A Vow of Seduction

by Nana Malone

  With a groan, Gabe rolled over and dragged the sheets over his lap. “That’s fine, I’ll just sit here, wondering what happened to my awesome wake-up call.”

  She swatted him before she answered. “Morning, Delilah, what’s the matter?” In a second, she went from happy and relaxed to stiff and tense. “What? I don’t understand. I—I’ll be right in.”

  His phone buzzed again, and this time he picked it up. There were two urgent texts from Delilah, and one from Willow, calling him in to the offices ASAP. Shit. What was wrong? He slid his gaze up to Elina. “What’s the matter?”

  She dropped her phone on the bed and wrapped the sheets around herself. Grabbing the remote control she quickly turned the TV to the entertainment news channel. His picture was heavily prominent. As was one of Jacinda leaving his apartment last night, and one of him and Elina in Montreal, kissing.

  Aw hell, the cat was out of the bag.

  Chapter 18

  “Elina, I expect better from you. What is the one rule we have here?”

  Elina shifted in her shoes. She’d never seen Delilah so pissed in her life. “Startling honesty,” she mumbled. She didn’t even dare slide a glance over at Gabe.

  “And when you walked into the conference room a few weeks ago, and you saw Gabe, you didn’t think it was a good idea to tell me you already knew him?’

  Gabe tried to jump in for an assist. “Look, this is my fault. I should’ve told you that we were involved, but when I signed the contract I didn’t know Elina worked for you. Obviously she was worried about her job, and I was concerned that you would drop me as a client, so I asked her not to say anything.”

  Delilah rounded on Gabe and crossed her arms, tapping her foot, staring him down. “You seriously want me to believe that?”

  Elina shook her head at him. “Gabe, stop.” She turned back to Delilah. “This isn’t his fault. I lied. I should have come straight to you. But I panicked. I met Gabe at the wedding. I never expected to see him again. And then he was here, and we were working together, and things just happened and I’m sorry. But this isn’t his fault. He’s got a great film and deserves to have it made.”

  Delilah lowered herself into her seat and clasped her hands together. From the corner of the room in the big leather chair, Willow sat lounging, but didn’t move. She didn’t even say a word. When Delilah spoke, her voice was icy. “Do you know why it’s important that we don’t sleep with clients?”

  Elina nodded. “It’s a conflict of interest, I know. Things like this morning with this company in the media for the wrong reasons. And I’m an adult, I made my decisions, and I will accept the consequences. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to handle the media.”

  Delilah sighed. “Elina, you show such promise. Why would you do this? You had a million times to come clean, to tell us. I’m here to help you. I’ve been you. You know how Nate and I got together. The media scrutiny almost killed me. That’s why I put the rule in place so that something like this didn’t happen. We needed to be aboveboard and now we’ve got a scandal with your name in the paper.”

  She’d royally screwed up and she knew it. You should have just told the truth. Instead, she wanted to prove herself so bad. She’d also wanted Gabe more than she wanted anything in her life. “Delilah, this job means the world to me. I am so sorry.”

  But Gabe didn’t let her continue. “No, I’m sorry. We were coming to tell you today. We didn’t think anyone saw us in Montreal, but neither one of us wanted to hide the truth from you anymore.”

  “Well, it’s too late for that now isn’t it, Gabe? When did you two make this little decision to tell me?”

  If she’d told Delilah immediately, she wouldn’t have worked so closely with him and she wouldn’t have fallen in love. But now everything was so twisted she couldn’t see a way out.

  He cleared his throat. “Last night. We were going to tell you today.”

  Delilah narrowed her eyes. “So, what you’re telling me is that, instead of calling me last night, after you made your little decision, to I don’t know, be in love or whatever, instead of calling me right away, you waited. And now we have a media circus. Do either one of you want to tell me why Jacinda Johnson, your lead actress, was in your apartment? There are reports from a source close to her saying she’s brokenhearted.”

  Gabe ran a hand through his hair. “We were working last night when Elina came over.”

  “This just keeps getting better and better.” Delilah sat back in her seat. “We need to get in front of the media circus.”

  Elina sat up straight and squared her shoulders. This was one thing she could do. She could work this. She was good at this. “Okay, what do you need me to do?”

  “You?” Delilah shook her head vehemently. “No. You are not doing anything, except staying out of sight. No work. No hanging out with your friends for the next couple days. Stay out of sight. Stay indoors. I don’t want some paparazzo figuring out where you live and thinking he can get an exclusive story.”

  “But I’m part of the team. I need to do something.”

  “Right now, you’re not part of the team. Right now, you’re a client. So you need to act like a client whose face is on the bull’s-eye.”

  “This is my job.” She forced down tears.

  Delilah blinked at her. From the corner, Willow chuffed and muttered, “Right about now, Elina, you need to consider yourself on probation. We need to fix this first, then we can talk about your job.”

  Elina’s skin went clammy cold and her head swam. It was only when her head spun that she realized she’d been holding her breath. She released it, and her vision cleared. Her feelings for him were going to cost her her job. How the hell had this happened to her? When she met him she’d been on the verge of a promotion; her career had been taking off. And now she was media fodder and her job was on the line. All because she’d fallen in love and broken her own rules.

