Fall into Me (Heart of Stone #2)(52)
Author: K.M. Scott

"How would you know, Nina? You can’t even remember. For all you know, he manipulated you into this whole thing. You don’t know everything about him."

"Thanks, Kim."

I jammed my fingertip onto the screen of my phone and hung up on her. Throwing the phone on the bed, I let the tears come as I stood there with my shoulders hunched from the weight of her negativity.

I should have known better. Why didn’t I call Jordan?

A noise behind me made me turn around and I saw Tristan standing there looking as beaten down as I felt. His tie was loosened, his suit looking like it hung from a body exhausted from dealing with the world all day. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and forced a smile.

"Hey, you look as bad as I feel."

"What happened? Did someone come by the room?" he asked in a voice filled with worry.

Shaking my head, I tried not to think of Kim’s words, but I couldn’t help it. I’d been so happy just minutes earlier and now sadness that my only family member left couldn’t find any joy in my news made my heart heavy. "No. I was just on the phone with my sister."

Just as he had in the hospital, Tristan grew stiff at the mere mention of Kim. "What did she say? I hope you aren’t listening to her, Nina."

"I’m not. I just called her with good news and she was so negative. All I wanted was to share something that had made me really happy, and she didn’t care."

Tristan walked toward me and stopped just inches away. Leaning down, he kissed me and stroked the pad of his thumb over my damp cheek. "I’m here now, so you can tell me."

I leaned into his hand, loving the strength of it beneath my head. Looking up at the concern etched into his features, I smiled, hoping to ease some of his worry. "I remembered something. It’s not much, but it’s something."

His expression changed to one of surprise, but I sensed his concern wasn’t abated. Brown eyes that said so much about how he was feeling looked intently into mine as he spoke. "What did you remember?"

"Babysitting my nieces one night. It’s nothing important."

Pulling me close, he held me tight as he kissed the top of my head, whispering low, "Don’t say that. It’s very important. You’re beginning to remember things."

I loved the feel of his arms around me, protecting me from even the unkind words of my sister. I wished I could do the same for him. As strong as he was, I knew whatever he’d been dealing with had worn him down.

"Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear when I called her, but instead she just harped on how stupid she thinks I am. She thinks you’re manipulating me into doing things I shouldn’t be doing." I looked up at him and smiled. "As if falling in love is something I shouldn’t do."

He cradled my face and shook his head. "Don’t listen to her. Falling in love with me was exactly what you should do. I should know. I fell in love with you first."

I tapped his chin with my finger. "This time. I’m still convinced when I remember everything that I’m going to find out that I was crazy about you long before you loved me."

A shadow crossed his face and then it was gone and he was smirking at me like I was acting silly. From anyone else in the world, that kind of smirk would have irritated the hell out of me, but from Tristan, it was just too cute.

"So would you like to see the art I think would work here?"

"Sure."

"Righteous, dude," I joked as I headed over to the bed.

"Righteous, dude?" he asked as he raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

I motioned to him to come sit next to me as I browsed through Everett Shean’s website. When I finally found the turtle pictures, I turned my laptop toward him. "These are loggerhead sea turtles and they’re an endangered species on a barrier island off of Georgia’s coast. I know they aren’t fancy or the kind of art you would normally see in a hotel suite like this, but I think they’d work. He blends vivid colors on the turtle backs that I think might look nice here against the effect your designer created on the neutral color walls."

"And these are, what did you call them? Righteous?" he asked as he leaned in to examine the paintings.

I couldn’t help but giggle. Sometimes he was so serious. "No. I was making a reference to the turtle in Finding Nemo. You know? The one who talks like a surfer?"

"Finding who?"

"Finding Tristan Stone’s sense of humor. It was a huge hit," I teased. "I can’t believe you never watched that movie."

Before I could explain any more about the cartoon or the turtle paintings, his phone vibrated inside his jacket and all traces of any happiness slid from his face as he rose from the bed. "I have to take this."

Like always, I wanted to ask who it was who could make him instantly miserable every time they called. I didn’t, though, silently swearing that one of these days I would find out who the bastard on the phone was who ruined so many nice moments between us. He walked out of the room and I heard the door to the suite close behind him, but something inside told me to follow him this time. I wanted to know now who was haunting him.

I flung open the door to find him standing in the hallway with a man who looked to be about fifty or so. He was thick and reminded me of a police detective from a TV show. He stood too close to Tristan, like he was trying to intimidate him, and although I couldn’t hear clearly what he was saying, it sounded ominous.

"Tristan, is everything okay?"

He spun around, his eyes flashing angrily, and for a second I recoiled back into the room, afraid of what I’d interrupted. Stepping toward me, he took my hand and squeezed it tightly. The other man followed him into our suite, and we stood awkwardly for a moment before Tristan finally spoke.

"Nina, this is the Vice President of Operations for Stone Worldwide, Karl Dreger. Karl, I’d like to introduce you to my fiancée, Nina Edwards."

Karl extended his meaty hand and shook mine. "How very nice to finally meet you, Nina. I’ve heard a lot about you."

Smiling, I pulled my hand away as soon as I could. "It’s nice to meet you too."

"I’m so sorry to interrupt your little getaway. I just needed to remind Tristan of a deadline. Now that I have, I’ll leave you to your evening. I hope you have a wonderful holiday, Nina."

His voice made my skin crawl. It was smarmy and threatening at the same time. Tristan’s hand continued to clutch mine tightly, as if he was afraid to let go. I was glad for the feel of him holding me, protecting me from this person. This man he worked with was only in the room for a few moments, but I was left with the surest sense that he held something dark or evil inside him.