Tamika looked down at her hands and muttered, “He was going to leave me anyway.”
“How do you know for sure?” Emily asked.
She looked up in anguish. “Because everyone does,” she said in a choked voice. This time she could not hold back the tears.
“Oh, my dear,” Emily murmured and wrapped her arms around Tamika.
Tamika rested her head on Emily’s shoulder and cried her heart out. She cried for everyone she’d ever lost in her life then cried for Nico. She could feel her heart breaking and she knew there was nothing she could do about it.
“You are taking some time off,” Emily said firmly.
Tamika did not argue. She needed a long time to get over this heartache. Maybe then she would be ready to work again. In a decade or two.
**
Six months later
Nico got off the press conference and walked into the office he’d reserved for himself at the new resort.
“You did good, bro,” Alex said, patting him on the back as they both got into the office.
“Thanks,” Nico said. He took off his jacket and flung it on the sofa. Next he loosened the tie as he walked straight for the bar. He poured himself a glass of vodka and drained it in one go.
He walked to the window and stared out at the blue waters. He should be on top of the world. They’d successfully launched the Silk Blue Resort, their newest resort on an island in the Caribbean. They had timed it to coincide with the public offer of their shares, which had netted the shareholders a fortune, making him and Alex billionaires. He should be out celebrating, but all he wanted to do was sit in his office and get drunk.
“You should never have let her go,” Alex said casually after watching his brother.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Nico said shortly. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about that woman.
“You know damn well who I’m talking about. If you knew you were just going to let her go like that, you should have let me have a go at her.”
Nico had no idea where the rage came from. With a growl, he flew at his brother, knocking him to the ground. Alex stared at him in shock, but quickly recovered. Quick as lightening, he jumped to his feet and came back at Nico, hitting him square on the jaw.
Nico welcomed the fight. He had been searching for a way to get rid of his frustration and was almost grateful for the physical outlet. They were evenly matched. Alex was the larger of the two, but Nico had learned his fighting on the streets. They rolled on the floor, with each giving as good as he got.
Finally, they wore each other out and collapsed on the rug, lying side by side.
“You…you are an ass…asshole,” Alex said, panting for breath. “That woman…is…is crazy about you. Just…let her…go like that.”
Nico was quiet. He did not say anything and for a long time the only sounds heard were their panting as they struggled to get their breaths back.
“She did not want me,” Nico said at last. His eyes felt gritty. He knew he’d lost weight since he’d lost interest in food. Sleep was also a struggle since he’d gotten used to Tamika sleeping beside him. He felt lost without her.
“She told you that?” Alex asked in disbelief.
Nico told him about the last conversation they’d had and the things they’d said to each other. He had come out from the shareholder’s meeting to find her gone. He’d contacted Silver Shield offices in desperation, trying to find her whereabouts, but it was either they also had no idea where she’d gone or they were stonewalling him. He had his money on the latter.
“You dumbass!” Alex said in disgust when Nico finished talking.
Nico slapped him on the arm. As punches went, it was weak. His heart was not in it, but he was the big brother after all. He could not let Alex get away with speaking that way to him.
“Oh, you messed up big time, man.”
Nico glanced at him in irritation. “How do you figure that out?”
“That woman was completely in love with you, and you let her go without a fight.”
Nico stared at him wordlessly. Could Alex be right? Tamika had mentioned loving him when they tied up in that warehouse. Could he have made a terrible mistake in letting her go?
“What do you mean?” he finally asked.
“She did whatever she had to do to get you to that conference room, even if it meant making you hate her,” Alex said quietly.
Nico looked intently at his brother as he replayed the scene in the hotel room. She had been hell-bent on getting him to the conference room, and it was only when he had resisted everything else she’d tried that she’d turned nasty. He had gone to the office then, out of anger, but it had saved him his job and helped him catch a saboteur. She’d thrown herself under the bus to save him, just as she’d willingly walked into what she’d known was a dangerous situation so she could get him out.
He sat up and buried his head in his hands with a groan as he remembered how cold he had been to her. “What have I done?
“Screwed up, as usual,” Alex said with a smile.
“Shut up,” Nico said half-heartedly. His mind was already on how to get Tamika back. First, he had to find her.
In the end he did not have to find her, she found him.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. He looked at Alex, who shrugged.
“I don’t think I can take any more questions from the press,” Nico said with a groan.
“I’ll send them on their way,” Alex said, getting to his feet.
Nico shut his eyes and tried to think of a strategy he could use to win Tamika back. The thought filled him with excitement. Once he had her back where she belonged, which was in his arms of course, he would devise another strategy for keeping her there for the next eighty years. He was, after all, an MBA; strategies were his forte.
The office suddenly felt quiet. “Alex?” he called without opening his eyes. “You need to tell me how to win her back.” He was not above asking for help after all.
“I hope you’re talking about me ’cause if you are, I think I’m the best person to tell you that.”
