Kate’s return interrupted his thoughts. He immediately noted her face was pale and she held her phone in a white-knuckled death grip.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Could you give us a moment alone?” she asked the jeweler.
“Of course.” The jeweler faded back into the woodwork, leaving them to their private conversation.
“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.
“The movers just opened up Layla’s apartment and they found something disturbing.”
Nathan stood up straighter, anger already working its way into his gut. “It was another threat wasn’t it?”
Kate nodded. “This time spray painted across her living room wall.”
“What did it say?”
Kate grimaced as if it physically pained her to have to repeat the words out loud. “Leave Pittsburgh, or I’ll kill you.”
***
That was exactly what it said as Nathan found out for himself fifteen minutes later. He stood in front of the large, spray painted message with the movers and Spencer Greeley, the private investigator he’d hired back in August looking on.
“I checked the security camera we had installed in the lobby, but the guy was good. Wore a hoodie and kept his face down,” Greeley told him. “Other than that, the case has gone pretty cold. I’m doing extensive background checks on everyone who signed in at Ms. Matthews physical therapy center the day of the first incident, but so far no hits. No one who ever came into contact with Layla in a non-patient way and no one who’d wish her any harm. I’m almost done.”
Fear for Layla’s well-being fueled the hot anger in Nathan’s gut. “Almost isn’t good enough,” he said. “I want full reports on everybody who came into the center by tomorrow morning. This maniac broke into her apartment. What if she had been here?”
Not waiting for an answer, he started walking back out to his car, his need to see that Layla was safe with his own eyes sudden and great. “I understand you’re upset, Mr. Sinclair,” Greeley said, running to catch up with him outside the building. “I’m doing the best I can, but there just aren’t many leads here.”
“I don’t need your empathy,” Nathan said. “I need you to do your job.”
He turned to step into his car. He was about to call Layla when a call from Diana came through.
He picked it up, even though talking to his soon-to-be-former sister-in-law was the last thing he wanted to do right now. “What?”
Diana could barely speak, she was crying so hard. “Andrew’s back in town,” she said.
Nathan gripped the steering wheel. “What? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure, because the bastard just served me with divorce papers himself,” she wailed. “And he said he knew Layla was back.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LAYLA spent the morning before the Sinclair Ball primping at an exclusive spa, which was followed by an afternoon hair and make-up appointment with Mark and Jacob. The good news was it took way less time to get her presentable than it had for the opera fundraiser. The bad news was she still hadn’t decided what to wear to the event. She’d assured Kate over and over again that she was perfectly capable of picking out her own dress…then she’d left actually shopping for it until the last minute—the very, very last minute.
She hit a department store after her hair and make-up appointment and ended up putting two dresses, an elegant purple sheath and glittery black dress, on the card Kate had given her a few weeks ago to shop with. And by the time she pulled up to Nathan’s building, she had less than an hour to spare before the car would arrive to take her to the Sinclair Ball.
She felt her phone, which she’d set to silent before her hair and makeup appointment, go off just as she was climbing out of her car with the two gowns. But, she didn’t manage to dig it out from the bottom of her large purse before it went to voicemail, and when she checked the display window, she saw she’d missed five calls from Nathan.
She frowned at the number of missed calls and was just about to call him back when she spotted him standing outside his building. He’d gotten a hair cut, she noticed. It made him look even more suave in the tuxedo he was wearing, but she missed his bad boy CEO look.
“Did you forget your keys?” she asked as she approached him. “That’s not like you.”
He didn’t answer, just stared at her, which Layla supposed meant he wasn’t up for being teased about forgetting his keys. He’d been a little on edge lately, due to the ongoing negotiations with the president of Matsuda Steel, who had been in town for three days now. Matsuda had promised Nathan he’d have a decision for him by tonight’s ball. No wonder he’d forgotten his keys. This was his first international deal, he’d been forced to step in for his brother, and it all came down to tonight. Layla decided to cut him a little slack.
