by Bella Andre
“You would never do that!”
Rory appreciated Zara’s conviction more than she could know. “No, I wouldn’t. I don’t know if he felt threatened in some way, or if he was having a hard time in his personal life and thought he’d take it out on me, or if he was just burned out. Whatever the reason, when I called him on it, he backed off, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.”
“Is he still in the area?”
Rory shot her a look. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I’d be more than happy to give him a piece of my mind. I don’t care how many years it’s been since he pulled that crap, or what his reasons were for doing it. You’re far too compassionate and forgiving for your own good.”
“There’s a fourth good thing to add to your list.”
She thwacked him on the arm again. “I’m being serious. You’re the one who told me it’s okay to fight for myself by not being such a doormat. Now I’m telling you that it’s okay to do the same with your art, especially when someone tries to attack or take away what you’ve worked so hard to build.”
“You’ve just illustrated the third reason on my list.” For once, he was glad for a minor traffic jam so that he could turn away from the road to look into her eyes. “You’re fierce, Zara. Fierce in your determination to pursue your dreams and not let anyone get in your way. Especially,” he said with a smile, “some jerk who happens to work in the same building.”
“You’re not always a jerk,” she conceded, with a smile of her own.
“Yet another point for your list. Five reasons to fall for me so far.”
He expected another arm thwack and would have been disappointed had it not come.
“Okay,” she said as traffic picked up again, “we’ve got our how-we-met stories straight, our why-we-fell-in-looove lists, and I’m no longer dressed like I’m headed to the morgue. Anything else you think we need to check off our list before we’re good to go?”
“Only one thing left I can think of.”
“What’s that?”
“Let’s have a damn good time.”
He couldn’t see her smile, but he knew it would be just the right side of wicked as she turned off Metallica on his car stereo without asking, then found a pop station and cranked a boy band to ear-splitting levels. “The best time ever.”
CHAPTER SIX
Zara didn’t care for her pounding heart and her sweating palms as they stood at the entrance to the country club where the newly engaged couple were having their party.
She’d had a year to get over Brittany and Cameron’s relationship. Then again, now that the couple was going to make it a forever thing, Zara was in for a lifetime of family gatherings where everyone would expect her to take one for the “true love” team.
She couldn’t wait.
Not.
Zara was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize Rory had reached for her hand until he had it in his grasp. “I haven’t felt a palm this damp since my first middle-school dance,” he noted.
His comment had the desired effect, spurring her to give the romantic performance of a lifetime. Head held high, she walked into the building hand in hand with Rory.
She wasn’t surprised when every head turned to take in their procession. And not simply because everyone had surely been waiting for her arrival in the hopes that sparks would fly between stepsisters—but because Rory Sullivan was a truly magnificent-looking man.
Where previously it would have galled Zara to admit just how handsome he was, tonight she wanted to give a fist bump at the way everyone was swooning over him from the barest glance.
Knowing they were all watching, she leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I’m thinking some next-level touching would be good here, if it’s okay with you.”
“Definitely okay.” He put his arm around her waist and pulled her in close.
Wow. If she’d thought holding hands with Rory was a shock to her system, it had nothing on being held in his arms.
This close, she could no longer deny his impressive strength. His delicious scent. And the fact that he exuded sex appeal from the top of his head, to the tips of his toes.
Amazingly, though, the sensations coursing through her were about more than attraction or pheromones. For the first time in a very long time, she felt safe.
Like nothing could hurt her ever again as long as Rory was by her side.
When she turned her gaze to his and realized how he was looking at her, she had to wonder if he could feel it too.
Zara’s stepsister and her ex were both forgotten as she silently scrambled to corral her crazy feelings. But it felt like she was attempting to herd wild mustang horses back into their pen after finally giving them a heady taste of roaming wild and free.
An impossible task, if ever there was one.
“Well, hello there.”
Brittany’s purr broke Zara out of her careening thoughts. She’d been dreading the moment when she came face-to-face with her stepsister at her engagement party. Now, however, she was thrilled that Brittany had broken the spell Rory was casting over her, regardless of how awkward this conversation was bound to be.
Her stepsister enveloped her in an expensively perfumed embrace, during which Rory continued to hold tight to Zara’s waist, proving it was going to take far more than this to shake him free.
“I’m so glad you could come on such short notice, Z.” Brittany let Zara go, then offered her hand to Rory. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Brittany, and this is Cameron.” She nodded toward Zara’s ex, who was standing at Brittany’s side, looking more than a little gobsmacked by Zara’s date.
“I’m Rory Sullivan.” He gave Brittany’s hand a firm shake and then did the same with Cameron.
Zara had to stifle a smile at the slight wince on Cameron’s part when he took his hand back. Her ex’s handshake had always been a little soft. Whereas there was nothing soft about any part of Rory, especially his big woodworking hands.
“I’m glad to finally meet you both,” Rory said. “I had hoped to meet you at Zara’s last product launch, but better late than never.”
