The Appearance of Impropriety [The Horsemen] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Skye Michaels

  Tori turned in his arms and murmured a soft good morning as she placed her lips to the base of his throat. Zack forgot all about his problems. He rolled over on top of her and buried himself in the sweet, warm solace of her body. They saw stars just as the sun was creeping over the horizon.

  The remaining days of the week passed swiftly. Zack’s feeling of dread increased as he and Tori explored each other. Their intimate relationship as well as their friendship continued to blossom. They grew closer by the day. He had never known a closeness like this in previous relationships, and he thought that she hadn’t either. This was so much more than convenient sex. He could see that they were as well-matched mentally as emotionally, never mind physically. His secret was killing him.

  Friday afternoon they regretfully left the farm with horses and goat in tow and headed south to reality. Tori had another show weekend scheduled.

  Chapter Twelve

  The following Monday morning, Zack drove to Miami to attend a meeting with Chuck Jackson, the CEO of Z-Tech, and Bob Grossman, the attorney handling Z-Tech v. Green.

  As Zack stormed into Bob Grossman’s plush office in the penthouse of an office building across the street from the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, he found Chuck and Bob waiting for him. He growled, “What’s going on with this case? Can’t we settle it or something?”

  “Good morning to you, too,” Bob said sarcastically. “I’ll have Cindy bring in some coffee. Maybe it will improve your disposition.”

  As Bob asked his secretary for coffee, Zack seated himself in one of the maroon leather chairs across from Bob’s desk. Waiting for everyone to get settled, he mentally compared Chuck Jackson and Bob Grossman, two of his best friends. Chuck was of medium build with blond hair and blue eyes, in sharp contrast to Bob, who was dark with a short, wiry build. Both, however, were tough, savvy individuals. Grossman was a legal pit bull. Changing the course of events at this juncture would not be easy without coming clean. These two were too cagey. That was what he paid them for after all.

  “Well let’s review the status of the case,” Bob stated. “At present, we’re in the discovery stage of the lawsuit. Opposing counsel has filed a countersuit seeking damages and has generally been a real pain in the ass. She’s filed enough Motions to Produce to paper the men’s room.”

  “I know. I can’t tell you how much time we’ve wasted downloading documents requested in the motions to the website,” stated Chuck in exasperation.

  “What do you mean ‘she’?” Zack asked with a sinking feeling in his gut.

  “Vickie Alvarez, senior litigator at Barlowe Cannon, a very tough lady. I’ve been up against her a time or two before, and she uses every trick in the book and usually comes up with a couple that aren’t in the book. She never goes over the line, mind you, but she’ll take every advantage she can. Frankly, I wish we’d snapped her up out of law school instead of Barlowe.”

  “What kind of documents?” asked Zack with a scowl as his last hope that this was all a bad dream drained away. What the hell is she up to? Straightening out this mess is beginning to look more and more complicated. I should have told her when I first realized we might have a conflict of interest. He conveniently forgot all the reasons he had given himself for holding back.

  “Every kind of financial record from Profit and Loss statements to Federal Employment Tax returns. Proof of incorporation, list of officers, directors, and stockholders—every damn thing she can think of, I guess. She’s even requested access to your e-mail archiver and web filter,” Bob replied.

  “Isn’t that overkill?” Zack asked.

  “Yeah, but she knows she hasn’t got much to hang her hat on legally. I think she’s angling for a nuisance settlement,” Bob replied. “The employment contract Green signed was pretty strong. It had a five year non-compete clause, a confidentiality clause, a morals clause, and a number of other goodies thrown in for good measure.”

  “Well, I don’t see why we can’t settle. Pursuing this suit is going to be very time consuming and costly,” Zack said with a grimace.

  “The loss of the ZApp program will be extremely costly as well,” Bob stated. “In case you’ve forgotten, Green has stolen a program potentially worth many millions of dollars.”

