Billionaire Bad Boy (19 page)

"I was practicing. Like you taught me."

Zack felt like he was having a heart attack. The
pounding in his chest had been painful when he saw that jerk touch Annie, but
now it was unbearable. He put his palm against his heart in an attempt to still
it, but was unsuccessful. He knew nothing would make the pain go away, not
until the image of Annie with another man had disappeared.

No, not Annie with another man, Annie
enjoying
herself
with another man.

But he could only blame himself, and that made the
pain worse. Not only had he encouraged her to flirt, he'd made it clear he
wasn't interested in her. He couldn't blame her at all. The Annie he'd just
witnessed in action was a product of his creation. And he hated it. He wanted
the old Annie back. The soft, sweet Annie with the biting attitude and
sparkling eyes.

"Annie..." He didn't even recognize the sound
of his own voice. It came out strangled and filled with an emotion he never
knew he possessed.

Fear.

"Annie, don't do this." He took another step
toward her and she took one back.

"Don't do what, Zack?" Her eyes spat sparks
at him and her lips, usually so inviting, formed a grim line. "Don't flirt
with anyone? Don't watch you flirting with other women?"

"I wasn't flirting—"

"No? Her breasts were all over you."

"I didn't notice—"

"Didn't notice! Are you blind? And now you have
the gall to get angry with me for doing exactly what you wanted—flirting.
Well, let me tell you, I'm tired of your contrary attitude. You want everything
and nothing. You want to sleep with me but you don't want the emotion that goes
along with it. Then you tell me I can't spread my wings a little and flirt with
other men." She threw up her hands and took another step back when he
moved closer. "I thought this was what you wanted me to be. Everything I
am tonight, everything I've done, is because of you. You showed me how to be
this flirtatious, popular woman. Now you want me to stop." She shook her
head. "You're exactly the man I thought you were when we met, Zack
DiMarco, an arrogant—"

Annie, teetering on the edge of the pool, flailed her
arms around like a windmill. She'd taken one step too many. Zack grabbed her
around the waist but over-balanced and fell forward, forcing her into the pool
ahead of him. They fell into the water with a resounding splash.

A round of applause greeted them when they surfaced. Everyone
thought cooling off in the pool was a great idea and several people joined them,
fully clothed.

"Are you okay?" Zack asked as he caught
Annie around the waist.

She shrugged him off, swam to the side and hauled
herself out of the pool. Her soaked top clung to her body, outlining her curves
seductively. He followed her, wanting to hide her from the ogling eyes but was
unsure how he'd be received. She'd probably slap him, going by the vibes coming
off her.

He strode to her side. "Annie, where are you
going?"

"Home."

"I'll drive you."

"You'd better, because I'm not waiting for a
cab." Apparently the dip hadn't cooled her temper.

They stormed past an open-mouthed Louisa Mondeo and a
dogged servant carrying towels and mopping up their drips. She called goodbyes
after them and Zack managed to thank her politely while keeping up with Annie.

They drove to Santa Monica in tortuous silence, giving
him time to think. But he didn't like the conclusions he came to.

He'd created a monster. What had happened to his sweet
little Annie? The girl with a sassy attitude was still there but she was a
beautiful woman now, with an undeniable animal magnetism that men couldn't
ignore when she flirted with them. She'd always had it, hidden just below the
surface, but he'd released it when he encouraged her to let loose, flirt a
little and enjoy herself. He'd dug his own grave when he fell for her, and
filled it in when he allowed other men to see what he saw—an exquisite
and sensual woman with intelligence and a sense of humor.

He was the biggest fool in the world.

"Annie," he said quietly, when he pulled
into a car space outside her building. "We need to talk."

She said nothing as she opened the car door. Zack
reached across and pulled it shut again before she could move.

"You're not going anywhere until we sort this
out," he growled.

"Sort what out, Zack? That you're an arrogant
jerk? Well, I've already sorted that out."

"Stop it, Annie, and listen to me." He
caught her shoulders and turned her toward him. Fire burned in her eyes and her
brow creased into a deep frown. She was beyond angry. "Please," he
added.

CHAPTER 16

She crossed her arms. "I'm listening."

But suddenly he couldn't find the appropriate words to
say what he wanted to say. Lord, he'd give anything for a thesaurus right now. "I'm
sorry," was all he could manage.

"For what?"

It was a test. But he knew the answer. "For
changing you."

She stared at him, her lips slightly parted. From the
horrified look on her face he got the feeling he'd said the wrong thing. He
just wished he knew what was the
right
thing to say.

"Changing me!" She shook her head as if to
clear it. "Changing me into what?"

He shrugged, swallowed and chose his words very
carefully. "Bob wanted to turn you into a wild child. A woman who enjoys
life and likes to have fun. I think I did my job too well. I wasn't expecting
you to flirt with every man you met."

I wasn't expecting to hate watching it
, he wanted to say but didn't. Her mood was
too dark to reveal something so intimate. She might pounce on that admission
and crush him with it. He wasn't ready for that. Watching her with another man
was pain enough for one day—he couldn't cope with an outright rejection
on top of that.

"You arrogant jerk! You think you can actually
change
me! What sort of egotistical man are you? And what sort of pathetic idiot do
you think I am? Do you think I'm so weak that I'd actually be influenced
permanently by anything that you've supposedly taught me over the last few
days? Either you think I'm incredibly shallow or you think you have a power
over me. Is that how you see me, Zack, as a blank canvas that you can just
paint a personality onto? Turn me into your dream woman? What's the next step? Plastic
surgery?"

He stared without blinking at her. Where the hell had
that come from? And how the hell had she jumped to those conclusions?

