Page 5 of Home to Me (The Andrades 2)
Rena bypassed the line outside Skal and spoke directly to the bouncer. She asked if he’d seen Nick Andrade. He looked her over, then wordlessly dismissed her.
A quick glance down reminded her that she was still dressed in the gray skirt and white blouse she’d worn to work. Could I look less like I belong here? She flashed him a smile she reserved for just such situations. Her family was immune to it, but it had gotten her out of a fair share of traffic tickets. One of her old boyfriends had called it her “get out of jail smile.” She was sure it didn’t wield that level of power, but if she ever found herself sitting in a cell, she’d certainly test it.
At first she thought she’d lost her touch. The man frowned down at her. She beamed her smile at him again. Suddenly, with a curt nod, he stepped aside for her to enter. She stepped inside, and immediately her senses were assailed by loud music. Skal had a reputation for bringing Vegas-like wildness to the elite crowd of New York. No one entered unless they knew someone. The dance floor was packed, as were the darkened areas around it. Above the dance floor, two semi-private balconies looked down over the crowd. One was full of people. The other appeared empty.
Nick was in one of those VIP sections. Of that, Rena was certain.
She had decided to try the busy one until she glimpsed movement in the other. Someone was having a private party. Rena paused and touched a hand to her lips.
Was Nick up there with a woman?
Does it matter? No.
He kissed me, but that was to shut me up . . . or prove something to his brother. Gio should have never told him to stay away from me. Telling Nick not to do something was like waving candy before a toddler and then trying to convince him to wait until after dinner to eat it.
The kiss meant nothing.
I’m over it.
The outside wall of the club led to a stairway that looked as if it led up to the balconies, but it was roped off. Rena put her hand on the clasp of the rope and hesitated, mentally rehearsing what she would say to Nick.
Fresh from a conversation with Luke, where he’d reiterated his warning about putting herself between his brothers, Rena was even more determined she had to. Gio had looked defeated when Nick had stormed out of his office. His mood hadn’t improved even after Luke had spoken to him. It had taken a call from his fiancée, Julia, to get Gio to go home.
He was worried about his brothers, and he had reason to be. Whatever understanding they had come to in Italy had crumbled since they’d come home. She wanted to see them the way they’d been directly after their return. They’d laughed. Teased each other. For Rena, it had felt as if she’d gone back in time to when she’d first met them—back before their father had died.
To see them revert to mistrust was heartbreaking. It was the same old story, except this time, Patrice had declared Gio the villain and Nick her champion. For Nick, someone who had been considered the black sheep of his family for so long, it would have felt good to finally be in a position of favor. Patrice knew exactly how to play her sons against each other. Rena shuddered just thinking about her. Something cold had taken root in that woman’s heart and it had consumed her. Love should be unconditional, but in the Andrade household Rena had visited, it was given and withheld deliberately.
Everyone had some good in them, but in Patrice it was buried deep—really deep—if it was still there at all.
“Are you looking for someone?” a male voice asked from behind her.
With her hand still on the rope, Rena turned and forced a smile to her lips. The man who’d addressed her was an older gentleman who looked to be in his late fifties. He wore an open-collared white shirt and dark pants and spoke with a slight accent and an easy confidence.
Lying boldly, Rena said, “Nick Andrade asked me to drop by. Is he upstairs?”
The man raised one eyebrow and Rena blinked quickly, her sudden confidence diffusing. “He did?”
“Yes, he . . .” Rena stopped herself there. He wasn’t buying her story. Would the truth sway him? “Okay, he didn’t invite me, but I need to talk to him.” When the man continued to silently watch her, she softened her tone. “Please.”
“Interesting.” He gave her another once-over as if evaluating a puzzle piece. “I’ve never seen you here before. How well do you know him?”
Rena met his eyes with the bold honesty that was her nature. “Very well.”
“What is he allergic to?”
His question took Rena by surprise, but she answered without missing a beat. “Shellfish. It gives him a rash.”
The man nodded in approval. “It does. You explain a lot.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Where are my manners?” The man held out his hand. “My name is Sergey Boyd, but you can me Serge. Tell me, how long have you been seeing Nick?”
Rena blushed beneath his scrutiny. “We aren’t . . . we’re not . . . we’re just friends.”
“Friends.” He made a sound of disbelief deep in his throat. “I don’t believe men and women can just be friends. One always wants something more.”
Rena raised her chin and met his eyes. “I’m sorry your experiences have jaded you, but I don’t agree.”
“So there has never been anything between you and Nick?” He watched her reaction closely and Rena cursed herself for blushing.
“Not that it is any of your business, but no. Never.”
“What’s your name?”
“Rena Sander.”
An enigmatic smile spread across his face. “I’ve heard of you.”
Don’t ask. Don’t do it. Oh, what the hell. “You have?”
He stepped forward and unclasped the rope, holding it to one side to let her pass. “This leads to a landing. Go left at the top. You’ll find Nick there.” His eyes lit with a private joke.
Rena paused. “Is there something I should know?”
He shrugged and refastened the rope behind her. “Rena, next time you come here, you tell whoever is at the door that you are four-one-one.”
“What am I?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to that question either. When Serge answered with a wink, Rena squared her shoulders and said, “I won’t be back anyway.”
He didn’t argue the point, but he was still smiling when she turned and headed up the stairs.
The music from below boomed through the hallway, and Rena could feel the bass echoing through her as she walked. She wondered what her brother, Kane, would say if he knew where she was. Most likely, he’d magically appear before she had time to reach the top step. By some people’s definition, her family was overprotective.
Her father had always said, “Money comes and goes, youth and health will one day leave you, but family endures. In the end, it’s all that really matters.”
They loved her and, therefore, they did everything they could to keep her safe. How could she resent them for that?
She’d seen firsthand the dangerous temptations that came with being wealthy. More than a few of her old friends from high school cited boredom as the reason they indulged in self-destructive behaviors. Well into their twenties, they still wrecked cars, slept with each other’s boyfriends, and partied in VIP areas where they could do as they pleased without the prying eyes of the public.
Nick was part of that world.
The door to the balcony on the left was open. Rena took a step inside the room and looked around. Nick was standing beside a table with his back to her, just back far enough from the wooden railing that he wouldn’t be visible to those below.
Her breath caught in her throat as she soaked in the perfection of the mostly nude man before her. His dark boxer briefs clung to his tight ass and hugged his muscular thighs. She wouldn’t have been human if she hadn’t taken a moment to appreciate the cut of his bare back and the breadth of the strong shoulders above it. Apparently he worked out as hard as he partied.
Oh, God.
I told Serge he was wrong; I lied. I’m a bad, bad friend. I do want more.
I always have, no matter what I’ve told myself.
The intensity of her attraction to him made Rena nervous, and she began to babble internally.
Hello, I’m lost. Can anyone tell me how to get back to denial?
It’s a beautiful place located in the land of sanity. You know, where things make sense and I don’t leer at men in their underwear?
Nick picked up a glass of clear liquid and the napkin beneath it fluttered to the floor. He bent to retrieve it. Rena bit her lower lip as he did. The movement rippled the muscles in his back and thighs. Mouth dry, Rena imagined running her hands over both.
She let out a wistful sigh that echoed through the room.
Nick froze, straightened, and turned. Their eyes met across the room. Unable to deny herself, Rena let her gaze slide down his lightly haired chest, over his well-defined abs, to a part of him the dark briefs outlined lovingly.
