Terms of Surrender (7 page)

about Nick's dating habits. It didn't mean he wasn't dating anyone at or affiliated with the agency, just that he was damn good about hiding it.

31

Gracie C. McKeever

He very well could have been seeing Kate, but was being discreet about it, unlike Ashton, who flaunted his conquests at the job in plain earshot of his father-in-law.

At the thought, Slany wondered how discreet Nick would be with her if she decided to play along and take him up on his ridiculous offer. She swallowed hard at the possibility of becoming fodder for the rumor mill.

"Ashton's hit on her a few ti—"

"Who hasn't he hit on?" Thorpe broke in, shared an amused meaningful look with Slany.

Nick continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted. "But I doubt that Kate would go out with him. She doesn't do married men. Besides, he's not her type."

"Well, she hasn't shown up, and that cryptic message on her answering service seems suspicious, especially since Knowles called in sick. Just looks a little fishy to me."

Nick shook his head again and said almost to himself, "Not the Kate I know."

"I'd better go make those calls," Slany said by way of excusing herself and left the office.

If she'd had to stay in there one more minute and listen to Nick's staunch defense of Kate Delaney, she thought she might have puked.

* * * *

Make
some
calls, when she knew damn well she only had one prospect in mind?

Slany picked up her phone and dialed Peyton's cell number, figured if her friend wasn't home, but out gallivanting on one of her famous nature walks scouting prospective shots, she'd still be able to reach her.

She glanced at her watch, remembered the meeting she and Nick were supposed to have with Everwell's brand-building team and
DMT’s
research department no more than a half hour from now. She was cutting it close, barely had time to run out and grab a bite. And if Peyton didn't pick up soon—

"Y-ello!"

"How fast can you get to my job with your equipment?" Slany crossed her fingers, counting on Peyton's ability to work good on the fly, a master at improvising.

Her friend was as eccentric in dress and behavior as most of the lower-level creatives at Slany's agency. However, when it came to her work and her word, and she committed to a project, Peyton saw it through to its logical conclusion.

Her creative abilities had never been anything to sneeze at, either.

Back in the School of Visual Arts, Peyton was one of the few students who'd consistently kept Slany on her toes and beaten her out for several prestigious design awards, beginning with the Graphis New Talent Design Annual.

"You sound desperate. What did the Italian Stallion do today?"

"This is nothing to do with Nick. I just need a favor," Slany said.

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Terms of Surrender

"Your wish is my command."

"Really? You can do it?"

"I'll pack up my equipment and be there in a half an hour. Maybe less. That good?"

"More than good, Peyt. I'll see you when you get here."

"You owe me."

"Big time." Slany smiled, not worried about paying Peyton back. As tough-talking as her friend was, Peyton was also a push-over, her good-nature and naiveté belying the hard-and-fast party-girl persona she projected to the world.

She wondered what Peyton would think of Nick's proposition.

* * * *

Peyton had come through town like the troops storming Normandy, showing up twenty minutes after hanging up with Slany (Lord only knew how many accidents and near misses her speed-demon antics had caused) and throwing herself into the shoot with minimum direction, as if she'd been in on it from conception. Not only was she able to follow the nuances and demands of the client, she and Jake Parish had excellent chemistry, working together with a minimum of words, instinctively knowing what the other needed and how much at any given time. To everyone's satisfaction, especially Thorpe, the shoot had gone off without much of a hitch.

Thorpe was so impressed, he'd added Peyton to his list of preferred freelancers.

Slany took a deep breath now, unwilling to go forward, but unable to pull herself away from Nick's door.

She wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself, but she was worried about him. She had noticed his preoccupation during the entire meeting with Everwell and
DMT's
research department and could only guess what had been on his mind.

Kate Delaney, of course, for though the shoot had been successful, no one had forgotten why Peyton had had to be called in, especially Nick.

Slany raised a fist and knocked on his door.

"It's open."

She pushed in the door and stood on the threshold. "Burning the midnight oil, huh?"

"Got a lot of ground to cover for the next meeting."

"I didn't know whether you had gotten the gist of this one."

He frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

Slany shrugged. Now that she was standing in front of him, looking into those deep honey eyes, she felt like a fool, as if she had imagined his earlier distraction. "You, uh…seemed a little troubled during the meeting."

Nick sighed as he leaned back in his chair and raked a hand through his hair. "I was."

33

Gracie C. McKeever

"Worried about Kate?" She hadn't meant to sound so catty, realized her claws had come out for the second time today when Nick grinned.

"Jealous?"

"What do I have to be jealous about?"

"Good question."

She grimaced, heart speeding when he stood and sauntered from behind his desk, hands jammed in his pockets, as if he were trying to keep from touching her.

"There's nothing between Kate and me," Nick murmured.

"It's none of my business."

"I thought I'd tell you, anyway."

"Well, thanks for the consideration, but it's unnecessary." She turned to go and felt his hands on her shoulders before she could take a step out the door.

He slowly turned her to face him, reached around her body to push the door closed. "You and Kate are a lot alike, you know."

"Should I be flattered?"

Now, he shrugged and tilted his head first left, then right, examining her face as if it were a work of art on which he was trying to get a better perspective. "Just making an observation."

Curiosity got the best of her, and she asked, "What makes us alike?"

"She's tough on the outside, but soft on the inside."

"Who says I'm soft on the inside?"

"I do."

"And of course, you know all about me."

"Not yet. But I'm working on it."

Slany swallowed as he collared the back of her neck with a hand. She planted a palm in his chest when he drew her near. "So, if there's nothing between you and Kate Delaney, how do you know so much about what she's like?"

