Seducing Zeb (Tarnished Saints Series) (19 page)

“So when are you and Zeb going to have one?” asked Angel.

“When are we going to have one, what?” came Zeb’s voice across the room as he came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. The towel was a small one and Zeb had to hold it closed in front of him with one hand.

“We’re talking about having babies,” said Laney.

“Oh,” said Zeb, once again not sounding too thrilled.

Cat wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, so she figured she’d change the subject.
“Honey, you might want to get dressed so we can eat.”

Zeb walked up to her
looking sexier than ever, and she noticed Angel and Laney quickly looking the opposite direction, instead of at his bare chest.

“I don’t have anything to wear that isn’t ripped,” he whispered in
to her ear.

She wasn’t sure if the girls had heard him, but even if they hadn’t, she was sure they noticed the reddening of her face as she started feeling v
ery hot. Then she smelled the biscuits really burning this time and looked over to the stove knowing she had to remove them quickly.

“Here, hold the baby,” she said, pushing Matthias into his hands and rushing across the room.

“Wait,” said Zeb, reaching out to grab the baby with both hands as it started to cry again. She heard a gasp and then giggles from Laney and Angel as she pulled the biscuits out of the oven just in the nick of time and set them atop the stove.

“Don’t worry,
everything’s fine.” She smiled and turned back to see Angel and Laney laughing and holding their hands in front of their eyes. Zeb had his back turned toward them, but she could see that he’d obviously had to drop his towel when she’d handed him the baby so quickly. He stood there stark naked and giving her a look that was somewhere between anger and amusement. And the sight of him holding a baby so carefully that he’d not thought twice about dropping his towel to secure the child in a good hold, made her realize that she was starting to love him. And she wondered if she’d ever have the chance to see him holding their baby some day. Her heart said she would, but her head told her otherwise. This was all too good to be true and she was sure it wouldn’t last.

Chapter 15

Zeb spent all morning returning his phone calls from his office, not able to believe how his business had grown since he’d opened up his own firm less than a month ago. He was already overworked, and felt bad for bailing out on Cat when it came to choosing a lake house, but he really didn’t have the time.

Besides, he didn’t care. He’d decided to stay in his condo though he
hadn’t had the heart to tell her yet. She seemed so excited to be choosing a lake house that he decided to just let her pick one out anyway. He told her he didn’t care which one she chose, and that she could do whatever she wanted. He thought she’d be happy he was giving her free reign but she’d almost seemed upset when he’d told her.

He figured it was a good thing to
keep her busy since he made it clear she wasn’t going to be going back to work for Burley after last night. He’d get his inheritance though he really didn’t care about it, and just rent out the house to make some extra money.

He rubbed his hands over his face wearily, still feeling the sting of Cat’s punch. Damn, that girl was feisty. He never expected her to take on strippers nor to punch him in the eye
– and in front of everyone yet. She was jealous, and he liked that. He smiled and leaned back on his chair thinking that maybe he could get used to this married stuff. Maybe. He just needed a little more time to think about it.

He looked at his hand and mark the wedding ring had left on his finger. But he’d finally managed to get it pried off
his finger in the shower. It had been so tight he felt as if it had been stopping his blood.

He wanted to talk to Cat about their relationship, but it just never seemed to happen. But if they did stay married, he was going to buy her the best ring a girl ever had. It felt good to be back in
his own clothes and driving his car again. Maybe Cat had been right about him using his money to get what he wanted, but he was used to this life style and didn’t want to change.

But then he thought about Cat making him breakfast and the way she looked holding that baby and his head was all confused once again. He liked the way she’d looked at him when he was holding the baby too. Of course, he was naked, so maybe that’s what she’d been smiling about
, he wasn’t sure. But it almost felt – right. And he could almost picture himself being married to Cat the rest of his life. She was getting to him, and no woman had ever had that much control over him before. What was happening here?

He’d
been thinking of making a phone call all day but was almost afraid to do it. But he knew now he had to try this, because maybe it would help to clear up some of the confusion in his mind. He pulled out his little black book with all his private numbers in it and dialed one in the back of the book that he’d just added this morning after some thorough research.

Hell, he hoped he was doing the right thing because if he found the person he was looking for, life would never be the same for him
nor for Cat ever again. But until he was sure of his whole situation, he could never let Cat find out about this. Because if she did find out, he wasn’t really sure how she would react. He gently touched his black eye with his fingers, then picked up the receiver and punched in the number he’d written in black marker at the back of his book.

* * *

Cat cleaned up the dishes, still upset that Zeb seemed to want nothing to do with choosing a lake house. She’d relayed her concerns to Laney and Angel, but they didn’t seem to agree with her.

“I’m sure Zeb is just too busy at work to have time to think about a house right now,” said Laney, feeding the baby a bottle. “Judas gets wrapped up in his work a lot of times and he’s hard to reach as well.”

“But Judas puts his family over his work,” Cat pointed out. “After all, doesn’t he take the baby to work with him sometimes?”

“Well, yes, but only because he has to.”

“He doesn’t have to. You could hire a baby sitter but he obviously wants to be around his new grandchild,” said Cat. “And he dove in front of a bullet to save his daughter.”

“Thomas would give his life for any of our children as well,” Angel said, drying the last dish and placing it back in the cabinet.

“That’s different,” said Laney. “Zeb doesn’t have any kids. And he was a natural holding little Matthias, didn’t you see that?”

“You . . . saw that?” asked Cat, feeling a tad bit jealous.

