Crash Into Me(53)

I waited for him to continue, but he just sat there staring and smiling at me. Finally, I said, "I think you're making me nervous. Are you just trying to psyche me out?"

"Me? Never."

"Well, that's good because I'm a woman on a mission. You'll see. Expect to be impressed."

His mouth grazed mine, and he licked his lips. "I already am."



When we got back to the house, I expected us to get into bed as we had most nights since I began living there, but he disappeared almost as soon as we walked in the door. I waited for him to come to my room, but an hour later he still hadn't and I made up my mind to find him.

I was surprised to see him coming out of his room dressed in a tux. He was leaving again to attend some affair and not taking me. Instantly, it felt like someone had stabbed me in the chest. I was good enough to sleep with or hang out with at some out of the way restaurant, but I wasn't good enough to show off to his fancy friends.




"Nina, I'll be back later if you want to talk."

Choking back tears, I angrily blurted out, "Talk about what? How unworthy I am to be taken anywhere anyone might see you with me?"

"You're being silly," he said as he tried to push past me.

I pushed against him, refusing to let him leave. "Don't treat me like I'm merely your goddamn employee."

"You are my employee, Nina, even if we are more than just that to each other."

His voice was flat and so much colder than it had been just a short time earlier as we ate pizza together. Why did he have to be like this? Was I really that embarrassing to be seen with at his parties?

"If we're more, then why don't you ever ask me to go wherever you go when you're all dressed up like this?" I asked, hating the needy sound of the words coming from my mouth.

"You wouldn't like these kinds of events."

"Don't dismiss me like this. I don't deserve it."

He pushed past me and walked toward the front door. I caught up with him just as he opened the door to leave, and he turned to face me. "I never said you did. I can't take you to many of the places I have to go, but that doesn't mean I don't want you by my side. It just can't be. That's the way it is."

"Why? I'm good enough for you to basically beg me to work for you and good enough to f*ck, but I'm not good enough to be seen with you in public? Is that it?"

He stood silently staring at me for a long time before he finally said, "No. That's not it."

"More evasive answers that say nothing! That's what I get after everything we've done together?" I screamed as tears began streaming down over my cheeks.

My outburst made him cringe, and I saw in his eyes my words had affected him. In a low, almost sad voice, he said, "I told you, Nina. I can give you everything your heart desires, but I can only do it this way."

I watched him walk away and knew I had no answer for that. I'd thought that we were getting closer and he'd begun to open up, but all that was just my imagination. We were the same as we'd been since that first night he showed up in my life.

Tristan Stone and Nina Edwards. Two souls worlds apart, no matter if we lived in the same house or not.





Chapter Eleven

I marched up the stairs to the attic, needing to speak to someone from the life I'd left behind. The black phone sat on a wooden box hidden away in the corner, right where I'd left it, just waiting for me to reach out and touch someone. I slowly dialed Jordan's number and put the receiver up to my ear. It rang four times and then I heard her say, "Hey, this is Jordan. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you A.S.A.P."