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Authors: Victoria Paige

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BOOK: A Love For Always
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“She’s an old friend.”

Cade cursed and rubbed the back of his neck in frustration.
 

“What’s going on, Cade?” Nate asked grimly. “Is Sylvie in trouble with the DEA?”

“Do you know she’s the daughter of Daichi Yoshida?”

“She’s his illegitimate daughter. As far as I know, she has nothing to do with her father’s business.” Daichi Yoshida was one of the key leaders of the Asian Crime Syndicate, a powerful hybrid mafia organization borne of the Yakuza and the Chinese Triad. The grim look on Cade’s face wasn’t promising. “Are you saying otherwise?”

The other man regarded him for a beat before saying, “I really can’t talk about this, so I’m appealing to your sense of duty to country not to blow my cover.”

 
“Is Sylvie in trouble?” Nate repeated.
 

Cade nodded.

“I presume since it’s the DEA, it has something to do with drugs.”

“Nate, I’m not comfortable discussing—”

“Look, whatever illegal shit you think she’s doing, I doubt she’s doing it willingly.”

“I know. I determined that early on, but you think the higher-ups give a damn?”

“You know there’s nothing Sylvie cares more about than her career as a chef.”

“Again. I know that. Unless you’ve missed the part where I’m her sous chef.”

“So what? You’re just going to let her go down for this?”

“My hands are tied—”

“Bullshit—”

“Dammit, Nate, what do you suggest I do? Go against orders? My boss wants to nail Yoshida’s ass.”

“Nailing down an ACS boss is a lofty goal, Bowen. Even the CIA knows it’s best to leave that organization alone.”

“My boss is ambitious.”

Nate’s mouth curved in a mocking smile. “Nothing like blind ambition.” Through all this, the gears in his brain were trying to figure out a way to handle the situation. “Listen, I’m not going to compromise your job if I don’t have to—”

“Fuck, man—”

“Would you listen,” Nate snapped. “I need to know you’ll do everything to help Sylvie. That you’re on her side.”

“That’s asking too much at this point. I already have proof that could land her ass in jail for a couple of years. We just need to reel in the bigger fish.”

Nate dragged his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth a couple of times. “I’ll talk to her, try to get her to open up about what’s going on.”

“You think I haven’t tried?”

“How long have you worked for her?”

“Almost year.”

“I’ve known her for nine.”
 

Cade’s eyes widened.
 

“Between us, I have the advantage to get through to her,” Nate added. “I give you fair warning, I’m not going to let her be a victim of bureaucratic agenda. You know what I’m capable of, Bowen.”

“Sounds like a threat,” Cade replied, but a grin tugged at his mouth.

“Maybe. You can take that to your boss.”

“Shit. The last thing I want is a war between the CIA and DEA,” Cade muttered.

“I’m no longer CIA.”

The other man snorted. “Yes, but you have your connections, Nate. Let’s not mince words here.”

Both men tensed when the back door swung open. The parking lot lighting illuminated Sylvie’s anxious face, which quickly washed with relief when she saw them.

“Thank God,” Sylvie said. “I thought you two were killing each other.”

“That only happens when I have to defend your honor,” Nate replied, chuckling at the annoyed look she shot him. “You ready, babe?”

“We can talk here.”

Nate stared at Cade, but was addressing her. “Not for what we have to discuss. We’re going for a ride on my bike.”

“My car’s here, Nate.”

“We’ll come back for it,”
Unless you end up at my place
. He quickly dispelled the idea. Too sleazy seeing that he and Giselle had just broken up. He wasn’t suggesting her place either in case it was bugged.

“Rick,” Sylvie turned to Cade. “Can you finish the broth? It’s been simmering with the bones for the past two hours. It needs another hour. I’ll finish it up before dinner service tomorrow.”

“Got it, chef.” Cade nodded to Nate and walked back to the restaurant.

Nate doffed his leather jacket and put it around her.
 
“It’s warmed up some, but might still be too chilly for you.” He noted with satisfaction how she inhaled the scent of his jacket as he helped her into it.
 

He grabbed his helmet and slipped it on her.

“How about you?” she whispered.