“I’m really sorry I missed all of your calls. I didn’t know you were locked out. Here…” She handed him the two dresses and unlocked the fire door for them.
She noticed him hesitate, before saying, “That’s okay.”
“I thought we were supposed to meet at the Sinclair Ball,” she said as they walked inside.
“We were?” he asked.
“That’s what Kate said, but maybe I misunderstood.” She tried to take the dresses from him, but he had his hand wrapped around the dress bags loop in a white-knuckled death grip. When she touched him, she could almost feel his agitation. “Look, I know you have a lot riding on this Japan deal, but it’s going to be okay.”
“Really? You believe that?”
She took his hand in both of hers. “Yeah, I mean, I know your brother bailed on you and maybe you didn’t think you have the chops to negotiate a deal this huge. But you did it, and I know Matsuda’s going to come back with the right decision.”
He was silent for a long time before he relaxed his grip on the dress bags’ handles and said, “Thank you, Layla. You’ve always been very encouraging.”
She took the dresses from him and laid them out on the couch in the living room area. “I’m not just being encouraging. I really believe in you. You’ve worked so hard on this deal. Matsuda would be crazy not to want you as a business partner.”
He just stared at her, like she’d lost her mind, and she had the feeling somehow she was agitating him even further.
“You know what,” she said. “Let’s not talk about the Japan deal.”
She peeled her tank top off over her head, careful to avoid messing up her freshly done hair or makeup. Then she took off her jeans as well. “Actually, I need you to help me pick out which dress to wear to the ball tonight.”
He eyed her up and down, his eyes positively wolfish with lust. “Oh, I can definitely help with that.”
She laughed and unhooked her bra, then laughed again when he drew in a sharp breath. What was with him? He was acting like he’d never seen her or her breasts before. Maybe, she thought with a fleeting sadness, it was because he knew this would be the last night they’d have together.
As the sadness of her impending departure washed over her, she wondered, not for the first time, if she should just give in and sign his stupid pre-nup. She honestly couldn’t imagine spending the rest of her life with anyone else, and if her signing a document meant they could be together, maybe she should just do it, even if his distrust of her didn’t exactly bode well for a healthy and lasting relationship—
Her thoughts were interrupted when Nathan crossed the space between them, gathered her into his arms, and crushed her mouth to his.
***
“Hello, this is Layla. Please leave a message, and I’ll call you back as soon as possible.”
Nathan listened to Layla’s message, which she of course delivered in a sincerely apologetic tone, for the sixth time in less than sixty minutes. “Layla, this is Nathan. Call me back as soon as you get this.”
She still wasn’t answering her phone, and his earlier fear was beginning to morph into true dread, so he checked in with Kate again.
Kate’s search hadn’t gone any better. “I called Jacob, and he said she’d already left. But he also said something about her still needing to pick out an evening gown. So I called just about every department store in the city, but that didn’t turn up anything. So I called Spencer Greeley to see if he could trace the credit card I gave her to buy the dress. I knew I should have just picked one out for her,” she fretted. “But she said she wanted to choose her own dress this time. Mr. Greeley said he’d see what he could do, but he was already working on another project for you due in the morning.”
“I’m near my loft. I’m going to check to see if maybe she’s there and just not answering her phone for some reason,” Nathan said. “I’ll call you back if she isn’t, and you can tell Greeley to make the credit card his first priority.”
A few minutes after hanging up with Kate, he was relieved when he pulled up to his building and saw the red Mini he’d bought Layla parked curbside. There was a small lot around back, but Layla claimed to prefer street parking in front because it was less fuss. When it came to everything outside of him, Layla always chose the less fuss option.
He took a leaf from her book, though, and parked his Maserati behind her car. His heart eased off the adrenaline as he entered the building and got into the elevator. But he couldn’t quite allow himself to feel relief, not until he saw her with his own eyes.
However, when he opened the elevator doors, he did see her with his own eyes. And she was standing naked accept for a pair of panties, kissing his brother.
