“Don’t touch,” Zee warned, the look in his eyes challenging.
“Zee Moore,” Erika said with a deep breath. “Adam Wayne. It’s a private party, Adam,” she repeated slowly. “Please don’t make a scene and ruin it for people.”
“A problem?” Tre walked up to Zee’s side, Natalie tucked close.
“Guess it depends on who you ask,” Zee answered with a chuckle, releasing the man’s wrist and pulling Erika closer. “She isn’t going anywhere with you.”
“The hell she isn’t!”
“Why do you want Zee’s wife to go off with you? I doubt they have secrets, do you, Erika?” Natalie asked sweetly.
“Secrets destroy you from the inside out,” Erika answered, meeting the furious glare without backing down.
“Your father and I have been…” he looked from Erika to Natalie to Zee. “Wife? The hell she is! She’s my fiancé!”
“I’m not sure that’s possible once you marry,” Natalie laughed.
Adam Wayne’s body stiffened considerably, his eyes locked on the upturned face of Erika.
“What did you do? Your father and I have been searching for you for days, Erika. I think you should come with me and discuss this with your family,” he said clearly and carefully, his jaw clenched as well as the fists at his side. “We had plans. We have our future laid out neatly before us.”
“You’re looking pale, Adam,” Erika said quietly, her brows knit as she studied him. “I really don’t have a thing to discuss with either of you. I start my job, which is part of my future, on Monday and I won’t be returning to the family house except to get my clothing and personal things. We do not have plans. I ended the engagement. I am not marrying you.”
“What did you do? Who is this person?”
“Zee Moore,” he said simply, not offering a palm.
“What did you do, Erika?” He repeated, directing his question to her again. His hand raised, stopping short when she inched back. “You don’t have to work. You know that. We told you…”
“We? You and my parents act as if you have the right to plan my life.” She stared at him in disbelief. “Why do you not listen to me? I begin working at the resort on Monday. It’s an amazing opportunity. I left you a note, Adam. I don’t believe you want to discuss this in public,” Erika warned softly, aware of the attention they’d gathered even as they kept their voices down.
“Then come with me and we can speak privately. I phoned your father the instant…”
“You did what?” Her words came out in a low, stunned whisper.
Zee didn’t like the loss of color in her face. Not one bit.
“End of discussion, Wayne. Leave before I have you removed,” Zee turned her and led her back to the table, snagging a goblet of white wine from a passing tray.
“You cannot…!”
“Have him escorted from the party, Danny, he’s not invited and is disturbing my guests,” Tre had stepped in front of him, stopping him from following Zee and Erika.
“You’ll regret this, Thorne.”
“Really? Have you met my mother? Don’t get in her way and never mess up one of her parties,” Tre warned with a shake of his head, glancing at the stifled laugh from Natalie. “Let’s go find some food, wife,” he told her with a teasing wink.
“I don’t understand you or your friends and I have to go,” Erika dug her feet in, took the glass of wine from him and downed it before turning to leave. And found a large male in her path. Her frown deepened and her head went back. “You aren’t listening to me.”
“I heard every word, sweetheart, I promise. And since you’re starting a job in the area, which happens to be right down the road from the sandwich shop, having you room with me will work out nicely and continue the charade,” Zee spoke quickly and low, aware of the people near them. “Sit and talk to me, Erika. Please.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“To be honest, I don’t know,” he guessed by the surprise on her face she had expected a different answer. “Maybe because you need a friend you can trust. And believe me, with Tre and Natalie on your side, trust will never be an issue.” He paused, letting the words float around in her thoughts. “You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”
“I made a mistake of not taking enough cash when I left,” she said after a long breath. “I didn’t want to use my bank accounts because…my father has friends at the bank,” she admitted slowly.
“Erika, why are you being pushed into this?”
