Chapter 8
8
Her parents’ banter stopped as she froze on the sidewalk. Her mother followed her stare, and her eyes widened as her gaze lit on Zach.
“Sweetheart, is everything okay?” her father demanded.
“I… Yes.” Her voice emerged in a croak, and she cleared her throat.
Zach stepped forward. “Hi.”
“Uhh… hi.” Despite the avid gaze of her parents and the tempest of emotions crashing through her, she couldn’t stop her eyes from devouring him.
Sunlight glinted off his face and hair. A curl had fallen halfway down his forehead and her fingers itched to brush it back.
As usual, even the most casual clothes made his body a work of art that demanded attention and worship. This morning, he wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans. The strong line of his bronzed throat and powerful shoulders made heat pound through her.
He stepped forward, and her breath caught as she noticed what he held in his hand.
“I won’t keep you. I just wanted to drop this off. Happy birthday.” He held out the large white velvet box tied with silky black ribbons.
“Umm… thanks.” She took it and cursed herself for her sudden monosyllabic ailment. Her eyes clashed with his, and her pulse jumped again. She wanted to stay there, gorge on his beauty. She wanted to run away from the strength of her feelings.
She knew her parents were wondering who he was.
Both her mother and father had known and liked Chris and had been concerned when they’d broken up. Of course, Bethany had never told them the real reason behind the breakup, but her mother had hinted more than once that she hoped Bethany would patch things up with Chris. Now, she saw the keen speculation in her mother’s eyes and hurried to speak.
“Mom, Dad, this is Zach.” She deliberately withheld his surname. Her parents weren’t media hungry, but she was sure they would recognize the name Zachary Savage.
Zach’s eyebrow rose at the curt introduction. His eyes also told her he was aware she hadn’t mentioned his last name.
Zach held out his hand. “Mrs. Green, Bethany’s told me a lot about you. It’s great to meet you.”
Her mother smiled wide and preened beneath the charm, which oozed from the man who’d once again caught Bethany completely off guard and turned her brain to mush. “Please, call me Felicity.”
Zach smiled. “Thank you, Felicity.” Her mother melted into a shameless puddle.
Her father was less malleable. His eyes narrowed slightly as he shook hands with Zach. There was no invitation to use his first name, but Zach lost none of his charm, nevertheless.
“Can I give you a ride anywhere?”
She forced her brain to track and shook her head. “My parents brought their car. We’re driving to The Village.”
A hint of disappointment dulled his eyes, but he nodded. “Okay. Enjoy your day.”
“Thank you.”
Her parents said goodbye and headed towards her father’s SUV.
Bethany tried to move. Her feet wouldn’t comply. Zach seemed incapable of movement either. They stared at each other, his hunger undisguised, her heart clamoring in return.
“Your father’s watching me like a hawk.” His gaze dropped to her mouth, and his tongue touched his lower lip.
Heat bloomed in her face at the shameless evidence that he wanted very badly to kiss her, and she wondered what her parents were seeing as they watched them.
She licked her tingling lips, and his eyes darkened dramatically. “I have to go.”
“I’ll call you tonight.” There was an implacable bite to the statement.
She wanted to refuse but truth be told, she was beginning to recognize that forcing things with Zach would get her nowhere. At least by talking to him on the phone, she could keep her emotions under control and maintain a little distance. “Okay.”
Pleasure lit his eyes at her simple agreement. He grasped the door and nodded toward the present. “I hope you like it.”
Bethany glanced at the unopened box in her hand. Curiosity spiked through her. She wanted to open it there and then, but she knew her parents were waiting for her. Also, she couldn’t be sure that it would be appropriate for public consumption.
Zach laughed as if he’d read her thoughts. “It’s perfectly respectable, Peaches. A little sentimental, even. The naughty stuff will keep for behind closed doors.”
She refused to blush. Luckily, her body complied. “Bye, Zach.”
She turned and walked away. Her body’s acute tingle told her his eyes were firmly fixed on her.
