Harlequin Desire June 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Katherine Garbera

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said. He wasn’t 100 percent sure what had set her off but he guessed learning that most of his million followers had figured out they were doing the horizontal mambo was it.

  “Lime?”

  “Please.”

  She opened the fridge and he poured them both a few fingers of tequila. Then she squeezed a lime wedge over one of them and handed him the other one. She lifted the glass and took a hard swallow. Then she put the glass down.

  She nodded a bunch of times and put her hands on her hips. “Okay. I got this. We are sleeping together, and everyone knows... It’s the twenty-first century, so who cares?”

  She did. It was very obvious to him that Lila Jones didn’t like anyone to know her personal business. He hated to see her like this. This was what he’d wanted to avoid. He hadn’t expected this to bother her as much as it did because she was so open about other things—hell, pretty much everything else.

  “You do,” he said gently. “I should have warned you. But to be honest, even if we hadn’t slept together, people would still think we had. You know my reputation.”

  “I do. But you’re not—hell, yes you are. You are as tempting as everyone thinks you are... I don’t want to be your flavor of the week,” she said. “There, I said it. I don’t need promises of forever, but I don’t want to be someone you forget as soon as you drive out of town in your fast car, either.”

  He looked over at her and knew that she needed something from him. Something real. Not a glib statement or another diversion. “I could never forget you, Lila.”

  She shook her head and took another healthy swallow of her tequila. “I bet you even said that to that blonde who was with you when you got to town—oh, my God, that was only a few days ago!”

  She was losing herself in this spiral.

  He removed the glass from her hand before she had another sip and took her hand in his, drawing her back into the hallway and down to the mirror that hung there. He turned her to face it and stepped behind her, putting one arm around her waist.

  “Lila Jones, look at yourself in the mirror,” he said.

  “I’m the woman you made me,” she whispered.

  He kissed her temple. “I wish I could make someone as strong, smart and sophisticated as you are. I did nothing but help you find a way to wear well-made clothes and get other people to notice that. There is nothing about you that wasn’t already there.”

  She leaned closer to stare at herself and he waited. He felt her settling down, but he knew she needed more from him. Something real. Not the facade that ZB provided to his online followers but something authentic that Zach could give to Lila. He wanted to just do it, but deep down he was afraid. Afraid to lower his guard and let her see that he wasn’t all shiny and perfect away from his online accounts.

  “Everyone believes what they will because of me. But anyone who has met you will probably come to the same conclusion that I have.”

  “What is that?” she asked, turning her head slightly to meet his gaze over her shoulder.

  That she was too damned good for him. That if anyone was the flavor of the week it was him and not her.

  “That we are one hell of a pair,” he said. Chickening out because the truth wasn’t going to do anything but leave him weak to her.

  * * *

  Lila felt so unsure of herself and this wasn’t like her. She turned in Zach’s arms and hugged him. He hugged her back and she knew she’d probably freaked him out. She hadn’t meant to. It was just that tonight had been filled with so many highs and the adrenaline rush had been exhilarating.

  And then...she’d started to let doubts creep in. Did she only belong because of him? Zach had the contacts and the pizzazz that they needed, and sure, he was showing her how to bring that limelight to herself and the Soiree, but she wasn’t going to kid herself that she was really part of that world. She liked the way she looked and how it felt to have everyone’s attention, but there was another part of her that wasn’t too sure she’d want it forever.

  “Brown Eyes, please don’t be sad. I can’t do sad,” he said as he tipped her head back.

  Brown Eyes.

  That was the first nickname he’d used that she actually didn’t mind. She smiled at him. “I won’t. Sorry for that. I am pretty sure this is the only time my personal life has been interesting.”

  “It’s not boring to me,” he said.

  She tried not to let it matter that he had once again turned the conversation to himself. But Zach lived his life in front of the camera. Living the scandals and gossip-worthy life 24/7. “You were never like this?”

  She gestured to her normal house, and herself, really hoping he’d understand she meant her normal life.

  “No. I mean this house is really nice, but I have never lived in someplace as quaint as this one,” he said. “I kind of like this. It’s so homey and comfortable. I feel like...well, like I can just let my guard down while I’m here.”

  She snapped her fingers. “You know what I could do?”

  “What?” he asked, sounding a bit wary.

  “I could show you this life. Show you how to chill and not post every detail of your life. That way...it would be more even.”

  He stared down at her as if she’d grown a second head and she held her breath. She needed this and she wasn’t sure how she’d missed it before. But her relationship with Zach was always going to be lopsided until she could give him something he couldn’t buy for himself.

  “I’m not sure...why wouldn’t I post it all?”

  “Just try it. Put your phone away for the rest of the night. And hang with me. Just doing fun stuff.”

  “Sex?” he asked. “I wouldn’t need my phone for that.”

  Sex. Sure, she wanted him again. She doubted that she was ever going to tire of having him in her bed and ravishing her body. But she wanted something else. “Yes, but more than that. How about you park your car in my garage and we chill out. Doing the kinds of things that everyone does but no one posts.”

