Authors: Kate St. James
If she worked hard, she’d nab both accounts and her career at Greenburg would flourish.
Zach’s coffee-colored gaze moved over her face. “You prefer the pro bono stuff, though, don’t you? And representing small businesses like Marco’s.”
“Um.” His intensity and nearness worked their usual tingling magic on her nipples. Trying to be inconspicuous about it, she tugged her unbuttoned sweater more fully over her breasts. For good measure, she hunched forward slightly.
“You should take on more little guys, then.” Zach’s gaze never left her face, thank God. “That’s where you seem to shine.”
“I love working for conglomerates.”
“Uh-huh.”
Obviously, he didn’t believe her. Maybe she’d overstated her enthusiasm, but she wouldn’t admit it.
“I do,” she insisted, returning her attention to her pizza. She’d be shortsighted
not
to appreciate the financial independence a junior partnership at Greenburg promised. Assuming greater responsibilities with the firm’s top corporate clients would help get her there. Taking on more small-business clients and pro bono cases wouldn’t.
She tamped down the regret rising within her. If she were honest, there were days she preferred working with small-business owners like Marco—
like Zach
—but she needed to focus on the big picture. She wanted control of every facet of her life. Her finances and career, her emotions and sexuality. If she relaxed in one area, would she slide backward in another?
Typically, just visiting her mother yesterday had made her think so.
Her mother still clung to the archaic notion that her husband should fulfill all her needs. Plus, her parents had married for the wrong reasons—her mom had been pregnant with Tess. The young Patrice, infatuated with her new husband, had poured herself into making a perfect home and family, as if convinced the surface gloss would transform his honest affection into passionate love.
In the process, her mother had lost herself, if she’d ever known who she was to begin with.
Now Mom was miserable. So was Dad.
Tess definitely did not want to follow her mother’s example. Not in any way, shape or form. That she’d come close a couple of times was bad enough.
She picked up her Diet Coke. “Zach, has your father or Ethan expressed concerns about having me on the Crockett’s team?” she asked.
His pupils contracted. If they weren’t sitting close together, she might not have noticed.
“Ethan knows you’re the right person,” he responded gruffly. “My father does, too. You’re L.G.’s protégée, and Dad would trust L.G. with his life.”
She released a breath. “Thank you.” She sipped Diet Coke, the can cool on her fingers. Sarah McLachlan’s haunting voice drifted from the radio. “Sorry if it sounded like I was fishing, but when you said I should take on more small-business clients, I wondered if someone at Halliday thinks I don’t suit corporate work.”
“Not a problem.” The subtle shadows in his gaze lifted. “Only a woman could read so much into a simple compliment. It’s all in the eyes, Tess.” His voice lowered. “Your beautiful, big blue eyes. They light up when you talk about your pro bono work, but when you mention Crockett’s, they glaze over.”
“They do not!”
“Yes, they do.”
She’d have to work on that, then. “That’s ridiculous. I like working on the acquisition. It’s a heavy load, so it can be wearing. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like it, Zach.”
His eyebrows bobbed. “Whatever gets you through the night.” He offered Buddy another bean sprout. The budgie chirped merrily, fluffed his feathers and pecked the treat.
Watching the pair interact provided Tess with a much-needed distraction. If Zach could tell by her eyes that she had a soft spot for helping small businesses, any hope he’d missed the high beams blatantly advertising her lust for him was so lost.
“You’re good with him,” she said. “Do you have pets?”
“One. A huge, hairy cat named Lump.”
She smiled.
“I know what you’re thinking. A single guy with a cat? That’s just not right.”
“I wasn’t thinking that.” She sipped her Diet Coke.
“It’s okay if you were. In fact, you should feel special. I don’t reveal my dirty, dark secrets to every woman I meet. Lump was a stray, skinny and starving, when I found him. My mother always told me to be nice to old ladies and animals, so I took him in.”
“That’s sweet.”
You’re sweet.
Sexy. Kind. Incredibly hot.
Like Chloe had said, Zach was a keeper.
Too bad Tess wasn’t in the market.
“Sweet?” He shot her a you’re-killing-me look. “Well then, let me assure you, Tess, I like my pussy.”
She laughed. “I can’t believe you said that!” She plunked the pop can on the table. Diet Coke spurted from the opening.
