On the screen, JJ opened the door, and they crept into the dark tunnel. It was on the side of a mountain and they’d had to battle untold numbers of dwarves, werefolk, and magical constructs as they climbed the narrow track through snow and battering winds. “Slow,” Dianna whispered. “Remember the trap.” She didn’t need to whisper. The monsters hiding in the dark on the screen couldn’t hear her voice, but this was a momentous occasion, and it felt only right to whisper. “I remember,” JJ whispered back. Okay, that shouldn’t sound so good, but it did. She could listen to JJ whisper the phone book to her all day long. There was something incredibly intimate about having someone whispering directly into your ear hole via a headset. No matter that JJ could be clear across the country or in another country altogether, as far as she knew. Which was another reason not to allow herself to be attracted to him…or maybe it was a point in his favor? If he only ever remained
“U h…Dianna?” Dianna looked up from her desk and squinted at her assistant, Maria. “Why do you sound weird?” “Um…you have a delivery.” “A delivery?” she asked, pushing up from her desk. She never got deliveries at work. “What is it?” “I think you need to come out here and see for yourself.” Frowning, Dianna crossed the floor of her office and stepped out into the open plan space beyond her door. Every desk within sight held a pile of lemon-yellow bakery boxes stamped with a silver crown. There had to be at least fifty of them all told. “What the fuck?” Dianna breathed as she opened the nearest box on Maria’s desk. The box held six of the most perfect-looking lemon meringue tarts Dianna had ever seen. “There’s a card,” Maria said, handing her an envelope. Dianna slid the note out of the envelope and looked at the single word written on it. She flipped it over to see if there was anything else, but the reverse side was blank. “What did it say?” Maria asked. Dianna
Jack got out and slammed the door closed. “We have a meeting here?” he asked. “Yep. Mason called me this morning and asked if we could meet with him.” “Does this mean you were able to work your weird magic and smooth things over without involving Dianna?” Jack asked hopefully. “This has nothing to do with me,” Carter replied as they headed across the stone plaza in front of the Black Sheep building. “Mason reached out to me.” Hmm. Maybe the tarts had done their job after all? It was almost too much to hope for, but if Mason Pressfield had reached out to Carter for a meeting, that had to be a good sign, right? Or he was going to personally tear strips off them for being mean to Dianna. Jack snorted. Nope, that wouldn’t happen. A man like Mason wouldn’t bother with the petty squabbles of those so far beneath him. The man was an enigma and one of the youngest billionaires in the country. After the release of Paper, his stock price would undoubtedly increase tenfold. No way was
Dianna juggled the pile of bakery boxes she was carrying as she tried to knock on Jack’s door. His car wasn’t in the garage, so she was really hoping he wasn’t home, but she knew Riley would be. The door opened, and Rosie smiled at her. “Dianna,” she said pleasantly. “It’s good to see you.” Rosie frowned. “Do you need some help?” “I do,” Dianna replied. “I was hoping you would take some of these tarts off my hands.” “Who’s at the door, Mimi?” Riley said from somewhere inside the apartment. “It’s Dianna, love,” Rosie replied as she eyed the yellow boxes. “Tarts?” Dianna tried really hard not to roll her eyes. “Yes. We had a large delivery of tarts at work today, and there were far too many. I bought some home, hoping you and your family might enjoy them. They’re delicious.” “What’s a tart?” Riley asked. “Like a pie,” Dianna replied. “But without the pastry on top.” She crouched down and flipped open the lid of the top box. “See. These ones are cherry and chocolate and t
Rosie kept shaking her head in disappointment and Jack felt like a slug. There was nothing worse than getting the ‘I’m disappointed in you’ stare from his mother. He would prefer she yelled at him, quite honestly. “I’m still mad at you for letting her in the apartment,” Jack said, trying to deflect. “You know my rules. No one is allowed in unless I’m here.” “You don’t think I’m a good judge of character?” his mum asked with a raise of her eyebrow. “It’s not that and you know it,” Jack replied. “I have the rule for a reason.” “I know what your reasons are,” Rosie replied. “But I think you’re being a little overprotective in this case. You live in a building that can only be entered with a code or a key. Kara can’t get in here, and there is no way I would let that woman into this apartment. Dianna is harmless and your neighbor, and if it had been anyone else who lives in this building, you wouldn’t have had an issue. If Finn or Parker or Liam, or even Mia or Peyton,
Dianna tried to ignore the banging on her door, but her ingrained manners wouldn’t let her. “Just a minute,” she called out before turning back to the game she was playing. “Hang on a sec, Kid,” she said into her headset. “I’ve got to answer my door.” She pulled off her headset and jumped off the couch. Going a few rounds of a fighting game helped rid her of the frustration caused by dealing with Jack. She slid the elastic band out of her hair and retied the messy bun as she crossed through the living room. It was probably Mia or Peyton, they sometimes came and invited her to dinner on a Friday night, especially if the boys were having poker night. The two friends were nice enough, but they weren’t really into the same things as Dianna, although she appreciated their attempts to include her. One thing Dianna did know was that it couldn’t be some random off-the-street knocking on her door. Carter had been very explicit in his explanation of the building security. Dianna
