by CC MacKenzie
***
Nico and Olivier stood in the foyer of the Ferranti Boutique hotel in Paris.
Slumped on a chair sat among the detritus of lighting cables and camera equipment was a very pale and very chastened Jake Thornton.
"Yes, I want to hurt Ana..." Jake gaped as both men rolled to the balls of their feet. He spoke fast, "...not physically for fuck's sake."
Olivier and Nico's body language, two men ready to beat him into a bloody pulp, telegraphed their intentions loud and clear. "Here, in here," he added, thumping a fist to his heart. "I want her to feel the pain I feel every fucking day. I want her to be miserable, lonely and heartsick without me." He tipped his head back, closed his eyes. "Christ, I'm a mess."
Olivier felt zero sympathy for a man who'd confessed to grabbing Anastacia and setting her up.
Eyes hard, Nico studied the pitiful excuse for a human being. "You need help. Professional help. I am prepared to see you get it. On one condition."
Jake opened his eyes, lifted his head.
"I can guess what it is. I stay away from Ana, far away."
"Si. It will benefit you, Jake."
Now Nico moved to stand so close Jake had to tilt his head back to look up into his face and what he saw there made him pale.
"You cause Anastacia one single moment of concern, one single moment of worry, and the pain you think you feel now will be as nothing," he said in a soft voice filled with a menace that brought the hair up on the back of Olivier's neck.
As they watched Jake leave in a taxi for the airport, Olivier turned to Nico.
"Shit. You even scared me for a minute. I should have been the one to threaten the bastard. She might have dumped me, but she is still my girlfriend."
Nico shook his head as they strode back into the hotel. He had no intention of involving himself further in Olivier and Ana's relationship. It was up to them to make it work, or not.
"No. Ana works for me. The incident happened in my hotel. Plus..." He slid Olivier a narrowed-eyed look. "I have more gravitas."
"Meaning you are older and a hard bastard."
"Si. Gravitas."
"Suppose that sounds better than a ball breaker."
"I can do that, too."
"I bet."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
As a glorious dawn rose over Paris, Anastacia and her PA were a dream team as they re-organized the Paris shoot.
She was too busy to think about a stupid heart that felt utterly broken.
Three hours later, and the job was done.
In her line of work time usually moved fast, too fast. Now she was in a weirdly strange situation of having too much time on her hands doing busywork.
"You need to get out of this place, get some fresh Parisian air. Shop. Chill. Whatever," said Linda, her fingers rattling on her keyboard.
Anastacia looked at her over the top of her black-framed reading glasses. "Trying to get rid of me?"
"Maybe. Those bags under your eyes are revolting and you're wallowing."
"I'm working."
Linda did her signature eye-roll.
"Shit happens. We're dealing with it. Stuart Brown's flying in first thing Monday morning."
Thank God for Lucas Del Garda and Del Garda Enterprises.
They'd been lucky to get Stuart. Or, she should say, Nico was lucky to get him. And didn't that just bite her ass that her boss had had to clean up her mess yet again?
Anastacia closed her eyes tight, told herself to get over it.
Lucas had set them up with a fabulous and talented director. Stuart was expensive, but those were the breaks.
"And," continued a relentless Linda. "Tamara is confirmed for Monday, too. Apparently, her agency double-booked her. Dumped us over Paris charity fashion week, more money. Nico kicked ass and voila, all sorted."
The lovely model, Tamara Ward, was back on board. She knew Olivier would click with her. So far, so good. But it didn't really make her feel any better that Nico had had to kick anyone's ass. It was her job to kick said ass.
Now she scowled into her black coffee. "Makes me wonder why he employs me."
"Ah, that's why we have the sulky face."
"I didn't deal with it."
"Neither did I," shot back Linda. "And do you know why? Because we don't have penises. The model agency's run by a man. So's the gig that sent us the film-crew, etc. You and I are small fry to them. Nico has a penis. I'm wagering a big penis. He fixed it. And I bet the next time we want something from both companies there won't be a problem. Nico is the boss for a reason."
