by Nelson, Cara
Staring at Bob, her arms crossed, she knew that letting him down wasn’t going to be so easy. He wasn’t just persistent man, he was also capable of making trouble if things didn’t go his way. Tossing the bear onto a chair, she took the chocolates from Bob. “You really shouldn’t have.”
“Maybe you’ll like this better.” He pulled out a slim jewelry box from his leather jacket pocket.
“Oh no!” She stepped back
“Just a little something I picked up for you.”
She put up a hand. “Bob—I can’t. We’re over.”
Opening the box, he showed her a gold chair and golden butterfly. Rubies studded its wings, glinting and bright. Utterly gaudy and so not her style. “You like it, don’t you.” He grinned. It wasn’t a question.
She gulped. “It’s lovely. But I told you. I can’t accept it.”
His thick brows pulled tight. “Of course you can. I bought it for you.”
“Yes, I know, but we’re not together anymore as a couple.”
“Think of it as a late birthday gift.”
Her birthday had come a week after they’d broken up. She shook her head. “No. I’m just not comfortable with the idea of accepting something so…expensive from you.” She put her hand on the chocolate box. “This is good, though.” She’d thought accepting the chocolates would at least partially pacify him.
Instead he snapped the jewelry box closed and stepped closer so he loomed over her. “Looking at this reminded me of your beauty…your spirit.”
All that from a gold butterfly? She was tempted to ask him that, but she didn’t want this conversation to go on any longer than it already had. “Listen, Bob…”
“I’m taking you out to dinner tomorrow. You and me. This time, don’t tell Trent about it. I don’t like that geek.”
Bossy, commanding, and blunt. He definitely had some of her father’s traits, but in the worst possible way. Maybe she needed to sort out her daddy issues and not look for men who reminded her of him.
She pulled in a breath and let it out. But she didn’t step back. “Yeah, well, you know Trent. He just showed up. But about the dinner? I don’t think we should go down that road again.”
“I’ve missed you, Victoria. A lot. You’re the one. You made a big mistake when we broke it up.”
“I did?” She stared at him.
She’d told him he was being too dominating and interfering—and he’d walked out. That had been the end of things. But this didn’t seem a good time to argue over who’d done what. She searched for a different tactic, something that wouldn’t piss him off but would get her off the hook.
The perfect idea snuck into her mind. She put a hand on his chest. “I know. That is exactly why I don’t want to indulge in another reckless act by getting back together with you. It was so hard to get over you, Bob. I can’t go through the heartbreak again.”
“Baby, don’t you see it’d be different this time? I’ve got money now. Anything’s possible!”
That hadn’t exactly worked right. She frowned at him—and started to wonder what was up.
This new Bob seemed a little too forgiving and kind.
Bob had never been this polite and pleasant unless he wanted something. Why was he going to all this trouble to woo her? Had he really come back to win her back? Or was it possible he wanted something else—like more access to TerraDyn files.
She realized she was getting paranoid. Easing around Bob, she headed into her living room. “We did have valid reasons to break up. You and I, we’re just too different.”
He came over to her, hands spread wide. “Come on, one dinner. We will see how it goes. If I can’t convince you to be with me, I won’t pester you again.”
This was a bad move. She knew it. Nothing good would come out of this decision. But she wanted him gone and she didn’t know how else to say it. She knew he had a vicious temper. She’d never been the recipient of it, but she’d seen it. She didn’t want it unleashed on her. And if they went out she could walk out from the restaurant—or at least call the cops to the restaurant if she needed them.
“One dinner.” She held up one finger.
“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow.”
“Why don’t I meet you at the restaurant?”
His mouth pulled down and his eyes lit up, but then he nodded. “Okay. Oliver’s at seven.” He smiled and leaned close enough that the spice of his aftershave washed over her. “I’ll see you then, babe. Wear something sexy for me. Short and sexy. We’ll have a great time.”
He leaned down and kissed her cheek. She held perfectly still until he walked out the door.
She breathed a sigh of relief and ran to the door to lock it. Leaning on the door, she rested her forehead on the cool wood. What had she landed herself into? Getting out of it would take all her energy, and it wasn’t as if she had a lot of it to spare.
Since she didn’t have anything else to do, she picked up Trent’s tablet and began reviewing the login times again. It was a slow, tedious process. After identifying each entry, she spent a lot of time pondering over its authenticity. Had she been in office that day? Had she worked from home that night? She shook her head. Work really had become her entire life. That was just wrong.
She at least had learned a valuable lesson. If she ever got her job back, she’d spend time on herself and with people who mattered. She’d take vacations and lunches and she’d fit in more time for fun. Maybe she could even devote more time to her friendship with Trent—he might need a babysitter, after all. He was doing so much to help her, and she felt like she’d only given him comments on his habits and attitude. It made her feel ashamed.
Staring at the login times she wondered if this was really about someone who held a grudge against her and wanted to punish her. She’d always made an effort to be nice, but she also knew she was demanding at work. It wasn’t just Trent that she’d been mean to at times. She might have stepped on a few toes. Victoria wasn’t proud of those moments.
