Fall Into Me (Heart of Stone) (2 page)

And
I did. Victor Stone's money paid for whatever I desired, and it didn't matter
how fucked up it was. No worries. Money can make anything happen and then make
it go away, if someone chooses. I let my cock lead me to places filled with desire,
sex, and whatever else I could want. It was all so easy. How often had I fucked
someone merely because I could, not because I felt anything for them?

It
always amazed me how eager women were to please when good old Benjamin was
sitting in my pocket. All it took was flashing the money clip once or twice.

Running
my hand through my hair, I shuddered at how many times it had only taken a few
bills for me to get everything I wanted or more, if that was what I craved. It
all came so easily. A blonde, maybe her friend or two, and as much blow as I
could get my hands on. Then it was just a matter of stuffing the junk up my
nose and fucking as many women as I could.

And
it had felt so fucking good. Life was mine to enjoy, and enjoy it I did. What's
that saying about life and letting the juices run down your chin? I had juices enough
to last a lifetime.

Then
one day all the good times were gone. I was the lone survivor of a plane crash
that killed my family. I'd watched my parents and twin brother die around me,
listening to their agonizing cries for help and not being able to help them or
myself as I waited to suffer the same fate.

I
was allowed to live, and what did I do with that gift? I closed myself off from
the world and turned into what I'd never wanted to be. The CEO of Stone
Worldwide. Shrink after shrink promised with just a little more therapy that
I'd find the answer and realize life was worth living again, as if they feared
at any time I was going to kill myself. What they didn't seem to understand was
there was something worse than dying.

Living.

Having
whatever your heart desired and it never being enough to overcome the emptiness
that ate away at you every day and night until you felt hollow inside. Dealing
with the guilt that every member of your family had been taken away and you
were left like some shining monument to Darwinism, as if being alive was some
achievement I'd strived for and attained. All I'd done was sit there in that
plane seat. That steel bar that had plowed through my brother's heart hadn't
been able to find mine not because I was crafty or clever. It wasn't because I
was lucky either.

That
steel rod hadn't found my heart because I didn't have one. I'd spent my entire
life caring for no one enough to call it love. Why would my heart be anything
to pierce, much less damage enough to kill someone like me?

So
I lived, a sole survivor with everything he could want. Except the one thing he
needed.

That
all changed when I met Nina. I hadn't intended on anything happening with her.
I'd accepted my life alone as a punishment for all that I'd done for so many
years. I didn't expect a reprieve. I didn't deserve one. All I wanted to do was
try to make up for what my father had done. That she made some good come alive
in me was something I wasn't ready for, but I couldn't let it go. Some small
part of me was reborn that night we drove up the Taconic to this house.

So
now I had a choice to make. Give up or fight. I let all those times I held Nina
in my arms fill me, all those times she made my heart leap with one of her
gentle smiles. For someone who had never had to fight for anything, it was strangely
easy. Whatever I had to go through for her, I'd endure it.

Chapter Two

Tristan

Nina
was sitting on her bed when I gently pushed the bedroom door open. She was
doing something on her laptop, and I stood there for a moment to watch her. Her
brown hair had grown much longer since she first moved here. It hung halfway
down her back in soft, natural waves as she sat cross-legged and hunched over
looking at something on her computer's screen. The sweet memory of twirling
those waves around my finger as she lay in my arms made an ache form in my
chest as I stood there.

Not
wanting to scare her, I tapped on the door and quietly said her name, but she
nearly jumped off the bed from fear anyway. Wincing at my clumsiness, I put my
hands up to calm her.

"I
didn't mean to frighten you. I'm sorry. I was just hoping we could talk."

Shaking
her head, she made her apologies. "No, no. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you
there. What's up?"

"I
wanted to talk."

She
closed her laptop and pushed it aside. "You can sit down, if you like. Or
would you rather talk somewhere else?"

What
I rathered was taking her back to our room on the other side of the house and
showing her all the ways I was crazy about her. Instead, I merely nodded and
sat down beside her.

"This
is a great room, Tristan. Thanks for letting me stay with you."

I
forced a smile at her statement, which sounded like something a long lost
relative would say to someone who wasn't thrilled about having them visit.
"You're welcome, but this is your home, Nina. You don't have to thank
me."

Lowering
her head, she looked away from me. "I'm sorry. I can't imagine how hard
this is for you. Jordan's told me how crazy in love I was with you, and I get
that." Looking up at me, she blushed. "I mean, look at you. Who
wouldn't be crazy in love with you? I just don't remember. But I don't want you
to think that I don't want to remember. I do."

Nina
looked away again, her cheeks red from embarrassment. Maybe that was a good
thing. At least she seemed to be attracted to me. That was something I could
work with.

I
took her chin between my thumb and forefinger and gently turned her head to
look at me. She still looked down at her hands sitting in her lap, though.
"Look at me, Nina. Please."