And didn't that just stick in her craw?
Anastacia wanted to be the one who fixed it.
She wanted to make them tremble in their shoes, instead of them hypothetically patting her on the head to move her along like a good little girl.
"Maybe I need to grow a penis," she muttered.
Linda barked out a laugh, shook her head.
"You do pretty well without one. Where are your little pals?"
"Blogging. They'll join us later."
"Busy girls.
"Yep."
She rubbed the ache at the back of her neck. A tension headache had been brewing all morning. Probably because she'd had zip-all sleep last night. Her mind hadn't stopped re-playing the scenes with Jake and Olivier in one continuous bloody loop that had her reliving every single emotion. Twice, when she'd finally crashed, she'd woken to find the pillow damp with her tears. Which was seriously pitiful. She'd done the right thing breaking up with Olivier. Of course she had.
Hadn't she?
Shaking her head at the way her thoughts were spinning, she turned to find Linda watching her through narrowed eyes.
Anastacia recognized that look and spoke first to head off yet another lecture,
"The reason I do this, wanted to do this, is because I knew I'd be good at it. I admire Nico's business ethics, his values. He invests time, money, and a huge part of himself, in people and talent rather than things. His business thinking is all about his customer rather than profit.
"I admire that about him. I want to be him when I grow up. This whole promotional campaign for the Ferranti Boutique Hotels is my gig. I run it. I made a mess and I didn't fix it."
And that brought her tired brain right back to the man who was driving her mad, the man she still, in spite of everything... loved.
Goddamn it.
Abruptly, conflicting emotions made her breathing harsh as it sawed in and out of her throat. She missed him, she admitted it now. This morning when she'd woken up in a big bed all alone, she'd missed the son-of-a-bitch so bad it hurt so much she'd refused to even think of it.
"You're not dealing properly with your feelings for Olivier," Linda said in a gentle tone very unlike her own more abrasive style. "Dealing with your complex feelings for him might hurt, but not dealing with them could very well crush you."
Anastacia just shut her eyes.
Her PA had nailed it beautifully.
"None of us are perfect people," Linda continued. "We all make mistakes, but at the end of the day we do what's right."
And that was the stinger, because Anastacia had no idea how to make it right.
Later, Danni was sitting in Anastacia's office pounding on her laptop, her fingers flying as she responded to comments on her latest blog post. A commenter had posted pics and links about her appearance with Pascal Wolfe at his fashion show, and The Kiss, that had gone viral. Danni's blog administrators were also dealing with the persistent and vile trolls who were causing Danni chaos on FB and Twitter, too.
Anastacia watched a determined Danni mutter to herself as her fingers flew faster. Jeez, social media was a whole barrel of laughs these days. Her friend had been at it for three solid hours, only taking a break for black coffee. Poor Danni looked as tired and crap as Anastacia felt. Now her friend looked up and caught her eye and made a face.
"First you're targeted by online crazies and now me. Just goes to show we can't go through a caree
r without a few bumps in the road along the way," said Danni, her full mouth now a determined and very hard line as she deleted a comment thread which had become a firestorm between her fans and her detractors.
"These are more than bumps. We're in the news for all the wrong reasons," said Anastacia, still fuming over the abusive post Jake had stuck on her FB wall. A post that said she'd broken up with Olivier and was seeing Jake. WTH? Even though she'd removed the post asap, she hadn't been quick enough. A couple of revolting trolls had screenshots and were spreading the hate all over Twitter and FB. Beeeitches. And the response had been all too predictable. Olivier's so-called fans were going mental, calling her a whore and worse.
Danni's eyes filled with sympathy and an unconditional support that Anastacia so dearly needed. "You didn't put yourself there," she reminded her.
"I know, but it's not good for the reputation of Ferranti Communications. If this ridiculous media interest doesn't die down, Nico won't keep me."
"Not true," said the man himself from the doorway. He strolled in, blew a lazy kiss to Danni, which perked her mood right up. Wearing soft blue jeans, black T-shirt, black boots, he looked like a rock-star instead of a happily married father of three and head of a multi-billion dollar company.