“I’ll be fine. I still have your helmet at the house. I wasn’t sure how this evening would turn out.”

She twitched her nose in disdain.

“It’s still all yours, firecracker,” Nate said, reading her mind. Just like all the other parts of him that belonged to her.

Now if only he could convince her of it.

*****

She missed riding on the back of Nate’s bike. They’d been in a cold war for almost fifteen months. He didn’t deserve what she did. There had been too much pressure from Brad, the restaurant, and from
them
. Brad had always been jealous of Nate. Not that she blamed her ex-boyfriend. Nine years ago, she and Nate had embarked on a scorching three-month hookup that never really fizzled out, but his work and her ambition got in the way. Rather than give each other up, they agreed to remain friends.

She sunk into the oversized jacket, wishing she could surround herself with his smell. She tightened her arms around him instead, fully aware of the hard ridges of his ab muscles. Her fingers splayed over his torso, the temptation to go further south challenging her will. Though it could be her imagination, he seemed to have tensed up. They’d been in this dance so many times before, the point of teetering back into a relationship wrought with lust, but always they were afraid to ruin their friendship.
 

Nate took the turn on the road that would lead to their special spot overlooking the Potomac River. The bike kicked up some gravel on the unpaved path before it rolled on the grass. He stopped under a canopy of trees and killed the bike, engaging the kickstand.

Sylvie reluctantly uncurled her arms from around him, pulled the helmet off, and adjusted her ponytail. She then got off the bike and stretched.

“You okay?” Nate asked gruffly.

His face was shadowed, but she could feel his eyes piercing into her in the darkness.

“Yes.” She pretended to study her shoes, but she didn’t want to avoid the talk any longer. “So.”

“So.” Nate replied.

“Talk.”

“Did you ever regret what you did?” Straight to the point.

“You know I did.”

“No, Sylvie, I don’t. That was a shitty thing to do. I get that Brad was your boyfriend, but we had almost eight years of friendship to let that asshole dictate to you who your friends should be.”

“He was jealous of you.”

“So? My girlfriends were jealous of you, but I never failed to be there when you needed me.”

“I was trying to save my relationship with Brad!”

“Yeah? How did that work for you? He’s marrying someone else. So I’m really pissed that you had to cut me from your life and it ended up being all for nothing.”

Her temper was flaring. This was so not how she pictured this conversation. “Is this why you stormed into my restaurant, so you can rub my nose in my mistakes?”

“No,” Nate growled. “I just needed to get that off my chest, seeing how eight years of friendship boiled down to a measly phone call saying you can’t see or talk to me anymore. My pride kept me from confronting you, but I’m done with that shit. What I want to know is why you didn’t contact me after you broke up with that asshole.”

Sylvie turned away from Nate. “My life has gotten complicated.”

Silence.
 

Puzzled, she turned around. Nate was just staring at her. Guess he needed more.

“I was too busy with the restaurant, Nate, I didn’t have time—”

“When?”

“When what?”

“When did you break up with Talbot?”

“Nine months ago.”

“In all that time, you couldn’t pick up the phone?”

“Life got in the way, okay!” She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Even now, I’m not sure we can go back to what we used to be.”

“You can be sure of that,” Nate muttered.

“What do you want, Nate?” she challenged.

He closed the distance between them and gripped her shoulders. “What do I want?” He ducked his head until his face was just a hair’s breadth away. Her heart hammered against her breastbone. “What I want is you.” Her breathing hitched, and just when she thought he was going to kiss her, he let her go and took a step back.
 

“Are you seeing anyone now?” His question cut through the night with such menacing precision that if she had been seeing someone, she would be tempted to lie.

“No.”

Nate nodded, a wry almost embarrassed smile curved his lips. “I just broke up with Giselle. This was about”—he checked his watch—“four hours ago.”

“Man slut,” Sylvie quipped, even as a shard of jealousy stabbed her painfully. “Was she the international model?”

“Keeping tabs on me, babe? Jealous?”

“Please. It’s hard to avoid news about you because you seem to gravitate toward women who hog the limelight.”

“I’m okay with you being jealous,” Nate whispered. “Because I’ve always been jealous of every guy you’ve dated.”

