by Robin Wells
About three weeks after they’d met, they’d taken out a fishing boat one afternoon, anchored it about a mile from shore, then tethered a raft to the boat. They’d stretched out on the raft, just soaking up rays, their bodies mere inches apart, when she’d finally brought up the topic that had been weighing on her mind. “Tell me about your girlfriend.”
“What about her?”
“Well, what’s she like?”
He threw his arm over his eyes. “She’s just a normal girl.”
“Blonde, brunette, or redhead?”
“All three.”
Katie shot him a puzzled glance.
“Her hair is kind of a reddish-blondish brown,” he said.
Katie closed her eyes, trying to imagine this amazing creature. “Blue eyes or brown?”
“Yellow.”
She looked over at him.
“Around the center,” he added helpfully. “They’re actually green, with little golden flecks.”
Her stomach balled up. Apparently he’d spent a lot of time gazing into her eyes to be able to describe them so thoroughly.
“Is she pretty?”
“Sure.” The sun glistened on his bronzed abs. “Think I’d have an ugly girlfriend?”
Katie immediately pictured a gorgeous woman who was her complete opposite. The ball in her stomach shrank tighter. “Do you love her?”
“Nah. Love is nothing but hype.”
“Does she know you think that?”
“Sure. She thinks the same thing.”
That was hard to comprehend. “So… you don’t love each other, but you kiss and fool around and stuff…”
“Stuff?” Zack shot her an amused glance, his eyebrow arched.
“Yeah.” The raft bobbed in the wake of a distant motorboat. “I imagine you do stuff.”
They bobbed in silence for a moment. “What kind of stuff are you imagining?”
She tried hard to sound nonchalant and worldly. “Same kind of stuff I did with my boyfriend.”
“You had a boyfriend?” He looked at her.
“Sure.” It was stupid to lie, especially to someone who was an expert at reading poker faces, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. The jealousy was a living thing, twisting like a snake in her gut.
The problem was, she’d already told him that she’d never been out on a real date. She’d told him about the one time a boy from school had invited her to a dance, then hadn’t taken her to the dance at all, but straight to the town’s make-out spot. The memory always made her feel like she needed to take a bath.
“You told me you’d only been out with one guy,” Zack said.
“One guy from Chartreuse,” she ad-libbed. “My boyfriend was from out of town.”
“When was this?”
“Last summer.”
“So you and this out-of-town boyfriend—you got hot and heavy?”
“Yeah.” She wanted jealousy to lasso his gut into a pretzel, too. “He couldn’t get enough of me, and I couldn’t get enough of him.”
A corner of Zack’s mouth quirked up. “So what did you two do?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?” Zack shot her an amused glance. “S and M? Bondage? Back door? Threesomes?”
“You’re sick.”
“Hey, you’re the one who said you did everything.”
“I meant everything normal.”
“That can cover a lot of ground.” She wasn’t looking at him, but she was pretty sure he was smiling. “So… do you still stay in touch?”
“Sure. But not as much as we used to. He, uh, went to college, and he’s busy, and, well…”
She turned her head away so he couldn’t see her face. He always knew when people were lying. He said he picked up on little micro expressions in their faces and things about their body language, but sometimes it seemed like he could read minds. “You know how it goes.”
“Yeah.”
She trailed her hand in the water. “So… what’s your girlfriend like?”
Zack put an arm over his eyes again, shielding the sun. “Unlike you, she doesn’t ask a lot of questions.”
“Does she know you’re hanging out with me?”
“No. Do you think I should tell her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She might not like it, and then you’d have to stop.”
He moved his arm and looked at her. “Maybe that would be a good idea.”
“It would be a terrible idea.”
“Why is that?” Something in his eyes seemed hot and dangerous. She was barely able to breathe. Part of her thought he was about to kiss her. Another part was terrified he was going to tell her they shouldn’t see each other anymore. Without knowing how she’d gotten there, Katie was in a minefield.
“Because… then I wouldn’t have anyone to race to the buoy.” She rolled off the raft, upsetting it, plunging them both into the water, then took off for the distant bobbing buoy.
Katie smiled at the memory as she fastened an earring. Zack had no doubt seen right through her tall tale, but he hadn’t embarrassed her by calling her bluff. He’d always been kind. Protective, even. And he’d shown a lot of restraint for a seventeen-year-old boy—especially since she’d seen the way he looked at her when he didn’t know she was looking.
But there had been more than chemistry between them. He’d talked to her as if her opinion counted, as if he was interested in what she had to say, as if her thoughts and ideas were important. Aside from a couple of teachers, he was the first person who made her feel that she mattered.
It was no wonder she’d fallen for him, despite his warnings. But it was not a mistake she was going to make again. She’d been married to a man who’d loved her with his whole heart. She wasn’t going to fall for a man who didn’t even have a whole heart to give.
She glanced at her watch, then hurried to the kitchen, scrawled a quick note for Gracie, and propped it by the plate of muffins. She grabbed four of them, wrapped them in a plaid cloth napkin and plopped them in a small basket, then headed down the street to Zack’s house. It was a large, two-story Craftsman-style home, which had been gutted and completely renovated two years earlier.
