In her opinion, and from what she knew and had heard as a reporter, Preston Sloane was as sleazy as they came. He reminded her way too much of her own experience in college, when her English professor, nearly twenty years her senior, had taken advantage of her youth.
She was barely eighteen, a freshman, and Mark Reeves’s flirtation and attention had made her feel special and attractive. All the girls in his class had a crush on him, and Nicole was no different-except she was the one he wanted out of all those other girls, and in a matter of weeks she was dating him, then sleeping with him.
But what began as an exciting relationship with an older, experienced man gradually turned into something much uglier-including the use of drugs (to relax her, he’d told her), then on to kinkier sexual demands. She’d been so convinced that he loved her, so caught up in pleasing him, that she hadn’t realized just how degrading and dysfunctional the relationship actually was.
Mark had been a master at seducing her body and manipulating her emotions, only to shatter her heart and self-esteem when someone younger, prettier, and more innocent came along to replace her in his affections. With Nicole well used, he’d cut her out of his life completely and without remorse, leaving her ashamed and humiliated.
At the time, she’d hadn’t been able to see the silver lining in his cruel and abrupt breakup. Devastated and unable to focus on what was most important to her-her degree in journalism-she’d nearly lost everything that mattered to her.
She’d learned her lesson well and had thankfully recovered from the ordeal, but the emotional scars and inability to trust a man completely ran much deeper.
Now, as she scanned through the investigative report and the Internet articles on Preston Sloane and the supposed darker side to his personality, her stomach roiled in response. Then came the detailed information on a teenage girl named Angela Ramsey, a runaway who’d last been seen at Sloane’s estate and had been missing for the past three weeks.
Nicole had no idea what Nathan’s involvement was with Sloane and the teenage girl, or why he had a portfolio filled with so much personal data on each. He’d told her he worked in surveillance for The Onyx, so why was he interested in something that had nothing to do with casino security?
By the time she finished reading everything, she’d connected to Angela Ramsey’s story on a personal level and felt compelled to do something to alter the course the young girl was currently on. Her journalistic side saw a breakout story. And the eighteen-year-old she’d once been wanted desperately to save other girls from enduring the humiliation and degradation of getting involved with a man like Preston Sloane.
She tried to get some sleep, but instead spent the rest of the night and early-morning hours tossing and turning fitfully. Her mind churned with her own foolish past, the choices she’d made, and how those choices had nearly destroyed her. Nicole wondered how many young girls like Angela had seen Preston Sloane as their own Prince Charming. A man reputed to use girls for his pleasure, at the cost of their own self-worth and sanity.
Oh, yeah, she’d been there, done that, and she couldn’t deny the information struck a personal chord. By morning, she was determined to do what she hadn’t done all those years ago with her professor: find a way to expose Preston Sloane for the creep he was.
Here was the substantial story she’d been looking for, just begging for her to research and write. Unable to resist such a challenge, or the chance to expose an unscrupulous man like Sloane, she saw this as an opportunity to make amends for past mistakes and hopefully save other girls from falling victim to the kind of emotional manipulation that could scar them for life.
Nicole knew her editor at The Las Vegas Commentary would never approve of her taking on Preston Sloane. Investigating the man’s life, and proving he was guilty of statutory rape, would require meticulous research. Logic dictated she find a way to get close to the man so she could discover what really went on behind the high walls of his estate. Even if that meant going undercover to get his attention.
As for Nathan, she could only hope she didn’t run into him again. But if their paths did cross during her investigation of Sloane, she’d just deal with the situation when, and if, it happened.
If waking up to find Nicole had snuck out on him sometime in the early-morning hours wasn’t enough to bruise Nathan’s male ego, then finding her brief message thanking him for a great time only added insult to injury.
After rocking his world last night, more than once, she was gone-and had left him the equivalent of a Dear John note. There was no explanation for her hasty departure, and while he knew every inch of her body intimately, he realized he had no information on how to contact her. No phone number, no e-mail, no home address, nothing .
Hell, he didn’t even know her last name.
The only thing he did know about Nicole was she was a writer of some sort, and she’d attended the speed-dating event to research an article about dating trends. But that information was too general to find out who she was, or to track her down. Not without a last name to help his search.
Last night, in the heat of passion, pertinent information about her hadn’t been a concern, mainly because he’d thought this morning they’d have plenty of getting-to-know-you time to exchange those personal details about each other.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t given them the opportunity.
After getting over the initial blow of finding Nicole gone, Nathan took a shower and tried to focus on work and preparing a plan to get close to Preston Sloane. He was determined to write off the entire situation with Nicole as a one-night stand, which had become his regular mode of operation over the years, ever since his downhill spiral after Katie’s death and the loss of his fiancée, Jill, due to his alcohol abuse.
Emotionally, he just wasn’t ready to give any woman what she needed out of a relationship, and he wasn’t sure he ever would be. He’d already failed too many people in his life. He found it much easier to be alone and responsible only for taking care of himself; he didn’t have the worry of disappointing someone he cared about.
Nowadays, hooking up with a female was all about physical pleasure and little else. He didn’t do long-term relationships or emotional involvement, and he was always the one to walk away when things turned too demanding.
He realized Nicole had used his own tactics on him, and he didn’t like being on the other end one bit. He couldn’t remember a woman ever getting under his skin in just one night the way she had. So much about Nicole intrigued Nathan, and he would have bet money she’d felt the same about him-even if she had ditched him before the light of day.
Despite his frustration, he turned his concentration to the Internet and digging up as much information on Sloane as he could find. When he checked his e-mail later that afternoon and discovered a note from Cindy in regards to the speed-dating event, he felt a glimmer of hope that Nicole had checked his name on the scorecard, as he’d done for her.
I’m very sorry. No matches were made.
She was the only woman he’d said yes to, but as he read the generic message blinking on his computer screen, he was forced to accept the fact that she truly didn’t want to be found.
The final rejection stung, more than he cared to admit. But he’d never chased after a woman before, and he wasn’t about to start now. In fact, she’d probably done him a huge favor by ending things so abruptly. With the Ramsey case demanding his undivided attention, and going undercover in the next week or so, the last thing he needed was a hot, sexy female distracting him.
Chapter Six