Opening the back door to her parents’ SUV, she slid in and slammed the door. Her father’s searching gaze caught hers in the rear-view mirror.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Sure, Dad.” She flashed a quick smile, shoved the box into her purse and pulled on her seatbelt.
“What a charming man. And he looks very familiar. We haven’t met him before, have we, Beth?” her mother asked with a slight frown.
“No, I don’t think so.” She couldn’t think how anyone who met Zach could forget him, but she wasn’t about to say that to her mother.
She firmly changed the subject and breathed a sigh of relief as her parents followed her lead and moved on to discussing what was happening in their lives. By the time they reached the busy street where the art galleries were located, Bethany was up to date on everything involving the Green clan, including her grandmother’s upcoming hip operation.
As they strolled from gallery to gallery, Bethany tried not to glance at her watch. Or stroke the velvet box burning a hole in her purse. Or think about Zach and wonder what he usually did on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
She knew what he’d been doing two Sundays ago. Round about this time, he’d been frisking her in his office. There’d been nothing lazy about that, nor in the days that followed. No, the days had been spent in high octane, world-rocking sizzle and turbulence. The comedown from that high was unbearable.
Over lunch, she tried to eat more than a few mouthfuls when she caught her father’s concerned frown yet again.
Considering it was her favorite Italian restaurant, she knew anything less than a healthy interest in her food would trigger a full interrogation. Luckily, she managed to avoid a third-degree inquisition and breathed a sigh of relief when her parents dropped her off back home just after seven in the evening.
She let herself in and leaned back against the door, her fingers already reaching for the velvet box.
Pulling it out, she slowly sank onto her sofa and stared at the gift. Much like she’d stared at that indigo-colored envelope, which had changed her life just over a fortnight ago.
Recalling how nervous she’d felt then, her fingers shook and uncertainly crawled over her. It was hard to believe that a box could change her life. But an envelope had. In such a profound and definitive way that she wondered how she’d ever imagined she was alive before she’d met Zach Savage.
She slowly pulled one end of the black ribbon. It fell away, immediately forgotten. Swallowing, she pried the box open. Her mouth gaped at the exquisite bracelet propped up on the velvet cushion.
The six linked, dime-sized platinum circles were studded with diamonds. In the middle link was a locket that sprang open at her touch.
The expensive jewelry wasn’t what made Bethany gasp in shock. It was the picture inside the locket, which had been taken as she’d come across the finish line during the camel race, a huge smile on her face as she punched the air with her hat in triumph. Her expression beamed with such open happiness that tears sprung into her eyes.
She’d had no idea that her picture had been taken. Had Zach taken it?
What did it say about her that she’d been so far gone, so singularly focused on him that she hadn’t even realized photos were being taken?
She fingered the charm and tried to keep herself from dissolving into a seething mass of misery.
Her phone rang, and she groped through her purse for it.
“Hello,” she croaked, then sniffed loudly.
“Bethany, Christ, are you crying?” Zach demanded hoarsely.
“No. Yes!”
“Why?”
She gave a choked laugh. “Because of you, Zach. You’re turning my life inside out. And I want to hate you for it, but I can’t seem to. I just opened your present, and I…”
“Did you like it?” he asked with a thread of anxiety that made her breath shudder out.
“Yes.”
He fell silent for several seconds. “Baby, it’ll get better. I promise.”
She wiped at her eyes. “I can’t see how.”
“Just… you have to trust me.”
She swallowed and laid her head back against the seat. “It’s my birthday. I want you to do something for me.”
“Name it.”
“I deserve an answer to one question.”
His breath hissed out. Silence held a potent mix of hope and despair. “Okay. One question.”
“Did you…” She stopped, squeezed her eyes shut and tried again. “Did you mean to kill her?”
A shuddering breath echoed down the line. Ice cascaded down her spine.
“Bethany. I think you know by now that my life isn’t that straightforward.”
“Just answer me, please.”
He hesitated. “I don’t want to risk you retreating even more than you are right now.”