  “I can’t even fathom what that would be.”

  “Watching TV, reading, playing spit.”

  “Okay, I’m intrigued. What the heck is spit?”

  “Park your car and I’ll show you.”

  She wasn’t sure he’d do it. As much as she’d freaked out and drunk tequila, he seemed a bit like he was unsure, as well. But he just nodded and went to move his car. She opened the garage for him and then waited. Twenty minutes later they were both dressed in un-post-worthy clothes—Zach in his gym clothes, Lila in a pair of Looney Tunes boxers and an oversize tee—eating popcorn she’d topped with Parmesan cheese and butter, and she was giving him an overview of playing spit.

  “We don’t take turns but both play at the same time. Since it’s your first time when we are ready to begin you can say spit. Then we will both start placing our cards down. You can only put a card on top that is either one higher or lower than the card showing.”

  “Okay, I think I got that. Can we play on each other’s cards? How does one of us win?”

  “Yes, we can. We keep going until one of us runs out of cards. If we get blocked then one of us says ready spit and we get sort of a free card,” she said. “Ready?”

  “Spit!”

  They played for thirty minutes and she soon realized that Zach wasn’t paying attention to the cards at all but watching her.

  “Do you like playing cards?”

  “I like poker, but that is about it. Nothing this exciting.”

  “You are totally teasing me,” she said.

  “I am. But I love how excited you are,” he admitted gruffly. “It turns me on.”

  “You turn me on. You aren’t even trying to win,” she pointed out after he missed two obvious plays.

  “My mom taught me it wasn’t polite to beat a lady at games,” he said
. “Especially a lady you want to take home.”

  He had his own version of manners. “What else did your mom teach you?”

  Lila knew his father had cheated and that he’d grown up with his mom. She could have googled him and found out more about his past but when she’d been researching Zach that hadn’t mattered. All that mattered at the time were his followers. But now...well, now she wanted to hear his story from him and not read it on the internet.

  “The usual stuff,” he said. “How to throw a great party. You have to have the right mix of people. Talkers, listeners, shit stirrers and peacemakers.”

  “Huh, I never thought of it that way, but you are right. That’s a good mix. Which one are you?”

  “I can be all of them depending on the party.” He grinned. “Like right now, I’m listening.”

  “You were. Now I am.”

  “Yes. Everything is give-and-take. Not like you said earlier. I’d never just let you use me.”

  “You wouldn’t?” she asked, finally getting to the heart of what was bothering her.

  “No.”

  “So what are you getting?”

  “You,” he said, pushing himself up on his hands and knees and kissing her.

  * * *

  Zach hadn’t meant for this to happen. But somehow, he felt even more vulnerable to her as she sat across from him playing this card game that made no sense and had no reason to it. He was also getting more and more aroused as she continued to play cards, point out ones he’d missed and generally just let her guard down.

  Until this moment he hadn’t realized how much of herself she kept locked away. But now he knew. She’d let him in a few times before, and then tonight when she’d been afraid that everything about him was just for show, she’d kind of lost it. But him sitting here with her had somehow reassured her.

  Which he wouldn’t allow himself to analyze. He’d been staring at her breasts under that large T-shirt since she’d sat down next to him. They were under the fan and he could tell the exact moment when she’d gotten cold. Her nipples had hardened and then he’d hardened.

  Her mouth under his was soft but the angle was wrong, so he pulled her into his arms and rolled until they were both on their sides staring into each other’s eyes. She put one hand on his hip and the other on his chest. Her breath smelled of lime and tequila and it wasn’t unpleasant, but it served to remind him of how fragile she was right now.

  Zach hugged her close because he had no idea what to do next. He could take what he wanted—her body. He could turn her on enough that she’d stop worrying about the fact that everyone knew they were sleeping together.

  “What am I going to do with you, Brown Eyes?”

  She tipped her head back, lightly bumping his chin as she did so. “Make love to me.”

  Make love.

  Those were words he never applied to sex. He called it everything but that because love...well, he knew it didn’t really exist. That it was as hollow as the likes he racked up with each new post, yet at the same time...tonight he wished he could make love to her.

  He swiftly took her clothes off and then stripped his off, as well. Before he realized he’d left his condoms in her bedroom.

  “Be right back.”

  He hurried and got one. When he returned, she was lying in the middle of the blanket where they’d been playing cards, propped up on her elbow, her hair falling around her shoulders.

  “Hey there,” she said.

  Something emotional surged to life within him and he quickly quelled it. Shoved it deep down inside so he didn’t have to acknowledge it. Instead, he got down on his hands and knees and crawled to her feet. He kissed her delicate ankle and then slowly worked his way up her body, pushing her onto her back when he reached the apex of her thighs. He moved between them and lowered his head. Tasting her first with his tongue in slow licks and then as she started to move under him, her hips undulating with each probe of his tongue, he sucked her clit into his mouth. She grabbed the back of his head, holding him to her while she pushed herself up against him.

