Sweet Seduction Sacrifice

by Nicola Claire

  "I better head back in there and get things under-way."

  "Like hell you will," Dominic bit out.

  "Excuse me?" I said shifting in my seat to confront him, my hands automatically going to my hips despite the fact I was still sitting.

  "You're not going anywhere near the place while Elliott and King are on the loose," he declared, and if I wasn't so pissed off with his autocratic suggestion, I would have realised that made sense. But Sweet Seduction was my dream, I was not abandoning it.

  "I think I can decide that for myself, thanks," I said super sweetly. "It's my business and it needs to be sorted."

  "He's got a point, Genny," Jason interrupted, adding his two cents worth of control into the mix.

  "You stay out of this," I shot down the table at him. "I'm putting up with you under duress."

  "They're both right, Princess," Ben added, making me glower at him across the table. "Just sayin', it's dangerous to be you right now."

  "You can all keep your opinions to yourself, I have a shop to open tomorrow and I will be opening it." There, that put them in their places.

  "No you won't," Dominic said softly to my side, glass of beer already to lips after that shocker of an announcement.

  "Yes I bloody well will! Some of us have to work hard to pay the bills, one day closed and my commercial rent won't get paid this month."

  "Do you have a problem with my money?" Dominic said out of nowhere. I blinked up at him.

  "Do you have a problem with me making a living?" I decided to shoot back.

  "I have a problem with you acting impulsively and..."

  "Opening my business on a Monday is not impulsive!"

  "and recklessly when..."

  "Paying my bills is hardly reckless!"

  "PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SHOOT AT YOU!" he bellowed and my chair scooted backwards as my heart leapt right out of my chest and I tried to go with it.

  "Dominic," Nick warned in a very even voice. "This is not helping."

  Dominic sat frozen in his chair, not looking at me or anyone in particular. Nick watched him for a few moments and then turned his attention to me. By now I was standing on the far side of the room, the chair between me and Dominic. Kelly had risen and come to my side, Jason was standing fists clenched, jaw tight. Katie had her hand up to her mouth and looked like she was shaking, the ASI men just had resigned looks on their faces, as though they'd seen it all before.

  Nick spoke in a soft, but determined voice. "Genevieve, the shop is being taking care of. Eric has contacted contractors and a glazier, the glass is on order and the windows have been boarded up. You could open tomorrow, but I'm asking you to be intelligent about this. Elliott is still trying to get to you, but that's not the worst of it. King will up his message deliveries within twenty-four hours of the last if Elliott does not pay his debt. I'm picking he won't be able to pay it and that's why he's gone to ground, which means, King will go after you and it won't be pretend. He'll either harm you or take you, depending on his mood and how angry at Elliott he is. We can offer protection, but manning the shop, on King's turf, is risky. I'm not in the business of taking unnecessary risks. Are you?"

  I was biting my lip again, all eyes, except Dominic's, were on me.

  "I need the money," I finally and embarrassingly admitted. Running a business in the CBD in the hippest street in town, was expensive. One day shut could have a detrimental effect. Kelly squeezed my arm in support.

  "I can loan you some money, sis," Jason said, almost on a cringe - no doubt aware what my normal reaction to that would be. "I'll even charge you interest if that makes it better."

  "Minimum 10%," I shot back.

  "Two," he replied immediately.

  "Eight," came my counter offer.

  "Five and I won't bargain further or I tell them all about when you climbed that tree..."

  "OK, deal." He smiled broadly, I scowled.

  "That tree was pretty funny," Kelly added, lifting her shoulder in a shrug when my scowl turned on her.

  "So, it's settled," Nick announced. "Just give us a day, maybe two and then you'll be back in your shop, making the best coffee in Auckland I have ever had the pleasure of consuming." I smiled at him, it was genuine and I tried to put as much of my thanks and relief and unbelievable fondness for him in it. I think it worked because he just stared at me for a moment and then finally shook his head as if to clear it.

