickly faded as he saw something over my shoulder. Following his gaze, I turned and saw Hiro Tanaka standing in the doorway, watching us. His stare was unblinking as he glanced back and forth between the pair of us, and I suddenly got the impression he wasn’t quite as frail as I initially assumed.
Adjusting his glasses as he stepped the rest of the way into the room, he shut the door behind him. I glanced around the perimeter of the glass wall but couldn’t see any sign of Carla. That wasn’t good. Tanaka couldn’t have done anything drastic to the woman with so many people around; I was more worried she would slip away before I had a chance to confront her. I wouldn’t let her slide through my fingers the way Ashlee had. I needed to know where the hell she was!
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Chloe: Do you have Carla? Stay on her. She doesn’t leave.
“Why did you make plans with my wife?” Hiro said in his soft-spoken voice, sounding more like a little old Asian man selling bonsai in Chinatown or something. Strangely enough, it only made his stare even more unnerving, and I had to work hard to remember I was in the right, here. Tanaka made a deal with me and had gone behind my back to make one with Maddox. Meanwhile, I’d completely trusted the man and hadn’t made any plan to double-cross him. I’d trusted him implicitly. If anyone should be furious, it should be me.
“Why did you vote for Maddox?” I asked. There wasn’t nearly as much heat in my voice as I felt there should have been. For some reason, the stare of an old man pushing seventy was making me pull my verbal punches. I consciously tried to make my next words more forceful. “We had a deal, Mr. Tanaka, and you broke it.”
“Psh,” Hiro said with a dismissive wave of one liver-spotted hand. “That was just business. I said I wanted twenty percent more of the company. I said I wanted to be CEO. You did not give me those things. Maddox made a better deal.”
He glanced at Chandler, then leveled a deadly serious gaze at me. “Conspiring to turn a man’s wife against him?” He shook his head at me as if he was more disappointed in my behavior than anything.
“I didn’t conspire with your wife,” I said. “She came to me.”
Tanaka tilted his head to the side in a bird-like fashion. “Carla says otherwise.”
“Who are you going to believe?” I asked, “The wife who betrayed you, or me?”
“Hm,” Hiro said, “I don’t think either of those are good options.”
“What do you want?” I asked, feeling a little more brave with each passing moment. Sure, this guy was well-connected and had loads of experience I didn’t, but I had more money and wouldn’t break a hip if I ran too fast.
“What was promised to me,” Hiro said.
I couldn’t believe what he was asking and snorted in response. “You mean our deal?”
Hiro gave a single nod.
“Hell no.”
I felt Chandler’s hand on my shoulder. “Marcus—”
“You won the vote,” the old Asian man said. “No harm was done to you, but you have wronged me. Be happy that I am only asking for what you promised.”
“Look,” I said. “It’s not my fault you were stupid enough to give some of your shares to your wife. It’s not my fault you lost out on both the deals you made, and it’s sure as hell not my fault that you’re so bad of a husband that Carla did this.”
“I am warning you,” Hiro said, and there was a sharp edge to that soft voice.
“No,” I said. There was no way in hell I was giving this man another ten percent of my company just because he had marital problems. “You made your own bed. Now go roll around in it.”
That last line was delivered with a lot more sass than I’d been able to manage when Hiro first entered the room. He’d come here expecting to intimidate and bully me into giving him whatever he wanted. It reminded me of how I’d let Bobbi and Gina treat me and the other workers all those weeks ago, and it was pissing me off. I hated being reminded of how much of a doormat I’d been willing to be back then just because I was afraid of losing a mediocre job. Now, I didn’t need to take their crap. I didn’t need to take his, either.
Hiro stared back at me for what felt like minutes, and with each second that ticked by, it was getting harder to hold his gaze. He was, after all, a walking global superpower, and more than one person had alluded to the possibility that he could do real harm with that kind of influence.
“We are done,” Hiro said, and without saying another word, he turned, opened the door, and disappeared into the hallway. Fortunately, his exit lost some of its menace as Chandler and I watched him slowly walk down the hall through the meeting room’s glass wall. He rounded the corner and continued down the hall in full view of us, unwilling to look in our direction in an awkward way that was almost comical until he finally disappeared.
