Writes of Submission (27 page)

Dante exchanged a look with Allie. “Are you sure you feel okay, babe? You’ve been really quiet.”

Allie went back into the kitchen and Nikki sighed heavily. “I’m just worried, I guess. I have some questions about the story and I don’t even know if Kane is planning on finishing it now.”

He put a hand on her arm. “Of course he is. Why wouldn’t he? You guys are a great writing team. I’ve watched you come up with some fantastic ideas together, better than either of you would have done on your own. Let’s face it. His books were good, but with you cowriting them, they’re going to be awesome!”

Nikki’s head, which had been bent over her dish, began to rise slowly. He could see tears glittering in her eyes, but her lips were curling up into an uncertain, shaky smile. “Do you really think so?”

He stood up and kissed the top of her head. She rested it against his stomach and he stroked her hair. Allie came out with another bowl of soup for him and a big plate of rolls. She put them on the table and gave Dante a questioning look. He nodded at her and she went back into the kitchen. “Of course I think so. You’ll see. He’ll be back tomorrow and we’ll all start making plans for where we’re going to live and what kind of car you want.”

She shook a little with laughter, rubbing at her eyes. “I have a perfectly fine car.”

“No, you don’t. It’s at least ten years old and covered in primer spots,” he insisted. “Our girl will have to have a new car every year. We’ll all be rolling in money as soon as this book is released. It will be an instant bestseller, you’ll see. In fact, I wanted to talk to you both about taking a nice, long cruise this summer. Maybe we’ll go around the world.”

She took a sip of her soup. “Seriously, Dante. What if he doesn’t come back?”

“If he doesn’t, then I’ll track him down and beat the crap out of him for you. Would that make you feel better? Even better than that, I’ll force him to run a marathon—and he thinks he’s the sadist. Ha!”

“That’s not what I meant.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean, do you still—Would we—”

“That depends on you, I think.” He folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. “Are you only interested in this if it involves Kane?”

“No, I—This is just so weird. I’m not really sure how to deal with it.” Her eyes darted to the doorway, to him and then back down to her soup bowl. “It’s really different than a normal relationship, you know? I mean, does it only work if it’s all three of us? What if Kane—or you—decide that you want to be monogamous again? Would I have to choose?”

He took a roll and broke it open. “Yes, I think you would have to choose. But it wouldn’t be just a choice between me and Kane.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’d have to decide if you want to be poly or not. For me, I think it’s what I’ve always been looking for. I never really felt right in a ‘normal,’ two-person relationship. I think the energy is just off that way. When I met Allie and saw the way they live, it finally clicked. I think I need this. So if Kane decides that he doesn’t want to be polyamorous, you would need to figure out if you want it or not. If you don’t, then you’d be better off with him. But if it makes sense to you the way it does to me, then you’d be better off staying with me. We could find other partners. Not that I want someone other than Kane, but if it comes to it, that’s what I would do.”

Nikki’s mouth twisted up as she thought about his words. “I want to try it, but I’m not sure if that’s because I’m naturally—what’s the word?”

“Polyamorous.”

“Yeah, that. I don’t know if it’s because I want that or just that I’m selfish and want both of you.”

He nodded. “That makes sense, but the word that you were looking for is fulfilled, not selfish. Geesh, as a writer I would expect better from your vocabulary. I think we just need to wait and see what happens. I’m confident that Kane will call again today.”

* * * *

He didn’t. The afternoon went by without any word from Kane. Nikki became convinced that he had used the excuse of a business meeting to cut and run. Maybe he hadn’t liked the ménage thing as much as he’d thought he would. Or maybe he’d just realized that he could do a lot better than her.

Dante was determinedly cheerful. He left her alone to work in the afternoon and spent it helping Allie in the kitchen. Nikki sat in the living room so that she wouldn’t be as much of a burden. Her ankle was propped up and her laptop was open in front of her, but she just couldn’t make herself write. Every sentence brought up a question she wanted to ask Kane, even though she hadn’t done that when he’d been in the house.

She looked up eagerly when Dante came bursting into the room with a plate, grinning broadly. “Look! My first attempt at baking!” he crowed, taking a cookie and holding it in front of her face.

Nikki squinted at the brown lumpy thing. “Um, congratulations. It looks… interesting. What’s in it?”

“Chocolate and parsnips,” he said proudly. At her expression, he laughed and wiggled it a little. “Just try it. It’s good!”

She opened her mouth and took the smallest bite she could without offending him. To her surprise, it was moist and chewy, with a little bit of graininess that actually added to the flavor.

She made yummy noises as she chewed, smiling at him encouragingly as she reached to take the rest of it out of his hand. “It’s delicious. Are you having fun?”

“Sure.” If she sounded like she was talking to a small child, he didn’t seem to notice. “I thought I’d write a blog for your site about how Candee is trying some of Allie’s recipes and having a lot of fun learning how to eat more vegetables.”

“Great.” The smile felt plastered on her face, even though the cookie actually was quite tasty. She finished the first one and took another, hoping he would accept her bingeing as a compliment, even if she didn’t look very happy.

He seemed to read her mood, though. His eyebrows drew together. “Are you in pain?”

She squirmed a little, adjusting herself on the couch. “No. The ankle is actually getting better. I’m just having trouble getting into the writing today.”

He nodded. “I’ll get you a hot drink to go with your cookies. Then in a bit we’ll do some yoga to help you stretch out. Maybe it’ll get your creative juices flowing.”

“Maybe.” She sighed. Somehow yoga didn’t sound like nearly as much fun without Kane there to complain about it. She loved Dante, but there was definitely something missing without Kane’s smartass comments and stupid T-shirts. She couldn’t believe she was actually missing those.

