For His Pleasure: The Boxed Set, Books 1-6 (For His Pleasure, For His Taking, For His Keeping, For His Honor, For His Trust, For His Forever) (41 page)

She smiled, imagining how her mother would react to such a description.

Instead, Nicole talked a little about all the work she was doing for Edward and about how she and Danielle were spending a lot of time together. She tried to keep her tone upbeat and light.

But of course, her mother knew. Mothers always know, Nicole thought.

“I’m glad you’re keeping busy, honey.”

Translation: I’m glad you’re finding it possible to stay away from Red Jameson.

“Thanks Mom. How’s everything there? How’s Dad?”

“Things here are fine. The same. Although your father’s prostate is acting up again.” She launched into a long story about how dad had gone to the doctor last year after being uncomfortable for months on end and then been told he had an enlarged prostate.

Not cancer or anything, just an enlarged prostate. Only, the discomfort had continued and continued and he’d resisted going to the doctor for so long. Finally, Mom had forced him to go and it turned out he had an infection.

“But he’s feeling better?” Nicole said. Now she really felt guilty for not calling back. Her dad had been sick and she hadn’t even known.

“Yes, he’s doing much better. That man just hates going to the doctor. I swear, he drives me crazy sometimes.”

“Yeah, men can be difficult, can’t they?”

“Some men more than others.”

Nicole knew exactly what that meant too. Sure, her father might be stubborn and wear his jeans until the knees were ripped and threadbare and mom had to practically fight him to let her throw them away—but he was still a good, dependable man. Red Jameson on the other hand, he was of a different breed. He was undependable, unstable, and totally unsuitable husband material.

Red Jameson might replace his jeans when they needed replacing, and he might go to the doctor if he needed to, but it didn’t make up for everything else that was wrong with him.

“I should go,” Nicole said. “I’m still really swamped at work. With all the changes and everything, it’s incredibly hectic.”

“You’re okay, though? You’d tell me if something was wrong?”

Nicole was surprised her mother had come out and actually asked. For a moment, she almost told her everything. It would have been nice to just go outside and spill her guts to her mom over the phone, tell her how hard things had gotten. But she knew it was impossible. She didn’t want to sit there and listen to her mother badmouth Red in order to try and make Nicole feel better. That wouldn’t help anything.

So in the end, she just nodded her head. “I’m fine, Mom. I swear.”

“I’m sure it’s confusing right now with all the changes at your job,” her mother said delicately. It was the closest she could come to saying she was sorry about Red.

***

Nicole should have known that Kane Wright would track her down again. He wasn’t going to wait for her to come to him.

She shouldn’t have been surprised then, when the dark limousine pulled up next to her and Danielle as they walked down Fifth Avenue later that night.

It had been Danielle’s idea to get out of the apartment and go spend some time in Manhattan together. Nicole had complained that she’d just spent the day in Manhattan.

“That’s not the same—you were working. Sitting in a tiny cubicle is not spending the day in Manhattan. You could have been in Hoboken.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“Still.”

Nicole was too weak too fight. So she and Danielle had taken the train into the city and walked around, and surprisingly it was actually fun. Maybe it was all the walking and the fresh air, but Nicole found herself smiling and joking around for the first time in ages.

It couldn’t last though, and it didn’t last. The limousine pulled up beside them on the street and they turned and looked at one another.

“Is it…?” Danielle asked, her eyes wide with fear.

Nicole’s first thought was that it was Red. Red had come back to rescue her, to love her again. But that thought only lasted a moment because she knew it couldn’t be him.

This was the other billionaire, the one she never wanted to see again.

“No, it’s not Red,” Nicole said, as the limo door swung open and Kane Wright looked at the two of them from inside.

“Let’s have a chat,” he said.

Nicole glanced uneasily at Danielle.

Kane looked at them. “You and your lovely friend,” he said. “Please, I promise I won’t bite.”

“You don’t have to come. I’ll meet you back at the apartment,” Nicole told her.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not letting you get in there by yourself.”

Nicole smiled. It felt good to know that Danielle would fight to protect her. She was a great friend.

