Undone, Volume 2 (3 page)

“Hello.” Ana
snapped me out of my reverie, gracefully extending out a hand to my
grandmother.

“Gram, I’d like you
to meet Anika Ivanov. She’s a new friend.”

“Anika, so very
pleased to meet you. Welcome to our little holiday party.”

“Thank you for having
me.”

“You must meet me for
tea next week.” If I’d been sipping on something I would have
done a spit-take. Gram had met a hell of a lot of my arm candy over
the years and not one of them had received an invitation to anything,
never mind high tea. For an Englishwoman of a certain generation and
class, that was tantamount to writing Anika’s name in the family
bible. In calligraphied ink.

“That would be
lovely.” Ana glowed.

“Now tell me, dear,
what is it that you do? I have a feeling it’s fascinating.” Gram
offered Ana her arm and together they began walking toward the
ballroom. Wait, wasn’t I supposed to make the entrance with her?

“I’m a children’s
librarian. And a piano teacher.”

“Just think of all
those lives you enrich each and every day.”

Oh, Anika was in the
club. Big Time. I almost felt a little jealous. With a quick step, I
caught up and took her other arm in mine.

“Excellent, Ash.
Please do escort Anika properly tonight.” Gram softened her warning
with a quick wink. “And I’ll send round an invitation to tea.”
She left us to meet and greet.

“She’s wonderful.”

“That she is,” I
agreed. “And she loved you.”

She chuckled, pleased.
“Well, welcome to our little holiday party.” I walked her into
the grand ballroom and even jaded old me, the bored rich kid turned
mega rock star, I had to admit it was a sight. Thirty-foot ceilings,
chandeliers dripping with crystals, holly boughs and mistletoe and
little white lights making everything glow.

Ana gasped and I could
practically feel her intake of breath. “I’ve never seen anything
so gorgeous!”

It was fun to show it
to her. I couldn’t remember who I’d taken last year…no one, I
realized. The year before that I’d made the mistake of taking a
young screen queen who’d hated every second of the party because
she wasn’t the center of attention. She’d wanted to leave after
fifteen minutes and I’d agreed after about thirty. Fun stuff.

“Who are all of these
people?” Ana looked out, amazed, at the glittering array of guests,
all done up top-to-toe in black tie reverie.

“Some are family. The
ones with bad teeth are from England.”

“I love your
grandmother’s accent.”

“And I don’t mean
her,” I quickly clarified. “About the teeth.”

“I know.” Ana
laughed softly. As a musician who appreciated sounds, I wanted to
hear it again, and again.

“Then there’s a lot
of friends and business associates, some of both.”

“Is your lawyer
Nelson here?”

“He usually makes an
appearance.”

“I’ll have to meet
him. We’ve already spoken about fifty times over the last 24
hours.”

“He looks exactly
like you’d expect.”

“Trim, tidy,
organized.”

“Exactly.”

“OK, kiddos.” From
behind, Lola swooped down on us, literally extending her arms around
both of our shoulders like the wings of a giant hawk. I knew Gram
wasn’t happy about her appearance here tonight. Gram was a warm and
welcoming woman, if she liked you. Lola and she had met a couple of
times. Lola hadn’t gotten the invite to tea. I’d promised that
her stay tonight would be brief.

“Great job out there
exiting the car. You gave them some great shots.”

I nodded, already
annoyed. I was used to Lola’s constant, intrusive management, but
not right now. Right now I wanted to get my girl a glass of champagne
and see where the night might lead. I could be convinced to take her
out for a turn on the dance floor. I bet Gigi would like to meet her.
And then I knew of a couple of choice dark corners and hallways. I
could give her a private tour.

“Two o’clock,
mistletoe,” Lola told us in the hushed whisper of an army sergeant.
“A guy’s in place. Go give him something to shoot.”

“OK, then.” I
caught hold of Ana’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Do you know what
she’s talking about?” Ana whispered to me. I liked the feel of
her leaning in to me, her light fragrance.

“She wants us to kiss
under the mistletoe while someone videos it.”

“Oh.” She nodded.
“Half the time I have no idea what she’s saying.”

“She has her own
language. You’ll get used to it.”