  "All right, lets go, we've got a shit-head to find." Warm fuzzies disappeared on Nick's not-so-happy words. "Cain, I could really use a man like you on my team, if not permanently, then just for this. We'll cover more ground if we combine assets."

  Jason nodded slowly, then shifted his gaze to me. "Will you be all right here?" I bit my lip, Dominic was still not looking directly at me. I got the impression he was pissed off, but I couldn't fathom why.

  "I'll stay with her," Kelly announced.

  "So will I," Katie added. "Girl power," she said giving me a wink. I beamed back at her and nodded to Jason.

  "Good. Give me the keys to your place and I'll crash there if I get a chance, I want to stay close to the city."

  It sounded good to me and he could also feed my cat, so I went and fished out my keys from my purse. When I got back to the dining room the ASI guys had vanished, Katie and Kelly were clearing the dishes and Dominic was on his cellphone in the corner, back to the room.

  "We'll sort this, Genny," Jason said as he kissed my cheek. "Nick might be an arrogant ass, but his team is actually quite good." I stared at him, he'd said that last on a whisper and obviously didn't want to divulge his respect just yet.

  "Your secret is safe with me," I whispered back and winked. He shook his head and walked out the door.

  "It's almost as good as a soap opera," Kelly announced as she came back in the room for a second load of dishes. "I haven't had this much fun with this much eye candy for months."

  "Yeah, right," I said to her retreating back.

  I started clearing dishes too, but before I made it out of the room I heard Dominic's voice. He'd been talking quietly while everything had been going on, or I had been too involved in the conversation to hear, but either way, I knew immediately now who he was talking to. He had the same annoyed and curt tone he'd had when he took that call outside my apartment building the day we met.

  "I said I've been busy." I stopped just outside the door, knowing I shouldn't eavesdrop, but unable to walk away. "Well, you'll just have to accept it. I do have a life you know."

  Katie came back down the hall from the kitchen, so I kept walking, biting my lower lip. By the time she caught up with me next to the granite bench, I had convinced myself that it wasn't anything to worry about. A work colleague trying to chase him for some answer to a benign question or an old friend pressuring him to have a catch-up at the pub.

  But with Katie's words my world shattered.

  "It's a girls' night in!" she said breezily, placing her dishes on the bench. "Even Dom has to head out, so let's fire up the Blu-Ray player and watch something romantic."

  "I vote for comedy," Kelly argued, but I was no long listening. He'd gone already I knew it, I could feel the absence of him in the house, as though he was literally a part of me and had been torn away.

  And he hadn't even said good-bye.

  Chapter 17

  It Was A Good Plan

  I tried to pretend everything was all right. That I hadn't given my heart away recklessly to a man who wasn't free to take it. And after his display at the dining table, I wondered if he was appropriate to take it at all. If I hadn’t, in fact, put my trust in a man who'd crush my heart in his careless hands and not spare me a second glance.

  I only had myself to blame, of course. Not even three days and by the pain I felt in my chest I knew, I had fallen for Dominic. Way too soon. Way too much. And now way too deep to extract myself without leaving pieces of my shattered heart behind.

  I'd never been in a situation like this before, and I'm not talking about gunsho
ts and kidnappings and ex-boyfriends who don't know when to quit. They were all new experiences, but they weren't the ones making it hard to breathe right now. I'd never allowed myself to feel so much so quickly upon meeting a man before. But then, I'd never met a man like Dominic either.

  I watched the movie Katie and Kelly finally settled on in a numb kind of haze. It could have been a comedy or a romance, I'm not sure. It did have Tom Cruise in it, that much I knew. But while they oohed and aahed over certain scenes and ridiculously impossible situations on the huge screen in Dominic's theatre room - yes, he had an actual theatre room, set up like a mini cinema - my mind was elsewhere. It was frantically trying to find an out.

