The FedEx envelope arrived two weeks after Thanksgiving and in it was the details for the American Spirit Publishing Christmas Gala. Sasha had told him about it, but he'd made himself so busy with work that he'd lost track of time. A week to the day that package arrived Nick would be holding his Sasha in his arms, dancing the night away at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York. The hotel didn't even matter. All that mattered was that she would be with him, physically in his arms again, and that was the best Christmas present he could have ever asked for.
The top of the line Gulfstream jet landed early the week before Christmas and Sasha couldn't control the wide smile that was on her face when she deplaned and stepped into the stretch limo that was there to pick her up. She'd changed during the flight from Honolulu to Las Vegas so she was dressed in her red velvet gown, her long black hair twisted into a sea of curls on the top of her head, and her makeup was perfect. All that was missing was the man whose arm she was going to hang off of and she was about to pick him up from the Las Vegas Crime Lab.
What a vision in red she was as he walked into the reception area. Her dress, the same deep red shade as her lips, clung to every curve, the skirt ending just above her ankles, the slit in the side going up to her knee, and her legs, those long and perfect legs, were accented with black heels that were at least three inches high. She was a vision. Opening his arms, she ran to him, and he held her tight. "You are so beautiful, Sash. I have missed you."
"I've missed you too, Nicky." There were tears of joy brimming in her eyes and she took a deep breath to push her emotions down, but the subtle scent of his cologne filled her nose and she felt her body betray her, hitching at the familiarity, sending a single tear down her cheek. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his freshly shaven one. "It is so good to see you." She pulled away and grabbed a tissue. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
His smile was genuine and light, the touch of his hand on her back was soft and warm, and his eyes had a combination of love and concern. "I don't normally breakdown like that."
"I know." He laughed and took her hand as they walked out to the car. "It's kind of nice to know that you feel the same way that I do."
"I don't see you in tears."
"Watermelons don't cry." He gave her shoulder a gentle bump and relished the laugh that answered him. "But I was choked up there for a minute. You are easily the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Sash, and you look even better tonight."
"Now who needs to get out more?" She winked at him and he helped her into the limo.
"You must be Vegas." The woman on the plane smiled and extended her hand. "I'm Andy. It is good to finally meet you."
He smiled and shook the hand of the beautiful bi-racial woman with the perfect caramel colored skin, long black hair that fell to her shoulders in a wavy shawl, and dark brown eyes. "Nick Stokes, good to meet you. Sasha has spoken very highly of you."
"The feeling is mutual. I can't tell you how many times I've heard about what Vegas was doing." She laughed. "Forgive me, Nick, but she wouldn't tell me your name until we were taking off from Honolulu. For the last two months, she's made me call you Vegas."
"I never made you call him Vegas." Sasha laughed from her place on the leather couch.
"You wouldn't tell me his real name."
"Why did you need that? You would have called him 'Vegas' anyway." She laughed again and leaned into Nick's embrace.
Sasha had gone to do press for the magazine when Andrea came up to him and asked him to follow her. Outside the banquet room, Andrea asked him how much he really knew about Sasha. He'd expected the 'what are your intensions' interrogation, but not by Sasha's best friend. "I know that she is a highly intelligent and gifted writer. I know that she is more beautiful than she believes she is and I know that I love her. Do I need to know more?"
"I'm afraid you do." Andrea took him into a separate meeting room, asking the drunken couple making out on the conference table to leave as though she were asking for them to pass the salt. What she was about to tell Nick was probably going to cause him to bolt, but it was better that he hear the whole story from her than bits and pieces from Sasha and never know the whole truth. "Have a seat."
"Andy, what's going on?"
"Vegas," she began, crossing her legs and taking a deep breath, "haven't you ever wondered why Sasha travels so much?"
"It's her job. I get that."
"It's more than her job. It's also for her safety." Nick didn't move and Andrea nodded. The only other serious one had freaked out at those words. This one might just be a keeper. "What I'm about to tell you, you need to know because Sasha will never tell you herself, but you also need to know that Sasha must never know that you are aware of this. Am I understood?" Again, Nick didn't move, only nodded. "Good.
Close to ten years ago now, when I first took her on as a client, when she was still green and fresh out of college, and I was still a literary agent, Sasha was really close with her family. We would only send her to about six cities a year and mainly only on the east coast so she could go home on weekends if she wanted to. Then she started to be come more and more successful and her father started to become strange. Her success must have rocked his masculine pride, I don't know, but he began asking her to invest in his hair-brained business schemes, which always lost her more and more money until she was asking for advances almost every month just to pay her normal bills. Finally the publisher had had it and threatened to fire her if she didn't get her act together. I went to bat for her and told her that enough was enough. It was time to cut Daddy off."
"I'm guessing he didn't take it so well."
"Not in the least. I was the one who increased her travel schedule to limit her exposure to him, but he found a way to keep his hooks in her. That was when I took the drastic step of changing her pen name and began registering her under various aliases. I also told her that the publisher didn't want her telling anyone where she was so that she could operate without the tourist boards attempting to bribe her. Well, that was the last straw. Daddy Dearest began making threats and accusations that we owed him, Sasha owed him, and even I owed him. It really shook Sash. She'd worshiped her father, lived for her family, and suddenly had to walk away with retraining orders to protect herself from them. It took years before she would even tell someone her real name and profession."
"Is that why she's not syndicated?"
Andrea laughed. "Is that what she told you? She is syndicated in most major newspapers, though we had to wait for a year after the original restraining orders were issued. It's just not under her usual pseudonym." She laughed again. "No, the publisher would have dropped her years ago if we couldn't have syndicated her column. The magazine has a niche that's good size, but not enough to generate the kind of revenue Sasha's column generates on it's own."
"Is her father dangerous?"
The smile on her face faded as the conversation switched back on topic. "To be honest, I don't know, Nick. He may have given up by now, but that never struck me as Rob's MO. We, and by we, I mean I fight with the publisher to try and limit her time in New York, flying her, as you saw tonight, via private jet when we have to bring her into the area. The publisher puts the hotel in lockdown anyway because all of the top brass are here, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it's also to protect their asset. Sasha is a valuable commodity, though she doesn't know that."
"Have you ever told her?"
Andrea smiled a sly smile and shook her head. "Vegas, Sasha may seem like she's cool and self-assured, but she's anything but, and I say that as her best friend. If I were to tell her that the publisher worries every year about when her contract is up for renewal and making sure she is happy, it would add undue pressure and she would shutdown. I can't have that. I need her to keep submitting her columns, articles, and chapters."
Nick nodded. "How much trouble is she in for taking these next two months off?"
"She's not. We've been wondering when she was going to want to take a break and have planned for it for years. Don't worry, Nick. I've got her back." She stood up. "We better get back before she notices we're gone. I just needed you to know so you can watch out for the signs. Sash is usually good about noticing if someone is following her, taking cabs, keeping her mouth shut, that sort of thing, but if you are going to be with her, you need to be prepared and aware. It wasn't fair to have you in the dark."
"No, I thank you for telling me, Andy. Don't worry," he grinned, "I've got her back as well."