“Well then, let’s get this over with,” Nicole muttered.

The two of them got inside the spacious, luxurious limousine and sat as far away from Kane Wright as was humanly possible.

He didn’t seem to mind. The limo pulled away from the curb and into fifth avenue traffic. “Would either of you like a drink?” Kane asked them.

“Where are you taking us?” Danielle said, ignoring his question.

He looked at her without responding, and Nicole wondered how Danielle felt being stared at by this wealthy, handsome older man. His eyes had that familiar intensity that blazing confidence. She watched her friend gaze back at him, refusing to give an inch.

Finally, Kane settled back in his seat. “We’re just driving around. I told my driver to circle Times Square for a bit while we have a chat.”

“She has nothing to say to you,” Danielle

said.

“Oh? Is that so?”

“Yes, it is.”

“And who might you be? Her chaperone?” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Better than that. I’m her friend.”

“Oh, her friend,” Kane nodded. “That is better. It’s good to have trustworthy friends.”

“I’m sure you have none,” Danielle replied.

“Let’s not make this hostile,” Kane said. “What’s your name?”

She crossed her arms. “Don’t worry about my name.”

He grinned and snapped his fingers. “You look like a Danielle. I bet that’s your name, isn’t it?”

Danielle’s face got pale. “How did you know my name?”

Kane shrugged and smiled. Then he turned to Nicole. “So, have you thought at all about my proposal?”

She nodded. Then she licked her lips. “I’ve thought a lot about it. But I don’t think I can trust you to keep your word.”

“How can I earn your trust, Nicole?”

“I don’t think you can.”

He nodded and thought for a moment. “What if I did more than just keep Red Jameson’s dirty laundry from the public eye?”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said.

“I’m a nice guy, Nicole. Really I am.”

“Only asshole’s say they’re nice guys,” Danielle replied.

Kane glanced at her. “I believe you’re in a significant amount of debt, aren’t you?”

Danielle’s cheeks flushed and for a moment she looked stunned, as if he’d slapped her across the face. But then she seemed to recover. “Everyone living in New York City is in debt. Nice guess.”

“True, most people are,” Kane nodded, as if empathizing with the plight of the common man. “But you,” he said to Danielle, “are even more in debt than most. Almost a hundred thousand dollars between student loans and credit cards. The loans you can defer for a little while, but those credit cards…” he shook his head.

Danielle turned to Nicole. “How does he know this stuff about me? My name, my financial situation?”

Nicole shrugged. “He’s rich and he’s decided he wants something from me. He probably had a private investigator put together a file on me and everyone close to me.”

“Don’t forget, I’ve been researching Red Jameson for a long time. Anyone close to him gets the same treatment,” Kane smiled. “It’s nothing personal.”

“Leave Danielle out of this, it’s between us,” Nicole said.

“I tried to leave her out of it, but she’s chirping away like a little bird in my ear,” he said. “So I think maybe I’d like to sweeten the pot a little bit. I’d like to help Danielle.”

“You don’t want to help me,” Danielle said, shaking her head. “You’re only interested in trying to intimidate people.”

“That’s far from the truth,” he said, turning back to Nicole. “So let me help you with your decision. All I’ve asked is that you spend some time in my company. For a few days on a tropical paradise having your every need met, I’m willing to give you quite a bit in return. One, I’ve offered to keep Red’s name out of the media in connection to those things we discussed.”

Nicole nodded warily. “I understand that.”

“And further, I’ll go another step to show you my heart’s in the right place, Nicole.

I want to help you and the people you care about. So if you come with me to the Caymans, then I’ll pay off Danielle’s student loans and credit card debt. Almost one hundred thousand dollars wiped away, she’ll be free and clear.”

“He’s lying, Nicole,” Danielle told her. “Don’t listen to his bullshit.”

Kane looked back at Danielle. “You really don’t know me.” Something about the way he said it silenced her. A certain gleam in his eye, a tone of voice—something in him shifted and suddenly his full presence was palpable in the car.

Suddenly you realized that you were sitting next to a man who had more wealth than small nations, who could literally buy and sell you. He could pick up a phone and have someone killed, make someone disappear, or he could wipe out hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt the way someone might pick up the check for lunch at the corner deli.