***
The kiss with Nathan was very nice, a little too nice. Alarm bells flared in the back of Layla’s head. The kiss seemed familiar, like she’d experienced it before, but at the same time, it didn’t feel quite right.
He smelled differently. Like simple soap and water as opposed to his usual expensive cologne. And though the kiss had started out with great passion, his lips were now gentle above hers, as if he’d be happy to just stand there kissing her for hours on end. And though she could feel his hard-on, none of Nathan’s usual driving need seemed to be present. She couldn’t remember him ever just kissing her like this, without touching her breasts or complaining about how crazy she drove him while seeking entry into her womanhood.
A nauseous feeling rose in her stomach. This man was a very good kisser, she realized. But he was not Nathan.
She put her hands on his chest and pulled back from him, effectively breaking off the kiss. For a moment their eyes locked, hers confused, his glittering with some unnamed emotion. And then it hit her. She had finally found the man she’d been searching for since June. But she hadn’t even recognized him as Andrew Sinclair until this very moment.
That’s when she felt another presence in the space. They both looked up to find Nathan standing in the open doorway, his face a work of stone-cold anger.
“Nathan,” she said. And the most eerie feeling of déjà vu overtook her.
She started to explain, but Nathan crossed the room in a lightning flash. And before she could stop him, he pulled Andrew away from her and punched him dead in the face.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“NATHAN, NO!” he heard Layla yell behind him.
Ten years ago, he had turned tail and run when he encountered a less-naked version of this exact scene, but this time he grabbed Andrew and punched him. He had been afraid of Andrew swooping in to steal Layla away from him before, but now he only knew determination. Layla was his woman, and he’d be damned if he let his brother steal her back twice.
He swung at Andrew again. The second punch also hit its mark, and it sent his brother toppling to the floor.
“Stop it,” Layla said again. Out of the corner of one eye, he could see her putting back on her tank top.
Nathan ignored her, keeping his fists at the ready, while he waited for Andrew to get back on his feet, so he could hit him again. But Layla grabbed one of his punching arms, pulling it down with both of her hands and all of her might.
“Stop it,” she said. “It’s not what you think. I thought I was kissing you.”
“What?” Nathan asked. The thought of his brother pretending to be him in order to kiss Layla sent another storm of rage through his entire system. “So you didn’t—”
Andrew chose that moment to jump to his feet and blindside Nathan with a punch of his own. Nathan felt his lip split as his head whipped to the side with the impact of his brother’s fist. He brought a hand up to his bloody lip and decided this time he was going to beat his brother within an inch of his life.
But before he could make a move on Andrew, Layla was in front of him, pushing his brother away from him and saying, “Don’t you dare hit him again. You stop this right now.”
“He started it,” Andrew yelled.
“Yes, because you tricked me into kissing you, which you had no right to do,” she said. “Now back off.”
“I had no right?” Andrew questioned. “Jessica told me he tricked you into dating him!”
“Who?” Nathan said, his killing rage giving way to confusion.
“One of your many ex-girlfriends. Remember? Apparently she ran into Layla at that opera fundraiser you attended.”
Nathan cursed, remembering the pretty co-ed Layla had sent packing on their first and last double date. Why had he invited Layla to that ball? He should have kept her hidden away in his loft. It would have saved him a month’s worth of drama if he’d just gone to the damn fundraiser alone.
Andrew continued. “Jessica emailed me a couple of weeks ago to tell me what you were up to. She said Layla was trying to find me. I would have come back sooner, but it took a while to get WiFi set up at the ranch, so I didn’t get her message until a few nights ago. So I came back for the ball, served Diana with divorce papers, and now I’m here to find out why you tricked my ex-girlfriend, the only girl I truly ever loved, into sleeping and apparently cohabitating with you.”
Nathan looked to Layla, who was now rubbing her temple as if this whole situation was giving her a headache. “You’re in contact with Jessica?” he asked. “And you told her everything.”
“No, not everything,” Layla said. “But enough that I can see why she would have contacted Andrew. That was very sweet of her.”