He grinned. "We went out a few times. She's a nice woman."

Would he be saying the same thing about her a few weeks or a month from now when they were over? What was she thinking? They weren't
beginning
!

"You're worried about her, aren't you?"

He nodded, released her, and forked a hand through his hair in a custom that was becoming sensually familiar to her. "Normally, I don't kiss and tell, but under the circumstances…"

Her heart skipped at the allusion that he was about to kiss and tell now.

34

Terms of Surrender

"Like I said, Kate's a lot like you. She's tough in business, knows her stuff, and she's one of the most dependable people I know. She's worked with
DMT
a lot in the last several years, and she's never missed an assignment, not the type to shirk her duty without a good reason."

"Do you think something might have happened to her?"

"I don't know, and there's no one I can call to make sure."

"What? Do you mean she doesn't have any family?"

Nick grimly shook his head, and Slany's stomach dipped at the impossibility.

"None at all?"

"Kate was one of those miracle baby survival stories you hear about on the news all the time. Found abandoned in a dumpster in the middle of winter and brought to a nearby hospital, alive and healthy for the staff to dote on until they placed her in an orphanage."

"God, that's horrible."

"Kate didn't think so. She felt blessed, cherished every day on earth since."

"She does sound like a nice woman," Slany said, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice. She couldn't imagine growing up not knowing where or from whom she'd come. Sure, she'd had her problems coming up, but she wouldn't trade the limited time she'd had with her mom, or her experiences raising her kid brother and sister, for anything in the world. She loved them and her dad dearly. "So, she was never adopted?"

Nick shook his head. "Grew up in foster homes."

"You two were pretty close."

"Close enough to share a few things." He smiled as if at a private joke, then added, "She envies me my big family."

"Had she ever met them?"

"If that's a not-so-subtle way of asking me if I brought her home to meet the folks," he reached out to tweak her nose, "The answer is no."

"I wasn't asking that."

"You've met them, though."

"It wasn't like I was invited over for that purpose."

"I could invite you over to meet them."

Slany frowned, wondered how they'd gotten onto such a personal subject. As if they could get anymore personal and intimate than they had earlier. "After I give myself over to you, body and soul, right?"

"Yes, then."

She stared at him, waiting for him to crack a smile or break out into chuckles, but he didn't. He just stared back at her, dead serious.

"This conversation is over." Slany turned and pulled the door open before Nick planted a palm on the wood above her head.

35

Gracie C. McKeever

"I thought it was just beginning."

"Hardly."

"Have you given any thought to my proposal?"

"Not much, no."

"Liar."

She squeezed her eyes shut and cursed under her breath, but he heard her. This time, he did chuckle as he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around again.

"It's okay to admit you've been thinking about it since we spoke."

"I haven't."

"It's been on my mind most of the day."

"When you weren't thinking about Kate."

"Yes, when I wasn't thinking about Kate."

"I
should
be flattered then, shouldn't I? To be in such saintly company."

"I can't tell you how to feel, despite what you think of my offer. Your feelings are your own. I can only hope to sway you to seeing things my way."

"That you are master of the universe?"

"That I will be master of your universe."

She pulled free of his grip, turned, and flung the door all the way open before his deep voice burrowed to her soul and stopped her in her tracks.

"You can't run away from me forever, Slany."

"Go to hell, Vega."

36

Terms of Surrender

Nick watched her leave, grinning and fingering the tiny gold hoop in his left earlobe as he stood otherwise unmoving on the threshold of his doorway.

He didn't turn and go back into his office until Slany had disappeared completely from view. Even then, he lingered, enjoying remnants of her scent in the air, inhaling deep and anticipating what it would be like to bury his face between her legs and taste her musk, pure and unadulterated, as she writhed beneath him.

She was a tough customer, cynical and in denial of her natural longings.

He wondered at her rejection, sensed in her a bit of the novice, at least where D/s was concerned. She probably didn't know how to let go, had never let someone else, especially a man, take control—sexually, or otherwise.

He would have to change that.

Nick sauntered back to his desk, sat down, and stared at the computer monitor for several long seconds before he realized he wasn't going to get anything else done tonight on Everwell.

Anything he did do could wait until tomorrow, when he had a clear head.

Like that would ever happen.

He didn't think his head had ever been less clear, or that it would ever be again—not until he made things happen between him and Slany. He had to either get her out of his system, or…

What was the alternative? If she wasn't out of his system, she was in it. For how long and under what circumstances, those were the questions that kept him awake at night.

Like Kate's disappearance would tonight.

They had parted amiably enough, but hadn't spoken in-depth in a while. The most they shared now since they'd gone out a couple of years ago were brief, almost cool hellos while passing in the hallways when Kate had an assignment with
DMT
.

37

Gracie C. McKeever

It could have been more, and would have, had it been up to Nick. He'd invited her out for drinks after work a few times, and Kate had turned him down each and every time.

Kate was one of those nesting types he'd been coming across lately on the dating scene, and once she'd realized she wasn't going to get what she wanted and needed from Nick, she'd politely ended the "relationship." She told him she didn't foster friendships with men with whom she'd already been intimate. She didn't believe one could be "just friends" with someone he or she wanted or slept with. Once the sexual relationship was over, she figured, what was the point of putting either of them through the bull of trying to ignore something that couldn't be ignored, tempting fate with an affair only doomed to a dead end in the long run?

He had to admit she had a point, though he liked to think he had more self-control than the average guy he was sure she referred to.

Nick picked up the phone on his desk and glanced at his wristwatch.