  “Aren’t you the man who said ‘When I pay a man six figures, everything in his head but his sex life belongs to me’?” Chuck asked with a frown. “Why the change of heart? Besides, I know the bastard threw a few gremlins into our program for spite to slow us down before he left, and he may just beat us to market before we can debug the program if we don’t prevail in this lawsuit.”

  “I know. This whole business is a mess. Well, let’s look into all the possibilities before we rule anything out,” Zack said with a frown.

  “I feel our case for breach of contract and copyright infringement is very strong, not to mention the fraud issue,” Bob continued. “If we can get an injunction to stop Green from putting the program on the market before the case comes to trial, we’ll be in a good position.”

  “Are you going to depose the slimy little twerp?” inquired Chuck with a look of distaste. “I want to be there.”

  “Now that’s a productive idea,” Zack replied.

  “Come on, guys…cool it. Yes, I’m going to depose him, and either or both of you can show up if you promise to behave. And I’m not kidding. I don’t need assault and battery charges to contend with as well.”

  Things were not going as he had hoped. Zack found he couldn’t justify his desire to settle with Green, who was definitely in the wrong here. His prior position on that matter was well known to both men. It wouldn’t be easy to back down from a position that strong in spite of his feelings for Tori. The issues here were not cut and dried.

  The real question was could he back down? He had an obligation to look out for the best interests of Z-Tech. The jobs of hundreds, if not thousands, of employees were ultimately on the line, not to mention their years of hard work and commitment to the company. Even though he was the sole stockholder of the holding company, CZT Enterprises, of which Hard-Drive Specialties, Incorporated, Z-Tech’s parent company, was a wholly-owned subsidiary, could he allow his selfish interests to come first? He knew he would be the first one to jump all over one of his team for putting personal interests before good business. He knew he shouldn’t allow himself to think with his heart or other relevant portions of his anatomy—but it was going to be damn hard.

  Chapter Thirteen

  On Monday morning Tori walked through the hammered brass double doors of the offices of Barlowe, Cannon, Alvarez & Robertson on the 40th floor of the Miami Tower office building in downtown Miami. As usual, she paused to admire the stunning view through the floor-to-ceiling curved glass walls. The sunlight was sparkling off the light chop in Biscayne Bay. The view alone was worth the astronomical rent.

  She greeted the receptionist seated at a circular rosewood desk, and as always admired the groupings of deep-red leather furniture arranged around two identical turkey-red oriental rugs and the original oil paintings hanging on the dark wood paneling. Oh well, back to work. I have to help pay for all of this splendor.

  “Maria, please let Robert know I’m back when he wanders in,” she said as she proceeded down the hall toward her corner suite.

  As Tori entered the outer office, her assistant Sharon looked up from the piles of papers spread over her desk and said, “Look who’s back. Am I glad to see you. Wait until you see all the discovery Z-Tech has downloaded to the suit’s website.”

  “I guess we both have some reading to do,” Tori replied with a grin.

  “You sure are chipper this morning. How was your vacation?”

  “I had a wonderful time. Rocky and I did very well at Wellington both weekends, and the farm was fantastic.”

  “Just the farm?”

  “You really are a nosy woman,” Tori replied as she slipped into her office and closed the door on Sharon’s curiosity. They had been together for several years a
nd were good friends as well as coworkers. Sharon could read her like a book, and there wasn’t much she could put over on her.

  “The details—at lunch!” Sharon returned through the closed door.

  Tori dove into the masses of files and correspondence piled on her desk and was reading some new pleadings on one of her other cases when the intercom buzzed and she heard Sharon’s voice state, “There’s a Mr. Talbot on line 9. Do you want to take it?”

  “Yes, I’ll take it,” she replied, a small secret smile lighting her face. “Hi, cowboy. Long time no see,” she said as she picked up the phone.

  “It has been a long time since yesterday. I miss you already. I had to come down to Miami for a meeting this morning. Can I take you to lunch?”

  “I’m buried under paper, but I would love to take a break. Can you pick me up at one o’clock?”

