Sweet Nothings: A Karma Café Novella (11 page)

Except Bianca, of course.

Not that she’d be calling. She’d made her intention pretty clear when she’d stormed out.

But his thoughts were irritating enough to make him cross the room and grab his phone off the bed.

Glancing at the readout, his eyes chilled. It wasn’t the angel he’d hoped to hear from. But speak of the devil...

An icy smile playing over his lips, he pushed talk.

“Lynn.”

“You’re going to pay, Carlisle. I’m going to ruin you, I’m going to bankrupt you. And then I’m going to destroy your reputation.”

“Always great to hear from you, Lynn,” he said, smirking. He had no idea what she screaming about, but it was nice to know someone else’s day sucked, too.

“You did this. I know you did.”

“Okay,” he said agreeably, more than glad to take the blame for anything that pissed her off so much that she was stuttering. He might have to be polite, after all she was the firm’s client until the final disbursement in ten months. But that didn’t mean he had to like it. “Why don’t you fill me in on what I did.”

That way he could celebrate.

Quietly.

All by himself.

He glanced at the bed, his head filled with images of Bianca there, naked. Sweet and sexy, her laughter filling the room with brightness.

Damn it.

“Are you listening to me?” Lynn demanded.

“Sure. You were saying that someone had to pay and that you’d be damned if you’d be robbed like this,” he said, deliberately turning his back on the bed. He strode through the bedroom door into the small, wildly colored living room, and stopped short.

“Bianca,” he murmured.

“Damned right, Bianca. Who the hell is this woman claiming to be her? You’d damned well better stop her. There is no way this is my late, lamentable stepdaughter. No way in hell,” Lynn claimed at the top of her lungs.

Something clicked in his head, chiming out a warning. But Jacob ignored it. The yelling didn’t even faze him. Possibly because he’d dropped the phone to his side, too stunned to care that one of the firm’s wealthiest and most influential clients was now cussing out his name and threatening lawsuits.

“Bianca,” he repeated, staring at the woman in front of him.

“Hi,” Bianca said, her smile a little shaky. But her hands were steady as she swept her hair back behind her ear and her eyes clear as she gave him a bright-eyed look of curiosity. “Am I interrupting?”

“No,” he decided, hitting the off button before tossing his phone onto the counter. “Nothing important.”

“Are you still in town for long?” she asked, looking like she’d turn right around and run out the door if he said yes. Or no.

Figuring this time he’d chase her, Jacob shrugged.

“I’ve got a flight out tonight. I can stay, though.”

She searched his face as if looking for a secret message. Apparently finding whatever she needed, she stepped further into the room.

Jacob let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“Why would you stay? To convince me to do what you want?” Before he could answer, she tilted her head to one side and said, “You never actually told me what you want, exactly. Why don’t you tell me now?”

Her.

Crazy, Jacob thought, shoving his hand through his hair. He’d known her a few days, had sex with her a few times. That wasn’t enough time to justify how strong he felt, how much he wanted her.

But he didn’t figure that’s what she wanted to hear. Didn’t think she’d believe him if he tried. So he went with the other truth. The reason he’d come to San Francisco in the first place. A reason that was no longer valid, not if he wanted Bianca safe. And he did, more than anything else.

The warning bell, the one that’d been drowned out by the sight of Bianca, suddenly clanged again, loud and clear.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

It was all Jacob could do not to beat his fists on the wall. He felt like he was giving up a chance at the best relationship he’d ever have. But he didn’t have a choice. Bianca’s happiness, her safety, was the only thing that mattered.

“Lynn knows you’re alive. I don’t know if she realizes where you are, but she knows I’ve contacted you,” he warned quietly. “I’ll help you hide again. Whatever you want. I don’t even have to know where you go, if that makes it better.”

“Better?”

Bianca bit her lip, wondering what better meant. For a tiny second, she wanted to throw herself into his arms and say yes, please, hide with me.

But she couldn’t.

As wonderful as it would be to run off with Jacob, to hide away from all the coming ugliness, she couldn’t do it. Well, she could. But, she stiffened her spine, she didn’t want to. Not anymore.

Choices, Anja had said.

Bianca swallowed hard to free her voice from the tight knot in her throat, then she took another step into the room.

“Why did you come here?” she asked, needing to know before she told him anything.

“To find you.”

She wanted to melt, not only at the sweet words, but the look on his face. A combination of masculine discomfort, boyish hopefulness and a sexy intensity that made her want to jump his gorgeous body.

“Why?” she asked again, setting her chin and planting her feet to keep herself from leaping on him. She wanted so much. Him, her future, him, to reclaim her past, to stop being afraid of standing up and taking what she wanted. Which, brought her back to him.

The only way she could have any of that—maybe even all of that—was to stand her ground. It’d been so long since she’d tried, but it was time.

“I told you the other day, I came here to find you. To convince you to claim your inheritance.” Frustration and doubt were clear in his tone, and on his face. “Lynn is having you declared dead. That isn’t right. If you don’t want to face her, I’ll handle everything. I’ll try to hide your location, route the paperwork through another state. Whatever you want.”

