“Not much. Catching up on some emails from work. Inventory time again. Susan’s handling it alone,” he said, shutting his laptop. “Always stressful.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
She toed off her comfy tennis shoes, then wiggled her toes. Clothing-wise, she was trying to dress professionally for the weekend. Skirt, blazer, white button-down shirt, name badge... But with the running around the large resort all day, from room to room, the comfy shoes were a must.
“I’m going to take a shower, then we can head out for the night. Make sure you wear something comfortable.”
He narrowed his gaze on her again. “No formal dinner tonight? No interview?”
“Nope. I had another brief interview with Ellen earlier. We’re on our own tonight.”
She took off her blazer and tossed it on the bed in the other room, then returned to the living room. Zac’s bedding from the night before was neatly stacked on the corner of the sofa. It felt a bit decadent to have that whole king-sized bed to herself, but the alternative was to share—and, well, that wasn’t a good idea either, so...
She cleared her throat and forced her mind away from images of her and Zac entwined in the sheets. He was still watching her with that skeptical look of his and she finally cracked. “Fine. No more secrets from me. You took me to the animal sanctuary last night. This evening I thought we could grab some dinner then maybe go bowling.”
“Wait.” Zac stood and walked over to her, laughing. “You want to go bowling?”
“Sure—why not?”
“No reason. Just never pictured you liking that sort of thing.”
“Sometimes people surprise you.” She walked to the bathroom door and winked at him. “See you in a sec.”
* * *
An hour later Zac held the door for Carmen at the Strike City Alley in town. He hadn’t been there since high school, but it still looked the same as he remembered. To the right was an arcade. To the left was the snack bar. In the center was the counter where you paid and got your shoe rentals. Closer to the alleys were racks of balls of all colors and weights.
He still had a hard time imagining Carmen being comfortable in a place like this. But then he remembered her talking to Dustin earlier and wondered if his old friend had something to do with it. Otherwise there was no way Carmen would know about Strike City.
The bowling alley was in a nondescript building on a side street in the middle of nowhere. In fact, he’d loved coming here as a kid because people hadn’t treated him differently in this place. They hadn’t cared that he was rich and black. The owners had been Inuit and they hadn’t cared less what their patrons looked like or what they believed or who they slept with, only that they were respectful and paid their bill.
Carmen gave her name at the counter and was given their lane assignment along with red, white and blue rental shoes for each of them. After changing, Zac stood to watch the other bowlers in the packed alley. Most were in leagues and were very good. The scoreboards overhead listed all the teams and their rankings.
“You want to eat first?” He looked down at Carmen, who was still tying her shoes.
“Whatever you want. We’ve got the lane until closing, so there’s time.”
“Great.”
Zac escorted her to the snack bar and went to the counter to order them a large plate of nachos to split and two sodas. Once the food was ready he carried the tray to the tall round table where Carmen sat. Music pulsed through the overhead speakers, adding to the fun, slightly chaotic atmosphere.
Carmen dug into the food, humming as she did so.
Zac chuckled as she bopped along in her chair while she ate, licking a drop of cheese from the corner of her mouth and giving him all sorts of naughty ideas.
Carmen looked up and caught him watching her. “What?”
“Nothing.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth again before he looked away. He should not be remembering their kiss from last night. Especially since he’d spent most of the afternoon trying to avoid those memories and failing miserably.
He’d gone for a swim, then a run, then a massage, then gone back to the suite to fiddle with his computer and check his emails. Nothing had helped. She was in his system again, like a drug, and the chemistry between them was addictive. Maybe more so because he knew damned well he was playing with fire where she was concerned.
Carmen was a risk to his heart he shouldn’t take.
And if his raging libido would get with the program he’d be all set.
She continued eating, licking more cheese off her lips, and damn if he didn’t have to bite back a groan. He’d been glad to go out tonight, thinking being away from the resort and out in the open would help him relieve some of his stress and help him keep his hands to himself where Carmen was concerned. But it seemed this evening was only going to make things more difficult.
He did his best to concentrate on his own plate after that. “Have you bowled before?” he asked.
“Yep. Used to take my sister to the bowling alley by our apartment when we were growing up. I was pretty good back then. Won a lot of money off the tourists who didn’t think a girl could make strikes like I did.”