  Not just to the sticky, potentially emotionally damaging situation with Dominic, but with the constant guillotine hanging over my head from Brett. Already Sweet Seduction was being compromised. He may not have taken it completely from me, but he'd already got his claws in, because even one day closed, was one day too much for me. My dream being threatened was one thing - I was barely able to process that fact - but it being damaged by Brett was too much. Something had to give.

  I decided, in order to survive, I needed to shut down superfluous emotions, which meant block out those problems that took too much energy to confront right now. In order of importance, that meant Sweet Seduction won out over my non-relationship with Dominic Anscombe - who I now refused to call god-like or dream-like or anything else for that matter, purely out of self-preservation. So, I was stuck in his house. And by the way this evening went, I was thinking he wasn't as keen on that idea any more than me now, but there was nothing for it. I could go to Kelly's, but I was picking that would be the first place Brett would look and if Brett looked there, King would too. I had heard Nick's speech, I was going to be intelligent about this.

  But that didn't mean staying at Dominic's was in my best interest. I needed to concentrate on getting through this episode with Brett. Being smart while ASI found him, or being prepared to step up to the plate if they and Jason failed. My plan now had two parts. Allow ASI and Jason twenty-four to forty-eight hours to sort this, but if Brett was still at large and King was making waves, I'd come out from my shell and confront them both. I prayed it would just be Brett I had to face, as he would have already done the right thing and paid back the loan. But either way, I'd give Nick and the boys time to do it their way, then I'd have to do it mine.

  Sweet Seduction was all that mattered, more so now I knew Dominic had been a hurried mistake.

  Which meant, in order to concentrate on all of that, I would have to turn my back on Dominic. Kelly's place was out, and probably anyone else I knew, like Wayne and Edward, or Lucas, Jane and Karla. Even my folks wouldn't be an option, but Brett didn't know Katie, nor did King I was sure. The answer was simple, I'd stay with her.

  The movie finished just as I'd come to that brilliant conclusion. Kelly stretched out like a cat next to me and Katie got up to sift through Dominic's DVD collection in search of something else.

  "I think we're all pretty tired, Katie," I said, looking at Kelly who was practically asleep back in a ball on her own couch.

  "Oh, but Dom's not back." That was a good thing, I was thinking.

  "Can I stay with you?" I blurted before I had a chance to place a filter on my mouth. She stood upright from her crouched position in front of the DVD shelves and Kelly sprang awake at my side. "I mean," I went on, because it obviously needed clarification if not deflection and my mouth was quite prepared to offer both, "God knows how long Dominic will take and we all want to get some sleep, so if I go with you we can all head to bed. I'll be just as safe at your house as here, because Brett doesn't know you and King wouldn't either." And then because I didn't want Kelly to feel rejected, I turned to her and added. "And Brett knows you, Kel, so I don't think it would be wise to stay with you. But Katie's would be perfect! So, what do you say?"

  I waited with bated breath for them to grab my idea and run with it.

  "Well," Katie said slowly, but Kelly had no qualms about diving right in.

  "Why don't you want to stay here?"

  "Isn't it obvious?" And I said that a little too forcefully, my mind back on Dominic with some other woman as we wasted time sorting sleeping arrangements out. I refocused. "Dominic could be gone all night and I want to go to bed."

  "Then go to bed," Kelly suggested. "I'll bunk here and Katie can too if she likes."

  No. No, no, no. That was not a good plan. I started shaking my head.

  "You guys don't have to be put out like that. There's probably no beds made up and the thirty odd rooms are bare."

  "I can sleep on the couch," Kelly offered.

  "There's no need, the bedrooms are all made up, Dominic's housekeeper sees to that." Katie dashed all hope.

  I scrambled. "Well, I'd like to see your place, Katie. No time like the present." I stood, wanting to get things moving right along before Dominic came storming back in a foul mood, no doubt. Having to come back to my problems when he could be with his woman would do that to a guy.

  "You will do, darling," Katie said placatingly. "But it's much nicer in the light of day. It can wait."

  "I don't want to be here," I blurted - again - in desperation, then bit my lip to force myself not to go on. I had to bite hard, I swear I tasted blood.

