“Yes, but one day soon you’re going to have to come out and show your hand.”
Okay, so if he wanted to believe she was hiding behind sex, who was she to argue? Deliberately she slid her hand between them and rubbed the material around his groin. “Like this?”
By the spurt of surprise on his face he hadn’t realized what he’d said. “Cassie,” he growled. “I didn’t mean like that and you know it.”
“Then how did you mean it?” she said softly, pressing her palm against him.
“Stop it,” he muttered, growing hard. “I won’t let you get away with it this time. I have to go. Erin and Adam --”
“Forget them,” she murmured, and pulled his zip down, freeing his growing erection. “Or do you mean like this?” she said huskily.
“No, Cassie,” but his voice was weakening.
“Perhaps like this?” she said, before wrapping her hand around his thickening shaft.
He groaned.
And groaned again.
“Oh babe, yee..ssss.”
* * *
Zac got a shock when he walked into the apartment around ten that morning and found Erin and Adam sitting on the balcony drinking coffee. They were laughing at something and Erin looked quite flushed, as if she were having the time of her life. Zac couldn’t remember her laughing like that with him. Not since the accident anyway.
And then he looked at Adam, who jolted him by staring back with a defiant look in his eyes.
And it all fell into place.
Adam was interested in Erin.
Very.
Suddenly he knew it was the reason the other man had been angry with him last night after the show, and then again at one this morning when Adam had walked in and started accusing him of playing around on her. And wasn’t that just typical of Adam! Always trying to take the girl that he wanted.
He grunted to himself. Okay, so he didn’t actually want Erin as such. In fact, yesterday when he’d first seen her he knew for sure that he didn’t.
“Zac!” Erin said with delight and jumped to her feet to race over to him. She gave him a quick kiss on the mouth that lingered just a second too long and made him uneasy. She knew he was involved with another woman, so why was she acting like their discussion last night hadn’t happened?
And he was involved with Cassie, no doubt about it. He’d spent the rest of the night in her bed and in her arms, and it had felt right.
It had never felt this right with Erin…
It still didn’t feel right with Erin…
“Oh Zac,” she said, pulling him from his thoughts. “You must come to lunch with us. Adam’s going to take me to this really posh restaurant. I’m sure he won’t mind if you come too.”
Zac looked at Adam with an arched brow. “Not going to the office today?” he said the obvious, but his eyes said “boy, that was fast work”.
Adam’s eyes said “try and stop me”. “No. I took the day off to show Erin around the place.”
“And lunch is our very first stop,” she said, then squeezed Zac’s arm. “Please say you’ll come with us, darling.”
Darling? He had a refusal forming when he saw the way Adam’s mouth tightened. Hmm. So his old mate didn’t want him along, eh? Did that mean Adam planned on showing Erin more than the sights of Chicago? Did she even realize what Adam was up to under the guise of friendship? Probably not. He didn’t like this, but he had to keep her safe from his best friend. “Sure, Erin, I’ll come to lunch. It’ll be nice to spend some time together again.”
She squealed and kissed him on the cheek. “Oh, that’s wonderful. I’ve got so much to tell you. I saw Dave in Sydney a few weeks ago and --”
“Whoa!” he said with a chuckle. “Perhaps you can tell me over lunch.” His gaze darted to Adam, who was looking somewhat irritated. “Or maybe we can catch up when we’re alone. I’m sure Adam must be finding it all quite boring.”
“On the contrary,” Adam said, quickly replacing his expression with a twisted smile. “Anything Erin has to say is always interesting.”
“Oh Adam,” she teased, then grinned at Zac. “He’s such a nice man.”
“Isn’t he just,” Zac mocked.
“Do you think Cassie would like to come along as well?” Adam drawled.
Zac knew the comment was in retaliation but still, he gave a start at the mention of Cassie. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to come along but -- “I’m not sure she’s available,” he muttered.
“No need to bother her then,” Erin agreed quickly.
“Why don’t you call her and see?” Adam said, a wry glint in his eyes.
Zac was trying to think. “She’s probably busy.”
Adam jerked his head toward the telephone. “The phone’s right there. Can’t hurt to ask her.”
To come up with more excuses wouldn’t have look good, yet it wasn’t that he didn’t want Cassie to come along. He just didn’t think it a good idea to have her and Erin together.
But he wasn’t going to let Adam see any of his thoughts. “Fine,” he said, and strode across the room toward the phone.
* * *
Five minutes into lunch and Cassie decided Zac was fooling himself. It was clear to anyone with half a brain - and Zac appeared to be missing half of his right now - that Erin hadn’t accepted he was interested in someone else.
Or perhaps he didn’t want to know it.
But Adam knew it, Cassie concluded some time later as she watched the other man sip his wine and try to appear as if he didn’t care. It was clear to Cassie that he was in love with Erin.
And Erin had no idea of the other man’s affection.
Poor Adam.
“… and then we went to that party onboard that yacht in Sydney Harbour. You remember, don’t you, Zac?” Erin was saying as Cassie tuned back into the conversation. “That’s the one where I almost fell overboard and you just managed to save me.”
Zac smiled, his body language relaxed and indulgent. “You were drunk.”