She rang the iron doorbell. Zack opened the door, wearing jeans and a blue-and-gray shirt. He filled the doorway, and when he smiled, she felt an unwelcome blast of heat.
“Come in.” He held the door wider and stepped back. “I’m making coffee. Want a cup?”
“Sounds great.” She handed him the muffins. “I made these for Gracie, and thought you might like some.”
“Thanks.”
She stepped into a home that looked like it had been staged for a TV show. A mix of modern and Craftsman-style pieces, the living room featured a sage, gray, and blue patterned rug under a large sage sectional and a large mahogany coffee table. A pair of chairs covered in a modern geometric print in the same colors flanked the fireplace. Perfectly scaled and coordinated lamps, pillows, paintings, and accessories completed the room.
“Wow.” She followed him to a granite breakfast bar that separated the living room from the enormous restaurant-grade kitchen. “This is beautiful.”
Zack nodded. “The designer did a pretty good job on short notice.” He set the basket on the counter. “How is Gracie?”
“Still asleep.”
“That figures. That kid keeps Vegas hours.”
Katie perched on a barstool. “Part of that is being a teenager, and part is probably being pregnant. Has she gotten prenatal care?”
“Not as much as she should. From what she’s said, she didn’t realize she was pregnant until she was four months along, and then her aunt took her to a quack.”
“Any clue what that means?”
“He was near retirement age and very old-school.” Zack moved toward the coffeemaker across the room. “He didn’t think an ultrasound was necessary.”
“I’ll make an appointment with my ob-gyn. Dr. Greene is smart and tech-s
avvy. I’m sure Gracie will like her.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that. Gracie doesn’t seem to like much of anyone.”
Probably because she didn’t much like herself, Katie thought sadly. “Poor kid. She’s really had a tough time of it.”
“True. But Gracie could take a good time and turn it into an ordeal.”
“Has she talked at all about what she’s going to do when she has the baby?”
“She has an unrealistic picture of things.” Zack pulled two green ceramic mugs off the shelf, along with matching small plates. “She envisions herself floating around in her own little dollhouse in a cloud of self-sufficient bliss, caring for a beautiful baby who never cries.”
Katie grinned. “Where does she intend to live this fantasy?”
“She hasn’t thought that far ahead.”
“She can live with me, and I can help her care for the baby.” Katie had lain awake last night fantasizing about that very thing.
“May I make a suggestion? Don’t offer that. At least, not yet. Right now, she’s sure to say no—and once she makes up her mind about something, it’s hard to change it.”
It was an insightful observation. “In other words, tread carefully and don’t back her into any corners.”
“Exactly.” He grinned, and the temperature of the room rose several degrees. “I suggest you use the same game plan on me.”
“As if I would want to.”
“A guy can dream, can’t he?”
And so can a woman. Her face blazed. Where had that thought come from? She wasn’t looking to start anything, yet here she was, falling back into the flirtatious banter they’d shared that summer. It wasn’t wise. It wasn’t wise at all. She needed to keep the conversation focused on Gracie.
She studied the high-end, grind-to-brew coffeemaker as it hissed out the last few drops of coffee. “What are we going to do about Gracie and school?”
Zack brought the two plates to the breakfast bar and set them down by the basket of muffins. “Well, Gracie’s grades were terrific before her parents died, but they plummeted afterward.”
“That’s not surprising. On top of losing her parents, she was moved to a strange town and a strange school.”
“Gracie thinks she can attend one semester before the baby’s born and bring up her GPA, then either take the GED test or finish up with some online courses.”
She watched Zack move back to the coffeemaker, lift the pot, and fill the two mugs. “One of my clients is a school counselor. I’ll talk to her about the options.”
“Great. This is just July, though. She’s going to need something productive to do for the rest of the summer.” He carried the coffee mugs to the counter and handed her one. “I’d like to see her get a part-time job. I talked to her about it, and she didn’t seem opposed to the idea.”
Katie nodded. “She can work at the beauty shop with me.”
“Bad idea.” Zack sat on the barstool beside her.
“Why?”
“Because she has attitude issues. She hates authority. If you’re her boss as well as her mother, it’ll make her push back against you harder.”
She stared at him. How had he already figured all this out? “I wouldn’t have thought of that.”
“I was just like her.” Zack pulled back the napkin on the basket and looked at the muffins. “These look delicious. Want one?”
“No thanks. I’ve already eaten.”
He selected one and took a bite. “Mmm. This is great.”
An unwelcome curl of pleasure shot through her. “Thanks.”
She watched him polish off the muffin, delighting in the pleasure he took in eating it.
“Ready to get this phone call out of the way?” he asked when he’d finished.
“Sure. But maybe you’d better brief me about what I’m getting into.”
“The long and the short of it is, the aunt didn’t want Gracie living in Vegas—she said the girl finds trouble too easily as it is, without moving her to Sin City. Plus she wants Gracie to have a woman’s influence. That’s when I got the idea of moving here and sharing custody with you.”
