For His Pleasure: The Boxed Set, Books 1-6 (For His Pleasure, For His Taking, For His Keeping, For His Honor, For His Trust, For His Forever) (48 page)

She nodded, her eyes glistening with tears. “I do.”

They ate and talked some more, and Nicole was pleasantly surprised to find they were almost always on the same page about things, as they pertained to the unborn child.

Neither of them wanted to stress about getting the kid into fancy private schools like so many wealthy New Yorkers did. They both wanted to find out the sex of the child in advance. Neither of them wanted to have their families overly involved in decisions around how the child would be raised. And Nicole definitely didn’t want to be one of those couples that used nannies to do all of the hard work of raising a child.

Red agreed with that too—mostly. “I think that a balance has to be found. I know too many rich parents with kids who are more attached to the help than they are to their mom and dad.”

“The help. It sounds so aristocratic and stuck up. I hope I don’t turn into one of those obnoxious mothers who drink wine and bitch about the help.”

He laughed. “I don’t see you as that type. Poor choice of words on my part.” He kissed her hand. “That being said, having someone around to give us a spell every once in awhile might not be such a bad thing.”

“Yeah, they’re called babysitters.”

“Touché.”

She smiled at him. “I’m not trying to be bitchy,” she said. “I mean, this is so totally new to me. I’m just thinking aloud.”

“We’re allowed to think aloud,” he told her with a smile.

She smiled back. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.”

“Wait until tonight, when I show you those new positions.”

***

By the time night had fallen, Nicole had made two attempts to call Danielle with no luck, and she’d had no missed calls or voicemails from her either.

“It’s pretty strange,” Nicole said as they sat outside the cabin in two chairs next to the fire pit Red had made. The fire crackled and sparks flew off it, drifting and floating into the sky.

“What’s that?”

“Danielle. I can’t figure out why she didn’t call me back by now.”

They were toasting marshmallows and Red’s had caught on fire. He pulled it towards his mouth and blew out the flame. Now half the marshmallow was black. “I’m sure she’s just busy. Maybe she has a hot date.”

“No.” Nicole shook her head. “I know Danielle and she’d be calling me back no matter what. She’s always worried about me, and besides—I told her it was important.”

“Do you want to drive back tonight?”

Nicole thought about it, as she put her melted marshmallow between two graham crackers and a piece of Hershey’s chocolate. “I’m having too much fun right now. Is that selfish of me?”

“Yes,” he said, through a mouthful of food.

She shrugged and bit into her s’more. “God that’s good.” She enjoyed the rich chocolate melting on her tongue. “I’m sure she’s fine. I just have a weird feeling is all.

I’m worried that Kane Wright might have gotten to her before we had a chance.”

“That would be like him,” Red agreed.

“Thanks, that makes me feel better.”

“I’m just telling you that he might have contacted her and messed with her head.

But once we talk to her, she’ll calm down, even if she’s nervous right now.”

“As long as she’s just nervous and not…something worse.”

“Worse?”

“He had some shady characters working for him. You don’t think he’d have someone hurt her, do you?”

Red smiled at her. “What, you think Kane Wright put a hit out on your roommate over a measly hundred grand?” He laughed. “He might be an asshole, and he might be a psychopath, but he’s definitely not stupid. And he’d have to be an idiot to hurt her over an insignificant amount of money.”

“One hundred thousand dollars isn’t significant to most people.”

Red nodded. “I know. But Kane Wright isn’t most people. The guy spends a hundred grand on a fucking Oscar viewing party, for god’s sake.”

“Okay, okay. I believe you.” Nicole moved her chair closer to Red’s and snuggled up against him.

“I feel like I’m at summer camp,” he laughed.

“Only we’re the last counselors left for the season.”

“Unless we picked the wrong summer camp and this is Friday the 13th or something.”

“Don’t even joke about that. It’s way too dark and isolated out here.”

“Oh, come on. I’ll protect you, babe.” He wrapped a strong arm around her and she smiled because, the truth was, she did feel protected.

“Can we just stay here forever?”

“Happy too. I’ve got no reason to go back.”

“I’ve got work,” Nicole said. “As it is, they’ll be furious at me for bailing on them three days in a row.”

