Later that afternoon, Pierce and Sasha had grilled steaks and were sitting on the patio eating dinner when Sasha glanced up from her meal.
“Tell me about Diane Carter.”
Pierce’s fork hovered mid-air for a moment before he slid it into his mouth. He chewed painstakingly slow before eventually swallowing his food. He gazed at Sasha. His expression was sorrowful. Reflective.
“Why are you asking about her now?”
“Back in London, it was something you never wanted to talk about, but Pierce, I think we need to. I want to know what happened.”
He still resisted. “Why do you think there’s anything to tell?”
Sasha tilted her head and stared at him, waiting patiently. A few moments later, he set his utensils down and pushed his plate away.
“She was a good friend…one of the best I’ve ever had.” He looked at a point past her face and continued. “We were inseparable. I shared all my good news with her, plans for the future, my worries—everything. When I turned pro, Diane was the first person I shared the news with outside of my family.”
He was quiet for a moment, but Sasha waited patiently.
“I had no idea that she…” He stopped.
Reaching out, Sasha touched his hand. “That she what?”
“That she wanted more.” He got up and began to pace. “One day, she admitted she was in love with me…that she always had been. Honestly, Sasha, I had no clue she felt that way. I loved her, but not romantically.”
“I can imagine how hurt she must’ve been,” Sasha murmured.
He shook his head. “That’s too light a word. Diane was devastated. She lashed out in every way she could. When her behavior turned destructive, I tried to intervene, but that just made things worse.” He sighed. “She began hanging out at parties and running with the wrong crowds. I was out there myself doing things I shouldn’t have, but…Diane…she took it to the extreme.”
He sat down heavily. “I heard a few of the guys talking, joking about how she’d been making the rounds. I punched a guy out who bragged about the good time he’d had with her.”
“Pierce.”
“That’s when I went to see her. I was determined to talk some sense into her before she did irreparable damage to her reputation, but it was too late.” His expression turned sad, remorseful at the pain of his memories. “Diane had changed. She wasn’t the best friend I’d known and loved. She was hooked on self-destruction—men, drugs—and I caused it all.”
“No, Pierce. You can’t blame yourself for her choices.”
“I pushed her to it, Sasha. When I confronted her again, she admitted she was hoping to get a reaction out of me, to spark some jealousy so I’d realize my true feelings.”
“And it didn’t work,” Sasha surmised.
He clenched his jaw. “No. When I left her house, she told me never to come back. That was the last time I saw Diane. She moved away, and we lost touch.” When his gaze connected with Sasha, his expression was weighed down with regret. “I don’t know…if she’s alive…” His voice cracked. “Or dead.” He lowered his head in his hands. “The one person I said mattered most to me in the world, and I let her down. That’s when I put a stop to it all.”
“To what?”
His head snapped up. “To everything,” he said disgustedly. “The parties, the entourage, the women. I cleaned house, Sasha. It was during that time that I truly found out who my true friends were,” he said sarcastically. “When the dust settled and the ride was over, there wasn’t anyone standing next to me. Not one—except my family. I knew then how many true friends I had: none.”
Pierce had said it matter-of-factly, but Sasha could see how much that decision had hurt him—how losing Diane and all the people who had called themselves friends had affected him. Sasha’s heart ached for Pierce. Unsure of what to say, she comforted him the best way she knew how. She got up, walked around the table and held out her hand. Pierce clasped his hand in hers, then stood. Sasha wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry, Pierce.”
She felt his arms tighten around her waist and his head nestle into the side of her neck. She stood there trying to pour as much love and strength into her embrace as she could. Sasha loved him with her whole heart, and she realized it was time he knew.
“Pierce, I can only imagine how you must feel about your friends not staying or that you felt powerless to help Diane.”
He nodded, but otherwise didn’t speak. After a few moments, Sasha drew back. She placed her hands on either side of his face and gazed into his eyes.
“What can I do? Tell me what you need, Pierce. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
He raised his right hand and gripped hers tightly. “You’re already doing it,” he replied softly.
She kissed him. “I love you. I’m here for you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Pierce smiled. She saw something flicker in his eyes before he touched the side of her face. “That’s good to know.”
Before she could speak, Pierce swept her up in his arms and into a kiss that melted Sasha’s heart all over again. It gave her strength. It made her feel safe, secure and cherished beyond anything she’d ever felt before. As he carried her inside the house and to his bedroom, Sasha made a promise to herself. She vowed to do whatever it took to make Pierce feel loved, appreciated and whole—to mend his broken heart and to allow him to trust that someone could love him and only him. Unconditionally. It’s what he’d done for her, and he deserved nothing less.