“Cat,”
he added with a grin. “I like my pussycat. Really, Teresa, you shock me. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
Too late.
Her body had already jumped to erotic conclusions of its own. Her nipples stiffened beneath her sweater and top, the sizzle of Zach’s words scorching her between her legs.
“Yeah right. You knew exactly what I’d think.”
“Amazing how we’re so connected,” he murmured.
His lazy smile warmed her from deep inside, until she couldn’t tell where her physical attraction to the studmuffin ended and where her admiration for Zach Halliday, the genuine, caring man, began.
Hoo-boy.
Major trouble.
Why did she have to like him so damn much?
The telephone rang. She followed his gaze to the living room, where the cordless sat.
“You’re popular this afternoon,” he said. “That’s the fourth time somebody’s called.”
“Fifth.” Her mom, one sister, and two telemarketers. “I don’t have to answer it.”
“I don’t mind. I’m not ducking into the can again, though. I’ve been in there so many times today, I’m cured.”
“Of what?”
“The effect of ringing telephones,” he half-whispered, his voice as husky and smooth as fine, aged whiskey.
Her body thrummed with his mesmerizing nearness. Vivid memories of their sexy telephone escapade filled her mind.
Oh boy.
Oh boyo-boyo.
Mama’s hungry.
“The machine can run.” She glanced at his briefcase. “We should gather up your stuff so you can go.”
“Kicking me out?”
You bet.
Experimenting with spontaneous combustion wasn’t on her Sunday to-do list.
The machine answered on the fourth ring, and the short message played.
“Hey, Tess,” Chloe’s voice announced. “Where are you? Oh well. That’s never stopped me before.”
“Nope.” Tess grinned.
“Guess what?” Chloe’s voice asked above the radio.
“What?” Zach replied toward the empty living room.
“I saw The Suit in Stanley Park today.” Chloe’s sigh of womanly admiration issued from the answering machine’s speaker. “Only he wasn’t dressed like a banker for once.”
“The Suit?” Zach asked Tess.
“Some guy who comes into the coffeehouse. Chloe thinks he’s cute, but she’s not into corporate types, so she worships him from afar.” Tess’s legs twitched with the urge to move. She might want to answer the phone, after all. When Chloe lusted for a man, she could drone on and on about his…assets until the recording tape ran out.
“In fact, I have a new name for him.” A trace of uncertainty wavered beneath Chloe’s customary bravado. “Are you ready? The Shorts. Mm-mm. You should have seen that butt.”
Tess pushed back her chair. Definite asset territory.
“No, don’t.” Zach remained seated, his quiet laughter following her into the living room. “I want to hear this.”
“Sorry. Best-friend privileges.”
“Anyway, enough about me,” Chloe said. “I’m calling for an update.”
Shit!
Tess strode briskly to the phone, moccasins slapping like waves on rocks as they connected with hardwood.
“Have you heard from your stud—”
Tess cut off the answering machine. Lungs squeezing, she looked at Zach.
“Smooth. Just when she was about to reveal the good stuff.”
“I’ll be quick,” she whispered.
“I’ll gather up my things so you can kick me out when you’re done.”
“Thanks.” She moved to the window, her back to his penetrating gaze. She hissed into the phone, “It’s not a good time.”
“You’re home?” Chloe’s voice reverberated in her ear. “Why didn’t you pick up?”
“I’m busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Stuff.”
Their code for Man Present, Stop Annoying Me.
“Stuff,” Chloe parroted. “Omigod, you mean Zach? He’s there?” Her hoot of excitement could have shattered crystal.
“Stuff, Chloe.
Stuff
.”
“Oh, Tess, I love living vicariously through you! I guess this means the timeline has begun, huh?”
Tess shot a glance to Zach. With his head bowed over the papers, he appeared absorbed with the business-plan revisions. He flipped a page.
Turning her back on him again, Tess whispered into the phone, “What timeline?”
Yesterday, Chloe had confessed her Yaletown surveillance of The Suit. Tess should mock her about that, but right now self-preservation took precedence over their twenty-year tradition of one-upping each other.
“Six weeks, ditz. When should we start counting? The day you met Studly, the day of your first date, or the day of first sexual contact?”