Ana shuddered. She was
right, it wasn’t something she should get used to. I had a moment,
brief, of wondering what I was doing here, dragging this innocent,
sweet woman into my world of using and getting used. Then I dragged
her over underneath the mistletoe and used her to get some good pics
to rehab my image.

Under an archway, a
strategically-placed dangling piece of mistletoe was a must at any
holiday party. The Waldorf Astoria certainly wasn’t going to stint
on traditional details. It dangled above us, a bright red ribbon
offering it down, giving us not just the excuse, but a mandate to
kiss. In the corner of my eye I could see Lola giving me subtle stage
directions, nodding her head to the man in place, wanting me to shift
my angle so he could be sure to perfectly capture the candid moment.

I shifted. I angled. I
wrapped my hand around Anika’s waist. She looked up at me, her hand
resting lightly on my chest.

“Thank you for coming
tonight,” I said.

She smiled, as if I
were the one giving her a gift. “This party is amazing.”

“You look gorgeous.”

“I don’t think the
stylists enjoyed working with me today.” She bit her lip, actually
looking like she felt bad. “They tried to do a whole bunch more to
me, but I wouldn’t let them.”

“I’m so glad.”
Admiring, I stroked her silky hair feathering down her back. “You
didn’t need a makeover.”

“I don’t know about
that.”

“I do.” Caressing
her cheek, I tilted her head up a bit. “You know what we’re
standing underneath?”

“Yes.” Damn if she
didn’t flush, a tantalizing light pink stealing into her cheeks.
She made this all look so real, so natural. I bet Lola was having a
cow in joy over her performance.

“May I kiss you?”

She looked up at me,
sparkling, almost as if she were enjoying the display, as if we were
having a laugh together, just the two of us. “Yes.”

It was just a kiss,
chaste and quick, staged and recorded in the middle of a party with
all of my relatives. But the warmth of her lips, her yielding
softness, the slight, suggestive curve of her lower back, Anika
mesmerized me. I was the practiced one, the one used to rehearsing
and executing staged moves. But she was the one who kept her head
about her and broke off our kiss, leaning briefly against my
shoulder, almost as if she needed a second to recover herself.

“You’re here!” my
sister, Gigi, declared with glee as she approached us. She looked
like a vision with small white flowers wound into her hair and a
long, pale blue sheath dress. Thank God she always dressed like a
virginal bride, at least when I saw her. I didn’t think I could
handle the sight of my baby sister slutting it up.

“Gigi.” I gave her
a hug, wishing for a moment I saw her more often. I always enjoyed it
when I did. But I was off in my world and she was in hers, pursuing
her college degree, being the good daughter. It would be nothing
short of contamination to mix her up with the kinds of people I spent
every day all day with. Only Ana wasn’t one of them.

“I’d like to
introduce you to Anika.” The two of them began chatting, each
lighting up with an instant liking of the other.

“Asher.” An older
British cousin, second twice removed or something like that, came
over to me, all jowls and disapproval. I forgot his name, but I
certainly remembered his annual habit of taking me aside at the
family party to warn me about living up to the family name. He’d
descended from a duke, he liked to remind me, and used the word
indubitably quite frequently as he gave me the pep talk about family
obligation. No one was less impressed with my stardom than my family.
The Brits, especially, seemed to find it damned inconvenient.

“I’m stealing her
for a minute,” Gigi announced, thrilled with her new friend. Just
as I was about to use Ana as an excuse to break away. “She has to
come meet Kara. She’s adorable.”

Who was Kara? Oh,
right, the new rancher guy’s wife. My sister-in-law. I let the
jowls do the talking for a few more minutes while I made my way
through a fresh drink, then excused myself to go find Lola. Her
visitor’s visa had expired. I didn’t want her hovering around all
night.

But I found Ana first.
That smile. She tossed her head back in genuine laughter, Gigi
actually holding onto her arm with affection as they stood with a
blonde woman I guessed was Kara. My new sister-in-law.

“Where did you find
her?” Colton Kavanaugh, resident killjoy, asked dryly. At. The.
Helm.

“Hey, Colt.”
Instantly, my voice sounded sulky. How did he do that to me so
quickly? It didn’t matter how many stages I’d been on in front of
how many tens of thousands of screaming fans, my older brother still
made me feel like an idiot.