  Katie flicked a glance at Kelly, who raised her eyebrows in reply.

  "Guys, please," I pleaded, my lip miraculously freeing itself with ease.

  Kelly stood up and came over to me, wrapping an arm about my shoulders.

  "What's going on, Gen? Besides the kidnapping and gunshots and your loser ex," she added softly.

  I was breathing a little fast, I realised, and wringing my hands in front of my chest. Could I be any more pathetic? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. Kelly was my best friend ever, she'd back me one hundred percent. Katie had a heart of gold, even if it was her brother we were talking about, I was sure she wouldn't abandon me. Girl power and all that.

  "He doesn't want me here," I whispered, but they both heard.

  "Of course he does, darling. He's besotted," Katie said.

  I bit my lip unable to admit how deep I already was. Who falls for a man they meet within three days of meeting them?

  "What makes you say that, Gen?" Kelly asked, gently.

  "You saw him at the dinner table. And..." I paused, thinking about him being with another woman right now was just too hard.

  "He's always been quick to temper," Katie admitted reluctantly. "But only ever over those things he considers his to care for. He's worried about you. He wants to keep you safe. That's all."

  "I'm more trouble than he bargained for," I said, feeling defeated.

  "Yes, I should think you are, but Dom needs that, darling. He bores easily, you keep him on his toes."

  "He didn't say good-bye," I said in the most pathetic voice ever used by a heartbroken female. I was beginning to get tired of myself.

  "Didn't he?" Katie said, sounding surprised. "I think his mind was momentarily elsewhere." I'm sure it was, on whatever his woman looked like. "He'll be regretting it about now, I would assume."

  "Katie," I said, deciding I needed to be forthright, "he's disappeared on me twice now after taking a cellphone call that he couldn't seem to ignore. How besotted do you think he is now?"

  Kelly went still beside me, completely on the same page, I was sure. Katie just looked at me with big round eyes.

  "He is a busy man, his business can interrupt during the most inopportune times." But even she didn't sound convinced.

  "The first time was at the door to my apartment, he dropped me off and walked away, after we'd had a fantastic dinner and evening together, that could have easily led to more. This time, today," I emphasised, "the day I got shot at and was forced to close my shop for the first time in four years, he didn't even say good-bye. It's not business, Katie, it looked and sounded a hell of a lot more personal than that."

  "The sonofabitch," Kelly a
nnounced at full volume and full force. Katie flinched.

  "I don't know what to say," she murmured. "He seems so besotted in you."

  "Clearly a class act," Kelly declared, hand on cocked hip.

  I sighed. "I just don't want to be here when he gets back," I admitted, finally. "I need to concentrate on one thing at a time and this, whatever it was with Dominic, confuses me. I can't keep Sweet Seduction safe and deal with Brett if I'm fucked in the head over other things."

  "Hear, hear!" Kelly said with gusto.

  "Oh," Katie said much softer. "All right. I understand, but he won't be happy. I don't have an explanation for you, but I'm positive he will. And he won't be happy coming home and finding you gone."

  "So, we leave a note," Kelly suggested. "A curt note."

  "You write it, I'll pack some clothes," I said as I walked quickly out the door. Now the decision had been made and Katie convinced, I wanted to skedaddle as quickly as I could. Tail between my legs.

  By the time I came downstairs both girls were waiting for me. Katie chewing her bottom lip, a move I hadn't seen on her before. Kelly bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

  "It's done, note left. The SOB won't know what hit him." Katie frowned at her.

  "Please don't call my brother that."

  "Sorry, sweet pea," Kelly patted her arm. "I call 'em how I see 'em, and right now your boy is looking a bit shady, to say the least."

  Katie's frown deepened, I sighed and opened the front door, just wanting this night to be over.

  We trailed out, Katie manning the alarm system as though she had done it a thousand times before, and then led me to her car. A cute little BMW convertible. Kelly's Ford Focus kind of looked out of place sitting next to it, but she didn't care.