“So, Nicole, what’s your answer? A few days with me, no strings attached, nothing required but a little of your time. And in exchange you get so much more for the people closest to you.”

“Don’t do it Nic,” Danielle muttered.

“Just let me think for a second,” Nicole said.

“This offer is only good for the length of this car ride,” Kane told them. He glanced at his gold Rolex. “I never make bad deals, Nicole. In fact, the main reason I’m as wealthy as I am is because I refuse to make a deal unless it benefits me most. I don’t like feeling as though I’m getting the worse end of things, but for some reason, it’s different with you.”

His eyes fixed on her. She couldn’t look at him.

What would Red tell her to do? She wondered. Of course he’s say that Kane Wright was a snake, untrustworthy, all of it.

But then again, Red wasn’t here. And because of that, she was on her own, dealing with a shark in deep waters with nobody to help her.

“I’m fine,” Danielle told her. “I don’t need his help.”

But Nicole wasn’t so sure. She’d seen Danielle crying not that long ago, opening bills and shaking her head, saying she didn’t know how much longer she could last in the city.

“If I say yes, how can I be sure you’ll keep your promises?”

“If you say yes right now, I’ll get on the phone with my accountant and put the word in to take care of Danielle’s financial situation immediately. By the end of business tomorrow, she’ll be free and clear. Before you and I even get on a plane together, your best friend will have a new lease on life.”

Nicole glanced at Danielle. She was shaking her head no, but somehow Nicole couldn’t believe her. “I’ll do it,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”

“Nicole, don’t!” Danielle cried.

Kane Wright smiled like a proud father. “Good decision, Nicole. You won’t regret it.”

“Of course she will. She’s not a prostitute.”

“I never claimed she was. Nicole doesn’t have to have sex with me, I’ve made it very clear that all I’m asking is for some time together.”

“That’s bullshit. What man goes through this much trouble for a woman he doesn’t want to sleep with?”

“I never said I didn’t want to sleep with her. I said that I wouldn’t have any expectations that she’d do so on this trip. The deal is simply for some of her time. It’s a good deal, especially for you Danielle.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Regardless, by this time tomorrow you’ll have no debt. Your credit cards and student loans, even your rent for this year—will be paid in full.”

Nicole looked at him and he smiled at her.

She knew she couldn’t trust him, and yet—for the first time—she wondered if she’d somehow misjudged Kane Wright.

***

The next morning she threw up again.

This time it was when she was brushing her teeth after her morning shower (there was no way she could go two days without bathing, no matter how depressed).

Everything had been going just fine up until the point that she got sick. One moment, a typical weekday morning and the next—blecchhhh.

Her stomach lurching, she leaned over the toilet and everything came up yet again.

This was now officially something weird.

Two days in a row she’d been sick in the morning.

There was a term for that—wasn’t there? Nicole thought, as she went through the now familiar process of wiping her mouth and chin with toilet paper and flushing the mess away.

Morning sickness.

A wave of unreality washed over her, making her so dizzy that she had to grab hold of the sink and close her eyes.

It’s a coincidence, she told herself. Maybe I do have a touch of the flu. Wasn’t I sweating a lot last night? I woke up and my sheets were damp. It’s the flu. I probably even have a bit of fever if I take my temperature.

She tried to talk herself off the ledge, because the alternative was just too frightening.

Morning sickness.

Uneasily, Nicole touched her stomach as if she might be able to discern a subtle difference there. She asked herself what her instinct was—and then she blinked in surprise.

When was the last time I had my period?

She swore at herself for not having kept better track of it. Usually she made a note of it on her iPhone calendar, but this past month she’d forgotten to do so.

I can’t be pregnant, she thought yet again. I’ve been on the pill for months and months. But still, it happened. She knew that the pill wasn’t a hundred percent—no method of birth control was a hundred percent.

It was so irresponsible of her to have had unprotected sex with Red, even if she was on the pill.

Stunned, Nicole left the bathroom and walked to her bedroom in her towel, trying to think back to the last time she’d had her period.