Fall Into Me (Heart of Stone) Read Free Page A

make sure you take care of
those ribs."
    Nina
nodded and pressed a smile onto her pretty mouth. "My ribs feel good, so
no worries. I hope that's true about remembering. I had hoped something would
seem familiar here, but so far nothing."
    Her
admission of what I already knew hurt just the same. I'd hoped coming home
would stir some memories for her too. I guess we were both disappointed.
    "It's
okay. No hurry. We've got time."
    Time.
If that's what we had, then I had to make the most of it.
    Nina
put her fingers over mine and moved them from her chin. Her touch on my skin
sent a rush of electricity racing up my arm, making me want more.
    "I
do have a question. Is that okay?"
    I
couldn't help but smile. Same old Nina always with the questions. That was
something. "Ask anything you want."
    She
turned to grab her laptop and opened it to bring up a picture of me with one of
the actresses at an event a few months earlier. As I examined the image, all I
could think of was how Nina had said I looked like a statue when I was with
them. I'd never truly realized it until that moment, but I did.
    "You
seem to have a lot of girlfriends, but I can't find any pictures of me with you
at these parties. Why?"
    I
blew the air out of my lungs and struggled for the best way to explain why
there were hundreds of pictures of me with other women. "They aren't
girlfriends, Nina. They're employees."
    "And
I'm your employee?"
    "Yes."
    "So
they're all like I am to you?"
    A
groan escaped from my throat. This wasn't going well at all. "No. They're
employees paid specifically to appear at events with me because I didn't have a
girlfriend."
    Nina's
eyes lit up. "Oh. So there are pictures of us together at events once we
began dating? I guess I just didn't get to those."
    "Sure.
I'm sure there are."
    Arching
one eyebrow, she saw right through my lie. "There aren't any pictures of
us, are there? Why?"
    "Because
we only attended one event. I'm sure there are pictures, though."
    Her
look of skepticism turned to one of hurt. "I don't understand. We were
together for six months and you asked me to marry you, but we only went to one
event together?"
    I
knew what she was thinking. That for some reason I wouldn't want to be seen
with her like I had with the actresses. This was not going as I'd hoped.
    "It's
a bit more complicated than that. Those women aren't in a relationship with me
and get paid to deal with the press. I didn't want you to have to deal with
that."
    Leveling
her gaze at me, she asked, "And what did I want?"
    This
was definitely the Nina I knew and loved. Smiling, I answered with the truth.
"You were jealous and thought I was ashamed of you until I told you the
truth about the actresses. Then you were afraid to go with me to the event we
attended, but you ended up loving it. It was one of the best nights I've ever
had."
    Her
expression softened and a smile spread across her lips. "Oh."
    I
wanted to tell her that the sex we had in the back of the Rolls had been better
than any I'd ever had with any other woman. That just thinking of it was making
me hard. It probably wasn't the right time, though.
    "I
wanted to talk about you getting back to doing things you used to do." We used to do."I think it would be good for you to return to
work."
    "That
sounds good. You said I'm your private curator, right? What does that mean
exactly?"
    "You
handle choosing the artwork for the suites and penthouses in my hotels. I give
you the assignments and then you present your choices to me."
    A
look of apprehension came over her face, and she bit her bottom lip. "Was
I good at this?"
    I'd
seen that look before. It was the same one she'd worn that first day I assigned
her my penthouse in the city. I'd wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her
that day too.
    "Very
good."
    Nina
took a deep breath. "Tristan, I'm confused. I work for you as your private
curator but I'm also your girlfriend?"
    Fiancée .
    "You
loved the job, so you never mentioned wanting to stop once we