He let the subtle rebuke dangle in the air as he turned to gently stroke the back of his hand across Zara’s cheek. She allowed an instinctive shiver at his touch, figuring it would help make their ruse look completely above board.
He gazed at her, adoration in his eyes. “I’m so proud of you, baby.”
She nearly laughed. Baby was a little overkill, but since they had agreed to have fun with this tonight, she gave him her own over-the-top admiring look. “Not nearly as proud as I always am of you.”
From the corner of her eye, Zara could see both Brittany and Cameron gaping at them.
+1 for Team Zara and Rory.
Sensing that Rory was working just as hard to keep his laughter in, and that any further antics were likely to send both of them over the edge, she turned back to her stepsister and ex. “Congratulations on your engagement.”
Brittany slid her arm through Cameron’s and rested her head on his shoulder. “We knew from the start that it was true love.” She batted her eyelids at her fiancé. “Didn’t we, darling?”
He kissed her forehead. “From the first moment I set eyes on you, I knew we belonged together, my angel.”
Darling? Angel? Bile rose in Zara’s throat.
She felt Rory’s arm tighten around her as he said to Cameron, “The first time you set eyes on Brittany, weren’t you dating Zara?”
It belatedly occurred to Zara that she should have set the ground rules with Rory more carefully. No going for the jugular. No shooting poison arrows. Though she had been hurt like hell to find Brittany and Cameron cheating on her, when their parents and friends—and pretty much everyone else she knew—were immediately supportive of Brittany and Cameron’s new relationship, Zara had decided it wasn’t worth fighting a losing battle to remind everyone that she had, in fact, been there first.
Brittany was the first to recover from Rory’s
question. “Don’t be silly. None of us would call a couple of dinners together and maybe a movie dating.” She pinned her bright gaze on Zara, imploring her to agree. “Right, Z?”
For a moment, Zara was tempted to point out that she and Cameron had had a good two dozen dinners, movies, and nights during the two months they’d been seeing each other—which met even the most stringent definition of dating.
But she couldn’t bring herself to ruin her stepsister’s celebration. Though Brittany didn’t always look at things from all angles before she spoke and acted, at her core she was a good person. The big difference between the two of them was that Brittany’s misdeeds were on the surface, whereas Zara kept hers buried as deep as they could go.
In any case, as she worked to shake the painful thought away, she didn’t need to make a scene. Not when she had Rory at her side acting the part of the sentry, rather than simply the charmer she had assumed he would play tonight.
She couldn’t stand to lie, though. So instead of nodding, she went with, “I’m really glad things have worked out so well for both of you. You make a perfect pair.”
Brittany’s face lit with another smile. The same smile that had lured all of Zara’s previous crushes her way. “We do, don’t we?”
“Zara, honey!” Her father’s booming greeting was accompanied by a hug. “You look great. So healthy and happy. Doesn’t she, Margie?”
Zara stepped forward for her stepmother’s air kisses on each cheek. “You certainly do, darling.” Margie turned her gaze to Rory and gave him a thorough once-over. “Very well, indeed.”
“Dad, Margie, this is Rory Sullivan.”
“Very nice to meet you.” Her father robustly pumped Rory’s hand, clearly pleased by this proof that his daughter wasn’t moping over losing her boyfriend to her stepsister. “How long have you two been an item?”
Rory spoke before Zara could reply. “The first time I met Zara, she caught my eye.”
Zara almost laughed out loud, remembering the argument they’d had on her first day at the warehouse. Yup, she’d definitely caught his eye.
Rory continued, “I consider myself a very lucky guy that she finally agreed to go out with me.”
“Where did you meet?” Margie asked, looking as surprised as the rest of them at the idea of magnificent Rory Sullivan chasing Zara.
Thankful that they’d gotten their story straight beforehand, Zara said, “We work in the same building. Rory designs and builds furniture. His pieces are exceptional.” At the last second, she realized she should add in some lovey-dovey stuff. Turning to him with a heated look, she said, “Everything about you is exceptional.”
To his credit, instead of looking horrified by her terrible excuse for flirting, he rolled with it by pulling her closer.
Only, somewhere in there, he decided to roll with it too far.
Way too far.
Because the next thing she knew, he was leaning toward her, his mouth barely a breath away—
And then his lips were pressed to hers in a kiss unlike any she’d ever known.
Soft.
Sweet.
And yet ripe with sensuality.
Somewhere in the back of her brain, Zara knew this wasn’t part of the plan. They hadn’t agreed to kiss. Heck, they had barely agreed to hold hands as they walked inside.
But she couldn’t pull back.
Not when Rory’s kiss felt more right than anything else ever had.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Only when Zara’s father—or maybe it was Cameron—cleared his throat did they finally release each other. Even with their audience, however, Zara still couldn’t bring herself to look away from Rory’s face.
Had he felt it too?
Like the earth had stopped spinning?
And diving in for another kiss was the only thing that mattered?
Unfortunately, she couldn’t read what she saw in his eyes. And even if she could, how would she have been able to trust it when he would likely have just been playing his part? How could she trust anything that happened between them tonight when it was all predicated on a lie?
