Page 14 of Take What You Want

The familiar scent of salty sea breeze and cedar envelopes me and I refrain from taking a deeper breath. But it’s hard to resist when he smells like my safety net, even though it's already let me fall to the depths before.

His arms tighten around me, like he wants to cherish the moment, but I pull back and smooth a hand down the front of my dress. Clearing my throat, I glance around the empty place and say, “You didn’t rent this out just for our meeting, did you?”

“I rented it out just for you.” He grins, holding his arm out to the opposite side of the booth for me. I slide into the plush leather and settle in.

“Shut up, you did not.”

He sits back down and leans back, throwing an arm over the back of the booth. “Okay, partially for you. Partially because we needed privacy.”

“So fancy,” I muse, looking around at the dimly lit steakhouse. “And sending a car to pick me up from the airport? You know I know how to get a car myself, right?”

“I know you can. You’ve always been able to take care of yourself. Doesn’t mean you always have to,” he says, shrugging as a waiter walks over with water glasses.

“Can I get you anything else to drink besides water?” he asks, eyes bouncing between the two of us. I see the recognition on his face when he looks at Nikolai, but he doesn’t say anything.

Nikolai doesn’t even bother looking at the wine menu. “We’ll take a bottle of the house cabernet sauvignon, thank you.”

The waiter nods before swiftly disappearing.

“That’s still your favorite, right?”

I don’t want to give him the satisfaction, but I nod.

His full lips tilt in that self-assured grin of his.

“Should we take a look at the contract?” That’s the reason we’re here, after all.

He waves me off and takes a sip of water. “We’ll get to business later. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How have you been?”

A heavy sigh racks my chest and Nikolai’s gaze dips to my ample cleavage at the movement. I narrow my eyes, but he doesn’t bother looking embarrassed at being caught.

“I’ve been fine,” I answer.

He cocks his head to the side. “Jane.”

“Nikolai.”

“C’mon. How have you been?”

The waiter returns with the bottle of wine, pouring a sample for Nikolai to taste that he defers to me. It’s delicious. And expensive. Once it gets my stamp of approval, our glasses are filled, our orders are taken, and I finally fill Nikolai in on the mundane existence I’ve lived the past eight months since we last saw each other.

I gloss over the fact that Liam is working at the same firm as me. I don’t want to think about that right now, and it’s not something I want to particularly talk to Nikolai about. Yes, he gave me a shoulder to cry on when we broke up two years ago when I was visiting the band on a tour stop in Dallas, but that’s not something I want to revisit.

“How about you? Are you doing okay?” I ask, returning his undivided attention. Nikolai’s always been good about being the fun guy, the one who is always there to lighten the mood and make everyone laugh.

It’s a role he’s always fit into naturally, but it’s also something he hides behind. That mask of always being okay. Always having a joke.

Other people are fine to take him at face value, but not me. Not since I almost lost him forever.Twice.

He rubs a hand across his jaw, rings glinting in the low lighting. “I’ve been fine.”

Now it’s my turn to turn the tables on him.

“Nikolai,” I say, mocking how he called me out earlier.

“Jane,” he teases back, but then takes a sip of his wine. “It hasn’t been the easiest. I miss music.”

It’s always been his haven.

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