  “Sure thing. See you then,” Zack said with a smile.

  A wide grin lit Tori’s face as she put the phone down and pressed the intercom. “Sharon, I need to finish dictating some pleadings. When Mr. Talbot gets here, please just show him in.”

  “Okey dokey,” Sharon replied, sarcasm and unrestrained curiosity dripping from her voice.

  The hours until lunch sped by as Tori worked her way through a week’s worth of accumulated pleadings and correspondence.

  “Sharon, a motion to quash in Z-Tech, usual motion opening, then number one,” Tori said into her hand-held microcassette recorder. She was deep in concentration flipping through files as the door to her office opened. Sharon, with a gleeful grin on her face, ushered Zack into Tori’s office. Giving Sharon a telling look, she said, “Thanks, Sharon. I’ll see you after lunch. Come on in, Zack. I’ll just close up these files, and we can go.”

  As soon as the door was closed on Sharon’s smirking know-it-all look, Tori rose to greet Zack with a welcoming kiss. She had seen him only yesterday, but after the intimacy of the last week, sleeping alone had never seemed so lonely. I could really get used to this. She sighed as he hugged her close. He really does look terrific. No wonder Sharon is drooling! It was the first time she had seen him dressed in a business suit. The conservative, vested, gray pin-stripe suit fit his broad shoulders like a glove and emphasized his dark good looks and six-foot-three-inch frame.

  * * * *

  Zack had been impressed by the eclectic elegance of the reception room, but as he took in Tori’s corner office and glanced through the arched doorway into the adjoining private conference room, he silently whistled at the monthly nut it must take to keep these offices open. Tori had been seated behind a slab of glass perched on two bleached oak pedestals.

  She had kicked off her high-heeled pumps, and her legs were sexily crossed under a short skirt. Behind her was a bleached oak credenza covered with files. To the right, next to the glass walls overlooking the Bay, was an L-shaped seating area consisting of dove-gray leather couches dotted with teal and burgundy throw pillows and a glass table top perched on short bleached oak pedestals that matched the desk. The expanse between the work and sitting areas was carpeted in off-white Berber. There were several excellent abstracts on the off-white grass cloth walls and a stunning portrait of Rocky in oil over one of the couches. When she rose to greet him, Zack thought she looked wonderful in the light-weight navy wool suit with a long, shape-hugging jacket and short skirt. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her.

  They took the express elevator to the eleventh floor sky lobby. “Good afternoon, Ms. Alvarez. Hope you enjoyed your vacation,” the sky lobby concierge said with a friendly grin.

  “Thanks, Keith. It was great,” Tori returned a friendly smile.

  “Does he remember everyone’s name, or are you special? There have to be thousands of people in this building.”

  “Nope. He’s amazing. He remembers everyone, from the highest to the lowliest,” Tori said as they crossed the lobby and transferred to one of the parking garage elevators.

  Zack ushered Tori into a gleaming black Ferrari. “Do you have a thing for black vehicles? This is very nice!”

  “This was more comfortable for the drive down from Palm Beach, not to mention faster.” He grinned. “Where would you like to eat?”

  “Hmmm… How about Porcăo?” she said, mentioning a Brazilian steakhouse located on Brickell Avenue not far from her building.

  “Sounds good.”

  After they were seated at a table overlooking the water, had ordered, and were sipping mojitos, Zack took her hand in his and said, “I really missed you last night.”

  “Me, too!” she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “I didn’t think I’d get used to having your nice warm back to snuggle up to so quickly.”

  “It’s nice to be missed—even if I can be replaced by an electric blanket,” he said, suppressing a chuckle.

  “Not true. How was your meeting?”

  “I’ve had better. I’ll tell you, I really felt like a rat leaving Rocky and Rosebud at your trainer’s barn yesterday,” he said, deftly changing the subject. “They looked at me as though it was all my fault they were being left behind.”

