Strung Out (6 page)

And yet here he was, already on the brink of a full-blown affair before he’d even managed to propose marriage. What the hell was his problem?

Courteney tapped his shoulder to regain his attention. “There are my grandparents, Erik. They’re dying to meet you!”

“How exciting. Time to meet the relatives.” Joshua lifted an eyebrow.

“Of course, Erik. Please go and chat up the grandparents,” Seth agreed. “I think Josh and I will go take turns making passes at the talented musician.”

“Who?” Courteney’s attention was briefly diverted.

Joshua grinned. “The woman sitting at the piano.”

“Why would you want to talk to her?”

“She’s quite…talented,” Seth said, choosing his words carefully.

Courteney wrinkled her nose. “If you like the trashy sort, I guess. Her dress is horrible. It’s like four seasons ago. And don’t even get me started on the shoes.”

Joshua didn’t share Seth’s tact. “Who the hell cares about her clothes? They’re the first thing I’m going to take off anyway.”

Courteney’s eyes grew speculative before she turned back to Talia and gave her another critical once-over.

Erik wanted to reach out and smack some sense into Joshua. The last thing he wanted was someone bringing Talia to Courteney’s attention.

“You think she’s pretty?” Courteney asked dubiously.

“Hell yeah.” Joshua grunted. “She’s hot!”

“I’m a legs man, Courteney,” Seth admitted. “And hers are spectacular.”

As he’d known she would, Courteney turned her suspicious gaze in his direction. “And what about you, Erik?”

She’s the most incredible creature to walk the earth. I want nothing more than to sweep her off her feet, kiss her senseless, and then fuck her until the world ends.

Erik kept his voice carefully modulated. “She’s very attractive.”

Courteney stiffened beside him. “Attractive will get you nowhere in a world where money and power mean everything.”

Had she always been like this? Or had he simply never cared before? Erik fought back the urge to end their farce of a relationship that had become more trouble than it was worth. The truth was no amount of money or power would put Courteney on par with Talia.

* * *

The sound of a knife pinging against the fine crystal of a champagne flute brought Talia back to the moment. She’d been studiously ignoring Erik for longer than she’d thought humanly possible. He’d been watching her. She could feel it. He and two other men standing across the room had been joined by a woman Talia couldn’t see. She was almost completely hidden behind the athletic musculature of the men. Talia wondered if Erik’s sister Desiree was back there. She was no doubt passing judgment on Talia.

A tall, austere gentleman with iron gray hair and impeccable evening clothes cleared his throat. Talia obediently wound down her selection and placed her hands in her lap.

“I would like to offer a toast to all of my friends and colleagues who have so graciously made this a wonderful night.”

His voice was pitched to carry throughout the room, though he didn’t have to raise it one bit. A man used to being obeyed.

Kind of like Erik.

Her gaze slid over to where he stood only a dozen feet or more from the speaker. How it was possible for one man to look so good, she couldn’t say. The cut of his suit framed every last inch of his tall frame perfectly. His big hands hung loose and relaxed at his sides. He’d shaved for the occasion, his goatee neatly trimmed, but his dark brown hair was still disheveled. She longed to stab her fingers into it and pull his mouth down for a kiss.

She was so involved in memories of their shared passion, it took her a moment to realize his expression was troubled. Nothing obvious, but a hint of a frown around his eyes and a pucker of doubt between his elegant dark eyebrows clouded his otherwise serene expression. Her fingers itched to touch his face, smooth the frown away, and press gentle kisses to the thin, hard line of his mouth.

As if he could hear her thoughts, Erik turned at that moment to stare at Talia. Everything in the room screeched to a halt.

Her breath hitched, stuck somewhere in her lungs. Blood rushed to her face, heating her cheeks and making her heart thunder in her chest. He knew. He felt it too. Their night together had been more, much more. And whatever had happened between them was irreversible. The longing, the heat, and the anguish. She willed him to see the way she felt inside.

The gentleman speaker continued his speech, breaking the connection between them. “As most of you know”—he reached out and ushered the blonde woman closer—“my daughter, Courteney, is responsible for arranging this evening.”

