Give in to Me (Heart of Stone #3)(17)
Author: K.M. Scott

Daryl looked unimpressed. “I guess, but she’s made this much easier for Karl.”

“She did what I told her to do. Not that she didn’t fight me tooth and nail. I could barely get her to speak to me at first. It was only when I told her what I’d found out about what Taylor and my father had done that she agreed to even talk to me about all of this. I guess I don’t blame her. She probably thought if two Stone men were heartless fucks, why wouldn’t the third be?”

I sat back on the couch, tired from trying to convince myself that I wasn’t just like them. Kim hadn’t made it easy, and by the time I explained everything to her, I still didn’t think she believed I wasn’t just what she’d always thought I was.

A bad man who shouldn’t be anywhere near her sister.

Even when I promised to keep her and her family safe on the island where Nina and I were to be married, protected by guards and catered to twenty-four hours a day, she still looked at me like I was some criminal.

“Well, speaking of that, the last time I checked, they were fine. The guards tell me that they’re enjoying a wonderful vacation on St. Vince and the girls love it.”

“Good. Speaking of being happy, I’m to understand Nina isn’t, if her text is any clue to how she’s feeling,” I said, leveling my gaze on the one who’d convinced me the whole Nina and Varo plan was a good idea.

“Nah, she seemed fine the last time I saw her. She didn’t take to the Varo idea easily, but she seemed okay with it by the time I left. Not that I gave her much of a choice.”

“Well, between the time you left and the time I received her last text, things obviously changed. She’s anything but okay now.”

“Why? What’s up? She can’t pretend to like Varo? I guess we could have chosen West, but he’s got a weird vibe to him.”

“It’s not the Varo part so much as the problem between her and Jordan. I guess Jordan liked Varo and Nina’s charade may have been a little too convincing. She moved out.”

Daryl rolled his eyes and sighed. “So? I wasn’t feeling great about her friend there anyway. Too many players in the game makes this whole thing more difficult to manage.”

I thought about how angry Nina’s text sounded. I’d asked a lot of her, but losing her friend was too much to expect. “Jordan’s like a sister to Nina. She’s upset about her leaving the house. I didn’t want that to happen. Maybe you could remember how hard this is on her.”

“Tristan, I do understand the hardship of losing her friend, but losing her life or you would be infinitely worse, don’t you think? She and her friend can make up when all this is over. They can go shopping or do whatever women do when they make nice.”

It wasn’t up to Daryl or anyone else to make up for all this. I knew that. I was the one who’d have to make amends for the mess of all this.

“How did Varo take his new assignment?” I asked, trying to mask the jealousy that lingered inside me.

Chuckling, Daryl stroked his beard. “Considering how it’s a step up from his regular job, he wisely smiled and happily moved his things into the house. It’s not like it’s a chore, really. He’s just adding devoted suitor to protector. He’ll be fine.”

Devoted suitor and protector. I hated the way Daryl described Varo with those words. I was supposed to be that for Nina, not some bodyguard I’d only hired because of his size.

“He shouldn’t get too comfortable in his new surroundings. I intend on being back in my own house as soon as possible.”

My jealousy came through loud and clear, and Daryl knew it. He looked at me as if I were some lovesick puppy to be pitied. I didn’t care. He was just some cynical curmudgeon who thought little of love. So be it. I didn’t need his approval anyway. All I needed was his help to get back to the woman I loved and the life I’d left behind.

“Not to worry. Varo’s not Nina’s type. I suspect, if those muscles aren’t all from nature, he’s not her friend’s type either,” he said with a chuckle.

“What?” I asked, feeling the smallest relief from his words.

“Nothing. We have more important things to do than gossip about lovesick girls like hens. It’s time you returned to the land of the living. Get your stuff, but don’t bother shaving.” He looked me up and down and added, “You look like you’ve been sleeping with your head in manure. That’s good, though. The longer hair works for what we need.”

I hadn’t touched a razor to my face more than three times in the past months, even after I’d decided to quit losing myself in coke and alcohol. After the initial itchiness, I’d gotten used to the beard and seen it as yet another thing I didn’t have to bother with every day. Not that I had a lot to deal with other than cultivating my self-loathing and missing Nina.

The hair, on the other hand, drove me crazy. I’d kept my hair short since I became CEO of Stone Worldwide, and having it hang in my eyes was a pain in the ass.

“I look almost as bad as you,” I joked as I began to gather my things into a duffel bag.

“You wish you looked that good in a beard. You kids today don’t appreciate the fine art of the beard,” he said proudly as he continued to stroke the shaggy hair around his chin.

“Are you planning to tell me where we’re going or do I just get to be in the dark about my immediate future?”

“Sure. We’ll be flying coach back to the States so you get to experience the pain and suffering I’ve had to endure all these times back and forth to visit you here and from there we’ll be getting you settled into your new place where you’ll have to stay for a while. I’ve made sure it’s close enough for you to keep an eye on the house but far enough away to make sure you’re not seen.”

I stopped stuffing clothes into the bag and turned to face him standing next to me. “So I get to spy on my own house and Nina is what you’re saying.”

“Spy is such an ugly word in this case. I just think it would help to have another pair of eyes watching when we can. I don’t plan to live out in the middle of nowhere, no offense, so you can.”

I thought about all the time I’d spent out at the country house and smiled at Daryl’s description of it. After all this time away, it was the only place in the world I thought of as home. Far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the house was where Nina and I had fallen in love. How many hours had we spent just lying in each other’s arms at that house, every second of our time together the most wonderful moments of my life? There was nowhere else I wanted to be, but if all I could have was somewhere close to Nina, then I’d take it and do whatever I had to in order to get back to my life with her.