Dianna left early Monday morning. No, she wasn’t avoiding the whole Jack-coming-out-of-his-apartment thing…she just wanted to be prepared when he arrived at her office. That was her story, and she was sticking to it. As far as her body was concerned, today was a good day. She would never be completely free from pain, but her pain levels were manageable today…better than manageable if that was possible. She felt good—or as good as she could—which was a hell of a thing. It had been a long time since she’d had such clarity of mind, and her body wasn’t fighting her every step of the way. She’d spent the weekend resting. No, not hiding. Resting. It was a legitimate way to spend the weekend considering she’d done a solid week of work and pushed her body on the days when it would really have rather stayed in bed. She even left her apartment once…to exercise. Yeah, that was shocking to her too. Once upon a time, Dianna had loved to run trails and before her body decided it was at war
“Jack,” she said, thankful that her voice sounded normal. “Come in and have a seat. Can we get you anything? Coffee?” “I won’t say no to coffee,” he replied, turning his head to Maria and gracing her with a smile. “I’ll get it,” Maria piped up and Dianna tried not to roll her eyes. “How do you have it?” “A long black will be fine,” he replied, turning back to Dianna and stepping further into the office. “Nothing for me,” Dianna said to Maria’s unasked question. Maria nodded and closed the door as she headed out to get Jack’s coffee. Dianna really wished she’d left the door open. Now she was confined in an office with Jack, and he seemed to take up more space than was possible. She cleared her throat and sat, inviting Jack to do the same. He undid the button of his suit coat and sat opposite her. Dianna gripped the desk to steady herself. He was wearing a suit. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him wear a suit before. He usually wore smart casual to work, or that’s what
6 months later“Are you ready for this?” Anthony asked as they stood outside the courtroom. Talia nodded and gripped Parker’s hand. The judge had called them back in for the verdict on Mark’s trial and she couldn’t deny she was nervous. The weeks spent preparing for the trial and then sitting through the witness statements and being cross-examined by an aggressive defense attorney who made her out to be some sort of diva and ungrateful bitch who was somehow ripping off the father who had done everything for her had taken its toll. And the media beat-up was just as bad. However, not all the media had been on her father’s side. Talia had discovered she had far more supporters than she’d thought. Her fans—the true fans—had gathered in force to support her and she loved them for it. Not enough for her to consider going back into acting, but enough that going through the trial had been bearable. But if not for the constant and unwavering support of Parker, Talia didn’t think she woul
Parker rolled his eyes as he took her hand and stood. “Seal the deal?” “Isn’t that what you said earlier?” He shook his head, his grin still in place. “No, I said celebrate.” “Okay, good. Let’s do that then.” Parker grabbed her and lifted her up, making Talia squeal. He kissed her and she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. Stumbling, he carried her to the bedroom and tossed her on the bed with a flourish, making her squeal again. “I feel like we need champagne and strawberries or something,” Parker said, standing with his hands on his hips as he looked around the room. “You mean like pouring champagne in my belly button and licking it out?” Talia asked, lifting her shirt to reveal her navel. Parker cocked an eyebrow. “Hmm…that’s something to think about for a later celebration,” he said. Talia pouted. Parker held up his hands. “I don’t have any champagne on hand,” he protested. “Then I’ll just have to
“You called Isaac,” Parker said when he walked into the apartment. Talia looked up at him and bit her lip. “I did,” she said. “But before you get mad, I didn’t say anything about what happened. And I did it because I knew you wouldn’t say anything to defend yourself.” Parker sighed. “I’m not mad,” he said, walking over to where she was seated, working on her miniature diorama. He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m grateful. Thank you. What you said to Isaac helped.” Talia grinned up at him. “So, they’re going to let you do the article?” Parker nodded. “They are.” “That’s so great,” Talia replied. “So it all worked out.” Parker pulled out a chair and sat down beside her. “Things have worked out for me, but what about you? What are your plans now? Without Mark controlling your every move, you can do anything you want.” Talia dropped her head and fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. “I don’t know what I want to do,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I wan