That was when I heard Chandler groan.
“How bad is it?” I asked, turning my attention to him.
“It’s bad,” he admitted, the look on his face matching his words.
“Desai mentioned not crossing Hiro. Astrid said something similar. What’s he capable of?”
“I’m not sure,” Chandler said. “There’s no evidence of anything dire, but… there are rumors.”
“Rumors of what?”
“People disappearing… going bankrupt… dropping out of the business world entirely to pursue ‘simplicity.’” Chandler hesitated before saying, “Were you being honest when you said you didn’t engineer that scheme with Mrs. Tanaka?”
“Engineer? Chandler, I didn’t even know Carla was worth scheming with! Why didn’t you tell me she had two of Hiro’s seven percent?”
“I didn’t find out until last week when I was reviewing the shareholders. When Hiro and I talked initially, he mentioned giving Carla shares for her birthday because she was whinging about wanting to feel ‘more important.’ She always seemed well under his thumb, so I didn’t think much of it. Truth be told, it didn’t matter. Tanaka’s always been a straight shooter, so I trusted him once he made a deal with us.”
“So, what do you think made him play dirty this time?”
Chandler shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. All I know is that whatever Maddox promised him must have been significant. The problem is that Kelly Maddox doesn’t have the resources to beat our offering.”
“What does that mean?”
“That someone with access to serious money and power is backing her,” he said, giving me a sobering look.
“Shit,” I said, glancing back in the direction Hiro had disappeared. I almost expected him to be peering around the corner, watching me.
“Indeed,” Chandler agreed. “I’m afraid you’ve made a powerful enemy today. He may be a straight shooter, but Tanaka also holds grudges.”
My phone vibrated in my hand, and the display said there was a message from Chloe: Carla’s in the room we met in earlier with Chandler. Erin’s with her. Also, thought you might want to know that Amber Bell left. We couldn’t find a good enough reason to call the cops on her. Fill you in on the details later.
The loss of Amber made me want to break another phone, but I managed to reign myself in. Instead, I looked back at Chandler and said, “Okay, so I kind of did scheme with Carla.”
“Pardon?” Chandler said.
I explained the entire situation to him, leaving nothing out. By the time I got done, Chandler looked astounded.
“My word,” he said. “Mrs. Tanaka has more tenacity than I would have ever expected!”
“That’s one word for it,” I said. “Can we find a place for her at VistaVision?”
“I… suppose we could find her some sort of executive assistant position to fill. I highly doubt she’s qualified for much else, to be honest.”
“Okay,” I said. “Take a couple of days to think about it. In the meantime, I’m going to talk to her and assess the damage.”
“Of course,” he said, returning to finish packing the rest of his briefcase.
“Oh, Chandler,” I said as I texted Chloe to tell her I was on my way. “Congratulations on the position. You deserve it, and I’m sure you’re gonna rock it.”
“Thank you, sir,” Chandler said, breaking into a half-grin despite the shadow Hiro Tanaka had just cast over us. “I shall strive to do my very best,”
A few minutes later, I entered the room Chloe had mentioned. She’d been waiting for me by the door as I approached with John at my heels and followed me in. John took a position just outside the door to ensure we weren’t disturbed.
Carla and Erin were sitting in a couple of the chairs around a smaller version of the dark wood meeting table we’d all been sitting around less than an hour ago. The wife of Hiro Tanaka gave me a full smile as her eyes gleamed in pure triumph. However, I noticed a subtle lack of color around her eyes; her flawless application of makeup may have kept her cheeks rosy, but it didn’t do a perfect job of disguising that she’d gone a little pale. That meant Carla was afraid.
No one could know Hiro Tanaka as well as his wife, so if Carla was scared, that meant the things I’d heard from the others about her husband were likely true. That was bad news. At least there was a sliver of a silver lining—her fear meant I had an ally who wasn’t completely insane.
“Why did you do it?” I asked, deciding I wasn’t going to beat around the bush.
“What?” Carla asked. “No ‘thank you, Carla?’”
“No,” I said. “Hiro’s pissed, and I’m starting to think he’s someone I don’t want pissed at me.”