Nico thought he was dreaming at first. His eyes flew open and he found himself gazing into the honey brown eyes of the woman he loved more than life.
“Tamika?”
“You’re not seeing a ghost; I can assure you,” she said dryly.
“You came,” he breathed.
He had sent an invitation to Silver Shield in her name. He had not really expected her to come, but he’d sent it anyway. Seeing her now was like a dream come true. He slowly got to his feet. “You came,” he said again.
Her eyes filled with emotion. “I could not stay away, Nico.”
“I should never have let you go,” he said. “I’ve been so lost without you. Why didn’t you kick me in the balls when I asked you to leave?”
Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “My bad.”
“God, I can’t believe you came,” he said again, his voice filled with awe.
She had proved to him time and time again that she would always come after him. It was humbling. He walked towards her, stopping in front of her.
“I love you, Tamika. I didn’t say it before because I was a fool. But I want you to know that I really do love you and I don’t want to live my life without you in it.”
Her eyes softened and in them he read the love he had craved for so long. The total and complete acceptance. He knew with absolute certainty that she would always accept him for who he was, no questions asked. But he also accepted the fact that she would not tolerate his bullshit. She was more than capable of whipping him into shape if he slacked off.
“I love you, Nico,” she said.
With trembling hands, Nico cupped her cheek. There was so much he had to say to her. Like how he was never going to let her go and how he planned on following her wherever she went. But first, he desperately needed to taste her.
As Nico wrapped his arms around her and brought his lips to hers, Tamika knew that she
had finally come home. It had taken her a while to realize that not everyone left and when they did, sometimes they came back. Her relationship with Keisha and Mira had helped her see that. She’d needed some time alone to work things out and when she had, she’d known that she would rather take a chance with Nico than live without him.
Nico broke the kiss to murmur, “Marry me.”
And though Tamika had sworn never to marry again, she replied without hesitation, “Yes.”
BOOK FOUR
Chapter One
Hope shut down her computer and stretched. She smothered a yawn as she glanced at the slim silver watch on her wrist. Eight p.m. Closing late was what she did, but that week had just been ridiculous. Three of their eight servers had been hacked and she’d been working nonstop with her programmers to get it up and running again. Then she’d had to field complaints from users who were unable to sign on to their accounts even though they paid a lot of money for their customer relations department. It didn’t help that her partner was out of town trying to close a deal.
She shut her eyes and sighed. She could not remember if she’d had anything to eat since breakfast. If she hurried, she could get some takeout from her favorite place. Getting to her feet, she stretched again, her bones aching from sitting too long.
“I really need to hit the gym,” she murmured. Then shrugged. She really did not have the time. It was sad and she knew everything they said about living a sedentary lifestyle, but the business was not going to run itself. Still, she made another promise to herself to get to the gym. Once the current madness with their servers was over.
Just then her phone rang. She froze then dove beneath the papers searching for her cell phone. She could hear the ringtone for Camila Cabello’s “Havana” and almost paused to dance. The ringtone ended abruptly.
“Shit. Where is that damn phone?” she muttered in frustration. She was tired and she did not have time for this.
The song began again, “Havana, ooh na-na, half of my heart is in Havana ooh na-na…” There! She found the offending phone hiding beneath a sheath of papers and tax records.
“Hello?” she said, sounding breathless on the phone.
“Did I interrupt something?”
She rolled her eyes at the teasing voice at the other end of the phone. “Hey Jared, what’s up?”
“Let me guess, you’re still at the office.”
“What? No.”
“Uh huh.”
“I just stepped out,” she said, sinking back on her chair with a lazy smile.
There was silence on the other end.
“Seriously. See, I’m getting into my car now.”
More silence.
“You need to learn some trust, man,” she said, shaking her head.
“Oh, there’s nothing wrong with my trust, it’s you I have a problem with.”
“Yeah yeah. I was closing for the day anyway.”
“It’s Friday night. Why are you not out partying?”
“The damn servers. I finally got them up and running this evening.”
“Couldn’t Nora’s team handle it?” he asked referring to their IT department.
“They were taking too long.” She didn’t need to explain further.
Jared Black was her business partner and they ran one of the largest dating sites in the country. They held a lot of sensitive information such as email addresses and credit card information. They could not afford to have their servers hacked.
“So it’s all sorted?” he asked.
“Yeah. I gotta go. I’m whacked.”
“Sure. You take care.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Brat.”
She had a smile on her face after the call ended. She packed up her stuff, turned off the lights and left her office. Everyone else had left for the day and those hours after work were her favorite for creating code. She often came in before work for the same reason.
As she stepped out of the building she smiled at the security guard on night shift.
“Hi Sam,” she said.
“Evening, Miss Conran. Working late again,” he said with a hint of disapproval.
Hope laughed. “You know me, Sam. I’m a recovering workaholic,” she said with a wink.
“If you say so, Miss Conran,” he said with a smile.
Hope laughed again. “Goodnight, Sam. Say hello to Mrs. Wells.”