“I wasn’t,” she answered quietly. “Not at first. At first, he asked me out. He was polite and interesting to talk to…very polite…I was stupid…I thought he was polite because he loved me. He used the words. They don’t mean much,” Erika stared into the swirl of white wine in the bottom of the glass. She shifted abruptly, her knee bent and slid against his thigh. “Kiss me.”
Xavier ‘Zee’ Moore would have been the first to confess that at that moment, his brain shut down. He wouldn’t have believed it possible, but it happened. His eyes locked on the full, plump pinkened lips.
“Excuse me?”
“Kiss – me.”
While the brain shut down, the part of him that was pure male took over. His palms rose and cupped her face. She just stared at him and all he saw was innocence and curiosity. Interest. He wasn’t entirely sure what the test was, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to fail it.
Erika wanted the moment. Just the moment. Here and now. He felt good. He felt male. She’d never realized how important that sensation was to her as a girl. A pure and simple girl. Feminine. Who needed a male. He was warm and strong and smelled almost eatable, she thought, a flash of heat coursing through her with just the gentle strokes of his palms along her face, onto her throat and to the back of her head.
He tilted her face to his, his mouth slanted and tentative. At first. He felt her breath stop, his tongue tracing along the smallest opening between her lips. And then they parted, inviting him to taste and tease. He wrapped his tongue around hers, stroking, caressing the inside of her mouth; tasting the wine and the uncertainty in the kiss she returned.
Every kiss she’d ever had fell to the bottom of the bin and were instantly forgotten. Erika slid closer, her knee over his thigh and hands that had been holding the edges of his suit jacket now flattened against his chest, pressed over flesh she could feel that was warm and enticing. Her palms made it to his throat, fingers touching the soft hint of a shadow forming before sliding to his shoulders and around his neck.
She didn’t want to stop kissing him. It was soft and hot; hard and hungry. Every time she thought she had the pattern figured out, he changed it, nipping at her lip and then soothing it with a hot stroke of his tongue until she heard the smallest of mewls from her throat.
“We could get arrested if we’re not careful,” Zee trailed his lips to her ear, nipping at the soft lobe and listening to the quick little pants she was working to control.
“You don’t kiss me like I’m your sister,” she whispered raggedly.
“Trust me, my sister is not what I’m thinking about, Erika,” he laughed huskily, lifting his head and peering into her eyes.
“They won’t stop and they won’t believe you,” she said quietly.
“I can’t fix what they believe and I think having a supportive, protective husband is just what you need at the moment.”
Zee made a mental note to do some work on the computer that night, intent on finding out everything about her family that seemed to worry her. But not so much for herself, but for anyone who helped her. Reluctantly, he pulled their plates to them. The distractions of the last hour meant they hadn’t eaten much, but the good news was the food was just for such an occasional and still really good.
Erika watched him lift a ham and cheese roll, holding it to her lips and grinning at her. Like a kid, the grin broadened a little when she took a bite. She was so much better at chemistry and interactions than she ever was at figuring out the male half of the species.
“I’m not sure at the moment if it’s me or you who happens to be more confused,” Erika sat back in the bench seat, a flush of color in her cheeks when she realized her knee was on his thigh. And given a few more minutes of kissing, she would have been on his thighs, she thought with a swallow, reaching for the frosted glass of water on the table.
“We can be confused together, Erika. All I know is, friends don’t abandon you because something is off.” He waited while she took a few more bites of various fruits, vegetables and eats from the plate before them. “You broke off with Wayne because he kissed you like his sister.”
Damn she was beautiful. A pair of perfectly outlined blue eyes blinked at him.
Assessing.
“My father is a well-known conservative in the area,” she said quietly, nodding to herself as if the discussion had come to an end in her head.
“I’m still working on how he’s involved in your choice to marry or not.”