"Now wait a minute," he managed to say
before she could use the silence to continue. "I don't think that at all
and you know it."

"I don't know it. In fact, I know nothing about
you, Zack DiMarco. You're as much a mystery to me as you were when we first
met. And that's probably a good thing because I don't think I want to know what
makes the real Zack tick."

He felt the screws tightening around his heart, and
her fingerprints were all over them. How could she say that after everything
they'd been through in the last few days? He thought she'd known him better
than any woman. He'd revealed more of himself to her than to anyone.

He swallowed, but the lump in his throat remained.

Annie opened the car door and got out.

He let her go.

***

For almost two days, Annie thought of insults she
could fling at Zack's face next time she saw him. Unfortunately flea on a dog's
behind was the best she could do. Not even worth e-mailing that one, if she'd
known his address. She sighed and slumped forward, resting her head on her
forearms. She was out of insults. At least thinking of insults had kept the
tears at bay. It was easier to be angry with him than sorry for herself. And
she had a lot to be sorry for. She'd thrown away the best sex she'd ever had.

Yep, she was the biggest idiot this side of the sun.

At first she'd been angry with him. Furious actually. Who
did he think he was, saying that
he'd
changed her? It made her feel like
she was his puppet, just like all the other women he dated. For a few hours at
the party, she had become one of those women, the sort of women she'd helped
into taxis after her father's parties. She'd become the type of person she
loathed, just to please Zack, a man she had no right to want in her life.

And that annoyed her more than Zack's arrogant comment
about changing her. Although that sure had fired her up.

But when she calmed down, she realized he was
partially right. At least, it must seem that way from his perspective. She'd
pretended to enjoy flirting with Mike at the bar, then with Rick at the party,
just to get up Zack's nose. To get him back for his own flirting with Melanie
Melons, but also because he'd made it clear that she was just a temporary,
sexual liaison that meant nothing. She wanted to show him what he was missing
out on.

When in Zack's arms, kissing him, she thought a casual
fling was what she wanted too. Wrong. She wanted it all and she wanted it to be
permanent.
Fool
. Zack DiMarco wasn't the settling down kind. He'd made
that clear enough.

She sighed. It was time to move on. But this time, as
herself. She wasn't going to be the woman Zack had tried to mold her into over
the last few days. She wasn't comfortable with that Annie. Last night, she came
to the decision to represent the McCallum and Horton Agency as herself in her
meeting with Dug-E Dug. To hell with Zack, Bob and the snotty little kid. If
McCallum and Horton wasn't good enough to snare him then maybe it was time Bob
re-invented the company with some fresh talent. Without her. He may not like
it, and her father certainly wouldn't if he were alive, but it was her life. She
intended to start living it on her terms.

A polite cough drew Annie out of her thoughts. She
looked up into the harried, concerned eyes of Bob.

"Feeling okay?" he asked.

"Sure," she lied. "Just twiddling my
thumbs until Dug-E arrives. Have you sent someone to the airport to pick him
up?"

"Yes."

"Is the conference room ready?"

"Yes."

"What about a packet of M&M's? He likes
those."

"Done."

"Good." She cleared her throat. "And I
should tell you, I'm not changing my appearance just because Dug-E expects to
see a hip, groovy person. He's getting me, Annie McCallum, and the best service
the McCallum and Horton Agency can offer." She crossed her arms for emphasis
and waited for Bob to answer.

"Okay by me." He tossed the newspaper he'd
been holding onto her desk. "Read this to take your mind off things before
he gets here."

He strode away and Annie frowned. That wasn't the
response she'd expected. She tapped her fingers on the desk. Maybe Bob was ill.
Well, one thing was for sure, if she didn't get Dug-E signed up, they were
probably all going to be out of work soon. She didn't mind, but Bob, Lenny and
the others would have trouble finding good jobs at their age. She slouched back
into her chair and scanned the headlines of the paper without really taking any
of it in.

Until she got to the first page of the Business
section.
DiMarco sells StanCorp
,
the headline read. The article went on to say that Zack had sold his share of
multi-media giant StanCorp for what Annie thought was an obscene amount of
money. The writer could find no reason for the sellout as the company was doing
well.

"Great. I lose an account before I even get it
and he makes a fortune. There's no justice in this world."

The end of the article had a reference to another in
the gossip section of the paper. "Typical," she snorted, turning the
pages eagerly.

The gossip columnist wrote that she'd seen Zack at
Louisa Mondeo's party with "McCallum and Horton agent, Annie McCallum, the
hottest girl in town this summer after her recent arrest." Annie's jaw
dropped when she spotted the author's name—Melanie Monsoon. A picture of
the watermelon-girl herself beamed out from the top left corner of the page. The
article mentioned how Melanie had learned from the man himself that he wanted
to spend more time on his Montana ranch and scale down his LA-based business.

Annie read and re-read it.

When Bob passed her desk, she stopped him and waved
the newspaper in his face.

"Did you read the article about Zack?" she
asked.

"Yeah." He frowned. "Which reminds me,
what did you do to him?"

"Huh?"

"He only sells an entire company when he's angry
or upset. And since you two have been together a lot lately I wondered if it had
something to do with you."

"Me? I think you're over-reacting a little. I
don't have any influence over Zack's actions at all." Not even close.

Bob humphed. "That's what you think. The guy's
smitten."

"Smitten?"

"He called here five times the other day looking
for you." He perched himself on the edge of Annie's desk. It sunk
perilously under his weight. They needed to sign up Dug-E urgently—the
office furniture was in danger of collapsing if Bob ate any more doughnuts. "This
article just confirms it."