“You know, if I’d had a million tries, I’d never have guessed you’d end up in love with Pierce Deveraux.”
Sasha glanced at Sienna from under her eyelashes. “I know. Me either,” she admitted with a loud sigh. “He’s…he means everything to me.”
Her sister sipped her iced tea and turned her head to gaze at Sasha. “And it’s the real deal?”
“As real as it gets,” Sasha confirmed. “He’s everywhere, Sienna. In my heart, my mind, my soul.” She glanced up at the sky while sorting out how to explain it.
“So this goes deeper than your love for—”
“Anybody,” Sasha interrupted. “I’ve never felt this way about any man…ever.”
“Wow, I believe you. I’ve never heard you say that before, even about Milo.”
“That’s because I’ve never felt this before.” Sasha sighed. “Finding out the truth about Diane, about why he really changed his ways…it just killed me inside to see him abandoned by everyone he considered his friend.”
“I know. Pierce puts on a good face, but sometimes I sensed it was all for show, that he wanted other people to believe he was fine with it all.”
Sasha turned on her chaise longue so that she faced her sister. “I can’t believe you’re married to one brother, and the other is my boyfriend.”
Sienna turned, too. “That’s never happened before.”
“Not on your life. I went out of my way to make sure it didn’t,” Sasha told her before getting up to get in Sienna’s pool.
“What?”
Sasha hoisted herself up on a floating lounger. “It wasn’t that hard,” she said as she settled in and relaxed. “We never liked the same type of guy.”
“We still don’t,” Sienna chimed in. “Vaughn and Pierce are about as different as—”
“Night and day?”
“More or less. But never let it be said they don’t take care of the women they love,” Sienna told Sasha. “The Deveraux men are fiercely loyal and protective. There isn’t anything they wouldn’t do for family or their significant others.”
“Has that been going on for generations, too, like that hangover remedy?”
“Yes.” Sienna chuckled and hopped into the pool. She walked over and handed Sasha her drink before submerging herself in the deep end up to her neck. “So he’s made that for you, has he?”
Sasha nodded, then filled her in on karaoke in London. By the time she’d recounted the story, Sienna was laughing so hard she got hiccups.
“Serves you right,” she got out before hiccupping again. “You deserved it after accusing him of trying to have his way with you.”
“I know. Believe me, that was not my finest hour.”
Sienna sidled another lounger up next to Sasha’s before getting on it. “So, what’s he—”
“Uh-uh. I’m not about to tell you how Pierce is in bed,” Sasha said firmly. “It’s bad enough we fell in love with brothers. There’s no way I want to hear details about Vaughn in bed.” Sasha cringed for effect. “That would seriously be too much information.”
“Fair enough,” Sienna said before she laid back against the plump cushion, “but on a scale of one to ten…”
“Ten,” Sasha said without missing a beat, “times two.”
The two sisters continued frolicking in the pool for another hour before Sienna announced she was going to make a sandwich.
“Count me in,” Sasha announced before jumping off her lounger. She got out and toweled off. As she was gathering her things, her cell phone chirped.
“Let me guess: Pierce?” Sienna laughed as she took the pitcher of iced tea off the table. “How many times is that today, three?”
“I know you’re not talking,” Sasha said, laughing. “If I had a dollar for every time you or Vaughn texted each other during a day.” She stacked the glasses with one hand and retrieved her cell phone with the other. She was still smiling when she checked her message.
Sienna walked through her patio doors and was heading to the kitchen when a loud crash sounded behind her. “Sasha, what was that? Are you okay?”
When she didn’t hear a reply, she set the pitcher down on the kitchen table and ran back outside. Sasha was in the same spot she’d left her, the broken glasses in shards around her feet.
“Sasha? What happened? Don’t move,” Sienna instructed. “I don’t want you cutting yourself. I’ll just go get the broom and dustpan and—”
Sienna finally realized Sasha hadn’t responded. She called Sasha again, and when she didn’t answer, she slipped on her flip flops and rushed to her side.
“What’s wrong? Sasha, say something.” Sienna took in her sister’s horrified expression. “Okay, you’re scaring me. Do you feel ill?”
Sasha managed to shake her head briefly.
“Then what is it?” Sienna asked with concern.