“Adam Wayne is one of his very high up vice-presidents in the electronics division. I thought…” She exhaled deeply, long. “I don’t know what I thought when he first asked me out. I’d been at the downtown office in Seattle and went to lunch with my father, and he introduced us. Nothing new there. Mother or father are constantly introducing me to people, you get used to it. I got started a little late on my degree to be a pharmacist…so many things in the college to explore. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to teach mathematics or play around in programming…I just didn’t know until I went to a lecture about the people and the actual interaction required…that was what the other choices had all been missing. So I went for a nursing degree first and then into the pharmacology field, specifically.”
Erika lifted another ham and cheese roll, watching the completely dazed look on his face. Her fingers rose and gently pushed a very strong chin up, closing his mouth.
“Sometimes I get enthusiastic about my career choice, I’m sorry.”
“Never, ever apologize for that, Erika,” Zee recovered quickly, wondering how many other people in her life had placed her into a given category only to find out that she not only didn’t fit, but didn’t belong. He’d confess to being one of them. Beautiful, rich girl…pharmacy…uh-huh…that was his first guess.
A nurse. And a pharmacist. Wow.
“I spent a lot of time defending my choices. I’m grateful my grandmother helped me with the schools,” Erika’s smile brightened at the memory. “She’s the only one in my life who kept my parents off my back and let me play with the brain I have. Anyway…father introduced us. I was in the middle of final exams and state exams for the pharmacological license and…” she sighed. “If there was something passing between them about it, I never noticed. I tend to get distracted. When he called to take me to dinner, it seemed nice, pleasant.” She met his gaze. “Polite. If I had to use one word for Adam, it’s definitely polite. But not because of some…some chivalrous notion inside him.”
Chapter Four
“You don’t think he prefers women?” Zee had been working on the polite way to phrase his inquiry. He watched one of those perfectly arched brow raise.
“He pursued me for almost four months before proposing. At dinner. With my parents at the table, in a very public place,” Erika shook her head. “I have to give it to my mother, all those years of proper decorum are really difficult to throw off when a panic attack hits you. He announced to the world that he was insanely in love with me and would I do him the honor, etc, etc…I can still see it…and I swear I was choking on something and next thing I knew I was being hugged by all kinds of excited, beaming people and had a ring on my finger. Not my most auspicious moment. That was four weeks ago. The wedding was supposed to be tomorrow. Good cake…horrid dress…some wedding planner was working with my mother while I was busy. I showed up for fittings and I don’t know…” She stopped and cast a narrowed glare at him. “I’m not sure laughing is quite the proper response, Zee.”
“It’s like you were outside a window watching these people plot your life, Erika. Somehow that just doesn’t fit you,” he told her, his head shaking and a palm up at a passing waitress. He placed an order for a dark ale and looked at her. “Wine? White?”
“Sweet and I don’t care what color,” Erika answered, chuckling softly. “I guess I was watching it. There was a part of me trying to end it. I tried the next day but they always managed to keep me…we were never alone so I could tell him it was a mistake. I did not love him! He’d never even kissed me, Zee! Not like…well…umm…that was a really good kiss, by the way.”
“I have more.” He liked listening to her laugh. The darkness in her eyes seemed to lighten and the smile she offered wasn’t forced like when she had faced Adam Wayne. “Ask me to kiss you later.”
“Sometimes a girl doesn’t like to ask,” her hand flew to her mouth. “I…” her head shook adamantly. “I didn’t mean that to sound…”
“I like the way it sounded.”
Erika drained half the glass of wine that had been placed before her, swallowed hard and leaned closer, her hands on his shoulders. She let out with a very soft.
“Pssst…lean over…I want to tell you something. You’re very…broad shouldered,” she said, inhaling the cologne and sighing. “And you smell really nice.”
“Is this a secret, Erika?” Zee wondered if he should have kept an eye on how many glasses of wine she’d had. Her body swayed just a little and her eyes seemed brighter than when they’d begun the night.
“He used to dance with me,” she whispered huskily, not noticing the slight groan Zee offered when her lips touched his ear. “And he never got hard.”
