Chapter 1 #3
Zac clenched his jaw and growled.
Meoowww.
A black feline stood on her hind legs at the back door, pawing and mewling gently for attention.
She used to visit weekly until her recent disappearance, making Zacarias wonder if her owner lived in the area.
He let her in. With her tail raised high, she prowled past him then twined between his ankles.
“Well, look who finally showed back up.”
Meow.
“You may not wanna stick around today,” he muttered to the cat. “My ex is dropping by, and she can be a real bitch.”
The feline jumped up and scaled his jeans until Zac pulled her into his arms. Her head was soft as velvet, warm when she rubbed against his cheek. He closed his eyes and sighed.
“Do you have an owner? Or do you live alone out there somewhere, without a home?”
She purred and pressed one of her paws against his chin.
“I missed you too, gatinha.”
Zacarias opened a can of tuna onto a dish and set it on the floor.
She hurried to it with her tail raised high, and then she softly mewled as if giving her appreciation.
He smiled. “De nada. You’re always welcome here, you know.
” He didn’t think she understood, but it was nice to chat with another creature who lacked expectations or ulterior motives.
River was the only person in the neighborhood, besides the nameless kitty, who didn’t see him as a walking stack of bills.
Minutes later, Lucia pulled into the drive behind his Jag. He met her at the door.
“Surprise,” she chirped, holding a bottle of pink champagne in one hand and a Manila folder in the other.
He sighed. “What are you doing here, Lucia?” As his gaze swept over her slim physique from top to bottom, he tried to remember what once attracted him.
The plastic woman on his porch wasn’t Luce; she was a simulacrum crafted by her agent and the modeling world.
Red-dyed hair trailed over her shoulders like flames, she’d lost another twenty pounds, and she’d had work done on her nose along with injections to her lips.
She ignored his unenthusiastic welcome. “I found a buyer for the house.”
His brows shot up. “Really?”
“Really,” Lucia said with a pleased smile on her face. “I decided not to stall it out anymore. Their offer is about forty grand less than what you wanted, but—”
“I’ll take it. Let’s just get it out of our hands.”
After welcoming her inside, Zac led the way to the kitchen table where she spread the paperwork and set down the bottle of bubbly wine.
He hated pink champagne but would humor her to be polite. To be the bigger person and show he wasn’t bitter.
While she retrieved a pair of glasses from the cabinet, he broke the seal and popped the cork, ignoring her coy smile.
“Sorry, but… I forgot to bring a pen,” she said. “Do you have one on hand?”
“Just a sec,” Zacarias replied. When he returned with a pen from the personal office upstairs, he found Lucia and the cat in a staring contest. The cat’s back was arched. She hissed and spat at his ex-wife, behaving with hostility he’d never witnessed in her before.
“Where did you get this animal?” Lucia demanded. “It tried to attack me!”
“What? What did you do to make her attack you?” he countered.
Her eyes grew wide. “I didn’t do anything but pour our drinks!”
He glanced at the feline, uncertain. “All right. All right. Maybe you moved too quickly and scared her.” He sat opposite his ex and read the paperwork. It looked legitimate; the offer was lower than his asking price, but he’d accept the loss to remove the final link between them.
“What do you think about it?” Lucia asked.
“I think $365,000 isn’t awful.”
The cat leaped into his lap and sniffed the glass, practically putting her face into it. “Hey, whoa. That’s not good for you.” He plucked it out of her reach and sipped. It tasted rank, a funny aftertaste clinging to his tongue afterward.
The bottle he’d shared with River was better.
“So get to the point,” he muttered. “What do you want from me, and why are you buttering me up with champagne? You knew I’d accept this offer. You didn’t need to bribe me.”
The cat knocked the glass off the table. Zac saw it happening and knew what to expect, but his reflexes couldn’t compete with an impetuous little furball. Glass flew in every direction, skittering shards across the floor around a puddle of pink bubbly.
“Shit.”
“That little bitch!”
Pink spots stood out against Lucia’s pristine white dress, but most of the puddle was on the floor. He bit back the urge to laugh. “Calm down. She’s a cat, and it was an accident.” A cat who deserves another plate full of tuna fish after this.
Her gray eyes narrowed. “It figures you’d take a cat’s side over mine. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, considering your little secret.”
Always the drama queen. He sighed. “Look, I’m glad the house is selling, but you could have said as much over the phone. Have the lawyers fax me anything else related to the sale that I don’t need to sign in person.”
“Can you blame me for wanting to see you again? I miss you.”
Did you miss me when you had David’s dick in your mouth? he wondered. “Uh-huh.”
After scooping up the cat, he took her to the door and let her outside, wishing it was as easy to make Lucia leave.
Wasn’t it as easy? It was his damned house, and the longer he considered the consequences of scooping his ex into his arms and depositing her on the lawn, the more appealing the idea became.
“Why do you let strays in anyway?” she complained.
“My house,” he gritted at her. He took the first step, intending to act through on his urge to hurl her from the property with the intensity of a discus thrower.
“I’ve been a rude guest,” she said in a sudden change of tone.
She hurried on her stiletto heels to the counter where she tugged a few sheets from the paper towel roll.
“Let me clean up this mess, and then I’ll get out of your hair.
” She smiled politely, but it was thin, brittle, and as phony as their marriage.
“I’ve got it.”
“But—” She stopped and snapped her painted lips shut. After a moment, she offered the wadded-up paper towels. “As you like, Zacarias. I’ll see myself out.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
Lucia collected the form and flashed him a smile. “Sorry to interrupt your evening. I’ll let you know when everything proceeds.” She kissed his cheek, no doubt leaving a smear of red lipstick behind, then strode out the door. He exhaled a sigh of relief that it was over.
No matter how much he missed the relationship they’d once had, he would never become desperate enough to let her back into his life again.
Those days were over.