“Can we at least talk alone?” Carla asked, glancing at Erin and Chloe.
Erin started to rise.
“No,” I said. “I trust these two more than just about anyone. They get to hear whatever you have to say. They probably need to.”
Carla huffed and pouted. “Fine.”
“So,” I said. “Why?”
“Because I have a prenup,” Carla said with a shrug.
“A prenup?”
“It’s a—”
“I know what a prenup is,” I cut her off. “You did it because you have a prenup?”
Carla nodded. “Yeah. Well, not just that. We were supposed to negotiate this year, but Hiro said it wouldn’t happen. He doesn’t trust me with his money and told me back in February that once he passes, everything’s going to his kids. He promised me I’d be taken care of through a trust, but the kids are trustees, and they hate me, so I wanted out.”
She continued, “I kept bugging him about wanting to be more involved in money stuff, so he set me up with some stock and let me come with him to board meetings and stuff. I liked being able to vote. That was fun.”
“Anyway, Hiro set me up with a little money to trade with, and he saw it kind of like a game we could play together. I was really bad, and he got bored with it, so he handed my stuff to a broker. He thought that would be the end of it, but I kept giving him shit about giving up on me and started getting headaches at night.”
“For my birthday, I told him I wanted something really nice. I meant a car or something, but I guess he thought I was still into the finance stuff, so he gave me some of his VistaVision stock and told me it was more valuable than any necklace he’d buy me.”
Carla leveled a gaze at me, her smug little smile fading. “I’m not stupid, Marcus. He was just trying to shut me up, but whatever. I like diamonds more, but two percent of one of the largest companies in the world is a really nice present.”
“Why the fuck would Hiro give you something like that, even if it’s only two percent?” I asked, finding it hard to believe. “There’s no way he got that desperate for sex. Couldn’t he have just… I don’t know… cheated?”
“I doubt there’s a whore in Japan that can make Hiro feel as good as I can,” Carla said with a level of confidence I’d never seen.
Erin and I looked at each other, and I could tell my assistant was impressed.
“So, you’ve been planning something like this for months?” I asked, hardly believing that the bottle blonde could be this much of a mastermind.
She laughed and said, “I wish! No… I was just hoping to build a little something for myself! Hiro doesn’t give me money, so I’ve been finding different ways of squirreling it away. I have jewelry… shoes… clothes, and stock. It’s not, like, life-changing or anything, but it’s enough so I don’t have to grovel to his snotty kids after he’s gone.” She gave me a predatory look, “Or enough to get away from him long enough to find someone who appreciates me more.”
Then she continued, “Hiro told me about the vote and that you wanted Chandler to be CEO. He said he was gonna side with you. Then Amber showed up for dinner last night, and they talked in his office for a while. After she left, he said that we were voting for Kelly.”
Carla shrugged. “I just did a little math and realized that if the numbers were right, I could make the vote a tie. When you and Astrid got back, I asked her what would happen if there was a tie, and she said Chandler would get to decide.”
“You swiped my number off my phone on the off-chance you might want to text me?”
“No,” Carla said. “I stole your number because you never texted me! I was just gonna vote for Chandler and hope you’d take care of me. I didn’t think about messaging you till I saw your and Chandler’s faces after Hiro voted.”
“So… you didn’t plan all this? You just got lucky?” I asked.
“Luck is the fruit of the patient and the harvest of the diligent,” Carla said.
“What is that? Henry David Thoreaux? Gandhi?”
“Sierra,” she replied.
A pop singer/actress. That scanned.
“So, what now?” I asked.
“Now, you keep up your end,” Carla said. “Like I said, I went out on a limb. You think I can go home?”
“Fuck,” I muttered, turned my back on her, and started pacing the room. “How mad is he?”
“Hiro?” Carla asked. “Pretty mad. We just screwed him out of all the stuff Kelly promised him, the stuff you promised him… and a wife.”
I whirled to face her. “A wife?”
Carla looked up at me with those soulful hazel eyes. “Like I said… you think I can go home?”