But did someone hate her enough to target her? It was hard to believe her login had been chosen at random. As she read through the entries, she came back to the same thought she’d started with—the person most likely to get away with planning and executing this scheme was Trent.
He was a wizard with computers. And telling her he was helping her was the perfect way to cover his tracks. But could Trent really secretly hate her? Sometimes they snapped at each other, and sometimes she’d snubbed him. What if this was his way of taking revenge?
Putting down the tablet, she put a hand over her eyes. She really was getting paranoid. Trent wasn’t capable of such a thing—he’d never do such a thing to anyone, let alone to her, his best friend.
Victoria tossed the tablet onto the couch. She was tired and it was time to get to bed. The more exhausted she was, the more she came up with possibilities that couldn’t be real. She trusted Trent. She wasn’t going to insult him by indulging in such wrong thoughts. After changing into her nightgown, she went to bed.
She tried sleeping on her back, then on her side, on her other side. She thumped her pillow and put another pillow under her head. Sleep eluded her. She was just getting up to get warm milk when her cell phone rang.
She recognized Trent’s number. What did he want so late? Shoving her hair back, she answered. “Trent—what’s up?” Her pulse quickened—maybe he’d found out who was framing her?
“Sorry to call you so late at night.” He sounded breathless, his voice shaky. Victoria sat up and switched on the light. “I’m at the hospital.”
“Trent—I’ll be there—”
“No, it’s not me. Tom was out walking his dog.”
“Your brother?”
“Yeah. A car hit him. Tom, not Digger. Digger’s fine. Tom’s neighbor’s looking after that mutt…he didn’t get hit. But the driver fled. A neighbor saw it all and called it in. Tom’s in surgery, and he…he’s in a bad shape, Tori. I may be here for some time so I wanted you to know if
you can’t reach me, that’s why.”
She jumped out of bed. “Which hospital?”
“You don’t need to come. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. Which hospital—is it Memorial General? Stay there. I’ll be there soon as I can.”
Voice still shaky, he gave her the address and hung up. She threw on some clothes and bolted out the door. Hailing a cab, she promise the driver an extra twenty if he got there as fast as he could. She closed her eyes after he ran the second red light.
She knew Trent actually looked up to his younger brother, Tom. While Trent was the kid who loved fun, Tom had been the stable, steady one. He had been only a little kid when Trent’s parents had divorced, but Victoria didn’t think she’d ever known anyone as unshakable as Tom. He’d been the real rock of that family.
Giving her credit card to the taxi driver, Victoria waited for him to run it. She climbed out of the cab and ran into the emergency waiting room. The place stank of disinfectant and the bright lights stung her eyes. Trent sat near an aquarium, his head bent and his hands clasped tight and held between his knees.
She’d never seen him look so devastated. Pale, hair rumbled, and red eyed, he looked more than shaken. He was close to his brother. Ever since their parents’ divorce he’d always looked out for Tom. Even though Tom was more responsible, had a better job, and was generally more settled it had been Trent who always wanted to make sure his brother never wanted for anything. It wasn’t just that Trent was three years older, but because Trent genuinely loved his family. Heading over to him, she took his hand. “How is he?”
He rubbed a hand across his eyes. “I haven’t seen him yet, but the nurse said there’s been some internal damage. They won’t know how much until they finish putting him back together.” He took a deep breath and gave her a shaky smile. “Sorry to get you out of bed. I shouldn’t have called.”
“I’d have killed you if you hadn’t!” She cupped his cheek. “He’ll get through his. Tom’s a fighter. He won’t go down easy.”
“You’re right.” He wiped his hand across his eyes. “He’ll make it.”
“Don’t you remember the time when he fell off that camel in Muscat? He climbed right back up.”
Trent’s smile steadied. “You were the one who squealed every time the camel so much as sneezed.”
She smiled. “It didn’t sneeze, it spit. I think it hated girls. Plus the smell.” She wrinkled her nose. “Took me three baths to get the smell off me.”
“You add a bath every time you tell that story.” She could guess he knew she was trying to distract him, but he was playing along—he probably didn’t want to think about the surgery that Tom was undergoing either. He leaned back in his chair. “That was nothing. The worst smell was from that guy, Kareem.”
“The chess club champion. He used to take bath once a month. I had the misfortunate of having a match with him.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Was that the reason you gave up chess?”
“Might have been, yes. Come on. Let’s go get a coffee.”
“I can’t leave Tom.”
“Dummy—there’s a café of some kind. There always is. It goes with the gift shop and the disinfectant. We should get him a balloon—something really gaudy. He’ll hate it.”
Dragging on his hand, she got him to his feet. All the corridors looked alike to her but she finally found a sign and then found some vending machines. She didn’t have change, but Trent had some. After getting coffee, she dragged him to the gift shop.
Pointing to a blue, floppy-eared dog, she asked, “What do you think?”
“Yeah. It’s ugly enough. He’ll love it.” Trent brought a bouquet of white lilies. As she paid for her bear, he gave her the lilies. “Thanks for coming, Tori. It means the world to me to have you.”
“Hey, it’s what friends do, right?” She took the flowers. Her hand brushed against his and a shiver slid over her skin.