“Nate—” This was getting dangerously complicated for her. She needed to cut Nate loose, not get into a relationship with him.

“We were just victims of wrong time, wrong place. We’re not in our twenties anymore. I think we’ve experienced life enough to know we’re at a place where we can explore this connection we have and not make a damn mess of it. We can move past this platonic rule we’ve set for ourselves.”

He couldn’t be more wrong. It was the worst timing. Her life was no longer her own.

“I think that ship has sailed, Nate.”
Oh liar, liar, Sylvie.

She fully expected Nate to get angry; instead, he was looking at her with such tenderness, a lump lodged in her throat. He didn’t deserve to get mired in her problems.

“You don’t really believe that, Sylvie, so tell me what’s really bothering you. Don’t tell me it’s the restaurant; you seem to have that under control.” His hand came up to chuck her under the chin. “So what is it, babe?”

“I don’t want a fling, Nate.”

His brows pulled together. “This wouldn’t be a fling. What gave you that idea?”

Time to pull out the big guns guaranteed to send a guy running scared.

“I want commitment, marriage, and babies.”

His eyes widened and a comical shocked expression broke through his face. He’d been rendered speechless, so she pressed her advantage. “I’m clingy. I think that’s one reason why Brad broke up with me.” Not true. Sylvie broke up with him because she realized she didn’t love him enough to marry him. “I drove him nuts with my unreasonable jealousy. I’ve alienated all his female friends.”

Nate folded his arms across his chest and was now regarding her with amusement.
 

Shit.
 

“So, Nate, if you want exclusivity, you should know I’m already thinking bridal magazines and a destination wedding.”

Nate shrugged. “Sounds reasonable.” His mouth was twitching.

“You think I’m kidding?”

“I think,” Nate said slowly, “you’re trying really hard to freak me out. You’re not the clingy type, Sylvs. You never were. Marriage and babies don’t scare me if they’re with the right woman. You’re thinking destination wedding. Fine. Be prepared to consign yourself to a lifetime of screaming orgasms.”

Oh. My. God.
 

“Not sure I like to be a foregone conclusion.”

“Never,” Nate murmured. “I’m sure you’ll keep me on my toes.”

“You bet your ass I will.” She shouldn’t encourage him, but his playful charm was hard to resist.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Sylvie arched a brow. “I’ve never met a man more eager to have his balls handed to him.”
 

Stop. Stop now.

“That’s the second time tonight you’ve made reference to my balls and not in a flattering way. You’re starting to hurt my feelings.”

She couldn’t help it.
 

Just try suppressing a laugh.
 

She snorted in the most unladylike way.

Nate lost the battle to keep a straight face and started chuckling.
 
“Okay, woman. Tell me what’s
really
bugging you. If you think I’m expecting us to fall back into bed and start fucking, you’re wrong. We’re going to date. I’ll even send you flowers
 
. . . wait, flowers are not your style, are they?”

Sylvie shook her head. Flowers were okay, but she could do without them.

“I intend to do the whole woo thing. You with me?”

Again, Sylvie shook her head. Nate scowled.

“Nate, do you know how many of your girlfriends came to me crying about your emotionally stunted ass.”

“Because I was hung up on you!” Nate suddenly burst out harshly.

“This whole time?” Sylvie was dazed by his fervent admission.

“Whenever I wasn’t in denial, yes.”

“I don’t know, Nate. Eight years of seeing one girlfriend replacing another doesn’t exactly help me believe you’re serious about a relationship with me. I’m not above being friends again.”

“I’m not having another man swoop in,” Nate declared, although his earlier confidence seemed to have deserted him. “Look, we can begin with friendship if it would make you more comfortable. I just want to make it clear I want more.”

“Fine.”

“Just don’t make me wait too long.”

“What’s your definition of too long?”

“Two weeks.”

“What? I was thinking six months to a year.”

Nate’s face darkened perceptibly. “Hell, no.”

Sylvie sighed. She had to hold him off with friendship until she could think of a better excuse to stop seeing him. Time to retreat. “I really need to get my car. I have an early start tomorrow.”

“Can I see you this weekend?”

This weekend was a bad idea for many reasons.

BOOK: A Love For Always
4.26Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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