Dante went back into the kitchen and came out a few minutes later with a cup of hot tea. She took it gratefully, gesturing toward the plate of cookies, which was quite a bit lighter than it had been when he’d brought them out. “Please take those away before I finish them all.”

His face lit up. “Did you really like them?”

“Yeah. They were wonderful. But I don’t want to eat them all. I’m trying to lose weight here.”

“Don’t be silly.” Dante squatted down next to the couch. “You don’t need to lose weight. We love you just the way you are. Is the writing going any better?”

“Not really. I just can’t get it together.” Nikki sat back. “It just isn’t flowing today.”

Dante tilted the laptop so he could read a bit of what she was working on. “Is it going too slow?”

“Yeah, that, too.” She sighed. “But it needs Kane’s touch to make it right. He knows exactly what to add to it.”

They stared at each other for a moment, then suddenly the door to the kitchen flew open and Allie emerged, looking as if the house was on fire. “Guys! You’ve got to see this!”

Dante scooped Nikki up and they followed her back into the kitchen, expecting to see a fire or at the very least a flying saucer landing in the backyard.

Instead Allie pointed to a small television on the counter. A commercial was playing at the moment, but Allie was bouncing as if it was the most exciting thing she’d ever seen.

Dante and Nikki stared at her. “Do you like that brand of detergent?” Nikki started to ask, but Allie shook her head violently, looking frustrated.

“No, they were talking about Candee Appelbaum,” she said. “She’s—I mean, he’s—going to be on
Book Chat
!”

Dante gaped. “He’s what?” All of them turned back to the television, but it was just more commercials, this one for an action movie.

“They showed the set of
Book Chat
, and where the guest was sitting, it was blacked out with a big question mark,” Allie explained, calming down a bit. “The announcer was saying something like, ‘Think you know who bestselling author Candee Appelbaum is? Think again. Watch tonight for a big surprise.’ I guess that means the publisher is going to do the reveal on television.”

Nikki hobbled back a few steps and sank onto a kitchen chair, still staring at the television. She slowly became aware that Dante had turned and was looking at her. Lifting her head, their eyes met and he came and sat across from her.

“What do you think this means?” she asked him. He shook his head, but his face gave away what he was thinking.

There was silence for a minute. Allie’s excited expression turned into a frown of confusion. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Nikki waited for Dante to speak, but he was staring at the table now, his jaw working and his eyebrows drawn together. He was obviously unwilling to say what they were both thinking.

“He was supposed to do the reveal with Dante. I guess he doesn’t need us anymore,” she said simply, shrugging. “This exposure will shoot him back up to the top of the charts.”

“But what about the book you’re working on?” Allie leaned against the counter, her arms folded.

Nikki sighed. “He didn’t really like my writing anyway. I’m sure this boost will convince him that he’d do better on his own.”

“But the contract?”

“Oh, he’ll probably let me finish it.” Nikki stood up and limped to the door. She could feel emotion building inside her. She should have known this would happen. Hearing all of Dante’s ideas had given Kane the impetus to go to his publisher and convince them he needed to go public. That was all his career had needed. He might still let them put his name on the book, but what she didn’t know was if she could even finish the book without him, especially by the deadline. She heard Dante say something behind her, but the door closed on his words and she stumbled blindly toward the staircase, cursing the injury that wouldn’t let her take the stairs three at a time. The tears were forcing their way out of her eyes as she put out a hand for the railing, but before she could begin hauling herself up, Dante was sweeping her into his arms.

She let out a screech of surprise. “You’ve got to stop
doing
that!”

He smiled grimly but didn’t speak until they’d reached her room. He put her on the bed, arranging pillows under her foot and behind her back, then tossed the box of tissues beside her and planted himself in her desk chair.

“So, let’s discuss this. You’re assuming that this means he’s dumped us?”

“Isn’t that how you read the situation?” The fact that he had given her tissues, apparently expecting her to break down, ironically gave her strength not to. She stared at him almost belligerently, crossing her arms to make herself feel supported.

“Not necessarily.” His eyes shifted to the side, then down to the floor. He was lying. “We don’t know for sure what’s going on.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on,” she said hotly. “He’s gotten the opportunity to move on and he’s taking it. Maybe he decided that having a female partner would hamper his hot-guy-writing-romance image. Or maybe he was just using us as… I don’t know, experimentation or something.”

Dante scowled at his hands, twisted together in his lap. “It’s possible, I guess, but he seemed sincere to me. Besides, I’ve worked for publishing companies for a few years now. I know for a fact that the author really has very little control over what they do or when. We need to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

He was silent for a minute, then looked up at her. “I’m not going to jump to any conclusions until I talk to him. Let’s just keep doing what we can until we know for sure.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Nikki sighed, feeling the fight go out of her.

“Fuck it.” Dante stood up suddenly. “I’m going to ask Allie for his phone number. I can’t stand not knowing what’s going on.”

He stormed out of her bedroom, leaving Nikki staring after him.

Chapter 23

“I’m sorry, Dante. I can’t give out a guest’s phone number without permission.” Allie looked guiltily at the man standing in front of her. He seemed to have—not aged, exactly, but maybe matured over the last few days. He was certainly more somber, but he also had an aura of purposefulness about him that hadn’t been there before. When he’d been just a marketing guy, he’d been playful and lighthearted. She’d liked him that way, but this new Dante, if he wasn’t as lighthearted, was certainly more attractive, she decided. But then, she was drawn to the take-charge, no-nonsense kind of guys. Usually. There was a time for fun, too, but by Dante’s face it didn’t seem to be now.

He frowned, considering her words. “Then can you do me a favor? If he calls back, give him my number and ask him to call me.” He pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to her.