Another smattering of applause, this time for Courteney. She basked in the glow for several moments before snagging Erik’s arm and joining her father. Talia’s stomach clenched as he was reeled in closer to the blonde princess. “I can’t thank you enough for joining us to celebrate Daddy’s birthday. And just as soon as Erik and I decide to make a formal announcement, I hope to have each and every one of you attend our engagement party.”

The moment shattered like broken glass, and everything slipped horribly into perspective. Talia might’ve been a match for Erik in the bedroom, but it was Courteney of the Grecian goddess figure who made the better elbow trophy.

For one moment it looked as if Erik would step away. But before he could move, Courteney tightened her grip and hauled him closer. He looked angry, as if she’d upstaged his chance to announce their engagement and make it official.

It all made sense. The expensive, private Brookline estate, the corporate magnate, and the heiress all together for one lavish party to celebrate an upcoming marriage worthy of Wall Street endorsement. Oh, and the hired musician to play their soundtrack. How fucking appropriate.

Unable to sit for one more minute and watch another woman ooze happiness over a future with Erik, Talia took her break.

Carefully sliding out from behind the piano, she walked as quickly as possible to the nearest side exit. The ornate door gave easily, and Talia found herself in a cavernous hallway.

It was like a scene from
The Sound of Music
. Talia had always figured fancy estates to be fairly modern, with lots of windows, tastefully expensive art, and carefully designed furnishings. This house looked like something Henry VIII would’ve approved. Everything was massive and overdone, edged in rich colors and fabrics that suffocated anyone unlucky enough to linger.

Talia found her way onto a balcony and gasped for air. Leslie had always called her oversensitive and too artistic in her preferences. It made her hyperaware of her surroundings. It could’ve explained the sudden claustrophobia. But if she was honest with herself, she knew it had more to do with Courteney’s legitimate claim to Erik.

An unexpected wave of tears took her by surprise. She wrapped her arms around her midsection to stifle the urge to sob. It would do no good to cry. There was no point in wasting tears for a man who so obviously wasn’t meant for her. He was marrying someone else.

She was such an idiot. How could she have thought she was capable of the quick fling mentality? She should’ve known better. Climbing in and out of beds had never been her style. The very fact that she’d fucked a total stranger spoke volumes about her mental state after the breakup with Dylan.

And yet…

She didn’t care about Dylan, had never really cared about him. He was a convenient companion. She’d been lonely. They shared a love of music. But if it had been Dylan that Courteney was clinging to, Talia wouldn’t have cared one bit.

“Are you hiding out here?”

The deep voice was unfamiliar. Talia took a step back into the shadows near the doorway.

“Don’t worry, honey. I don’t bite.”

He stepped into the moonlight, and she relaxed a fraction. It was the blond-haired man Erik had been chatting with when she’d first spotted him. Other than the fact that he was unusually large and muscular, he didn’t look dangerous. His face was open, and his smile contagious.

“My name is Joshua Breckenridge.”

“How can I help you, Joshua Breckenridge?”

He chuckled. “A name would be a good place to start.”

“Talia.”

“Talia.” His deep voice was pleasant but got nowhere near the reaction Erik did from the one-word use of her name.

“Well, Talia, I was hoping to get to know you a little better.”

“Is that so?”

His gold curls gleamed like a deceptive halo in the moonlight. “Would you care to grab a drink after the other party people turn into pumpkins and poop out?”

She couldn’t keep back a smile at his words. There was a little bit of the devil in this one. He was cute.

But he wasn’t Erik.

“What the hell are you doing out here, Josh?” Another deep male voice preceded its owner.

The amount of testosterone present on the balcony seemed to make it shrink to miniscule size.

“Hey, Seth, go away. You’ll scare her off.”

“Oh, I see you managed to corner our talented little musician. Is he scaring you, honey? I’ll get rid of him if you want me to.”

She took another step back. This new one was taller, broader, and dark-haired.

“Seth, this is Talia. If you behave yourself, maybe I’ll let you join us for drinks,” Joshua said lightly.

She doubted she could handle Joshua, let alone the two of them. Hanging out with them would be a bit like watching a tennis match between giants.