“Screw them. You and I will just start our own company.”

Nicole looked at him to see if he was joking. He was toasting another marshmallow and this one was on fire too.

“Red, are you being serious right now?”

He blew the marshmallow at, glanced at her, and then popped the whole thing in his mouth. “Mmmmhmmm.”

“Is that a yes?”

He nodded. “Mmmm.”

“Red. Are you really going to start another company?”

He chewed for a long time and finally swallowed. “When you came back into my life yesterday, it was like my whole system got a jumpstart. Until you showed up, I’d just been chopping wood and taking walks, swimming, fishing. I tried hard not to think about what might be next for me. I didn’t feel like there was a next without you in my life.”

She blinked, tried not to shed any more silly tears. “Oh.”

“But the moment you were back with me, I felt all of this energy. And today, for the first time, I really wanted to get back in the mix,” he said, twirling his stick in his hands and staring into the flames. “Kane Wright will be officially acquiring Jameson International next week, and when he does, I’ll be sitting on a mountain of cash. Not what it could have been or should have been,” he clarified. “The stock’s down and with all the bad news, Kane Wright was able to get it for a song—relatively speaking.”

“So what does that mean?”

“Well, it’s a great deal for him. Jameson International is still a fundamentally sound company and so Kane will be bringing it back to prominence if he can.” Red continued to look at the fire as if hypnotized by its glow. “But today I got to thinking.

Fuck him. Maybe I should start my own company—a new company from the ground up.

And maybe I’ll kick
his
ass, this time.”

Nicole wasn’t sure she liked the sound of this. It sounded like Red was preparing to go back into battle and maybe risk everything. “And you—I mean we—we have the money to finance it?”

Red sat back in his chair. “Babe, we’re going to have something on the order of half a billion dollars when the buyout is completed. It ain’t what I used to have. I lost almost two-thirds of my net worth because of everything that went down with the EU and Germany. But I still have a whole lotta money.” He looked at her and grinned. “And I’m getting back in the game. I’m going to make Kane Wright wish he’d never laid eyes on me.”

***

The next day, they decided it was time to return to the real world and started out just after ten in the morning.

Nicole was grateful when the ride back to Brooklyn finally came to an end. They’d been on the road over five hours, and both of them had had to take their own cars, so it had been a lonely drive.

They’d stopped on the way to grab a quick bite and spend a few moments together.

And then they’d stopped again to return Nicole’s rental car.

Danielle still hadn’t called back and now Nicole was truly getting worried. Nicole had called and texted her half a dozen times and still…nothing.

At around three-thirty in the afternoon, they arrived at Nicole’s apartment building.

“She’s not home,” Nicole said, as she opened the door and stared at the clearly empty apartment.

“It’s a weekday. She’s probably still at work.”

“I tried her store on the way here. They said she’d called out sick the last couple of days.”

“Uh-oh.” For the first time, Red looked concerned.

“You think something happened? I don’t know what to do.”

“I’ll call Kane Wright and ask him point blank if he’s been in touch with her or bothered her in any way,” he said, after some thought.

“I feel like this is all my fault. If she’s in trouble right now, it’s because I got her involved in this mess.”

“Look, everything’s going to be fine, Nicole. I swear.” He took her by the shoulders and kissed her deeply.

She kissed him back. “Will you call him right now?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t look happy about it, but he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number. A moment went by and then someone picked up. “Kane.” Pause. Red made a disgusted face. “Yeah, it’s me.” Long moment. Nicole couldn’t hear anything but a vague mumble from the other line. “We’re looking—hold on, let me fucking talk. We’re trying to get in touch with Nicole’s roommate and she seems to have disappeared. Have---wait—what?” He strained to listen. “Kane, what the fuck is going on?” Again, straining to listen. Red seemed totally baffled by whatever Kane Wright was telling him. “Yeah.

Fine. Fine.”

He hung up, shaking his head in dismay.

“What happened? Is something wrong? What did he do to her?”

“I have no idea, Nicole. I’ve never heard him in such a great mood, I could hardly get a word in. He must have really done something shitty. That’s what seems to make him happiest—when he does something really nasty and underhanded.”

“Does he know where Danielle is?”