Sasha didn’t speak, just slowly thrust the phone in her sister’s direction. Sienna grabbed the phone and glanced at the screen. She gasped and raised a hand to her mouth. On the phone was a picture of them in the pool just moments ago. They were laughing. Below, there was just one line of text. Sienna read it aloud.
“There is nowhere you can hide that I can’t find you, Sasha.”
The next two weeks were a blur to Sasha. Her family, along with Pierce and Vaughn, had circled the wagons. She never went anywhere unaccompanied. Pierce informed his agent not to book any appearances, and Sasha informed Lana that she wasn’t available either. The one time he’d had to go out of town, Sasha had divided her time between Sienna and Vaughn’s house and her parents. There were no more incidents during that period, but that didn’t stop everyone from being on alert. Colonel Mangum was true to his word and provided them with one of his agents to watch her back. She and Pierce discovered this tidbit of information one night after he’d returned from his business trip and they’d gone out to dinner. He’d been apprehensive about leaving her alone and wanted her to go with him to get the car, but she’d firmly told him they were in a public place and she’d be perfectly safe waiting for him in the foyer. She’d just wanted a few minutes of normalcy, but couldn’t come out and say that. Instead, she tried to get Pierce just to go along with her suggestion. He’d instantly disagreed with her idea.
“Pierce, I just…I’ll be fine. It’s just a few minutes, and the hostess is right there. Please, just go get the car. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
He frowned, but she’d smiled reassuringly, kissed him and inched closer to the hostess stand.
“Five minutes,” he ground out before striding out the door.
Sasha stood there and just breathed a sigh of relief. For just a few minutes, she wasn’t anyone’s burden—she didn’t have someone worrying over her. She was just herself. Sasha closed her eyes and enjoyed the solitude. It lasted exactly ninety seconds.
An overly flirtatious man approached Sasha, his deep voice breaking through her barrier of peace and quiet like someone using a metal chisel on granite. Opening her eyes, Sasha politely told the man she wasn’t interested and that she had a boyfriend. When she moved to walk away, he had placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. By the time she’d turned around to confront him, he was sprawled on the floor. It was then that Sasha noticed a man in a suit behind her. Shocked, she looked up at him for an explanation. He calmly told her he worked for Colonel Mangum, then escorted her outside.
Pierce was just getting out of the car to come in and get her. She quickly explained Ben’s presence, and that he was on the job courtesy of Mangum and Associates. She didn’t fill him in on the encounter inside the restaurant until they were in the car. He refrained from commenting, but his knuckles gripped the steering wheel. That, along with his clenched jaw was his only outward indication he wasn’t pleased by what he’d heard. Sasha decided to leave well enough alone and turned her attention to the scenery whizzing by as he drove. She was thankful though that he refrained from saying, “I told you so.”
From that day on, the Deverauxes and Lamberts breathed a lot easier knowing that Ben was in the background and there in case of emergencies. Gordon also let them know that Colonel Mangum’s agency was still looking into the events that had occurred. He promised to give a report of findings as soon as he could.
Feeling at ease more than she had in a long time, Sasha threw herself back into work. Now that she was less stressed, she found her creative juices were flowing. She resumed working on her second novel, Bonita Corazon’s story. Feeling confident that she was on to something, she emailed her assistant what she had so far to read over.
“You can’t believe how eager I am to read this,” Lana said excitedly. “It’s been a few weeks since we last spoke. I’m glad you’re back in the saddle and writing again, Sasha.”
“Me too. It’s been a Godsend to be able to get back to work.”
“I’m just thrilled you still want me to be your assistant.”
Sasha frowned. “Why wouldn’t I, Lana?”
“Well, I hadn’t heard anything from you, and I admit, I was worried you weren’t happy with the work I was doing for you.”
“Oh no, Lana. That’s not it at all. You do great work. I’m very pleased with you, and there’s no way I’d just fire you like that. If I have any problems with your work, I will certainly let you know.”
“Okay, Sasha. Thank you again for the opportunity to help you. You’ve been such an inspiration to me. I couldn’t help but want to find a way to pay you back.”
“I should be thanking you. You’ve made it so easy for me to concentrate on writing while you handle the backend stuff. You’ve really saved me from a lot of worry about how I was going to get all this promotional stuff done.”
“I’m glad I could be of help,” Lana replied.
They spoke a few minutes longer before Sasha gave her another assignment and ended the call.
