All of Me (Heart of Stone Book 11) Read online

  All of Me

  Tristan and Nina have a fairytale love story, and after twenty years of marriage and three children, they seem to have it all. But Nina worries they need something to keep the spark alive between them, so what better than a date night with her husband?

  What begins as a sexy night together turns into something darker neither one anticipated, and their fairytale is threatened by something they have no control over. Tristan won’t give up on the love of his life, and all he can hope is she won’t give up on him.

  All they have together is worth fighting for, but will that be enough to make sure they get their happily ever after?

  ALL OF ME

  K.M. SCOTT

  All of Me is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  2019 Copper Key Media, LLC

  Copyright © 2019 Copper Key Media, LLC

  Kindle Edition

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Published in the United States

  ISBN: 978-0-9847243-4-5

  Cover Design: Patricia Maia

  All of Me Playlist

  Perfect – Ed Sheeran

  (Just Like) Starting Over – John Lennon

  Take A Bow – Madonna

  For You

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  Click on the covers below to learn more about the series:

  Table of Contents

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  All of Me Playlist

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Books by K.M. Scott

  Books by Gabrielle Bisset

  Chapter One

  Tristan

  My assistant Brenda stood in the doorway to my office waiting for my answer to her question about a meeting I had in less than half an hour. The problem was I’d slipped into daydreaming about my date night with Nina as she was talking. Now I had no idea what she’d asked.

  “Well, I think we can…” I said before letting my sentence drift off into silence, hoping to fool her.

  I should have known better. Brenda had been with me for twenty years. The woman knew me as well as my wife did. Well, almost as well.

  “You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” she asked with a chuckle. “Where have you been all day? All I know is you haven’t been here.”

  She gently scowled at me as I smiled at how transparent I’d gotten over the years. After two decades of working together, it was foolish to think I could put one over on her.

  “You caught me. I’ve been distracted all day. I didn’t mean to tune you out, but I have other things on my mind.”

  Suddenly, her expression morphed into one full of worry. “Everything’s okay, right?”

  I waved away her concern. “Oh, yeah. Everything’s fine. It’s just that Nina and I have a date planned tonight. I’ve been thinking about it for days. It’s the first time in far too long that she and I will have time to ourselves. No work with me. No time in the studio for her. No kids coming over, and no events we have to attend. Tonight, it’s just her and me for the first time in a long time.”

  By the way Brenda tilted her head and smiled, I knew she understood how much tonight meant to me. Nina and I had gotten into the habit of having something scheduled nearly every night of the week for as long as I could remember. Tonight we’d get back to a habit we started when the kids were small.

  Date night at least once a week.

  I’m sure some people would think it sounded stupid to schedule a night to be together, but with how busy our lives were, it was the only way Nina and I could make sure we didn’t turn into a couple who lived together but basically lived separate lives. We’d gotten away from date night in the past few months, and it was high time to reinstate it.

  Brenda chuckled. “Oh, I see. Well, don’t worry. Your four-thirty with Jacob Hanson had to be rescheduled for next Wednesday because his wife went into labor this morning, but we already talked about that, so unless you have an appointment I don’t know about, you’re in the clear. Tressa did ask me to tell you she’d be up to see you bright and early tomorrow morning. She came up during your meeting with Mr. Tankito earlier.”

  “I couldn’t have an appointment you don’t know about, so that’s not a problem. I’ll call Tressa on my way home so maybe I’ll be coming in late tomorrow morning. Just to give you a head’s up,” I said with a grin.

  My assistant’s eyebrows shot up into her forehead. “Oh, I see. Well, I’ll make sure if anyone calls to tell them you won’t be available until ten tomorrow morning.”

  As she turned to leave, I called after her, “Make it eleven.”

  She laughed and nodded as she closed my office door. “Eleven it is. Have a good night!”

  I sat back in my chair and tried to think of anything I hadn’t planned for tonight. I’d made sure to clear my schedule. I’d been sure to buy Nina’s favorite wine, and I’d grabbed a bottle of champagne just in case we wanted to make it a celebration. Dinner from her favorite restaurant had been ordered and would be delivered at just before seven sharp.

  Flowers! I hadn’t gotten a bouquet of flowers. Damnit!

  Quickly, I grabbed my office phone and dialed the florist nearest to the building, The Rose Bush. Owned by a woman with the actual name of Rose Bush, the shop never failed to have gorgeous flowers Nina loved. I just hoped I hadn’t waited too long to get them.

  “Hi, this is Tristan Stone. I need to order a dozen long-stemmed red roses for this afternoon. I can pick them up at five o’clock.”