“I didn’t mean I saw his . . . I meant . . . help me out here Angel.”

Angel was l
aughing too hard to come to Laney’s rescue.

“Well, maybe you two are right and I’m just paranoid that something is going to happen to ruin my happiness.”

“You
are
paranoid,” said Laney. “And just because things didn’t work out for you in the past, doesn’t mean that’ll happen with Zeb.”

“But every time something good happens to me, it seems it’s taken away by something bad. Just like when my younger brother was born. I was so happy thinking we’d be like one of those real families.
And then I lost him.”

“It sounds like y
ou had a real family,” said Angel.

“No, I didn’t. My parents never married. And then my father stole my brother Lorenzo from me and I never saw him again
because he died. And then when things started working out with my mother and we were starting to be able to survive on our own – she died too.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Laney. “I guess I didn’t realize that.”

“I went from being a straight A student and homecoming queen to living like a bum out of a paper bag and sleeping in the gutters wondering every time I heard the sound of a police siren if they were going to take me and put me in a foster home.”

“Cat, I worked for the Department of
Child Protective Services for years, plus I grew up as an orphan so I know what it’s like to live with foster families. It’s not that bad. At least you would have had the sense of being part of a family.”

“
Well, I didn’t know that at the time. And I did have a family – sort of, when I turned eighteen and moved to Vegas and was taken in by Cadmus Gianopoulos the owner of the Diamond Dust casino and his wife. But that wasn’t until after I stopped dancing as a showgirl.

Cadmus and his
wife Gloria took care of me and gave me a place to live. They also gave me a job in their casino, teaching me how to deal blackjack.”

“Wasn’t that hard to learn?” asked Laney.

“No. It was easy for me because I was always good with math. I think they’d thought of me as the daughter they’d always wanted. But both of them ended up dying in a small private plane crash – and once again my good life turned sour. And that’s when his son Denny came into my life as new owner of the casino.”

“A boyfriend?” asked Laney.

“An abusive boyfriend who I’m glad to be away from.”

“Oh, I can see why
you’re paranoid now,” added Angel. “But the Taylor men aren’t like that at all,” she reassured her. “Just give Zeb some time, he’ll come around. He’s just used to living the life of a bachelor.”

“And likes girls too much,” Laney added, which didn’t make Cat feel any better.

Angel gave Laney a scolding look at that comment and then forced a smile. “Cat, let’s get going so you have time to see all the cabins and choose the right one for you and Zeb.”

“All right.
Just let me try to fix my hair,” she said, going into the bathroom. “And maybe I can get a hold of my normal clothes again so I don’t have to wear this ugly dress.” She looked into the mirror and started fixing her hair the best she could without having a brush, when she saw from the corner of her eye something glimmer. She looked down to the top of the sink to see Zeb’s wedding ring sitting there in a puddle of water. She put down her hands slowly and picked up the ring and ran out to show Laney and Angel.

“What’s that?” asked Laney, looking up from feeding the baby.

“It’s Zeb’s wedding ring,” she said in a stiff voice.

“I’m sure he just forgot to put it back on after his shower,” Angel told her.

“No, that’s not true,” she said with her heart beating faster. “He hasn’t taken this off the whole time we’ve been married, even though I haven’t been wearing mine. Now, we’ve finally consummated the marriage and he’s taken it off. Don’t you see what this means? He doesn’t want to stay married after all. I gave him sex and that’s all he wanted. I’ve lost him, I know it. First the way he didn’t want to get a house and now this. Oh, girls, what am I going to do?”

“Do you love him?” asked Angel.

“I think I am falling in love with him,” said Cat.

“Then tell him.”

“No,” said Laney. “The Taylor men don’t do well with that kind of stuff.”

“You’re right,” Angel agreed. “I remember how long it took for Thomas to say he loved me. We need to do something about this right away.”

“Like what?” asked Cat.

“You need to seduce him,” said Laney. “Make him want you as much as you want him.”

“But I’ve already done that last night. It obviously didn’t make a difference.”

“Not sexually,” said Laney. “Seduce him in other ways.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Angel. “Let him see what he’d be missing by not marrying you.”

“I don’t understand,” said Cat feeling very confused.

“Put it this way,” said Laney. “Let him know the real you. Not only the sexual side of you. Zeb is a bachelor. He’s used to getting sex from girls.”

“Laney!”
Angel scolded.

“Sorry, Cat, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just saying, maybe he needs to see . . . what else you can do. What else you can offer
and bring to the marriage.”

“If you’re saying be domestic, I don’t think I can do that.”

“You baked a wonderful breakfast skillet,” said Angel.

“That’s the only thing I really know how to make,” Cat told them. “It was one of my mother’s favorite dishes and we ate it several times a week.”

“Cat, I’m sure you have a lot of talents Zeb hasn’t seen yet,” said Laney, putting the baby back into the carrier.

“Sure, if
you’re talking about dealing cards,” Cat said, not at all sure she agreed with them.

“I have an idea,” said Angel, getting to her feet. “Let’s go find you a love nest and then you have some work to do to start changing Zeb’s mind about not wanting to be married. You, my dear, need to start right away with learning how to seduce Zeb.

Chapter 16

Cat spent a good part
of the morning looking at the lake cabins, but none of them seemed exciting at all after having lived in Zeb’s condo. She wished he was here to help her choose one, but she knew that was never going to happen. Finally, she decided on the lake house that had the most windows since Zeb made the comment how he liked to look at the lake because it calmed him.