“So, you’re getting a divorce,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure he’d prefer being a widower over a divorcee,” Carla responded. I saw Chloe raise an eyebrow at that, and Erin gaped. Carla looked at the two of them and then back at me. “Well, it’s true. Hiro has ties to all sorts of gangs and criminals and stuff.”
“Why’d you marry this guy if you thought he was the type who would be willing to kill you?” Erin asked.
“Well, I didn’t know at the time. Besides,” Carla said, leaning forward to display a tantalizing amount of cleavage as she stared at my assistant, and I caught Erin fighting to not look at the glorious sight in front of her. “Have you seen Hiro’s bank account?”
Erin snorted, hazarded a glance at Carla’s chest, and said, “Can’t spend it if you’re dead. And I’m sure it’s impressive.” She hiked a thumb at me. “Mine has a bigger one.”
It was my turn to gape at Erin. Where the fuck did that come from?
Carla gave Erin a half smile, sat up straight, and looked back at me, “Oh, I know. Why do you think I turned on Hiro?”
“The disrespect and potential danger?” I suggested.
Carla shrugged, crossed one leg over the other, and sat back in her seat as she rested her hands on one knee like a proper princess. There was a tantalizing amount of bare thighs in full view. She looked me up and down like a piece of meat, gave me a prim smile, and said, “You owe me a job… and a date.”
I know I would have failed to keep Chandler’s position without her, but still… fuck the day I met Carla Tanaka.
Monday 6:05 pm
“Goddammit. You too?” I asked.
Natashya was just zipping an overnight bag shut, but I’d come into the room just in time to catch a glimpse of clothes and toiletries. As I said the words, she looked over her shoulder at me—her mahogany eyes were the only thing I could see around the bush of wild hair and dreads as she peered my way. Irises shone with emotion… I just couldn’t tell what kind of emotion it was.
I hadn’t expected Emily to actually pack up and leave the apartment while I was away, but most of her stuff was missing, and with Natashya’s belongings hidden away in a bag, the room had a vacant feel to it. I hated it.
“Where is she?” I asked, not bothering to clarify who I was talking about. The dancer knew very well who I was referring to.
“She was going to stay with a friend,” Natashya said, most of her face still hidden behind her shoulder and hair, so I couldn’t quite get a feel for how much of the doghouse I was in. “I got a hotel room near The Starlight and told her to meet me there. I didn’t want her crashing with a friend, but she wouldn’t have stayed at a hotel without me.”
I wasn’t about to argue without knowing how she felt about the situation. “Let me pay for the room,” I said.
“You’ve done enough,” she replied, returning to her bag.
“Natashya…”
She slung the bag back over her shoulder and then turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. She wasn’t smirking at me like she usually did, but she wasn’t scowling at me like I was week-old roadkill either.
God, she was beautiful, with her smooth complexion, almond eyes, and slightly plump lips that always seemed to have a smile. Her face was still marred by bruising, and her bottom lip was healing from a split. They were reminders of what those assholes in Vegas had done to her, and my anger toward Amber flared again. The only thing that tempered it was the concern I had for my relationship with my sister and Natashya.
“Are we okay?”
Natashya’s expression melted into one of pity. “Oh, Marcus. I was going to make you squirm, but I cannot when you look at me like that.”
“So, you’re not mad?”
The dancer shook her head, “No. Maybe I should be, but you have been too good to me and have become too dear, but you know why she is, right?” She asked.
I knew. My relationship with Bobbi must have triggered Emily after what happened with Natashya, and I couldn’t blame her. The moment she’d walked out of the room this morning, I’d considered throwing Bobbi out. The last thing I wanted was to cause a rift between me and my sister because of Bobbi fucking Nanford. If I had to choose between the submissive that made my life hell and Emily, I’d choose my sister every time. Hell, I would have chosen Natashya over my former coworker without hesitation.
At least… if I believed they had a good reason to be that mad at me, I would have.
However, I’d done a lot of thinking in the last few hours since my conversation with Emily. My relationship with Bobbi didn’t mirror what had happened to Natashya in Vegas. For one, I’d tried to make Bobbi leave, and she’d practically assaulted me for it. Since then, she’d balked at my commands and even pushed back at times, but she willingly submitted to me at the end of the day. She wanted to be here. Maybe it was because she had nothing else. Perhaps it was because she liked the comfortable life I could afford her, but the fact of the matter was, she wanted to be in this fucked-up situation.