  “Not to worry! Those two are experts at laying on the guilt. They have the run of the place and have all of John’s staff spoiling them rotten. When I realized that I was going to be too busy with work to give them enough attention, I decided to just leave them with John and go up on weekends. This is so nice,” Tori sighed as she looked out over the water. “I’m glad you called. If I’d had time to think about it this morning, I would have been feeling very sorry for myself. What a morning. I—”

  “I didn’t steal you away from the office to let you talk about work,” Zack said as he took her hand in his across the table and quickly cut her off again. I’ll be damned if I’ll let her talk about the case. I don’t want her thinking I was pumping her for information when the proverbial manure hits the fan.

  “When you’re right, you’re right! The chaos of the real world can wait. I only wish we could have stayed in Ocala a little longer. I always hate to come home, but we both have responsibilities,” Tori said with regret as she squeezed his fingers.

  They finished coffee and dessert in a pensive mood. Zack could see that Tori was wondering why he showed so little interest in her work, and he was wondering how he could solve this problem and salvage the relationship that already meant a great deal to him.

  “I have Opera Society tickets to La Traviata next Saturday at The Gusman Center. Would you like to go?” she inquired. “We can make a weekend of it if you like,” she continued shyly. “You can stay with me, of course.”

  “I’d love to. Shall I come down Saturday morning?”

  “That would be wonderful. We’d better get going. I have an appointment at 3:30. I really enjoyed lunch. I was suffering from a terminal case of post-vacation blues.”

  “We can’t have that,” he quipped as they left the restaurant. The car was brought around, and Zack was dropping Tori off in front of her building before he knew it. As Zack helped Tori out of the low-slung car, he leaned over to kiss her good-bye, but the gentle kiss he had intended escalated into a breath-stealing exploration that was not suitable for a downtown Miami street at three o’clock in the afternoon.

  “See you Saturday,” he said as he got his breathing under control.

  * * * *

  Tori was no sooner through the door when Sharon pounced. “Okay! I want the scoop, the whole scoop, and nothing but the scoop right now!”

  “Curiosity killed the assistant.” Tori laughed delightedly. “Oh, all right! You are relentless, without mercy, and a pain in the butt. Zack is the gentleman who arranged my helicopter ride last week. He’s really very nice.”

  “I can see how really very nice he is,” Sharon returned. “But I want to know what’s going on.”

  “Really, Sharon, I’m old enough to have an adult relationship without getting the approval of the whole office.”

  “Who said I don’t approve? It’s about time you kicked up
your heels. He is gorgeous.”

  “No kidding. He’s also nice, and smart, and he loves horses. In fact he plays polo. I think I must have dreamed up the perfect man, and he just appeared by magic. Sharon, I really thought I’d never feel that excitement again—you know, where the bottom drops out of your stomach. My head is spinning.”

  “I think it’s wonderful.”

  “It is, but I’m still a little off balance. It happened so fast. I still can’t believe it.”

  Sharon started to ask another question. Tori could see she was really on the scent now. Her curiosity pistons were firing on all points, but Tori headed her off. “My desk is really buried. We’d better get back to work. Can you bring in the Randolph file? Someone would think the only thing I have to work on is this Z-Tech suit. Has anyone seen Robert yet today? How did that depo go last Monday?”

  “He’s around. I guess he’ll stop in to see you later. The depo was fine. Nothing surprising, of course. They did produce a raft of e-discovery, but no credentials or URL for their e-mail archiver yet.”

  The rest of the afternoon passed as quickly as the morning. Tori had dictated several tapes to be typed by Ruth in the word-processing department and sifted through her mail by the time the door to her office opened, and her partner, Robert Barlowe, stepped in. He was very tall with curly, blond hair and sexy brown bedroom eyes. He dropped into one of the gray leather chairs across from her desk, and after stretching out his long legs and planting his loafer-clad feet on her desk, asked, “So what’s up? The whole office is buzzing about this Talbot guy who took you to lunch.”