  “Hi, Mr. Stone. You called at the precisely right time,” one of Rose’s workers said. “I have just over a dozen left in the entire store. Today must be long-stemmed red rose day.”

  “Well, if you have a few more, throw them into the bunch too. I’ll take them all. I’ll see you on my way home just before five.”

  “Will do! We’ll see you then!”

  That handled, I leaned back in my chair and relaxed. Drinks, food, and flowers had been taken care of. Nina and I promised we’d meet in the dining room at six-thirty, which gave me enough time to get home, clean up, and get dressed for my date with my wife.

  The monitor on the wall across from me chimed to let me know someone was calling. Very few people had my direct number, so I never bothered with the away message when I was actually in the office. I wasn’t happy about being torn away from my daydreaming about tonight, though.

  I waited to see the caller�
�s face and smiled when I saw Tressa staring back at me. “Oh, good. I was going to call you on my way home, so this works even better.”

  Her dark eyes narrowed to squints as a look of confusion came over her. “But I told Brenda I’d be up first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Well, I might not be in the office first thing tomorrow morning, so why don’t we take care of whatever you wanted to discuss then right now?” I suggested and stood to walk around my desk.

  “You’re always in your office in the morning, Dad. Is something wrong?” Tressa asked with wide eyes as her look of confusion morphed into one of concern.

  I leaned back and sat on the edge of my desk. “Why does everyone think something’s wrong? I can come into the office late sometimes. I am the CEO of this place, aren’t I?”

  “Yes, but you rarely ever do. The last time you weren’t in the office at nine o’clock on the dot you had a doctor’s appointment. Is that why you’re not going to be in the office tomorrow morning? Is something wrong, or is it just a routine check-up?”

  Sometimes my children could be too funny.

  “I don’t have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. If you must know, I have a date tonight, and I’m planning on getting lucky. If I do, I won’t want to leave the beautiful woman I intend on spending the night with, so I thought I’d come in around eleven tomorrow.”

  Tressa’s dark eyes grew as big as saucers. I couldn’t tell if she got my joke or if she truly believed I was planning a date with another woman other than her mother. By the look on her face as she gaped at me, I had a feeling it was the latter.

  When she didn’t say anything for a few moments, I finally explained, “Your mother and I have a date night tonight, Tressa. But I still think I might get lucky, so I wanted to make sure I planned ahead for tomorrow. You know, you kids never seem to get my humor anymore.”

  My daughter’s body visibly relaxed, and I watched as she processed what I’d said and finally smiled. “Dad, I swear you nearly gave me a heart attack. Whose father says he thinks he’s going to get lucky? What’s wrong with you?”

  “I’m not dead, honey. Either is your mother. Just because we’re not twenty anymore doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time. So what is it you wanted to discuss tomorrow? We can talk about it right now, if you have the time.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I can’t remember now because I just had to endure hearing my father talk about getting lucky with a woman. I swear to God, Dad, you’re crazy. No wonder Mom loves you. The two of you are nuts.”

  I chuckled at how seriously Tressa was responding to my joke. “We’re crazy about each other, so I think we’ll be fine.”

  Shaking her head, she smiled. “I hope Killian and I are as happy as you two are when we’re your age.”

  “Just remember the reason you fell for each other in the first place. That’s all you have to do. After that, nothing else matters. Anything can be handled if you remember why you fell in love.”

  Tressa smiled and blushed like she always did whenever anyone mentioned her falling in love with her husband. She thought nobody knew that she’d been crazy about him long before she told anyone, but I knew differently. That first day he showed up in my office told me the whole story. Even then, she liked him more than she wanted to admit.

  “I’ll make sure to mention that piece of advice to him when he gets back from his trip.”

  “Where did the league send him this time?” I asked, eager to know what new location they planned for a team. If Killian went to a city and spent time there, a new football team was coming.

  She shook her head. “I can’t tell. He made me promise I wouldn’t tell anyone because the league doesn’t want the news to get out before they have their big reveal this time.”

  I twisted my face into a scowl. “You always were able to keep secrets. Even as a child, I could get anything I wanted to know out of your sister and brother, but you kept things locked up like Fort Knox. Okay, don’t tell me, but do me a favor. Let me know as soon as you can because I want to know where we’ll be going to see games soon, okay?”

  With a smile, she said, “Yes, Dad.” Then after a second, she added, “I can give you this hint. You won’t have to wear a winter coat no matter when the game is.”

  My mind raced with the possibilities. Somewhere warm. They had a team in Spain. Portugal? Maybe. Greece? That could be it. Maybe somewhere on the African continent. Talk about a team in South Africa had been going around for a long time.

  Or maybe my daughter was just teasing me and the new stadium would be a dome and coats would never be needed. Tressa liked to be sneaky like that.