  He reached up with one hand, finding her hard nipple with his fingers and pinching it as he continued to eat her. She pulled on his head and he lifted himself up, looking up her flushed body.

  “Take me now,” she said. “I need you.”

  He slid up her body and shifted his hips until he was poised at her entrance, then drove himself deep inside her. As that tightness inside him started to unravel with each thrust, he pounded into her again and again until he felt the skin at the back of his neck tingle and his balls felt full and tight. Then he came, thrusting into her a few more times as she tightened around his shaft and called out his name.

  He kept moving until he was fully drained and then collapsed on her, careful to use his legs and his arms to keep from crushing her. He rolled to his side, pulling her with him and holding her cradled against his side. She put her hand on his chest right over his heart and did that thing with her fingertip she’d done before.

  She looked up at him.

  “I guess they are all right.”

  “They?”

  “Your followers who think we are sleeping together,” she said.

  “Does that matter?” he asked. He wished he could say the words that would make this easy for her. But they would be a lie, and he had never lied to anyone. He might be a bad boy, but he’d never been a bad man. He sort of prided himself on that.

  “I don’t think it does. I would rather be in your arms than not because I was being spiteful.”

  He smiled down at her. “Spiteful to who?”

  “I guess myself. I don’t know where this is going, Zach, and I might have regrets later. But for now, I’m going to enjoy being with you.”

  They weren’t words he wanted to hear but he’d heard them before. He was the kind of man who knew his place in a woman’s life, and it was temporary. No matter how much he might wish that it could be different.

  ELEVEN

  Lila was amazed the next day at work by the number of calls she got about the Soiree by the Bay. Not only that but her social media posts were racking up likes—the ones she posted, not just the ones that Zach tagged her in. She knew a big part of that was due to the fact that many people thought they were a couple.

  Of course, they were a couple, but she also cautioned herself not to buy into the show. Zach traveled with a team and everything he did was for his followers. He had invited her to join him for lunch and taken her on a helicopter ride to a field of bluebonnets. And when they got there Shantal, Vito and Dawn were waiting with Mrs. Smith and several cameras. So the romantic lunch she’d thought she was having was actually a business lunch.

  She knew that she had to start thinking that way. Like tonight when they went on Mandee’s show, she had to be ready. Zach had texted her that he was coming by her office to introduce her to a media expert who would prep her for being on television.

  Lila found herself pulling out her makeup and touching it up before he arrived. Her phone vibrated on her desk, but she was getting so many notifications now that she didn’t even bother checking it. Probably more likes.

  What a difference a few days made! She used to have seven likes—seven—but on her posts now she had thousands.

  “Hello, babe,” Zach said as he breezed into her office, accompanied by a beautiful woman who was immaculately dressed in a black business jacket over a button-down shirt and a pair of loose-fitting jeans.

  She was beginning to read his signs. He called her babe when he was working. When they were alone... Brown Eyes. So this was a business call, which she’d known.

  “Hey, ZB.”

  “This is Bree, the media expert I told you about.”

  “Hello,” Lila said.

  “Hi there. I have been checking out your social media feed and you seem pretty savvy so I’m not
sure how much I can help,” Bree said as she and Zach took seats in the guest chairs in her office.

  “That’s all ZB and his team’s advice,” Lila said. “I’ve only been on TV once before.”

  “Really?” Zach asked, giving her a quizzical look. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Well, it was when I went to Congrès in high school and got first in the dictation contest. It’s a French-speaking competition.”

  “Wow, I had no idea you parles français,” Zach said.

  “That’s because I don’t anymore. I mean I might be able to conjugate a few verbs for you but that’s about it.”

  He laughed.

  “Don’t worry about your lack of TV presence,” Bree told her. “The important thing is to be prepared and to remember your message. ZB already filled me in on the Soiree but he didn’t need to. I’ve been hearing about it all over the state. It is going to be the event of the summer season.”

  “Thanks. We have all been working so hard and I’m excited to see it come together. So my message should be about the event. Just facts?” she asked.

  “Facts, yes, but also why no one should miss the event,” Bree said. “Who is performing there?”

  “We have Kingston Blue lined up. He’s so hot right now. I think just saying his name will get everyone excited,” Lila said. The musician had been one of the first to respond to the event—he was tall, with gorgeous dreadlocks down over his shoulders, and a flashy dresser.

  “Okay, so instead of just saying we’ve booked Kingston Blue, lead in with the ‘Song of Summer,’ Kingston’s latest hit, and say you’ve had it on repeat on your playlist. Something along those lines,” Bree suggested.

  “I can do that,” Lila said. “And it’s not a lie. I mean that song is as hot as summer in Texas. So sensual and sexy. Should I do that with everyone?”

  “Well, don’t do the same thing each time. Just look at the facts you want to get out. Booking tickets and promoting the website...don’t need an anecdote but maybe a few festival stories or something. And Zach will be there with you. How well do you two know each other?” she asked.