“I won’t, if what you tell me is the truth.”
“I’d never lie to you. I may not always be in a position to give you full disclosure, but I’ll never lie. Tell me you believe that?”
“I believe you.”
She waited, her insides withering with each passing second. Finally, she couldn’t stand it a second longer. “So… did you?”
“Yes. And no.”
“Oh God, what does that even mean?”
“It means… there was a series of events. Events I can’t talk about. It was a chaotic time in my life, Bethany. A lot of shit happened. Part of it—hell, most of it—was my fault.”
“What sort of shit?”
He inhaled raggedly. She could hear a low rhythmic sound as if he was drumming his fingers on a surface. “The usual shit that comes with misguided youth and unlimited funds. Insane partying… sex… drugs.”
Her breath caught. “Was that how she died?”
The drumming stopped. “Don’t do this, baby. Please. Bottom line is she died. And I was responsible.”
Anger clawed through her, blanking out the misery for a few relieved seconds. “You know what I should do? I should be more like you. Just take the wall-to-wall sex and shut off the emotion.”
“You think I’m emotionless?”
“I think that as long as you have sex you can survive without getting emotionally invested, yes. Did you learn to block it out? Is that what she did to you?”
“Perhaps it’s what I did to myself in order to cope.”
“That’s what I mean. I should do the same. Then we can be two emotionless people, indulging in mindless sex just for pure relief.”
He fell silent for so long she wondered whether he would end the call. But his breathing remained strong and steady.
“The idea is not without merit,” he finally said. “As long as the mindless fucking involves each other.”
She gasped. “Oh, fuck you, Zach.”
“Yes. Soon. Like yesterday.” Tension throbbed in his voice. “Last night, watching you… it nearly killed me. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
At the reminder of last night, her anger oozed out of her, leaving behind the sticky mess of misery and arousal. She bit her lip against the need to confess that it had nearly killed her too.
“Did you have a good time with your parents?” he asked abruptly as if he found the subject of sex, or the lack of it, as tormenting as she did.
“It was fun, yes.”
“I like them,” he said in that snappish voice that told her his tension was still riding high.
“My mother was charmed by you.”
He gave a short laugh. “But not your dad?”
“You’ll probably find him a tougher sell,” she replied and stopped. Zach would most likely never get the opportunity to sell himself to her parents. Lord knew where all of this was going, but there was no way she was exposing him to her parents and having a Chris situation happen all over again. Her mother was already half in love with Zach as it was. She sucked in a breath and tried to think of a safer subject.
“Did you find an apartment yet?”
“Yes. Would you like to see it?” he invited.
She yearned to say yes so badly that her vision blurred. But as bad ideas went, that would top the list. Besides, she had no desire to keep piling anguish on herself, and seeing Zach’s apartment would trigger a need to wonder what it be like to share the space with him.
“I’m sure it’s great, but no thanks.”
“Okay,” he replied.
Perverse hurt scythed through her at his easy acceptance. “Okay?”
“It’s not ready to move into yet. Not till the middle of the week. You can come see it then.”
“I won’t be able to. I’m going back to work tomorrow.”
“You can still take a lunch break. Or come after work.” That implacable tone was back again. Against her will, thrills of excitement spiked up her spine. “It’s not far from where you work. I can have you there and back in an hour.”
Again, it struck home hard just how much Zach knew about her life. “It’s my first day back. I’ll probably be inundated and won’t have the time.”
“Taking a break shouldn’t be an option.” She heard the frown in his voice.
“In an ideal world. But I don’t mind when there’s work to be done.”
“Dare I hope that statement applies to us, too?”
“There’s a Kenny Rogers song that I could sing to you right now, but I’m not sure you’d get the message.”
He laughed, and her heart turned over at the sound. “I’ve never heard you sing, baby. Bet you’d be good at that too.”
She sighed and shook her head. “I’m getting off this insane rodeo ride, Zach.”
“I’ll let you, for now. But it’s only a matter of time before you’re riding me again, baby. So saddle up.”