Katie’s eyebrows rose. “And the aunt went for this, without knowing if I’d agree?”
Zack rose from the barstool, avoiding eye contact. “I might have led her to believe that you were on board with the whole thing.”
“You might have?”
“Okay. I did.” He flashed her one of his heart-stopping smiles. “I knew the odds were in my favor.”
And one thing about Zack, he knew how to play the odds. His biceps flexed as he lifted his coffee mug and took a drink. It bothered her that she noticed.
“Want to move into my office and get this call over with?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“That was easier than I thought it would be.” Katie relaxed in the tan chenille Parsons chair opposite Zack’s desk when he turned off his speaker phone. The aunt had wanted reassurance that Gracie would be in good hands and had made them promise to keep her informed, but she hadn’t thrown any major obstacles in their path.
“She’s relieved more than anything,” Zack said. His black leather office chair squeaked as he rose. “She and Gracie were virtually strangers when Gracie moved there. They’d only seen each other a couple of times over the years, and they never really bonded.”
“Poor Gracie.”
“Yeah. But don’t let her hear you say that. If there’s one thing that makes her throw up her defenses, it’s being pitied.”
“Good to know.” Katie rose as he rounded his desk and followed him into the kitchen. “When did you become such an astute observer of human nature?”
“Gotta read people to figure out how they’re playing their cards.” He picked up the coffeepot. “More coffee?”
“No thanks. I need to get to work.”
“Me, too.” A beep sounded on Zack’s BlackBerry. “That’s a reminder that I have a conference call in five minutes.” He poured some coffee into his cup.
“I left Gracie a note that I’d be home around noon. I’ll take her to lunch and talk to her about getting a job.”
“Great.” His blue eyes settled on her, making her feel distinctly unsettled. “So… what are you doing this evening?”
Why did he want to know? “Nothing special.”
“Do you usually have plans?”
Her pulse skipped crazily. “Why are you asking?”
“Well, you didn’t answer Gracie’s question last night. I was wondering if you had a beau.”
Katie felt her face grow warm. “Beau? Wow. I didn’t know people from Las Vegas used such courtly Southern language.”
“It’s the live oaks and magnolias,” he said, grinning over the rim of his coffee mug. “They make me wax poetic.”
“There you go again. I thought the only waxing going on in Vegas was the cosmetic kind.”
He laughed. His laugh was even more sensual than his smile. “So do you?”
“Do I what? Wax?”
He grinned again. “Well, that wasn’t the question, but I can’t say I’m not curious.”
Katie’s face heated even more.
“I’ll put that question aside for another time, but I’d love an answer to the one on the table.”
“Which is?”
“Are you seeing anyone?”
“No. I haven’t really dated anyone since…” Her mouth went dry. She fiddled with her wedding ring.
His gaze went to it. “Since your husband.”
She nodded, stilling her hands.
He finished his coffee with a quick swallow. “He was a lucky guy.”
“I was the lucky one.” She needed to turn this around. “So what about you?”
“Am I lucky? Always. Although you know I don’t really believe in luck.”
She remembered. He believed in random chance and personal skill. Zack believed in working the odds. “I was asking if you’re in a relationship.”
He grinned. “You k
now better than that.”
“Right.” He’d explained it all that summer: He didn’t believe in emotional involvement. He believed in mutual exchanges of companionship and sex, like some kind of fair-trade barter system.
“So you’re still operating on the ‘love is like a meal’ principle?” He’d said that relationships should be enjoyed like a good dinner; when it’s over, just walk away from the table, remembering only how enjoyable it was.
“You know it.”
“Well, silly me. I thought maybe you’d experienced some emotional growth in the last eighteen years.”
He grinned. “Nope. Not a bit.”
His involvement with Gracie indicated otherwise. Still, Katie would be a fool not to take him at his word. She headed toward the door.
He followed her. “Why don’t you and Gracie plan on coming here for dinner?” he asked. “At, say, seven? The beds are supposed to be delivered later this morning, so Gracie can stay here if she wants.”
“Okay.”
He opened the door for her. She brushed against his arm as she walked out, and an unwelcome shock of sexual awareness shot through her. The man was like an electric coil, she thought as she stepped out onto his wide porch.
Well, once burned, twice wary. She was older and wiser, and she knew enough about Zack to keep her distance.
CHAPTER NINE
With Coldplay blaring on her iPod, Gracie danced around Katie’s living room. She loved to dance, but she didn’t want anyone to see her, because she wasn’t very good at it. Besides, if people saw you dancing, they thought you were all bubbly and happy and crap like that.
She’d awakened an hour and a half earlier to find herself alone. She wandered into the kitchen and found Katie’s note, along with the muffins. After eating two of them, she chugged a glass of milk and promptly set about snooping through the house.
It was a pretty boring place. The only things of real interest she’d uncovered were a drawer of sexy lingerie in Katie’s bedroom and a vibrator in her bedside table. Those were pretty funny.