  “I have to go, Dad. Tell Mom I love her and I’ll call her soon, okay?”

  “Not tonight or tomorrow morning. Any time after that, assuming we aren’t having a date night, is fine. Love you, honey.”

  Again, she rolled her eyes. “I love you too, Dad, even though you’re crazy.”

  The screen went black as I mumbled, “Crazy in love. It’s not just for kids, you know.”

  I turned to walk back to my chair, but the chime from the monitor alerted me that yet another call was coming in. Assuming it was Tressa again and she’d remembered what she wanted to discuss tomorrow morning, I sat back against the edge of my desk and waited to see her.

  But my daughter’s beautiful face didn’t appear. Instead, Nina sat smiling at me. “Hi! What are you doing?”

  “Talking to the most incredible woman I know.”

  “You don’t have to sweet talk me, Tristan,” she said with a giggle. “I’m going to sleep with you.”

  “Oh, good, because I just told Tressa I hope to get lucky tonight, and I’d hate for our daughter to find out I struck out.”

  “You are too much! Well, I called to tell you I’m done at the studio, so I’m going to take a bubble bath to get ready for our date. I’ll try not to get all pruney, though.”

  “It’s okay if you are. I’ll still sleep with you anyway,” I said with a wink.

  “Have I told you I loved you yet today?” she said sweetly in that way that never failed to make me smile.

  “Yes, but I love hearing it, so feel free to repeat yourself.”

  Leaning forward until her face took up the entire screen, she said, “I love you. I can’t wait for our date tonight.”

  Her blue eyes looked as soft as they had the first time I laid eyes on her at that art gallery all those years ago. Time had done nothing to dim the light in them that always made me want to take her into my arms and never let her go.

  “Are you feeling okay today?” I asked, still worried after her bout with the flu last week.

  Nina nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just glad you didn’t catch it. It was strange, wasn’t it? I spiked a fever every day and felt like a bus ran over me, but I didn’t have any other symptoms. No cough or anything wrong with my head. I’m just glad it’s gone so we can have date night tonight.”

  “I wish you would have called the doctor.”

  Her eyes opened wide like she couldn’t believe I’d said that. “I did. See? This is why we need date night.”

  Failing to understand the connection, I squinted and shook my head. “I don’t see what he has to do with it.”

  Nina twisted her face into a grimace. “Tristan, we had a whole conversation about this already. You said you wished I’d call the doctor. I said I didn’t need to because I would feel fine in a couple days. You said you would feel better about things if I called. So I called, and he said just what I thought he would. That it was probably a twenty-four to forty-eight hour bug and I’d be fine. If I wasn’t, I should call him again. I did feel better in a few days, so I didn’t call him back. I told you all of this already. Didn’t you listen?”

  I quickly ran through our conversations in the past week, but I couldn’t find any shred of memory about the one she was talking about. I believed she had told me all that, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place when or where.

  That l
ikely meant I’d had my mind on work instead of talking to her when she did tell me about it.

  “I’m sorry, honey. I don’t remember us discussing that,” I said in my best apologetic voice.

  Her face still frozen in a grimace, she rolled her eyes. “Hence the need for date night.”

  Now I got the connection loud and clear. I had been distracted in the past few months with the new Stone Worldwide energy division under such heavy scrutiny from the government. Everything had gone smoothly in the inspections, thankfully, but it had meant my mind tended to be elsewhere most of the time.

  “Got it. I’m all in on date night for whatever reason, but since I’ve been preoccupied lately, I agree date night is important.”

  Her expression softened, and she gave me a smile. “Good. I’d hate to be the only willing participant in this.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. I’m one-hundred percent into date night. In fact, I just ordered something I’m bringing home for you. It’s a surprise.”

  For a moment, I thought she might press me for a clue as to what I’d gotten her, but she shook her head. “I’m not going to ask because I love your surprises. In fact, I have a surprise for you.”

  Unlike my wife, I wasn’t a huge fan of surprises, even the good ones from her. I preferred to know what was going on around me at all times, and surprises made that impossible.

  “A surprise? Care to give me a hint or two, or is it a real surprise I’ll have to wait for?”

  My wife had two kinds of surprises. The more common kind was something she didn’t want to wait for me to know about so she’d give me hints and I’d guess. The other kind was a true surprise that were rarer but always a bigger deal.

  “It’s a real surprise, so no hints,” she said with a sweet smile as she leaned back away from the screen. “You’ll just have to wait until you get home.”

  I looked down at my right wrist to check my watch and looked back up at her. “Well, that’s only about two hours from now, so I can wait. Unless it’s something you’re going to make me wait longer for.”