Folding himself into the chair in front of Anastacia's desk, his dark eyes studied the state of said desk, crammed, and he shook his head. "Challenges are like London buses, nothing then three come along at once."
True.
Anastacia huffed out a breath and knew that this nightmare, too, would surely pass.
"Well, at least Jake-the-cowardly-bastard's done me a favor. The other main challenge in my life simply turned his back when the going got tough and walked away. It's all for the best," she said, even though it felt as if her heart lay in bleeding and bloody pieces in her chest.
Nico might give her a hard stare that had her shifting in her chair, but he said nothing in response to the remark.
Instead, he changed the subject, thank God. "I have Sean Kennedy arriving today. He will head your personal protection detail."
It took Anastacia a couple of seconds for the words to sink-in to her sluggish brain and to then lift her jaw from the floor.
Now she just stared at Nico as if he'd lost his tiny mind.
In fact, she was wondering if she'd heard him correctly.
Personal protection detail, like... bodyguards?
The way Nico simply stared her down had her hunch her shoulders.
Now she'd broken up with Olivier, surely she didn't need protection?
Did she?
She glared and glowered at Nico from beneath black brows.
"What protection detail?" Her voice wasn't quite a growl, but it was close.
He gifted her with his best toothy I'm-the-boss-so-don't-mess-with-me white smile.
A smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"You will like Sean," he began. No, she wouldn't. "He is the best at what he does. Marc Atelier highly recommends his company. Plus, he's Elena Kennedy's first cousin. Knowing you are safe means Bronte will sleep easy at night."
Now that was a very low blow.
She had to admit that because of her Nico had, twice, in the middle of the night, been roused from his bed. Once, when she and Olivier had been mugged. (Make that an attempted mugging for her bag.) She'd fought them off. And won. (Okay, she might have had a tiny concussion.) But Nico had arrived at A&E along with her best friends and Linda. It was the night after Olivier had kissed her for the first time and a night she'd sooner forget. The second time he'd been roused from his nice warm bed was more recent. The night she'd been attacked in the ladies' restrooms of the Blue Lagoon and ended up in a police cell. Nico hadn't been happy to battle with her through the crowd of pap's outside the police station, and no bloody wonder, she hadn't been happy herself.
She owed him.
She owed him... everything.
Her heavy sigh was heartfelt, but she gave in with as much good grace as she could muster.
"If it makes Bronte happy, and you happy to waste good money on a gorilla for me, who am I to argue?"
"Good girl." His gaze dropped again to study the big mess on her desk before flicking up to meet hers. "You are doing busy work, Ana. There is no need for it. I told you to take a break and I meant it."
He rose, turned to leave.
Guilt had her speak from the heart, "Nico." He looked at her over his shoulder and lifted his brows. "I'm sorry for messing up your Paris trip with Bronte."
Now he grinned, a slow and sexy curve of his marvellous mouth. "We are enjoying our time together, cara mia. We will talk later."
After he left, Danni fanned her face.
"That man is sooooooo hawt."
Anastacia could only agree. "He absolutely adores Bronte. More than that, he's crazy about her."
"He's right about one thing," muttered Danni as she signed out of her blog and began to close down her laptop."
"What?"
"We need to get out of this place and enjoy Paris. I'll tag T.C."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
"So, girlies. How's Paris working out for you so far?" drawled T.C. to Danni and Anastacia.
T.C. sat back, eyes closed, face tipped up to the burning sun as the huge pleasure boat cruised down the Seine.
"Dinner with Pascal was... okay," said Danni, sounding somewhat subdued.
T.C. just studied her friend's sulky face through thick lashes, before she rolled her eyes to heaven.
"From the look on your face I take it you're still a blushing virgin?"
"Yup."
"I'm looking on the positive side," said Anastacia, shoving her sunglasses up her nose as she jumped in to save a miserable looking Danni from further probing questions. "Olivier's working on his conditioning training with a Paris soccer club and out of my hair."