“Yeah, apparently so. He said they’re together right now and she’s going to be home in the next couple of hours.”

“Oh, no,” Nicole said. “He did something terrible to her, didn’t he?”

Red looked at his phone as if it might speak up and tell him more. “I really don’t know. I can’t imagine what he could have done, but I have a pretty bad feeling right now.”

“I can’t sit still. Should we call the police?”

“No. Let’s hang tight and wait and see if and when she comes back, how she’s doing. We can talk to her and find out exactly what happened. Okay?”

“Okay. But if he hurt her in any way—“

“Then we’ll make sure he doesn’t get away with it.”

“Promise me, Red.”

“Nicole, of course I promise you. I’d never let him hurt one of your friends. Your friends are my friends now.”

“Good.” She tried to smile but her face couldn’t make the expression right now.

She was just too worried.

They spent the next couple of hours trying to distract themselves; watching bad sitcoms on TV, ordering food from a nearby Chinese restaurant, talking about the baby. As much as Nicole wanted to try and be happy and think positive thoughts, she was way too anxious. She’d been starving and yet when the food arrived, she found she couldn’t even eat any.

And then it happened.

There were footsteps on the stairs—clomping, loud stomps.

“I think she’s coming home,” Nicole said, and both she and Red stood up, anxiously awaiting her arrival.

Nicole tried to psych herself up. Just remember, if she’s hurt in some way—or even just threatened—she’s going to need you to be calm and rational, Nicole reminded herself.

The keys rattled in the lock and then the door opened.

Danielle stood before them, and they were both stunned into utter silence.

“What’s going on, guys?” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

It didn’t even look like Danielle, Nicole thought. First of all, she was tan—really, really tan. She was wearing a low-cut sundress, Prada sunglasses (the label was evident on the frame), and her hair was newly styled into a combination of braids that made her look like she’d come there from another country.

Hustling in with her bags (she had lots and lots of bags somehow), Danielle was as cheerful as Nicole could remember ever seeing her.

Red and Nicole exchanged looks. Had she somehow been brain washed and returned home a Stepford Girl?

“I just got so tired climbing all those steps with these bags. Sorry I didn’t hug you both,” she said, putting her stuff down right in the middle of the living room and then hugging Red like he was her long lost brother.

“Last time we met you weren’t nearly this friendly,” he said, eyebrows raised as he met Nicole’s confused gaze.

Nicole just shook her head. “Uh—Danielle—where the heck have you been? I called you like a dozen times.”

Danielle broke off her hug and came towards Nicole with open arms. “Oh my god, sweetie. I’m sorry. Were you worried about me?”

“Yeah, I was.” But Danielle was already crushing Nicole in the tightest hug she’d ever received. She could smell a strong scent of perfume and hair product as her friend embraced her.

“Like I said—sorry. I meant to try and call you but the whole thing’s just been such a whirlwind.”

“What whole thing? I’m sort of lost,” Nicole said, suddenly going from feeling confused and anxious to annoyed in record time.

“Well, I’m not even sure where to start.”

Red folded his arms. “Why not start at how you ended up going to The Cayman Islands with Kane Wright?”

“Oh my god! How did you know? Did Kane tell you?” Danielle asked, giddy.

“Just a wild guess.”

“Please tell me you didn’t,” Nicole said. Her stomach felt sick and this time it wasn’t morning sickness.

Danielle perched her Prada sunglasses atop her newly braided hair and looked at both of them. “I didn’t want to go with him at first. I thought he was a total jerk.”

“He is a total jerk,” Nicole replied.

Danielle’s lips pursed and she seemed to be trying to bite back a nasty retort. “I understand,” she said, her voice shaking just enough to betray her emotion, “that you and Red have a lot of reasons to feel hostile towards Kane. But you don’t know him.”

“I hate to tell you this, Danielle. But you don’t know him either. Did he sweep you off your feet, buy you expensive things, stroke your ego?” Nicole asked her. “None of those things are difficult for a man like Kane. Spending money is no different than breathing air for him.”

“It’s not about the money, Nicole. And you, of all people, should know better than to make it into that.”

“I’m sorry. I just can’t figure out what happened. When I left, you wanted nothing to do with the guy. And then—“