“Really?” He ate faster, to distract himself from the image of Carmen fleecing a bunch of unsuspecting tourists through her skill, wits and determination. Somehow, knowing she had a naughty side just made her sexier, if that were possible. “Well, I was pretty good too, in my day. Looks like we’ll have a battle on our hands.”
“Bring it on.” She sipped her soda and gave him a sly smile, her green-gold eyes sparkling with attitude. “Ready when you are.”
He shook his head and ate three chips at once. “Not yet. Finish your food first.”
“Agreed.” She devoured another chip, then looked around the bowling alley. “This place is a lot nicer than the one I used to go to back home. The walls there clashed with the floor and it reeked of cigarette smoke and booze.”
“Doesn’t sound like a good place for kids to hang out.” Despite his dad’s issues, Zac had grown up privileged. From what he knew about Carmen now, she hadn’t. In fact, he couldn’t imagine growing up in the kind of poverty Carmen had experienced. “Wouldn’t you have been safer at home?”
“Nah. Our mother did the best she could, but the building we lived in had some pretty shady characters, so being out and around people was a better bet.” She shrugged. “What about you? What was it like where you grew up?”
Zac forced his tense shoulders to relax. This wasn’t some random person asking him about his past—this was Carmen, his friend. He wouldn’t tell her everything, but he found that for the first time in a long time, he wanted to share something.
“It was great. Nice. Not much different than where we are now. My mother was kind and caring. My dad worked a lot when I was younger, so I didn’t see him that much. We had a good life.”
She hesitated, then asked, “But then your father had an affair?”
His instinct was to shut down, but he forced himself to continue. “Yeah. When I was sixteen. Everything changed after that.”
“Oh, Zac. I’m so sorry.” Carmen set her soda aside and reached over to take his hand.
He nodded. “He betrayed my trust, betrayed my mother. I couldn’t forgive him for that. Still can’t. He was my idol. I wanted to be like him when I grew up. Always thought I would be. Then he told us he’d made a mistake and slept with another woman. That’s not a mistake. A mistake is when you forget to pick up the dry cleaning or buy the wrong kind of toothpaste. Not when you end up in bed with someone who’s not your spouse. An affair is a deliberate act, a conscious choice. How do you forgive something like that?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
The warmth of her skin against his helped ground him.
“I don’t know much about my father,” she went on. “He
walked out on our family when I was eight. My sister, Clara, was only two, so she barely remembers him, but I do. He was rich. South American. Turned out he had this whole other life back in Argentina we knew nothing about. Once he walked out the door my mother never heard from him again. No money, no child support. Nothing. It’s like we didn’t exist. Like he’d erased us from his life.”
Zac entwined his fingers with hers, his throat tight. No wonder she felt the way she did about wealthy people. “I’m sorry too.”
“It’s fine.” She sighed and sat back, pulling her hand away. “We were better off without him. If that’s how he treated people, he didn’t deserve us.”
“Amen. You’re too good for him.” Zac toasted her with his soda cup.
“My mother is a saint. I owe her everything for taking care of us like she did, for the sacrifices she made on our behalf.” Carmen tapped her cup against his, then exhaled slowly. “So, what about your mother? I know you don’t speak with your father, but she must miss you very much. You left her behind when you left?”
He flinched slightly. “I had to. She made her choice and I made mine. Out of respect to her, I couldn’t stay there. So I moved to Anchorage. Put myself through school. Like I said before, I originally planned to be a doctor, but then I volunteered with the local ambulance authority to get more experience under my belt and fell in love with it. I decided to focus on a paramedic career instead. It was the right decision for me. I’ve never looked back.”
“Hmm... Interesting.”
“What?” He frowned.
“Most people would consider forgiveness a good thing. Your mother was able to move past something like that and continue loving your father, strengthening her marriage to him. The mark of a solid bond, in my opinion.” She shrugged. “Not that you asked for my opinion.”
Her sweet smile took away a bit of the sting of her words, though tension still coiled inside him like a spitting cobra. Zac wasn’t used to having his decisions analyzed and second-guessed. In his work, making clear, concise, correct decisions meant the difference between life and death. In his private life... Well, he’d never really talked to anyone about his family situation before, so all this felt more than a bit uncomfortable, to say the least.