“Who was that?” Piece questioned as he walked into the room and sat on the bed next to her before leaning in and giving her a kiss.
“That was Lana.”
“Your assistant?”
She nodded. “I just sent her what I have so far on my rough draft. She was so glad to hear from me. You know she actually thought I was unhappy with her work.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Because I haven’t spoken with her in a while. I didn’t tell her what was going on, just that I was taking a vacation and going to see my family.”
He nodded. “So who’s Bonita set her sights on this time? Another poor, unsuspecting young man to get lured into her sophisticated web of passion and intrigue?”
“Why, Mr. Deveraux, who knew you waxed so poetically?” Sasha shoved his arm playfully. “Maybe a man who’s her equal in every way. She’ll try to fight the attraction of course, but he will win her over in the end. Their love will be legendary.”
He grabbed the belt rung on her jeans and tugged her forward until she was straddling his lap. “Oh really? I’d love to hear more about this exceptional man.”
He tickled her until she was squealing for him to stop.
“I don’t know,” he said seriously. “What are you going to give me in return?”
“What do you want?” she asked between pants.
“Hmm.” Pierce rolled them over so Sasha was under him. “I can think of a few things off the top of my head.”
Their playful banter turned heated. Pierce was playing with the button on her jeans when his cell phone rang. He ignored it a few times before Sasha shoved his hand away.
“Answer it. It could be important,” she told him.
“Nothing is more important than you,” he countered.
“Go ahead,” she prompted. “I’ll hold your place for you.”
Groaning, Pierce rolled over to retrieve his phone from his back pocket. When Sasha realized it was his business partner calling, she got up and went to the kitchen to fix herself a cup of tea. She was sitting at his kitchen table when he sauntered into the room.
“Hey,” he said, pulling up a chair, “why’d you disappear?”
“I wanted to give you some privacy,” she explained.
“Sasha, you don’t have to leave just because I’m talking business. There’s nothing I’m discussing that you can’t hear.”
She smiled. “Okay. Was it good news?”
He shrugged. “Just going over some last-minute details for the new packaging of my men’s skin care line. They want me to look over some samples. Also, the model we were hoping to get for the Bedazzled photo shoot is available, but only for the next week. The team and I are going to fly out for it. I was hoping I could put this off, but we can’t.”
“Nor should you. Where’s the shoot?”
“Los Angeles. Want to come with me?”
“Sounds tempting, but I promised Dad we’d go camping. Mom doesn’t like roughing it, and since Sienna was kind enough to remind me that she’s been going on these excursions with Dad for the last few years, it’s my turn.”
Pierce laughed. “I bet those are fun. Do you all hunt and eat what you kill?”
“Uh, no. I’m in charge of provisions, and I can guarantee that the bratwurst will already be dead.”
They shared a chuckle before Pierce held out his hand. Sasha laced her fingers through his.
“I’ll miss you, Sash.”
“I’ll miss you more,” she replied.
Pierce leaned over and kissed her. When they pulled away, he glanced at the clock on the stove. “Do you want me to drive you home?”
“That depends,” she said playfully. “Are you tired of my company?”
Pierce’s gazed turned heated in an instant. “I think you know the answer to that.”
Sasha’s face brightened. Her smile was high wattage. “Great, then that settles it. Take me to bed, Mr. Deveraux.”
He pulled her up from her chair and picked her up. He slung her over his shoulder and slapped her playfully on the bottom when she protested, then darted across the kitchen for the stairs.
“Pierce, don’t you drop me,” she screeched.
When he’d reached the bedroom, he gently lowered Sasha to the bed before lying down next to her.
“Like I’d ever drop you.”
Her eyebrow arched. “Do I look like a sack of potatoes?”
“You’re way hotter than potatoes,” he said, thickly.
Blushing, Sasha leaned over and kissed his neck. “Do you think flattery will get you somewhere?”
A look of mischief crossed Pierce’s face. He leaned over and deftly unbuttoned her shirt. Pierce didn’t stop until he’d relieved Sasha of all her clothing. He made quick work of discarding his own before taking his place at her side. He kissed Sasha until she was breathless and clutching him tightly. When his tongue snaked out of his mouth to trace a path along a sensitive spot of her ear, Sasha sighed his name. Kissing her earlobe, Pierce whispered confidently, “Flattery won’t get me somewhere, my love. It’ll get me everywhere.”
The last coherent thought Sasha could form was that there was no way she could argue with logic like that.