And, truth be told, I wanted her to be here. She was smoking hot, she could suck a mean dick, and I really enjoyed her fire. Training her with Helen had been a nice bonding experience between the three of us, and I felt like we shared something the rest of us didn’t quite have because of those experiences.
I didn’t love Bobbi. I didn’t even like her. If there had been a legitimate reason to get rid of her to preserve my relationship with my sister and Natashya, I would have done it.
There wasn’t.
“Yeah,” I said. “But it’s not the same thing. We’ve had rough patches, and it may not always seem like it, but Bobbi wants to be here. What’s more, I think she likes it in some perverse way.”
Natashya studied me for a long moment and said, “I would like to meet her and judge for myself.”
“I can get her for you if you want.” The thought of making Bobbi crawl in here on all fours and demonstrate her willingness to do what I told her was a turn-on, and I could feel my cock stir at the scenario playing out in my head.
The dancer smiled and snorted, “Give me some time. I am still… recovering.”
“Yeah. Of course,” I said, kicking myself for not being more sensitive about the fact that the events in Nevada had only happened less than a week ago and were likely still fresh.
“I’ll stay with Emily,” Natashya said, “and try to talk some sense into her.”
“I’m going to miss you,” I said.
She gave me another soft smile, “Oh, Marcus… I won’t be far, and I can be very persuasive. It won’t take me long to bring her around.”
I simply shoved my hands in my pockets and nodded.
“I want you again,” she said, her rich brown eyes shining as she bit her lip, gazing up and down at me. “And I do not like these… complications.”
I knew what she meant. I missed holding that beautiful dancer’s body against me—the intense rough sex… kissing her… tugging on her hair as I fucked her from behind. Natashya was a goddess; honestly, I couldn’t blame my sister for falling prey to her advances.
“Yeah,” I said. “I miss you too. It’s a little weird, though, with my sister, and I don’t want to do anything with you without Emily knowing. Especially with everything that happened this morning.”
“Emily also finds it strange, but it doesn’t have to be,” she said, approaching me until she stopped inches away, her left shoulder almost brushing my right as she looked up at me.
“What are you guys to each other?” I asked.
She reached up with one hand and caressed her fingertips along my cheek. “Like us—just friends. She wants more.”
“What did you tell her?” I said, pressing my cheek into her hand. I shivered as I felt her thumb slide along my jaw.
“The same thing I told you,” she sighed. “I am not a good girlfriend.”
“What makes you say that?”
Her eyes were full of sadness as she said, “I have disappointed everyone I’ve been with. I am selfish. I do not always enjoy the antique shopping or the long walks on the beach. I do not like dates.”
“You hate romance?”
“Only outside the bedroom,” she said.
That made sense. I recalled some really intense moments with her that almost felt romantic, but outside of that, she’d been more like a pal than a lover. I could see how Emily would have an issue with that—my sister was a hell of a romantic. It was one of the reasons the loss of her fiance hit her so hard.
I nodded, understanding Natashya’s frustration with our situation. There were obviously intense feelings between the three of us, and the nature of my and Emily’s relationship only added to the complexity. Siblings didn’t share a lover. Despite that, I found my lips creeping closer to Natashya’s, drawn by the way her tongue darted out to lick them and her perfumed scent’s earthy, spicy smell.
She pressed a finger to my lips and whispered, “Not yet. I just need a little more time.”
I nodded and straightened; as I did, she gently kissed my cheek.
“We’ll be back,” she said.
And then she was gone.
I looked around the room, staring at the artifacts left behind by its occupants and feeling melancholy about the whole situation. Emily’s remaining belongings gave me hope that they would return, but as I left the room, the loss of their proximity began to dim that small hope.
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Thanks again for reading another installment of the story. If you have any feedback, please feel free to email me. Or if you’re interested in reading any further installments, check out my Patreon at patreon.com/mindsketch. Book I is completed and available there, as are 20 bonus chapters for tier 2 patrons. Thanks for your time and cheers!
-MindSketch