In front of them, a nurse turned the corner and called out, “Trent?” Victoria turned. Of course the nurse was cute—and knew Trent by his first name. The cute nurse in pink scrubs hurried to his side. “Just wanted you to know your brother is doing well. He’s stable and is in ICU for now, but the internal bleeding’s been stopped and he came out of this lucky—a broken femur, two cracked ribs, and only minor damage to his spleen and bladder. It could have been a lot worse”
“Can I see him?”
She glanced over her shoulder, but she nodded. “Just for a minute.”
The nurse led them back to a main station in the IC ward. She motioned for Victoria to wait and led Trent into one of the rooms. A minute later she was shooing him out. “That’s enough. You—and your brother—both need some rest. We’ll call if anything changes. Meantime, plan on coming back tomorrow.”
Trent smiled at the nurse, and Victoria tried to squish the pang of jealousy that shot through her. She was not going to be that petty.
Holding on to Trent’s arm, she headed out of the hospital. Dawn lay on the horizon in a pink line. Faded shades of yellow and orange were beginning to bloom. A light breeze ruffled her hair and Victoria took a breath, glad to be out of the sterile hospital.
She glanced at Trent. He looked like someone had hit him with a two by four. She couldn’t leave him on his own. She didn’t have the heart for that. “Come on over to my place and bunk there. When the hospital calls, you can visit Tom.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll leave a message at work and tell them that I won’t be in.”
Her heart twisted. She had no office to call—no one cared if she wasn’t going to be in today. But this wasn’t the time to moan over her misfortunate. Trent needed her. She hailed a cab and they went to her apartment.
Inside, Victoria asked. “Bed or coffee?” Her face warmed as she thought about how wrong that sounded. “I mean—”
“It’s fine. I’ll take the coffee. I could do with another cup.” He wiped a hand over his face and sat on a stool in her kitchen. “It’s scary to realize one phone call can make for one very bad day. If I lost Tom…”
“You didn’t. You won’t. And what happened to Mr. Positive? That’s the kind of person he needs right now.”
“Yeah, not feeling so with that plan right now.”
He looked so forlorn, so desolate—she needed to offer him something. Walking over, she put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything. Putting a hand under his chin, she lifted his face. “You’re not a weak person who crumbles at the first obstacle. I expect much better from you.”
The hint of a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “Isn’t it a little too early for you to be this perky?”
Something glinted in his eyes, an emotion she couldn't quite identify. She stared into the green depths and for once, something new stirred deep inside her. Something different. Desire curled through her gut and smoked its way along her veins—but another emotion curled underneath that. A desire to protect him—to look after him. Need lodged in her throat and hollowed her stomach. She wanted him—but more than that she wanted to give him something. This wasn’t pity at seeing him so broken, but a realization that she could offer him something that no one else could.
Her fingers itched to tangle in his hair, to touch his warm skin, and to slide over the muscles she could see on his arms. She wanted him with a desperate craving that filled every cell of her being.
He stared up at her, his gaze searching—and seeming to find something. “You want me.” His voice seemed rough, but utterly certain.
This wasn’t the time or place. Extracting her fingers, she stepped away. “The coffee is about ready.” Moving over to the stove, she switched it off. As she turned to pick up the mugs, she found her way blocked by Trent. “What?”
“Denial is the coward’s way out.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “That’s cute. But I don’t think either of us are in any shape to be brave. Didn’t we use that all up last night?”
“I didn’t.”
His voice was low and throaty, the look in his eyes intense. She couldn’t wrench her stare away from that gleam in his eyes. “This is inevitable, Tori. We’re both attracted to each other, and we know each other too well to hide it. Something’s gotta give, and it’s going to be one of us, or both of us now.”
“But…”
He put his fingers on her lips. “No buts. Now. We’ve just seen how fast the world can change. One reckless drive—one wrong step—and bang. You lost someone you thought would be there forever. I’m done with saying let’s wait. I’m not backing down because that could have been me on that street, or you in front of that car. No more questions and doubts or fear.”
He stroked her cheek.
His gentle touch made her sizzle with need. Desire coursed through her veins. Denying him at this point wasn’t just cruel for both of them, it seemed pointless. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. What was the harm in this? They were both single and unattached. Sure, he was having a baby with another woman, but he wasn’t with Cynthia. He didn’t love her.
And the only way they were going to find out if there could be more between them was to take this leap.
He bent to claim her lips with his, his kiss slow, soft, and delicious. His lips moved over hers and she forgot everything else. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her close, pressing her breasts against his hard chest. The bulge in his pants pressed into her hips, and the damp scent of her arousal bloomed in the kitchen.
After denying herself for so long, she could no longer contain herself.
Picking her up, he carried her into the bedroom, their lips still fused together. She dug her fingers into his hair. He tossed her onto the bed and lay down next to her. Trailed his fingers down her dress, he popped open the buttons. She gave a soft moan and wiggled. He smoothed his fingers over her stomach. Desire followed every touch. Dragging his shirt came off, she pulled him down for another kiss. When he trailed a line of kisses down to her throat and on her shoulder, she shivered in anticipation.