She
lifted her beautiful blue eyes to gaze up at me, and I swallowed hard, my mouth
suddenly dry and my brain devoid of all thought about what I'd planned to say.
Licking my lips, I began, hoping the right words would come to me.

"Nina,
I know this is probably a confusing time for you. Whatever I'm dealing with is
nothing compared to what you're forced to deal with. I don't want to make this
worse for you. If I do that, let me know. You never have to be afraid to tell
me if you're uncomfortable."

"Okay."

"The
doctors think that if you get back to your life like it used to be, you'll
begin to remember what we were. We just have to make sure you take care of
those ribs."

Nina
nodded and pressed a smile onto her pretty mouth. "My ribs feel good, so
no worries. I hope that's true about remembering. I had hoped something would
seem familiar here, but so far nothing."

Her
admission of what I already knew hurt just the same. I'd hoped coming home
would stir some memories for her too. I guess we were both disappointed.

"It's
okay. No hurry. We've got time."

Time.
If that's what we had, then I had to make the most of it.

Nina
put her fingers over mine and moved them from her chin. Her touch on my skin
sent a rush of electricity racing up my arm, making me want more.

"I
do have a question. Is that okay?"

I
couldn't help but smile. Same old Nina always with the questions. That was
something. "Ask anything you want."

She
turned to grab her laptop and opened it to bring up a picture of me with one of
the actresses at an event a few months earlier. As I examined the image, all I
could think of was how Nina had said I looked like a statue when I was with
them. I'd never truly realized it until that moment, but I did.

"You
seem to have a lot of girlfriends, but I can't find any pictures of me with you
at these parties. Why?"

I
blew the air out of my lungs and struggled for the best way to explain why
there were hundreds of pictures of me with other women. "They aren't
girlfriends, Nina. They're employees."

"And
I'm your employee?"

"Yes."

"So
they're all like I am to you?"

A
groan escaped from my throat. This wasn't going well at all. "No. They're
employees paid specifically to appear at events with me because I didn't have a
girlfriend."

Nina's
eyes lit up. "Oh. So there are pictures of us together at events once we
began dating? I guess I just didn't get to those."

"Sure.
I'm sure there are."

Arching
one eyebrow, she saw right through my lie. "There aren't any pictures of
us, are there? Why?"

"Because
we only attended one event. I'm sure there are pictures, though."

Her
look of skepticism turned to one of hurt. "I don't understand. We were
together for six months and you asked me to marry you, but we only went to one
event together?"

I
knew what she was thinking. That for some reason I wouldn't want to be seen
with her like I had with the actresses. This was not going as I'd hoped.

"It's
a bit more complicated than that. Those women aren't in a relationship with me
and get paid to deal with the press. I didn't want you to have to deal with
that."

Leveling
her gaze at me, she asked, "And what did I want?"

This
was definitely the Nina I knew and loved. Smiling, I answered with the truth.
"You were jealous and thought I was ashamed of you until I told you the
truth about the actresses. Then you were afraid to go with me to the event we
attended, but you ended up loving it. It was one of the best nights I've ever
had."

Her
expression softened and a smile spread across her lips. "Oh."

I
wanted to tell her that the sex we had in the back of the Rolls had been better
than any I'd ever had with any other woman. That just thinking of it was making
me hard. It probably wasn't the right time, though.

"I
wanted to talk about you getting back to doing things you used to do."
We
used to do.
"I think it would be good for you to return to
work."

"That
sounds good. You said I'm your private curator, right? What does that mean
exactly?"

"You
handle choosing the artwork for the suites and penthouses in my hotels. I give
you the assignments and then you present your choices to me."

A
look of apprehension came over her face, and she bit her bottom lip. "Was
I good at this?"

I'd
seen that look before. It was the same one she'd worn that first day I assigned
her my penthouse in the city. I'd wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her
that day too.

"Very
good."

Nina
took a deep breath. "Tristan, I'm confused. I work for you as your private
curator but I'm also your girlfriend?"

Fiancée
.

"You
loved the job, so you never mentioned wanting to stop once we began dating and
even when you said yes to my proposal."

"So
if I didn't want to work as your private curator anymore, you'd be okay with
that?"

"If
that would make you happy, then I'd be fine with it."

"What
if I wanted a different job?"

"I'm
sure there's something in Stone Worldwide that would suit you."

She
bit her lip again. "No, I meant what if I wanted to work somewhere other
than for you? I just wonder how good an idea it is to mix your business and
personal life."

"Don't
worry. I'm not," I said as casually as I could, hoping to hide how unhappy
I was with where the conversation had gone.

"Well,
then I'm not sure it's such a good idea to mix those in my life."

Fuck.
I had hoped it would never come to the contract again, but I saw she wasn't
going to just accept things. "Nina, you signed a contract obligating you
to work for me."