Erika bounced up immediately when he started coughing, her palm on his back with a few pats. She was on her knees now at his side, hands falling to her thighs when he waved her off.
“I’m good,” he assured her, tilting the ale up and draining a large mouthful. “Never, huh?”
“Never,” she repeated with a nod of confirmation. “I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with me.” She lifted the wine, holding it between her fingers on her lap. “The day I left…I’d gotten the letter of intent from the resort for head of their new pharmacy and went out to walk in the garden. I was staying at my father’s. I’d been in schools for so long, I never really bothered with a place of my own, just dorms and roommates. But he was in the garden, inside the maze, actually. I heard talking, quiet talking. Almost…romantic talking…and I saw them together.”
Zee watched her take another drink.
“Maybe I knew all along, Zee. Maybe I’d just been lying to myself. I thought it was me. I thought there was something wrong or…or I’d even asked if he was religious and that’s why he never…but that wasn’t it at all. When I saw him kissing Ross Richardson…” Her head shook as the scene replayed itself in her head.
“Richardson? The candidate for the conservative party in the senate?” Zee almost burst out laughing. He saw the answer in her eyes, pale head nodding slowly, her lips pursed. The man was in his thirties with a gorgeous wife and two kids. Standard issue for the up and coming politician.
“That wasn’t the worst of it,” she sighed, drained the glass and set it on the table, her head falling to his shoulder. “My father came out to speak to them. They argued. Adam was going along with their plot, but he didn’t like it. Didn’t like…and my father…he knew. He knew the man who’d been…who’d planned to marry me…who claimed to love me! Didn’t even like girls!” She hissed furiously. “They knew!”
“It’s an interesting stance to take for a collection of conservatives,” Zee said thoughtfully. Keeping that kind of thing hidden wasn’t new, though. “How the hell did they plan on…” he stopped and shook his head. “That’s a powerful collection of people trying to keep the secret, Erika.” And it was her own parents who’d kept the secret from her, betraying her trust. “Would have made one hell of a honeymoon,” he muttered, more to himself than her.
“No ki
dding,” Erika slid back to the cushion, her head on the back. “I just needed to get away from them all. I was so angry,” her palm was up, covering the yawn that broke free. “Excuse me.”
“I think it’s time to leave the ball, princess,” Zee drained the ale and stood up, giving a nod to Tre and grinning before offering a palm to Erika.
“Heading out?” Tre asked, his arm resting on Natalie’s hip.
“Been an interesting night,” Zee said quietly. “Your parents didn’t look too happy,” he glanced at Natalie, her arm around Tre’s waist and head on her shoulder.
“I sent Cecily to speak to them,” she chuckled. “I’m not sure they’ll ever be the same again but at least it kept them away from me tonight. Doesn’t matter what they accept, though, I’m deliriously happy and don’t care. It was nice meeting you, Erika. Anything I can help with…just let me know, okay?”
“Thank you,” she nodded slowly. “Both of you. It was a nice party and congratulations to you both, too. I think I forgot that part.”
“We’ll both be working for the health center, Erika, I’m sure we’ll run into one another again,” Tre promised, leaning down to whisper and wandering off with Natalie to the dance floor.
“They’re very kind. Nice,” she said tiredly, walking alongside Zee toward the open archway.
“You’ll find out the people in this crowd, having to do with the resort, are a little different than you might be accustomed to,” he guided her into the elevator. While most of his attention was on her, it didn’t stop him from keeping an eye out for either the reporter or Adam Wayne. The story she’d told was still bouncing around in his head. The ramifications of that knowledge being released would certainly rock the business community as well as the political one in the area.
“I met some nice people during the process,” she admitted, inhaling the fresh, damp air outside the resort. The valet took their ticket and placed a call on his walkie-talkie. Erika faced him, just staring.
WindSwept Narrows: #22 Erika & Vianne Page 3