Talia pulled back from the kiss. “Don’t you think it was pretty selfish of me not to sacrifice myself for you?” she asked. “No,” he said, reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear. “What you did wasn’t selfish, it was survival. There’s a difference. Me expecting you to sacrifice yourself for my job would have been selfish. Are you doing what you need to in order to survive? Not selfish. Not in the slightest.” “It feels selfish,” she mumbled, leaning her forehead against his. “I feel like I need to do something to make it up to you.” Parker cupped her face. “Talia,” he whispered. “This is not some quid pro quo thing. There will be times when you will save me. I have no doubt about it. That’s how relationships work. It’s swings and roundabouts. There is no big tally sheet in the sky and nobody is keeping score.” “I just don’t want you to feel resentful—” Parker cut off the rest of her sentence with a kiss. “How could I be resentful of the fact that I get to have you in my l
“She’s asleep,” Parker said, coming into the living room from his bedroom where Talia had finally succumbed to sleep. He slumped onto the couch beside Stephen and laid his head on his father’s shoulder. Anthony looked over at him from where he was sitting, going through some paperwork on his laptop, and Carter paced, not able to sit still. “I take it the article came out,” Parker said. “Yeah,” Carter replied with a sigh as he raked his hand through his hair. “It’s going to do us some damage,” Parker said. “Maybe,” Carter said with a shrug. “Maybe not.” Parker frowned at him. “What does that mean?” “It gets your name out there,” he replied. “It will drive people to your blog.” “Fucking hell, Carter,” Parker exploded, jumping to his feet. “Seriously? You think this is a good thing?” “I didn’t say that,” Carter replied. “I just said it wasn’t necessarily damaging to us.” “And what about Parker asked. “The article would have tanked that de
Anthony had filed a police report as soon as he arrived in the city. “Their hands are tied,” Anthony said with a sigh. “There is no evidence of force and as she recently hid from the public because of a scandal, we have nothing to say she isn’t doing it again because of the latest issue.” “But can’t they force her to at least speak with them? To check that she’s okay?” Parker asked. “As far as they’re concerned, she has just gone into hiding again,” Anthony reiterated. “Until we have something to say otherwise, they can’t do anything. This has the potential to be a high-profile case because of who she is, so if they make a big deal about it and it turns out to be something innocent, it might blow up in their faces.” “That’s bullshit,” Parker growled, pushing up from his seat to pace around the room. He hated that he was sitting there doing nothing while Talia was trapped in her father’s house. It was torture to know where she was and yet not be able to get to
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Talia said. After Mark’s big reveal the night before, Talia had been left to sleep off the effects of the sedative he’d given her. The fucking bastard. He’d locked her door so she couldn’t get out and the window was too far from the ground for her to escape that way. Not without breaking something, anyway. Which Talia wouldn’t have minded, except with the way she’d been feeling, the thing that got broken might very well be her head, and she was kind of attached to it being in one piece and remaining on her shoulders. So Mark had stalked her and Parker and then kidnapped her and drugged her and imprisoned her and he was under the impression that he was perfectly within his rights to do so. “I’m doing this for you,” Mark said. “Your mental health is at stake here.” “The only threat to my mental health is your arsehole behavior,” Talia snapped. They were sitting in the sunny kitchen at the table and Mark was trying to pretend that it
Carter clicked his fingers. “The original photos, the ones that were taken when you took her out to look at the miniature street art.” Carter turned to Parker. “You were in some of those photos. Your face was blurred, but that could have been done after the fact.” “So he’s been following me?” Parker asked. “You and Carter. Both would be my guess,” Jack said. “So he’s been following us, but how did he know I was sending a car to pick her up?” Parker asked. “Have you noticed anyone following you?” Carter asked. Parker shook his head and then paused. “What?” Carter asked. “What’s that look?” “It’s probably nothing,” Parker said. “Just say it,” Carter said. “I was speaking to Talia just before I went into the meeting he said. “When I hung up from the call, I bumped into a guy…you don’t think…nah. It can’t be. This isn’t some espionage movie.” “Could he have overheard your conversation?” Jack asked, leaning back in his chair and looking up
Parker was on a high. By all accounts, Atticus was on board with his proposal. Isaac just wanted to check in with the rest of the band before giving him a definitive answer. That was fine with Parker. Things would go much more smoothly if everyone was in agreement. The last thing he wanted was a hostile environment and if any of the members had misgivings about the proposal, then he would walk away. It would hurt, but he would do it. For this to work—for everyone involved—there had to be open communication and a willingness to participate. Without that, Parker may as well give up now. He climbed into his car, cursing the parking ticket and flapping on his windscreen. Getting out again, he grabbed it from under the windscreen wiper and shoved it into his glove compartment. The Playbook could pay for that. It was the price of doing business, after all. He turned the music up loud as he navigated through the heavy traffic toward his apartment building. He couldn’t wait to tell Ta