  Delilah turned her attention to Gabe as Elina started to hyperventilate. “And you. I don’t know what to say to you. The last month we have been working with you, keeping everything aboveboard, shedding that former image. And not only do you sleep with one of my staff, you put yourself in a precarious situation having the paparazzi catch Jacinda at your place.”

  Gabe shook his head. “Nothing happened with Jacinda. We were working.”

  “And I told you a million times, it’s all about the perception. If you want to have a meeting with a beautiful, young costar of yours, do it at a restaurant. Preferably with outdoor seating. Or schedule a meeting in the studio or a neutral location. Not at your house. I was clear with you. And now we’re in this situation. I would love to drop you as a client, but I’m afraid of how that’s going to impact Elina.”

  “I’m not going to apologize for falling in love with Elina.” His voice was soft but firm. “We should have been up-front. And like I said, I take full responsibility for that. But I love her, so you’re going to need to figure out a way around this.”

  Elina couldn’t breathe. “Gabe, stop. Just stop. This isn’t what I want. You’ve jeopardized your career. And I clearly put mine in danger.”

  He reached for her, but she pulled free. “I’m sorry, I can’t do any of this right now.” Before Willow could stop her, she turned to the redhead. “Don’t worry, I’m taking the back exit, and I’ll take a taxi.”

  As she ran out of the office, she could hear Gabe’s footsteps behind her, but she ignored his calls and jumped into the first cab she saw with no clue where she was going or what she was doing.

  Chapter 19

  It had been a long two days for Gabe. Delilah had given him strict instructions to stay out of sight. But today he’d gone to the gym. On the way back to his place, he’d already gotten calls from the producer, who wanted to know what the hell was going on. According to him, the investor
was nervous, given the negative press.

  Gabe spent an hour calming him down, only to have several more phone calls from the casting office and his location scout concerned that the project was going to be shelved.

  He’d tried to call Elina several times. But she didn’t answer. Fuck, how did things get so bad? After Elina, he tried calling Jacinda. She took his call immediately. “Oh my God, Gabe, I had nothing to do with this. I swear.”

  He wasn’t sure if he should believe her or not. From what Elina said, he wouldn’t put it past her, down to the paparazzi sighting. He chose his words carefully. “Jacinda, I’m not sure what happened, but we need to get it under control. I’ve got photographers camped out on my doorstep.”

  “I know. Me, too. I had no idea they’d be waiting outside your place. So what do we do?”

  And this was the tricky part. He and Delilah had discussed his options.

  He understood Jacinda would want to capitalize on this for long as possible. There was no way he was going to work with her on the phone; this was her doing. So they made an appointment to meet at Delilah’s office tomorrow.

  After a day of going stir-crazy and trying to find Elina, his phone rang. He dived for it, hoping it would be her; it was Adam. “Dude? Where the hell have you been?”

  “I’ve had my phone bombarded by media. So I haven’t been answering.”

  “Reece is all over my ass. She wants to know what the hell is going on. And she wants to know where Elina is.”

  “I wish I knew where Elina was. She won’t take my calls right now. And as far as what’s happening, my life is a circus. Thanks to Montreal and Jacinda.”

  “Man, I could’ve told you that. Jacinda? That chick is trouble with a capital T. You can take one look at her and know that. She’s a social climber. She will do just about anything or anyone to be famous.”

  How did he miss that? He quickly filled Adam in on how things had blown up. “Yeah,” Gabe said. “Been a rough couple of days.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t have many other options but to wait for Elina to realize that I’ll still love her when she comes back from wherever it is she’s gone.”

  Chapter 20

  “It’s not just the tabloids, Mom. Gabe and I, we don’t work together.”

  Her mother dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “What are you talking about? That’s nonsense. No couples just happen, you have to work and fight hard even when you don’t think it’s worth fighting for, you tell me that all the time. I happen to love that new-couple feeling. That’s what I do. Not what you do. In so many ways, you’re more grown-up. That’s who you are. You deal with things. So what are you doing here in Toronto, like someone who ran away from her life?”

  “Delilah said to lie low. I’m lying low.” Elina slammed down her glass. “If you don’t want me here and you want to have your love nest with yogi or whatever, I’ll go.”

  The early-morning sunlight was pouring in the floor-to-ceiling windows. The view from her mother’s loft was beautiful. She’d always loved this place. She’d grown up in upstate New York, but as soon as she was off to boarding school, her mother had moved to Toronto.

  “You know full well I don’t want you to go. I love having you here. But I don’t love you moping. You can talk to me if you want.” Her mother eased herself down onto the couch.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. You never said how much this would hurt. You always talk about love like it’s this beautiful, magical fairyland. This is real talk. It hurts like hell. I would like it to stop. I want to stop thinking about him. I want to stop loving him. I want to stop missing his arms around me when I sleep. I want it to stop because it is interfering with my life.”

  “Oh, honey, but that’s love. It’s not clean and analytical. It’s messy and emotional, but pretty great if you let it happen.”