“Young love,” her stepmother sighed, looking more than a little flushed by the kiss she’d witnessed. “Is there anything else like it?”
Good thing no one seemed to expect Zara to speak. Because she couldn’t wrap her head around what had just happened. By what she had just felt.
Her feel nothing mantra was more useless than ever. Still, she had to pull it together—and quickly—before Brittany or Cameron realized anything was amiss. The last thing she wanted was for the two of them to figure out that she and Rory were just putting on a show. That would only make her look more ridiculous and pathetic.
“I’m starved,” she said.
“I’ll take you over to the buffet,” Brittany said, grabbing Zara’s free arm to yank her away from Rory.
For a few moments, Zara was the rope in a tug-of-war, with both of them holding tight to her. After she shot a quick look to Rory—it’s okay, you should go have a well-earned drink—he let her go.
“Well, aren’t you a dark horse?” Brittany grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handed one to Zara. “I can’t believe you’ve kept that gorgeous specimen of a man a secret for so long.” She paused to take a tiny sip of her drink, her eyes narrowing fractionally. “How long have you been seeing him, exactly?”
“We flirted with each other for the better part of the past year,” Zara said in an easy voice, “before I finally gave in and went out with him.”
“So it’s really true that he was pursuing you this whole time?”
Zara knew Brittany wasn’t being mean. Her stepsister always wanted to know every single detail. It was why she was great at PR—she rarely overlooked any of the particulars, whether a style of shoe or dress, or a casually dropped name or location.
“I’ve never seen a man so determined.” Zara smiled at her fib as she sipped from her glass. “The chase was fun, but at a certain point, I couldn’t hold out any longer.”
Her stepsister turned to look at Rory, now standing by the bar with Zara’s father and Cameron. Rory looked perfectly comfortable as he talked with them. Brittany’s fiancé, on the other hand, seemed to be gulping his wine rather desperately.
“What woman could resist a man like that?” Brittany murmured.
Jealousy speared Zara in the center of her chest, just from her stepsisters looking at Rory like she wanted to lick him from head to toe. Which didn’t make sense when Zara and Rory were not actually a couple, and she had no claim on him in any way other than as her co-conspirator for the night.
“Now it’s your turn to tell me everything,” Zara said, planting a bright smile on her face. “How did Cameron propose?”
Zara had expected Brittany to relish giving her every last detail of the proposal, but her stepsister barely seemed to hear the question. She hadn’t yet taken her eyes off Rory. “His name and face are so familiar, but I would have remembered if I’d met him before…” She snapped her fingers. “I remember now! My colleague shot him for a piece a client did in conjunction with Maine makers earlier this year. I wasn’t able to attend the shoot, but I will admit to drooling a bit over the pictures.”
Zara was used to biting her tongue around her stepsister. But she couldn’t keep from saying, “You did a piece on makers in Maine…and you didn’t ask me to be a part of it?”
Brittany finally dragged her gaze away from Rory to frown at Zara. “You make glasses, Z. That doesn’t count as art.”
Zara swallowed hard. Maybe she’d been too hasty when she’d decided not to make a scene tonight. Yes, her work had a very practical application—but that didn’t mean it wasn’t also art. Just as with Rory’s tables or chairs or benches, the use of her glasses frames on a daily basis didn’t make them any less beautiful.
Rory’s arms slipping around her waist distracted her from her sudden burst of anger. When had he moved from the bar?
And why d
id her brain go completely to mush whenever he touched her?
“This is my favorite song,” he said. “Let’s dance.”
“Glory of Love by Peter Cetera is your favorite song?”
Instead of replying to her, he turned to Brittany. “You don’t mind if I steal Zara away, do you?”
Brittany flashed him her most sparkly smile. One that had made every other man she’d given it to fall at her feet in supplication. Rory, however, didn’t seem to notice in the least that she was sparkling.
“Of course not,” Brittany said. “You two lovebirds should dance and have fun. That’s the mark of a great party, after all.”
Rory practically dragged Zara onto the dance floor. “If you want to put your arms around my neck and lean in a little while we sway to an oldie but goodie,” he suggested, “that might be best.”
Knowing he was right, she snapped back into her role as his besotted lover and wound herself around him.
“You looked like you were going to carve out a piece of her heart,” he murmured as they moved together on the dance floor. “Did I get you out of there in time?”
Zara sighed, letting herself relax into Rory’s body. Relax was a relative word, of course, given the heat of his body against hers. If only he wasn’t so well built, so strong, so all-around perfect.
“Just barely.” He was tall enough that even with her high-heeled boots, she could lean her head against his chest as they danced. “It’s not that I don’t love Brittany, because I do. It’s just that sometimes I wish she’d think before she speaks. And acts.”
“Did she say something about Cameron that upset you?”
“No.” Zara let herself nuzzle into him a bit more. What was the harm when he smelled so good—and it would only make their ruse more believable? “I actually think I’m starting to get over that.”
“I’m very glad to hear it,” he said. And then, “What was it that upset you, then?”