"You moved into the penthouse suite?"
"Yep. Nico said I can use it as an office base. I'd be crazy not to take advantage of the master bedroom."
Olivier was still ensconced in the suite they'd shared together.
She'd been the one to move out.
It had been a deeply unpleasant experience. One that felt a bit like sneaking out behind his back, but it had to be done.
"If you say so," drawled T.C. "A void isn't just a deep dark hole in the ground."
Anastacia turned her head to bean her friend with a hard look.
"Where do you get this stuff? I'm avoiding nothing. I'm sorting out the mess that is my life. Before Olivier came into it, I didn't have any shit to deal with. Karma, the Universe, and all the Gods who rule the heavens have sent me a very clear message. He's wrong for me. It's over. Finito."
"Uh huh," T.C. drawled in a way that pressed Anastacia's hot button. "And De Nile is not just a river in..."
"I'm not in denial," Anastacia snapped. "Do you think this has been easy for me? To see him every single day? Knowing I've weeks to go before the campaign is over?"
"You've let Jake and the trolls win," muttered Danni from under the flat brim of a huge straw sunhat. She wore a thin cotton sundress the color of fresh lavender with delicate shoelace straps that showcased ballerina shoulders, arms, and long legs ending in stunning flat silver sandals that Anastacia lusted after and could never wear because she was so vertically challenged.
"If that's what you believe then go right ahead and believe it," she bit out at a Danni who simply curved her full mouth knowing she was right. "Thanks mucho for the moral support."
"Now, now, don't be cranky beeeitch," said Danni. "I'm on your side. Doesn't mean I can't see what you're doing. If it's easier for you to walk away after Olivier made a complete arse of himself that's fair enough."
"There's a lot more to it than just a stupid kiss-and-grab by stupid Jake." Anastacia, furious now, sat straight up. "Olivier dumped me because I won't commit. For God's sake, he bought a frigging ring! The man has lost it. You said yourselves I've only known him a few weeks."
&nb
sp; "He bought you a ring?" yelled T.C.
"Oooooh, what did it look like?" asked Danni doing a bum bounce on her seat.
Anastacia felt her eyes sting. "It was beautiful. A stunning sapphire surrounded by diamonds set in white gold. I gave it back."
T.C. blinked.
"You gave back his ring?"
"He dumped me. When I returned the favor, I gave him back the ring."
T.C. just shook her head as if dealing with a fool. "Okay, so you're a pair of idiots, but you love him. And trust me on this, Ana, he loves you. Thing is neither of you can deal. For both of you the love thing is a TBFD..." She paused to roll her eyes at the baffled question in Ana's. "Too Big Fucking Deal."
Anastacia narrowed hers into slits. "And here we have the first F-bomb of the day. One of these days, you're gonna meet someone who won't put up with that potty mouth. One of these days you're gonna meet a man who's gonna spank your ass."
T.C. just cackled like an evil witch and said, "One of these days pigs might fly. Nevah gonna happen."
Anastacia response was to close her eyes, press her fingertips to her forehead and hum.
"I hear a message from the universe. It is very loud and it is very clear. It is the great and powerful Karma."
"I didn't say never," insisted T.C. "I said nevah."
Anastacia opened her eyes. "Same difference. It is a direct challenge to all that rule the universe. Do it at your peril."
T.C. simply tipped her naughty face up to the sun and smiled.
"I'm covered, babe."
Two hours later.
"Why are men nothing but trouble?" asked Danni.
The girls had enjoyed a fabulous lunch, and plenty of vino, under huge black and white striped awnings of a chic bistro on the banks of the river.
"How the hell do I know? Do I look like the fucking Oracle, the knower of all things?" When Danni simply laughed at her response, T.C. grinned and added, "I'm worse than you are when it comes to men."
Danni doubted that statement very much, but knew better than to say so.
T.C. used any attractive male who happened to wander into her sphere of influence for one thing, and one thing only, mindless sex.