  “Getting involved with him has turned my life upside down. My emotions are out of whack. I’m on the verge of being fired from my job. It’s not worth it. I want everything to go back to normal. I’m throwing everything away because of what? Some guy? When another one could just come along in six months?” But she didn’t want another guy. She wanted Gabe. And she didn’t want to want him.

  She stood and started to pace the length of the hallway. “I mean I finally got it. Why you were always chasing love. I got it because it was nice to wake up to someone who was going to be there and hold me. Someone to call when I was happy and encourage me and push me. But it came at costs I didn’t really think about paying.”

  Her mother sighed. “Baby, I know I put you through the wringer with all of my marriages. In particular the one to your father. Or rather the several to your father... I know I was looking for something and am still looking for it. Your dad is the closest I’ve ever come. I’m looking for the glimmer of hope I saw inside your dad when I first met him. It has led me down some dark paths.”

  “Sometimes I wish you guys stayed together. Not that second time, though. I was worried you might kill him. But that last time, I dunno, I thought maybe it would stick. Do you regret any of it, Mom?”

  “Not a bit with your father. I got you, and you are the most important thing to ever happen to me. Every single one of the men I’ve married or been engaged to had something fantastic to offer. And I recognize it’s my fault that you think love is a bad thing. I promise you it’s not. It’s only how I handle it that’s a bad thing. I’m just not really good with my emotions most of the time. I never wanted that for you. But I did want you to find love and not be afraid of it.”

  “I’m not afraid of love. Mom, I’m afraid of turning into you. You’ve always been smart, and the most beautiful woman in the room. And yet you chased these men and chased these relationships. I wanted to be beautiful like you were and smart like you were. But I didn’t want to depend on anyone for my happiness and well-being.” She sniffed. “I guess that didn’t work out so well.”

  Her mother pulled her in for a hug. “Sorry I hurt you, Elina. I never wanted to give you hang-ups about this stuff. My inability to find love has more to do with me and the men I’ve chosen than anything. The man you chose, he seems like a good man.”

  “You don’t even know Gabe.”

  “I know he loves my daughter. I know that he’s probably trying to do something with his life, and I know he is willing to let you breathe.”

  “What are you talking about? He’s been pursuing me since the Hamptons. Letting me breathe put me in the line of falling-in-love fire. There’s no woman who can resist him. And I’m one of them. I fell for the trap. And it hurts.”

  Her mother patted her hair. “Oh, my poor, sweet baby. Just one question. How do you feel about him?”

  That was the question. And the truth stung. “Like part of me is going to die when I’m not with him.”

  “And what are you doing here with me? Seems like maybe you belong there. And you work it out together. Honey, there was never any danger of losing yourself in some guy. You’re too tough for that. But you do need to leave yourself open to love to find true happiness. Can’t run away from that part of yourself, either.”

  She knew her mother was right. She was miserable without him. And what she kept doing wasn’t working, obviously. Avoiding love and relationships just to avoid getting hurt, and here she was. Hurt nonetheless. She just hoped there was still a way to save a relationship with Gabe and save her job. Because she was not a quitter.

  Chapter 21

  On Monday, Elina was back in the office. She’d taken a late flight out of Toronto the night before and made the ride home with very little fanfare. Her mail, of course, had stacked inside her door. She’d only skimmed through it this morning. Several of the paparazzo had left her notes requesting to chat with her. Yeah, as if that was going happen.

  When she ar
rived, Delilah was already in the office. She heard the sound of heels clicking on the floor. When she knocked on her office door, Delilah looked up. “Elina, I didn’t expect you back for another couple days.”

  “I know. And thank you for whatever you’ve done to take care of the media mess. But I couldn’t sit and hide any longer. And I couldn’t stand knowing that I really messed this up. You gave me a chance, and I’m grateful for that. I should never have lied to you and I know better. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do and I panicked. I didn’t plan on having feelings for him. They just happened.”

  Delilah sat back. “You remind me a lot of me. Super-driven. Always wanting to be able want to fix something, never saying die. It also makes you prone to closing yourself off.” She sighed. “With a couple more days to think about it, I realize I probably came down a little hard on you. It’s not like I wasn’t ever in the same situation. But I won’t lie, it was difficult for Nate, and I thought a guy like Gabe would mess you up. Given everything he’s done this week, I guess I was wrong about him.”

  Elina frowned. “What did he do?”

  Her boss’s delicate brows drew up. “You haven’t seen the news?”

  “No, I got a flight from Toronto late last night and have been holed up inside my apartment. What’s going on?”

  “Despite my efforts, he spoke to Jacinda. Got her to give a statement that they were rehearsing the script.”

  “Yeah, but why would she do that? She’s clearly into him.”

  “Well, apparently she’s more into her career. And once she found out what was at stake, she was willing to play ball. I know what this job means to you and honestly, I don’t want to lose you. But you’ve got to be honest with me from now on. I need to know that when something is going down, you’ll tell me first.”

  With a giant breath of relief, Elina sagged. “So you’re not going to fire me?”