She smiled back. “I was merely tipsy.”
“More than tipsy, Erin.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow for a week.” She smiled sweetly at Cassie. “Just as well I had Zac there to look after me.”
Cassie smiled sweetly back. “Yes, a man certainly comes in handy when a woman’s sick.”
Erin blinked in slight confusion, as if she didn’t understand Cassie not getting jealous.
“And when she’s not,” Erin said, recovering fast.
“That’s very true,” Cassie agreed pleasantly.
Surprisingly, she didn’t feel jealous of the other woman. What she was beginning to feel was a tad annoyed by the goofy look on Zac’s face when he looked at his ex-fiancée. For all his talk did he still have a thing for Erin? Or was he merely sensing Adam’s feelings for his ex-girlfriend and was slightly jealous?
Just then, Cassie happened to glance across at Adam. The look in his eyes told her not to take any notice of Erin. She raised her glass of white wine to him in thanks.
Then Adam turned to Erin. “Ready for some of that sightseeing I promised you?”
Erin’s gaze immediately swept to Zac. “You’ll come, won’t you?” Her gaze darted to Cassie. “And you too Cassie, of course.”
Zac hesitated briefly, and only after glancing at Adam, Cassie noted. Then, “Sure, I --”
Adam sat up straighter in his chair. “I thought Cassie had already shown you the sights?” he said smiling, but it looked more like it was through gritted teeth. “It’d probably be boring for you both anyway.”
Zac put on a mocking grin. “Not at all. Anyway, I thought you’d rather go home and play with your toy soldiers than go out on the town.”
Cassie wanted to slap him until Erin exclaimed, “Oh those! Aren’t they something! I was too tired from jetlag to take a good look at them last night, but this morning Adam explained how rare some of them are.” She glanced at Cassie. “You should see them.�
��
“I have,” Cassie replied, making Erin aware that she’d been in Zac’s bedroom… and by the suddenly startled look on the other woman’s face she knew what she was saying. “I’ve got to agree. They’re something all right. You have quite a collection, Adam.”
His shrug held a surprising hint of self-consciousness. “It’s just a hobby.”
“Or a compulsion,” Zac joked.
“It’s better than collecting pet rocks.” Like a game of verbal table-tennis, Adam tossed the comment back to him.
Zac began to grin. “Hey, what can I say? I’m a sucker for big stones.”
Adam gave a short laugh. “You’re crazy,” he said, and they were friends again.
Cassie let out a slow breath. These two were like a pair of five-year-olds. Thankfully their fondness for each other outweighed any real damage to their friendship.
As if she were getting desperate, Erin turned to Zac. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Zac?”
Cassie knew it was time to step in, if only for Adam’s sake. “I’m sorry but we can’t. My producer is expecting us.” She looked at Zac and said truthfully, “Leon wants to talk about an article a journalist from one of the newspapers wants to do on us. He also wants to discuss a charity event that’s coming up this weekend.”
Zac nodded. “That’s something we shouldn’t miss then.” He turned to Erin and winked. “Sorry, Erin. You know how it is for us celebrities. Everybody wants a piece of us.”
Erin hesitated, then as if realizing she wasn’t about to win this one, she pasted a smile on her face. “I still can’t believe you’ve become a celebrity over here,” she said to Zac, who immediately pretended to be deeply wounded.
Cassie made out she was amused by the interplay that followed, but underneath she didn’t feel like laughing. Zac was definitely showing the signs of a man jealous of a woman. The only trouble was – she wasn’t the woman.
* * *
Erin watched as Zac left the restaurant, her heart squeezing with pain. She’d blown it big time when she’d broken off their engagement. Sure, she’d had a life-threatening occurrence, and sure, she should cut herself some slack, but that didn’t help when right in front of you the love of your life was walking out the door with another woman.
Literally.
“I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
Startled, she turned to look at Adam. Below the short blond hair, he had a set look about his face that stirred something faint inside her. She moistened her suddenly dry lips. “Pardon?”
“You made a fool of yourself just now.”
She sighed. So they were back to that again, were they? “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, leaning back in her chair as if she didn’t have a worry in the world. This was none of his business anyway.
The look in his eyes wouldn’t let up. “Oh yes, you do. You threw yourself at Zac like a bucket of water.”
She could feel warmth color her cheeks. “Thanks very much.”
“Get over it and move on.”
Her body stiffened. “So that’s your advice, is it?”
“Let him go, Erin.”
She found a perverse pleasure in challenging him. “I can see you’ve never been in love.”
His jaw tautened. “Why? Because I’m telling you to walk away from a relationship that’s over?”
The breath hitched in her throat. It wasn’t over. It couldn’t be. Her and Zac’s love would overcome this little hiccup. She swallowed hard. “No, because you make it sound so easy. It isn’t.”
He got an odd look about him. Then, “It may surprise you to know, but I’ve had to do the same at one time.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You? I didn’t know you had a serious girlfriend. I thought you liked to play the field.” And play it very well indeed.
“I make it appear that way, but in actual fact I ache to be with the woman I love.”
