“Jack,” Dianna said cautiously. His eyes ate her up greedily. She looked better than she had the last time he saw her and a hell of a lot better than when he found her on her bathroom floor. She looked better, but not There were still dark smudges under her eyes and she stood stiffly as if she were bracing herself. But that could be because he was in the office and he was the last person she wanted to see. “Take a seat, Dianna,” Mason said. Jack had forgotten Mason was even in the room, and by the little jolt that went through Dianna, she hadn’t seen him either. Dianna crossed the office and took a seat. Jack waited for her before he also took a seat. Mason knew why Jack was there. He knew Jack was trying to make up for his epic failure with Dianna. This was Mason’s way of trying to help Jack, although getting called into his office was terrifying. Jack couldn’t exactly pinpoint what made Mason so scary; there was just an air about him that let you know he was the alpha in the
He reached out and gripped her hand. He did it unconsciously, but he needed to touch her. He didn’t know what disorder she was talking about, but he already knew it had no cure. It scared him, the unknown. “Tell me,” Jack said. “I want to know.” Dianna looked at him for a long moment before she exhaled slowly. “I have fibromyalgia,” she finally said. “Fibromyalgia?” Dianna nodded. “Have you heard of it? Do you know anything about it?” “I’ve heard the word, but I don’t really know what it is.” Dianna took another deep breath. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a Wikipedia page,” she said. “Hit me with it,” Jack replied. “I’m all for a Wikipedia page explanation.” “Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder that causes widespread pain, general fatigue, brain fog, and a whole host of other things that pretty much make life difficult. In the most simplistic terms, my brain doesn’t interpret pain the same way other people’s brains do. There are also a myriad of oth
Jack took Dianna home. She probably should have stayed at work but…Jack was giving her his dragon-eyes and she’d missed him so much and, and, and…and she just wanted to be with him. They made it to her apartment before he started kissing her. They didn’t quite make it into the apartment. Instead, he pushed her up against the door and devoured her mouth. Dianna wasn’t complaining…although a less public place and fewer clothes would be better. “Bedroom,” she managed to breathe between kisses. “Naked,” he agreed, giving her enough space to unlock the door but not breaking their contact entirely. How they got to the bedroom, she didn’t really know. One minute they were in the hall and the next minute they were in her room and the front door was slamming shut. He must have used some sort of dragon magic on her…or maybe he just picked her up and carried her. Yeah, it was probably the second one, but he could have shape-shifted into a dragon and Dianna wouldn’t have cared
Dianna ran her hands down the skirt of her dress to smooth it…not to smooth it, but to wipe her sweaty hands. Who was she kidding? She was trying to be cool. She was not cool. A warm arm circled her waist and pulled her back against an equally warm chest. She breathed in Jack’s familiar scent and closed her eyes for a moment. “You okay?” he whispered into her ear before kissing her neck just below. “Nope,” she whispered back. “I’m freaking out.” He wrapped his other arm around her and tugged her closer. She let herself lean on him, stealing his strength, or if not exactly stealing it, borrowing it. “I’m here for whatever you need,” he replied. Dianna clutched his arms and reveled in the feel of them and his solid, steady body behind her. He was calm, his breathing deep and even. She slowed her own breathing to match his and let his steadfast calmness wash into her. Felicity walked into the small back room where they were waiting and Dianna’s eyes fle
Jack felt like his heart was going to pound right out of his chest. Dianna stood up on the stage beside Mason and she was absolutely killing it. She had the crowd in the palm of her hand as she showed them through her game. It didn’t matter how many times he watched her run through the explanation of the game from concept to completion; he was amazed anew. She was doing what she was born to do, and he fucking loved the way it looked on her. She glowed, and it made him want to burst with excitement for her. He also knew she was working on something new and it fascinated him watching the whole thing happen before his eyes. Was a competence boner a thing? Because he definitely got turned on when he watched her work. It was like watching da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa. Carter nudged his elbow and nodded to Dianna, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. “I suppose you’re going to take credit for this?” Jack drawled. “I was the one who got her to move into the building,” Cart
Jack put his arm around Dianna as they stepped out of the apartment and pulled her close. “Have you got everything, Riley?” Dianna asked as his son followed them into the hall. “Yup,” Riley replied, patting his backpack. They were going geocaching, not for the game, just ordinary geocaching. It had become something they did regularly. It was good for all three of them to get out into the sunshine and away from the screens for a while. Plus, Jack loved it, as did Riley. It was just another way Dianna had enriched their lives. It had been a couple of months since the game launch—which had made Black Sheep a household name, or at least amongst gamers it had become a household name, and Jack and Dianna were slowly entwining their lives. They hadn’t taken the final step to move in together, but Dianna spent nearly every night at Jack’s place and when Riley had sleepovers with Jack’s parents or sisters, they spent the night in her apartment. She had slowly been moving so
3 Weeks Ago“No.” Mark Beckett, Australia’s favorite dad, rolled his eyes at his daughter and sighed. “What is it this time, Talia?” Talia Jane Beckett, Australia’s girl next door, grimaced. “You do realize I’m turning thirty this year, right?” “So?” Talia rolled her eyes this time. “So,” she drawled, “taking on the role of an eighteen-year-old is…wrong.” “Other actors would jump at the chance to get roles for characters ten years younger than they are,” Mark said. “Yeah, well, I’m not other actors,” Talia said, crossing her arms and spinning her chair around. They were in the living room of her father’s house, and everything was white. White walls, white carpet, white couches. The weird circular chair she was spinning on was white, too. It looked like a sterile room, and it gave Talia the creeps. The only color in the room was the wall of photographs featuring her father—and sometimes herself—with numerous stars on the screen. Supposedly, this was her house too, but i
Talia dropped her eyes. Her father had done a lot for her. She owed him a lot and so what if he was taking the chance to do something for himself? “Let me think about it.” Talia held out her hand for the script. She really didn’t want to do it, but…maybe one more wouldn’t kill her. And she could make sure that if she agreed to do it, it would absolutely be the last one.Talia tossed the script onto the bed and groaned. She’d read it several times over the past few days and it hadn’t gotten any better. It was bad. Like, really, really bad. Talia had gotten used to the insipid teen coming-of-age dramas that she usually got asked to do, but this one was even worse than those. It begged the question, why? Why did her father want her to do this piece of crap? The father's role wasn’t even that good. Talia could have maybe understood if the ‘father’ role was a standout opportunity for her dad, but it just wasn’t. She flopped back on the bed in a starfish pose and looked at the ceiling
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