Instant Gratification (23 page)

New York, two weeks later

E
mma jumped right back into work and everything was just fine.

Except it wasn’t.

She picked up extra shifts at the hospital so she didn’t have to go home and be alone. She ran herself ragged so that she didn’t have to think outside of medicine.

Yet every single moment of every single day for fourteen days she felt alone. The city was noisy, crowded. Everyone was in a hurry.

And it didn’t smell like Christmas trees.

She’d told Stone that nothing was ever easy and that everything came at a price. She hadn’t been kidding.

As unbelievable as it seemed, she missed Wishful and its slow pace. She missed the people, even Missy Thorton and her shockingly delicious homemade Thai food. She missed her father. Hell, she even missed Serena.

But most of all, she missed Stone, a man who’d shown her the fine art of smelling the roses, of being happy in the moment, a man who kissed like heaven and looked at her like she was his world.

After her shift, she went to Spencer’s, hoping a home-cooked meal would take her mind off Wishful. It certainly smelled delicious when she walked into his place. How he found the time or the energy to cook after a long day at the hospital, she never understood, but she was grateful.

But this scent was different, not a main course, but a baking scent.

Chocolate.

Her mouth watered. “I’ll take two of whatever that is,” she said, entering his kitchen, where her smile gave way to shock when she found Serena stirring something on the stove.

“Hey,” Serena said. “Just in time.” She lifted a wooden spoon dripping in chocolate. “Taste this. Too sugary?”

“Can chocolate ever be too sugary?”

“Hell, yes. If you go right into a diabetic coma, I took it too far.” She waited while Emma took a taste. “Good?”

“Amazing. What the hell are you doing here?”

“She opened the envelope.” Spencer joined them, clearly fresh from a shower. He looked happy and relaxed.

Very
relaxed.

She took a closer look at Serena. Yep, they both have afterglow all over their faces. “So you used the one way ticket,” Emma said to Serena.

“Yep, I took the plunge.” Serena pulled out a fresh spoon from a drawer and resumed stirring. “I’m selling my place. Going big city.” She beamed at Spencer. “Opening a pastry shop not too far from the hospital. You can come on your breaks and I’ll take care of your sugar rush for you, any time.”

Spencer pulled Serena in close and Serena closed her eyes and hugged him tight.

The two of them seemed so happy it almost hurt to look at them. “You’re selling your place,” Emma said. “Uprooting your entire life. For a
guy
.”

“Hey,” Spence said, insulted.

“A guy you hardly know,” Emma went on.

Serena ran her fingers through Spence’s hair, her eyes on his as she smiled. “I’m not uprooting anything. I wanted a change. New York is it. Spence is just the bonus.”

He smiled at her. “Admit it, I’m a fairly big bonus.”

“The biggest, baby.”

Gobsmacked, Emma sank to a chair. “You’re selling your business.”

“Well that’s just good sense. It won’t run without me. Your father did the same thing. No one could run that place like him. Well, you could have, but it wasn’t your thing. Sometimes it’s just time to move on.”

“Yes, but he’s still going to work there.”

Serena shot her a funny look. “No, he’s not. You guys sold.”

“To a group of doctors.”

“Yes, who are turning the clinic into a hoity-toity vacation B&B for other doctors.”

“No. My dad’s going to work there. He—” She broke off as Serena slowly shook her head.

“Sorry,” she said. “But it’s a done deal. They were demoing when I left yesterday.”

Emma whipped toward Spencer, who gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t know. But it’s what he wanted, so—”

“No.” She shook her head, grabbed her purse, and headed toward the door. “It’s not. It’s not what he wanted at all. It’s what he thinks I wanted. And I was wrong.”

“So let me get this straight,” TJ said, standing in the middle of an empty Wishful Delights. “We live in the boondocks, and yet Serena sold this place off in one day, and now the new owner has already hired you, sight unseen. You’re okay with that?”