“She’s not your
usual type.”

“What’s my usual
type?”

Colton gave an
infuriating arch of his eyebrow, superior and righteous, as if he
didn’t need to explain anything further. And he didn’t. I knew
exactly what he meant and he was right. I hated Colt.

“Who did you bring
tonight?” I asked. Colton preferred the well-bred daughters of
CEOs, the types who rode horses and ate their inferiors for
breakfast.

“Flying solo.”

Yeah, he did that a
lot, too. The man was an island.

“Asher, about all
this bad press with that girl. It’s a bad time for you to be—”

“Hey, Colt, I’d
love to stay and talk about what a fuck up I am, but…” At exactly
the right moment, Ana turned and met my eye. She looked so damn happy
to see me, so thrilled. She had to be faking it, I knew that. She’d
basically tried to run right out of my hotel room last night. I’d
only shoe-horned her into agreeing to spending a month with me by
pulling out my checkbook, and not even for her, for her freaking
library branch. But it had worked, and she was mine now, for the
whole month. No time like the present to kick things off.

“Later.” I left
Colt behind and traded up, way up, wrapping my arm around Anika’s
waist. “I have to steal her back,” I explained to Gigi, who
actually looked pleased with my possessiveness. I had some unfinished
business with Ana. And it wasn’t going to happen under the
mistletoe.

“Your sisters are
fantastic.”

“Sisters?” I wound
us through the crowd, expert at making my way through a throng while
not making eye contact.

“Gigi and Kara.
They’re so fun.”

Sisters. I was going to
have to get used to that, plural. Not that it was ultimately going to
have that much impact on my life. I only saw my family a few times a
year, and even that probably wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for
Gram’s insistence.

There it was, our
escape hatch, the side entrance not even the catering staff used.
Even before I’d become famous, I’d always kept my eye open for
the back door, the way out. Slipping away had long been one of my
favorite pastimes. And this time, I got to do it with delicious Ana.

“What’s this?”
she asked as I pulled her into an empty corridor.

“Shh.” I pressed a
finger to her full, inviting lips. “It’s a secret passageway.
Don’t tell a soul.”

She smiled. “You’re
so mysterious, Ash.”

“I know all the best
secrets.”

“I bet you do.”

My mouth down on hers
in an instant, I pressed her against the wall. That bare shoulder,
her long slender arm, I trailed my hand along it until I reached her
wrist. Then I brought it up over her head and pinned it above her.

I devoured her neck, so
soft, so delicious. The way she moaned as I sucked on her, her
eyelids fluttering closed.

“You know what I keep
thinking about, Anika?” Her free hand roamed my chest, pressing
into my muscles as if she’d been wanting to do it since the second
she saw me. Up at her ear, I captured her lobe between my teeth, then
licked as she shuddered. “I keep thinking about the sounds you made
last night.”

I liked the feel of her
touching my chest, exploring, clearly liking what she discovered. But
I’d like the feel of her trapped beneath me more. In a swift
motion, I captured her other wrist and brought it up above her head,
then pinned them both beneath my hand. Her eyes flew open, looking up
at me as I pinned her beneath me.

Teasing, I traced a
finger down her upstretched arms, down to her shoulders, down along
her side.

“Ash, we’re not
supposed to—”

“What?” I loved how
breathy she sounded, how agitated. And I’d only just begun.

“The contract we both
signed.”

“No sex, yes, that’s
right.” One shoulder on, one shoulder off, I liked this dress. I
brought my mouth to her exposed collarbone, licking her skin,
whispering my way down to the top of her dress. With my fingers I
traced the edge along the top of her breast, drawing her attention to
the barrier, the border that kept her covered. “But that contract?
It said nothing about this.”

In one motion, I pulled
the side of her dress down, her strapless bra along with it, exposing
her creamy, full breast. She gasped as I did it, then gasped again as
I groaned and dropped my mouth to her. So soft, so lush, I licked and
kissed my way along her mound, sucking and stroking, still keeping
her wrists fastened above her. Her eyes closed, she dropped her head
back against the wall, arching her back and offering her breast up to
me. Yes, I liked her like that, surrendering into the pleasure, to
me.