“What are the two of you doing out here?”

Her skin flushed fire, fingers and toes tingling with awareness. That velvet voice was familiar. It had the ability to make her knees weak and her heart rate skyrocket. Erik stepped into the moonlight and speared her with one look.

“How about that, Josh,” Seth drawled. “Aasen managed to shake the hound for a few moments.”

“Leave the beautiful lady to us single guys, Erik. Go on back to the party.”

Their teasing was obviously good-natured ribbing between friends, but it burned her like a firebrand. The one man she was inexplicably drawn to. The one that made her head spin and forced her good sense out the door and he was already taken. How fucking unfair was that?

“Talia isn’t interested,” Erik told them, voice like iron.

Her spine snapped straight. “Who the hell says I’m not?”

“Yeah, who the hell says she’s not?” Josh’s voice was full of bravado his surprised expression couldn’t back up.

Seth didn’t speak. She could see his speculative gaze settle on her and Erik from the corner of her eye.

“You can’t take every stranger you meet home with you. It’s not safe.”

“Oh, but you were?”

“I’d never harm you, Talia. You know I wouldn’t.”

“Let me assure you that physical harm is the last thing on my mind right now.”

He took a step closer, his body heat pressing on her, enveloping her. She inhaled deeply. His scent was perfect, familiar, enticing in ways she couldn’t understand. Her feet carried her forward. It was as if some gravitational force drew them together.

“Seth, have you seen…” Courteney burst through the door. “Oh Erik, there you are.”

The term
pit bull
rang sharply through Talia’s mind, but Courteney looked nothing like a man-eating dog. In fact, everything about her was perfect, including her perfectly pissed-off expression as she noted Erik and Talia stood only inches apart, the air around them snapping with the electricity that always seemed to flow between them.

“Erik, come with me.” Courteney slid her hand possessively into the crook of Erik’s elbow.

“I’m not done here,” Erik muttered.

Talia forced her feet to step back. In less than a second, the golden princess grew icy cold and turned her frosty gaze toward Talia.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the piano? I do believe that’s what I hired you for.”

Talia swallowed the fiery retort that popped into her mouth. She’d been hired through the school, and retaliation wasn’t worth losing her job.

“In the future, I’ll have to ask for a musician who isn’t trying to fuck her way into the next social strata. In the meantime, go back to work or find some other place to turn a trick.”

Blood roared in her ears, but Talia forced herself to leave the balcony for the safety of the overdecorated hallway. No matter how badly the spoiled rich girl needed to be brought down a few pegs, it wasn’t Talia’s place to do it. Tears burned her eyes, the pressure making her gasp for air. She would not let that spoiled bitch break her composure.

She wasn’t angry with Erik anymore. She pitied him too much.

Chapter Six

“I don’t care how attractive you find that little slut, Erik. If I catch you near her again, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?”

His cold words cut Courteney short. Her eyes narrowed, and he wondered what else she thought she could do. “I’ll tell Daddy.”

He didn’t miss the irony in her words. It was the most ridiculous threat that any man, woman, or child had ever thrown in his direction, and yet in this case it carried the most weight of any Courteney could make. If she tattled on him to her father, the entire merger could go south. That would cost Aasen Investments billions in revenue.

What was a billion dollars anyway?

“I want my husband to be loyal to me, Erik.”

“Funny, but I always thought the proposal and engagement came before the marriage.” His throat constricted, and his voice grew tight. “But you’ve already skipped that part. Tell me, when did you plan on having me get down on one knee? Because at this point I’d almost rather walk away from the whole deal.”

She pointed a manicured nail at his chest. “The Aasen name is going to take me places the Colton name never could. If you fuck that up for me, I’ll make your life a living hell.”

“Don’t you want anything else from a marriage?” Erik remembered Talia’s soft touch, the sound of her laughter, and the way he felt inside when they were together. “What about love?”

“If I hadn’t heard it myself, I’d have never believed it possible.” Her derisive laugh cut him in ways he didn’t understand. “To think that Erik Aasen, the calculating paragon of Wall Street, longs for love and passion.”