“The building predates the 1907 fire,” Stone said. “It’s one
of the oldest historical sites in town. The buyer wants to restore it to its former glory, which is right up my alley. Plus, I was prepaid in cash. So yeah, I’m okay with that. I’m meeting the owner here in half an hour.” He looked down at his clipboard and the notes he’d taken. “Besides, it’s keeping me from losing it.”

“Used to be that mountain biking would have done that.”

Stone lifted a shoulder. “Things change.”

TJ looked at him for a long moment, his eyes unusually solemn. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’m not sick.”

“You’re in love. Same difference.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in love.”

“Just because I don’t believe in it for myself doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in it. Cam found it. You found it.”

“And lost it.”

“So I’ll repeat. You going to be okay?”

Stone tossed aside the clipboard. “Aren’t I always?”

“Yeah, which is what worries me. You’re the glue that keeps us all together.”

“I’m fine. I’m the easygoing, laid-back one, remember? Nothing gets me.”

TJ eyed him for a long moment. “That’s actually technically not true. This got you. She got you. But true to form, you let it bead off your back. Instead of—”

“Instead of what, pouting for a year like Cam did? Instead of shutting out all emotions like you did after—”

“This is about you,” TJ interjected. “All I’m saying is stop trying to be okay for us. Stop being everything for everyone else and Jesus, go get what it is you want. For once, get something for yourself.”

“Like?”

“Like whatever it is
you
want.”

What he wanted was three thousand miles away.

“The question is,” TJ said quietly. “What do you want?”

A car pulled up out front, saving Stone from having to answer.

TJ cocked his head. “What time did you say your meeting was?”

“Half an hour. The owner’s bringing the final plans for us to go over.”

Just as he said so, the door opened. TJ had asked what Stone wanted, and what he wanted walked in. His heartbreak in her trademark elegant trousers and fitted button-down, looking like a million bucks.

In the stunned silence, TJ turned to Stone with a raised brow like
what the hell
, then smiled at Emma. “Hey, Doc.”

“Hey right back at you.” She had eyes only for Stone. “I see you’ve both taken a good look at my new place.”

“Your place?” Stone managed.

“Yes.” She cleared her throat, looking unaccustomedly nervous as she set down a set of plans. “Since Serena decided to keep Spence, and go be a fancy NY pastry chef while she was at it, I figured this building was perfect.”

“For what?” TJ asked.

Stone knew. “For a new Urgent Care,” he said softly, watching her face.

“Yeah.” Looking relieved that he got it, she smiled. “Since I so badly screwed up the other one, I figured I’d give it another whirl. And actually, this building is better suited. It’s right smack in the middle of town, it’s bigger, and we can update to the latest and greatest in technology while we’re at it.”

Stone couldn’t take his eyes off her, questions bouncing in his head. Was she staying, was she going, and even more pressing, could he drag her into the back and rip off their clothes and bury himself deep within her, because that had been when he’d last been happy, buried deep inside her.

She was staring at him, too, with a bunch of stuff swirling in her gaze. He didn’t know what any of it meant, and he needed to know. “TJ?”

TJ divided a look between Stone and Emma. “Let me guess. Get the fuck out?”

“No,” Emma said politely. “Of course not.”

“Yes,” Stone said, not politely. “Get the fuck out.”

TJ nodded and turned to Emma. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”

“Same goes.” They hugged, and over her head TJ pointed at her. “Don’t let her get away again.”

In answer, Stone pointed to the door, and TJ went through it, leaving a very heavily weighted silence.

“So…” Emma smiled awkwardly and lifted a shoulder. “What’s up?”

Stone just stared at her. He hadn’t slept, hadn’t eaten, hadn’t been able to do anything since she walked out of his life, and she wanted to know what was up? “You bought this place.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re here to renovate it.”

“Yeah.”

Neither of which had a single thing to do with him, and yet…and yet
she’d
contacted
him
. She’d made sure he’d be here. “You hired me.”

“Yeah.” She flashed another nervous smile. “I have a problem. I thought I could just put a Band-Aid over it and be done, but as it turns out, a Band-Aid isn’t going to cover it.”