“What do you mean?” Tess mumbled through barely moving lips.
“Your first kiss, at Whole Latte Lovin’. Come to think of it, that was also your first date. Or your half-date, as I remember. Anyway, it’s probably the best place to start, considering today counts as your second date.”
“Whatever.”
“Wow, you’re amazingly agreeable about this. Should I worry?”
“Not at all. I’m very happy to…to…” Tess’s mind blanked on plausible codes.
“Have wild sex with Zach Halliday over the next five and a half weeks?” Chloe chuckled. “I don’t blame you. Although, no offense, I prefer The Shorts.”
Bonus.
Because there wasn’t enough kink in her fantasy life for herself, Zach
and
Chloe.
Needing to look at him—oh, for no particular reason, like, say, the fact that he was so gorgeous—Tess peeked in his direction. He stood and snapped shut his briefcase with those large, thick-fingered hands.
Very nice.
A fluttery sensation moved through her. She turned to the window. “Chloe, I have to go.”
“Okay, quickly, six weeks from last Thursday takes us to the end of September, but I don’t have a calendar handy for specific dates. Just make sure you have masses of wild sex—”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“—and be thankful I didn’t ask you to start counting from the night you met him. You’d miss eight days.”
“My thumb’s on the disconnect button.”
Chloe’s laugh carried over the line. “How close is he to you?”
Good question. Tess turned again. Zach crossed the living room, carrying his briefcase.
“Goodbye, Chloe.” Tess hung up. The fiend wouldn’t dare call back now that she’d provided the update.
“Pretty quick on the draw there.” Zach’s gaze held hers. “Talking about me?”
“You wish.”
“Can’t deny that. I’m ready to get kicked out now.”
Tess nodded as chilling loss filled her. She’d really enjoyed his company this afternoon. His quick wit kept her on her toes and his easy charm was addictive, as was her perpetual state of high-beam arousal.
“Are you going to the art show Friday?” She walked him to the door. Sydney van Hoyt had invited them both to the opening of a new show at van Hoyt’s Downtown.
“I wasn’t planning to. I have an early climb Saturday. But if you want me there as your date—”
“Zach, you know we can’t.”
“I know you
think
we can’t.”
“Same diff.”
His smile was infinitely patient. “You going?”
“I haven’t decided. If Sydney retains legal counsel before then, I’ll go.”
“You might want to attend regardless. Seeing you again could push her into a decision.”
Tess nodded. “She said she’d let me know by Wednesday. If her answer is no, I might put in an appearance to show there are no hard feelings. But I doubt I’d stay long.”
“Sounds like we’re both undecided.” However, his low tone implied that only she was.
He half-turned, his large hand resting on the doorknob. Then he released the door and faced her again.
“I can’t leave yet.”
“Did you forget something?”
“Yeah, the not knowing.”
His gaze zeroed in on hers, and her breasts tingled.
“The not knowing what?” she asked.
“How good it could be between us.”
This again? Her inner nympho could only take so much.
“Zach, I told you—”
“I know you did, but humor me.” Sensual strain tightened his voice. He put down the briefcase. “I need to kiss you.”
Oh goodie.
Tess gave the inner nympho a mental swat. “We already tried that at the coffeehouse.”
“No, I mean I need to really kiss you. It’s the not knowing that’s killing me. If I knew what it could be like between us, there’s a chance I could move on.”
Typical male thinking. She wasn’t even insulted.
“You’re saying kissing me would help you lose interest?”
“I doubt that, but at least I’d know what I’d be missing.”
“From one kiss?”
“It’s a taste.”
“Of what you would be missing.”
He nodded. “It’ll be easier to put you out of my mind if I knew what I was giving up.”
“What happened in my office on Monday didn’t tell you that?”
“I didn’t
taste
you Monday, Tess. Although I sure as hell wanted to.”
His eyes gleamed, and her nipples peaked. “Zach.”
“Tess.”
Well, all right. If it meant helping him move past the hurdle of their attraction, she supposed one kiss couldn’t hurt. She’d consider it an act of charity. Completely selfless. Even noble.
“Okay,” she said casually.
He grinned like a kid at Christmas.
Her pulse tripped. “Time’s a-wasting, Halliday. Are you going to kiss me or not?”