The
shock at my callous words was written all over her face. "For how
long?"

"The
initial period was for six months, but there's a provision that in the event you're
unable to complete the six months that the contract is extended when you are
able."

"What?
How long is the extension for?"

"Two
years."

She
sat there on her bed staring at me with a stunned look for almost a minute
before she finally spoke again. When she did, her words were like a
sledgehammer to my chest.

Her
eyebrows knitted. "So this is your idea of love, Tristan?"

I
knew how this all sounded. I came off like the world's biggest dick, both in
the boss and boyfriend departments. I knew that. But if I wanted to keep Nina
safe, I'd have to deal with her thinking I was an ass, or worse, growing to
hate me. I'd rather her hate me than be hurt by Karl and his buddies on the
Board.

Her
words hurt, though, so before I said something else that further convinced her
of my asshole status, I stood to leave and repeated what I'd told her months
earlier. "I can give you whatever your heart desires, Nina, but I can only
do it this way."

"What
if I can't handle this way, Tristan? What happens then?"

Another
sledgehammer to the chest, but this time I couldn't stop myself from saying
something in retaliation. "Then I guess you get to live rent free and get
paid an astronomical salary for picking out pictures for hotel rooms,
Nina."

I
stared at her knowing that was a shitty thing to say, but I didn't care. I
wanted her to hurt like she'd hurt me. If the look in her eyes was any
indication, I'd succeeded.

Good
for me. At this rate, I was going to have her speeding away in another of my
goddamn cars by the end of the week. As I turned to leave the woman I loved and
her new hatred for me, I wondered if maybe that was what was meant to be
anyway.

I
needed a drink, so I made my way to the room where Nina and I had first kissed
to pour myself a scotch before I headed back to my room to begin the emotional
pummeling I knew I deserved. In the span of less than a day, I'd screwed things
up so completely that the woman I adored was likely making plans with Jordan to leave me before I even had the chance to give her a reason to stay.

I
let the alcohol slide down my throat and closed my eyes to enjoy it. At least
drinking was working out for me. By the time my second glass was empty, I was
calm enough to admit that I didn't have a choice as to whether or not this
worked with Nina. Even if she hated me, she had to stay. Karl and the others
weren't going to spare her, no matter how much she begged and swore she knew
nothing about her father's investigation.

I
thought about returning to her room and apologizing, but that would have probably
made it worse. No, I needed to think. I headed back to my room and relaxed on
the bed. Nina's picture hung on the wall across from me, and as I stared at the
blues and reds and those light brown smudges she'd said were my eyes watching
her, I saw what I needed to do. I had to go back to the person the shrinks and Rogers had always said would never find true love. The woman who'd painted it wanted me to
be that man, no matter how much everyone else didn't. I just had to make her
want me like that again.

Easier
said than done when the object of my affections was sitting on the other side
of the house likely planning her escape.

I
dozed off staring at Nina's picture as my mind drifted back to that night at
Tony's when she said yes to spending the rest of our lives together. A knock on
my door roused me from my nap, and I lifted my right arm to see the time. 9:28.
Scrubbing the sleep from my eyes, I walked to the door, expecting Rogers to be
standing there all dour-faced with something to report like Nina leaving again.
I took a deep breath and braced myself for what he had to say as I opened the
door.

"I
just want you to know that I think keeping a woman prisoner is against the law
in New York."

Nina
stood there in the hallway dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and looking
incredibly pissed off. But at least she was standing there and not driving away
at a hundred miles an hour. That was definitely better than her leaving.

"You're
not a prisoner." That was the second time I'd had to say that.

Her
right hip shot out and her hand landed on her waist. "Then what do you
call this?"

"Would
you like to come in and talk?"

"What?"
she asked with the same pissed off expression that now mixed with what looked
like a flash of fear in her eyes.

"Would
you like to come in? You slept in here for months, Nina. I promise. You liked
it here."

"Do
you plan to answer my question if I come in there?"

"Sure."

I
opened the door and held my arm out to welcome her to the room where we'd spent
hours falling in love. As always, I couldn't stop myself from hoping that she'd
remember some shred of our past together.

"Would
you like to sit down?" I asked as I dragged the chair away from the desk
near the window.

She
squinted her eyes at me and appeared to consider my offer of a seat. "I
guess it couldn't hurt."

As
she sat down in the chair in front of me, I had to fight the urge to slide my
hands over her shoulders and lean down to kiss her like every fiber of my being
wanted to. I stood for a few seconds wishing so much to touch her until the
heaviness in my heart made it hard to breathe and I forced myself to move away.
My feet felt like they were wading through wet cement as I came around to sit
on the bed in front of her.

"So
you were about to tell me how this isn't me being held prisoner," she said
sharply as she folded her arms across her chest.