He blinked. “Was that in English?”

She let out a breath. “You don’t get it. I was trying to be poetic, mirroring our first Meet Cute.”

He just stared at her, and she laughed a little and shook her head. “It’s the way all the screwball romantic comedies start—the contrived encounter of the two leads, like when you first
came to the Urgent Care, bleeding and hurting, and all you wanted was a damn Band-Aid.”

“I don’t remember that being cute.”

“No.” She spread out her arms. “And I’m not bleeding, not on the outside anyway, but I’m hurting like hell, and I thought a Band-Aid would do it. I thought going back to New York would be that Band-Aid, but I was wrong.”

For the first time in weeks, the fist around Stone’s heart loosened slightly. “Okay,” he said very calmly, when he wanted to snatch her in his arms and never let her go. “Okay, I think maybe we’re getting closer to speaking the same language. Keep going.”

“I first came here to save my father. That’s what I told myself, that it was for him. It took me a very long time to realize that I’d come for me. To ease the loneliness, the fear of truly being alone, and my seeming inability to have a long-term relationship with anyone other than my doctor’s license. But I did figure it out, Stone.”

“But you left.”

“I did.” She nodded in agreement of that. “And that was my mistake. When I found out the clinic had been closed, that my father wouldn’t have a place to go back to work when he wanted, I put a set of plans in motion and told myself that was for him, too.” She shook her head now. “Another mistake. Because this time I knew I wasn’t coming back to save him. I was coming back to save me.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off her, and even though she was only a foot away, it was too far. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her in so that they were toe to toe. “Tell me what you needed saving from.”

“My own stupidity,” she whispered, and finally, God, finally, touched him, reaching up to cup his face. “I thought I had it all figured out when I was here before. It was temporary, every
thing was temporary. But then my father turned out to be…well, wonderful. And the people here in Wishful let me become one of them. And I made friends. Annie, TJ, Harley…you.”

Friends. That’s not all he wanted.

She ran her thumbs along his jaw. “Only you…you turned to be much more. More than the ski bum I mistook you for, and much more than just a friend. Somehow…” She went up on tiptoe to look him in the eye. You looked right through me when no one else could.” She let out a small smile that wormed directly into his thudding heart. “With you, I found myself.
You’re
the one I was waiting for, when I didn’t even realize I was waiting. I fell in love with you, Stone. You completely snagged my heart when I wasn’t looking, and now I’m wondering…”

Anything, he thought, barely breathing.
Anything you want
.

“If I could possibly have snagged yours as well.” She offered a self-conscious smile.

He pulled her in hard, burying his face in the crook of her neck, just breathing her in, relief nearly buckling his knees. “Are you kidding?” He pulled back to meet her gaze. “Emma, you’ve had my heart in the palm of your hand since day one.”

“I have?”

He set his forehead to hers. “Jesus, Emma, I’m so in love with you I can’t even see straight. If you hadn’t come back, I was coming after you.”

“To New York?”

“Yes. To New York. To wherever you wanted to be.”

“But…you would have had to start all over there.”

“That would have been fine. It could have been Mongolia for all I care. Together, Emma, you and me. That’s all I care about.”

“I want to be together.” She smiled, her eyes shiny. “Here, with everyone at our side.”

“I can’t think of anything better.” Unable to hold back, he picked her up and headed toward the back room.

She laughed breathlessly at his purposeful stride and the look in his eyes. “Here, Stone? Now?”

“Here. Now. And forever.”

She curled into him. “And forever…”

There’s nothing more intriguing than
MIDNIGHT’S MASTER,
so pick up Cynthia Eden’s newest book, out now…

“T
hrow her out, Niol. You want the vamps to keep comin’, you
throw that bitch out.”

The tapping stopped, and, because the vampire had raised his shrill-ass voice again, the nearby paranormals—because, generally, the folks who came in his bar were far, far from normal—stilled.