There it was again. Temptation.

But the urge to avoid confrontation wasn’t as strong as her desire to—finally—control her own life again.

“It wouldn’t matter,” Bianca said, waving her hand. “Whatever you did, however you tried to hide my location, she’d find me. She’ll expect me to run again and she’ll be prepared this time. The only thing that matters more to Lynn than money is winning.”

He grimaced, but before he could start offering more of those tempting suggestions, Bianca shook her head.

“The only choice is for me to go back to Boston with you. To face Lynn, to claim my inheritance, and to reclaim my life.”

If she’d sprinted across the room and kicked him in the balls, Bianca was pretty sure Jacob couldn’t have looked more stunned.

“You’re...” He shook his head. “Somehow you let her know you’re alive. Is that how she found out?”

“I contacted your office and let them know that I wasn’t dead yet.” She swallowed hard as she remembered the terror of that phone call. “ I also asked them to inform Lynn that I’d be conducting a full audit of my father’s estate. And taking what was mine.”

It’d been one of the hardest things she’d done.

And one of the most empowering.

Next to seducing Jacob, of course.

He didn’t look so happy, though. Pushing a hand through his hair, his expression was torn between delight and worry. She’d seen that same look on her sisters’ faces often enough to know that all she had to do was show a hint of fear, and he’d talk her out of it.

So, instead, she slowly walked across the room. Four steps brought her within touching range.

“I’m going back,” she said quietly, sliding her hands up the hard planes of his chest and giving a delighted sigh at the warm muscles there. “I know what I’m facing. Probably better than anybody, I know what Lynn is capable of. But I can’t, I won’t, keep hiding.”

His hands settled on her hips, his fingers rubbing soothing little circles there. The move both relaxed and turned her on. She wanted to feel his mouth on her again. To taste his lips, to lose herself in his kiss.

But first...

“I’ll need an attorney,” she told him.

“I’m available.”

“That might be a problem.”

“Why?” Looking like he was trying not to be offended, he tilted his head toward his cellphone on the nearby counter. “You can check my references. I’m a damned good lawyer.”

“I already did, and yes you are,” she said, smiling at his frown. “No, my only concern is if you have one of those silly conflict of interest rules.”

His smile was just this side of wicked as he shook his head.

“Nope. I’m all yours, in any way you want me.”

“I do,” she admitted. “I don’t know where this will end up. I’m not sure if the feelings I have for you are just because of the situation, because you’re gorgeous, or because you’re awesome in bed. But whatever the reason, I want to see where they go. I want to see where we can take them.”

She held her breath. As scary as facing Lynn was, putting herself out there like this was harder. Jacob was the first guy she’d ever pursued. The first she’d ever stripped for and seduced into bed. And even that’d taken help from her friendly neighborhood witch.

Jacob’s smile shifted from naughty to sweet in a blink, his hands shifting from her hips to her waist as he pulled her closer.

His eyes locked on hers, he said, “I think we’ll take things into a pretty great place.”

Almost dancing with relief and laughing indelight, Bianca lifted her mouth to his. The kiss was a sweet promise that quickly slid into hot delight. Their tongues tangled as desire swam through Bianca.

Then, before things could get really interesting, Jacob’s cellphone rang.

Slowly, they pulled their lips apart, both turning their head toward the intrusion. Her cheek snuggled against his chest, Bianca read the display.

Lynn White
.

“Whatever you need, I’ll make it happen,” he said quietly.

She took a second, closing her eyes and searching her mind, her heart.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, her lashes fluttering open so she could look at Jacob. She pressed one palm to his cheek, then brushed her lips over his.

“After all, I’ve got my very own prince charming by my side,” she teased just before she took the kiss deeper.

Epilogue

Natalia stood in the apartment’s tidy little kitchenette and pressed her fingertips to her eyelids, trying to push back the hot flood of tears.

“Natalia? Why aren’t you home? It’s getting late.”

Lowering her hands, Natalia sighed and gave her mother a shrug.

“Jacob left this morning, so I was clearing the apartment in case we get a new renter,” she said. No point in mentioning that he’d left with the love of his life, riding off into the sunset to fight dragons by her side. Odette already knew that. She’d even baked them treats for the long plane ride.

“Why so sad?” Odette asked, her tiny figure framed by the doorway. “Love was found here, in this room. That’s something to be happy about. It leaves a trace, a giddy sort of joy, that you should be celebrating.”

Of course she should. Just like she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up over a match between Jacob and Anja. She’d known when she’d read Jacob’s chart that they wouldn’t have been a good match, long term. But she was desperate, so she’d settle for short term.

“I’d wanted him for Anja,” she admitted, even though she knew her mother was already aware. Her mother was aware of everything. “But she didn’t even give him a chance. Just like before, she shoved him at someone else instead of opening herself to a relationship. That girl makes me so angry.”

Natalia stormed from one end of the small apartment to the other, frustration fueling every stomp of the way.

“You can’t force love, darling. You know that. Anja will find hers when it’s time.”