She blinked, then blinked again. The tilt of his head was strangely touching. “My God.” She was blown away by his admission. How any woman could ignore this man’s feelings for her was beyond reason. “So where is she? Why aren’t you with her?”
“She’s in love with someone else,” he said, the knotted tension in his shoulders easy to see. “And I accept that. Just like you’ve got to accept that Zac’s in love with Cassie, no matter how much it hurts.”
At the mention of Zac, her heartstrings tightened. “Do you really think he loves her?”
“Yes.”
She gave a little gasp. “But it wasn’t that long ago he loved me.”
“Maybe it wasn’t true love he felt for you.”
She winced. “Thanks.”
All at once his eyes softened. “Feelings change, Erin.”
She couldn’t give up. She wouldn’t. “He seems to want me around, Adam. I can tell he still wants to be with me.” She wasn’t grasping at straws either. She could feel that Zac still had feelings for her.
“You’re being here has unsettled him, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love Cassie. It only means he still has leftover feelings for you.”
She made a face. “Leftover feelings?”
“Just be happy for him. It’s what loving a person is about. You want them to be happy whether it’s with you or not.”
She knew what he was saying, but… “I’m not sure I can be that generous.”
“Sometimes you have no choice.”
All at once she wasn’t thinking about her and Zac. And all at once she couldn’t seem to get past knowing that this man loved a woman who didn’t love him in return. “So how come you’ve never mentioned this love of your life before, Adam?”
A withdrawn look came over him. “Some things are private.”
Strangely, it hurt that he wouldn’t share anything more with her. “That didn’t stop you from interfering in my private life with Zac.”
A muscle bunched at his jaw but there was clear concern in his eyes. “I’m just trying to stop you getting more hurt than you are.”
Her heart slammed into her ribs. Okay, she had to admit it. This man made a wonderful friend. No wonder Zac thought highly of him. “Thank you, Adam,” she said huskily.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m here for you, Erin. We’ll get through this together,” he murmured, a caressing look in his eyes.
Without warning, she felt like her breath had been cut off. His touch was sending every nerve ending in her body into a tizzy.
Then he let her hand go and leaned back as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. “Ready to do some serious sightseeing?” he said casually, but there was a twang to his voice that sent a ripple of anticipation down her spine.
She cleared her throat. “Um… yes, but let me visit the ladies room first,” she said, and quickly got to her feet before hurrying out of the room. Her hands were shaking, and so were her knees. God, was this what happened when a woman did without male attention for a couple of months? Would any port in a storm do?
She cringed at such an unkind thought. Adam would never be any port in a storm to any woman. Despite his reputation, he’d be more a safe haven than anything.
And therein lay the danger.
CHAPTER TWELVE
If Zac noticed Cassie wasn’t quite herself on the way back to the radio station, he didn’t say anything. She thought he seemed a little subdued, but he picked up once they were sitting talking to Leon about the newspaper article to be done on them, as well as the upcoming charity event. Still, during the rest of the afternoon a thoughtful look returned to Zac’s eyes that had her wondering if she’d been right after all and he really was jealous of Adam.
But that would mean he must care more for Erin than he realized. And if that were the case then where did she fit into all this? God, she didn’t want to think about it, let alone ask him about it. Perhaps the best thing was to wait and see what developed. She just prayed to God she was jumping to the wrong conclusion. In the meantime, the show h
ad to go on…
“G..O..O..D……evening, Chicago. Welcome to “Night Talk”, and here with me again is Australia’s greatest loss and our lucky gain, Zac Ryan. Glad to have you back, Zac.”
His grin surprised her, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Glad to be here, Cassie. I’m all ready and raring to go with my trusty, super-duper sex manual at my side, Sex for Lovers.”
She chuckled into the microphone, but she was wondering if she’d read him wrong. Was he a good actor? “You’re firing on all pistons tonight, I see.”
“And why not? Life’s good.”
She was suspicious of that comment. “Really? Anything in particular making you happy?”
Like an old girlfriend turning up?
“Just being able to sit across from you makes me happy, Cassie,” he said dryly.
She rolled her eyes at him. “You don’t have to suck up to me, Zac. You’re already on the show.”
“Never hurts to keep the boss happy,” he said, a look in his eyes that made her think she had imagined all that with Erin and Adam. Or had she?
Her brows lifted. “Oh, so I’m your boss now, am I?”
“Only if you want to be.”
She feigned a frown. “Hmm, you’re being far too obliging tonight. Something’s wrong.”
He pursed his mouth in an exaggerated way. “You’re a very suspicious person, aren’t you?”
“With you around, I have to be,” she joked, never more serious. “So, is this the new, improved Zac?”
He eased into a cocky grin. “I didn’t know I could improve on perfection.”
“Ha! Back to the old Zac. You haven’t changed at all, pal, which is just as well, seeing one of the local journalists will be interviewing us in a couple of days for their newspaper.”
“That’ll be fun. I think I’ll like spilling my guts in print.”
“There’ll be no gut spilling on my watch, Zac.”
“No guts, no glory,” he teased.
“No matter,” she said with a rueful grin. “I’m sure our listeners will be pleased to read all about you. From all the fan mail we’re getting, they obviously love you.”
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