Niol shook his head slowly. “I think you’re forgetting a few things,
vamp
.” He gathered the black swell of power that pulsed just beneath his skin. Felt the surge of dark magic and—

The vamp flew across the bar, slamming into the stage with a scream. The lead guitarist swore, then jumped back, cradling his guitar with both hands like the precious baby he thought it was.

The sudden silence was deafening.

Niol motioned toward the bar. “Get me another drink, Marc.” He glanced at the slowly rising vampire. “Did I tell you to get up?” It barely took any effort to slam the bastard into the stage wall this time. Just a stray thought, really.

Ah, but power was a wonderful thing.

Sometimes, it was damn good to be a demon. And even better to be a level-ten, and the baddest asshole in the room.

He stalked forward. Enjoyed for a moment the way the crowd jumped away from him.

The vampire began to shake.
Perfect
.

Niol stopped a foot before the fallen André. “First,” he growled, “don’t ever,
ever
fucking tell me what to do in
my
bar again.”

A fast nod.

“Second…” His hands clenched into fists as he fought to rein in the magic blasting through him. The power…oh, but it was tempting. And so easy to use.

Too easy.

One more thought, just one, focused and hard, and he could have the vamp dead at his feet.

“Use too much, you’ll lose yourself.”
An old warning. One that had come too late for him. He’d been twenty-five before he met another demon who even came close to him in power and that guy’s warning—well, it had been long overdue.

Niol knew he’d been one of the Lost for years.

The first time he’d killed, he’d been Lost.

“Second,” he repeated, his voice cold, clear, and cutting like a knife in the quiet. “If you think I give a damn about the vampires coming to
my
place…” His mouth hitched into a half-grin, but Niol knew no amusement would show in the darkness of his eyes. “Then you’re dead wrong, vampire.”

“S-sorry, Niol, I—”

He laughed. Then turned his back on the cringing vampire. “Thomas.” The guard he always kept close. “Throw that vamp’s ass out.”

When Thomas stepped forward, the squeal of a guitar ripped through the bar. And the dancing and the drinking and the mating games of the
Other
began with a fierce rumble of sound.

Niol’s gaze searched for his prey and he found Holly watching him. All eyes and red hair and lips that begged for his
mouth. He strode toward her, conscious of covert stares still on them. He could show no weakness. Never could.

I’m not weak.

He was the strongest demon in Atlanta. He sure as hell wasn’t going to give the paranormals any cause to start doubting his power.

His kind turned on the weak.

When he stopped before her, the scent of lavender flooded his nostrils.

She looked up at him. The human was small, to him anyway, barely reaching his shoulders so that he towered over her.

She was the weak one.
All of her kind were.

Humans. So easy to wound. To kill.

He lifted his hand. Stroked her cheek. Damn, but she was soft. Leaning close, Niol told her, “Sweetheart, I warned you before about coming to my Paradise.”

There was no doubt others overheard his words. With so many shifters skulking around the joint, a
whisper
would have been overheard. Shifters and their annoyingly superior senses.

“Wh-what do you mean?” The question came, husky and soft. Ah, but he liked her voice. He could all too easily imagine that voice, whispering to him as they lay amid a tangle of sheets.

Or maybe screaming in his ear as she came.

He cupped her chin in his hand. A nice chin. Softly rounded. And those lips…the bottom was fuller than the top. Just a bit. So red. Her mouth was slightly parted, open.

Waiting.

She stepped back, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you
think
you’re doing, Niol—”

He stared down at her. “Yes, you do.” He caught her arms, wrapping his fingers around her and jerking Holly against him. “I told you, the last time you came into
my
bar…”

Her eyes widened. “Niol…”

Oh, yeah, he liked the way she said his name. She breathed it, tasted it.

His lips lowered toward hers. “If you want to walk in Paradise, baby, then you’re gonna have to play with the devil.”

“No, I—”

He kissed her. Hard. Deep. Niol drove his tongue right past those plump lips and took her mouth the way the beast inside him demanded.