As she turned to walk away, there was a sudden crashing sound. She felt herself being jerked forward as one of the awnings came crashing down. She hit the floor hard and rolled a bit. Blinking as she struggled to see through the cloud of plaster dust, she looked around bewildered.
“Miss Conran? Hope?”
She coughed as she tried to answer Sam’s frantic call. She felt his hands on her as he helped her to her feet. She found her purse a few inches from her feet and bent down to pick it. Her body ached.
“Are you okay?” She heard the concern in his voice.
“What the hell just happened?” she asked in shock.
“Looks like the awning fell off.” She could hear the surprise in his voice.
“How the hell does that happen?”
Glancing at the disaster area, which was right where she’d been standing, she felt a chill go through her spine as she thought about what could have happened if Sam had not acted quickly and pulled her out of the way.
“I have no idea what could have gone wrong,” Sam said, looking up at where the awning used to be. “Are you okay?” he asked again.
Hope’s arm was throbbing where a chip of concrete had hit her. She also knew that she’d bruised her body when she’d fallen on the floor. But as far as she could tell, nothing was broken.
“I’ll live,” she said.
“I think I should call 911,” he suggested.
She grimaced. “Don’t worry about it. If I don’t feel okay, I’ll walk in to the nearest ER.” She would never willingly go to a hospital, not unless she was dead or dying. But she didn’t need to tell him that.
“Are you sure?”
She turned and gave him a look. She did not appreciate people fussing over her. She never had. “It’s fine, Sam.” She made her tone firm. “I’ll see you on Monday.”
She took a step and gasped in pain. Her ankle hurt. Gritting her teeth, she began the painful limp towards her car. Thankfully, it was parked only a few feet away.
She got into the car and sighed in relief. Her ankle was throbbing. Thankfully, it was her left foot and she used her right foot to press the gas pedal and the brake. She could not wait to get home to soak the ankle in warm water. Gosh, what a fitting end to a shitty week.
As she pulled out of the space designated for her in the parking lot, she tried to take her mind off the pain by focusing on the many tasks she needed to complete. She had to do her laundry, wash her hair and pick up the dry cleaning. Okay, maybe it was time to finally give in and employ an assistant for those tasks. Not to wash her hair, obviously, although that would be lovely, but the other stuff at least. She was just so exhausted.
She got to an intersection and stopped at a red light and remembered that she had not asked Jared about the negotiations. She reached for her purse and searched through till she found the phone. She pressed the number that was on speed dial.
“Tell me you are home?”
“Stop light,” she said.
“So what’s up?”
She heard the noise in the background and guessed that Jared was out partying. As usual.
“Still being the playboy and partying till odd hours. You need to settle down,” she said.
“Did you call me just to make my life miserable or do you actually have something important to say?”
“I do, but you need to settle down,” she repeated.
“Sure, right after you do, doll.”
“Don’t call me that,” she said. “How did the talks with Lust go?” she asked, cranking up the heater. It was almost April in Chicago, but the temperatures were stil
l a bit low, especially at night.
Lust was their largest supplier of pornographic content, and the short videos and erotic stories they provided were some of their largest sources of traffic to their sites.
“They’re playing hardball,” he said, not sounding too happy. “We really can’t afford the prices they’re quoting.”
Hope sighed. Most days, she loved the business they’d built from the ground up. But that day, she was just plain tired.
“Are you okay?” Jared asked, picking up on her mood over the phone.
“One of the awnings at work just fell on me,” she said, needing to crank down the heater again.
“What the hell? How did that happen?”
“If you find out, let me know. Thankfully, Sam was there and acted fast so I didn’t really get hurt.” Her ankle throbbed as she spoke, making her words a lie.
“Meaning that you are hurt but probably didn’t break anything.”
“You know me too well,” she said dryly.
“I’m taking the next flight back,” he said shortly.
“Don’t you dare come back here till you seal that deal!” she snapped.
“You need to accept that you need help sometimes,” he snapped back.
“Yeah, I get that. But tonight is not one of those times. I need those damn videos more than I need you here.”
She heard his sigh from all those miles away. “Damn, but you are one mean-hearted woman.”
“But you love me anyway,” she quipped back.
He laughed then. “Brat.”
Just then she heard the car behind her honking and realized that the stop light had turned green.
“Gotta go. Talk to you later.” She ended the call and put the car in drive.
Suddenly she saw a van coming towards her from the left side of the road at full speed. She jammed her foot hard on the brakes, but the pedal went down and kept on going to the end. Frantically, she pumped her foot on the pedal, while she turned the wheel as she tried to get out of the way of the oncoming van. At the last minute, she abandoned the brake and moved her foot to the gas, hoping that if she moved fast enough, she could avoid a collision with the van. Just then, the vehicle sped past, sideswiping her car, sending it into a tailspin. The loud screeching of brakes hit her ears as she tried to get her car under control.
Silver Shield Security Box Set Page 75