Plus, the mental picture he had of his poor mom sitting there, pining away for him, didn’t sit well with him either. She would’ve moved on by now, right? His father ran a multi-billion-dollar empire. There wouldn’t be time for her to miss him.
Except the pinch in his heart told him maybe that wasn’t the case.
Before he could dwell too long over the past, however, Carmen broke into his thoughts, forcing him to focus on the conversation at hand.
“I feel the same way about midwifery that you do about being an EMT. I can’t imagine having another career. I love being there when new life enters the world. Plus, being a midwife allows me to get involved in my patients’ lives. Not to disparage the OB-GYNs, but they usually have such large patient loads, and all the extra paperwork and regulations. No, thank you. I’m happy in my niche.” She smiled and snagged the last nacho from the plate. “That’s why this California job seems so perfect. Aside from the money, it would give me a chance to do more of what I love and pay it forward—to help the next generation find their place in this career I love.”
“Good for you. And I’ve signed on to teach some certification classes for EMTs at the local vocational college this spring.” He leaned back in his chair, satisfied. Not just from the food, but from the company too. “I want to give back to the job that’s given me so much.”
They were from opposite ends of the spectrum. They shouldn’t have worked. And yet he felt more connected to Carmen right now than he ever had to anyone else.
Which meant it was definitely time to start bowling.
Zac stood and disposed of their trash, then led Carmen down to their lane. There were two more days left of this conference and he didn’t want to mess things up between them by taking her to bed again. Best to ignore the growing flames between them and the strengthening connection and keep to their original plan.
Carmen had selected a ball from the racks and set it in the return. Zac did the same. While she typed their names into the scoring system he picked up his own ball and eyed the pins. “Should we take a couple of practice rounds?”
“Go ahead.” She gave him a cocky grin. “If you think it will help.”
Considering he was practically vibrating with desire for her, it couldn’t hurt. Maybe he could burn off enough of his excess energy to bowl a decent game that way.
After a deep breath to calm himself down, he sent the ball down the lane, managing to knock over all but one pin on his first try. Perhaps he hadn’t lost his magic after all.
He took out that last pin on his next shot, then sat behind the screen while Carmen took her practice turn. Sure enough, she bowled a perfect strike. Pride and passion zinged through him. He did love a woman who could handle herself well.
She walked back, her expression brimming with challenge. “Let’s do this.”
He didn’t miss the double-entendre in her words or the spark of heat in her eyes. Despite knowing better, he gave in to the attraction simmering inside him, allowing it to roll into a full boil. “Whatever you want, darling.”
“Darling, huh?” she said, winking. “Just for that, I’m going to beat you even worse.”
And by the end of the night she’d done just that.
Zac had honestly bowled his best game ever, but she’d still trounced him—and he’d enjoyed every minute of it. In truth, he couldn’t remember having a better night.
They changed back into their street shoes, then took a cab back to the resort. Carmen was quiet during the ride, sitting closer to him in the back seat of the compact than was necessary, but Zac wasn’t complaining. Her heat and the press of her soft curves against him only served to notch his pulse higher. His skin felt too tight for his body and his nerve-endings prickled with awareness.
At the hotel, they walked quickly through the lobby and over to the elevators. The doors swished shut, leaving them alone.
Carmen turned to Zac at last, and the need in her eyes matched his own. “Look, I know we agreed not to sleep together again this weekend, but—”
He kissed her before she finished her sentence. She tasted sweet from her soda and spicy from the jalapeños on the nachos. Her hands skimmed up his chest to twine around his neck and he gripped her hips, his fingers digging into the denim of her jeans as she arched against him. Her tongue tangled with his and she ground against him, one leg looping around his waist as if she couldn’t get close enough.
He was tempted to hit the stop button and have her right there, up against the mirrored wall of the elevator, but Carmen deserved better. She deserved the suite and the king-sized bed and the expensive sheets. She deserved every good and wonderful thing, and he intended to see she got it—at least for tonight.
Ding!
“C’mon,” Zac growled, tugging her toward their room. “I want you, Carmen. So badly I ache.”
She nodded, keeping up with him step for step. “And I want you too.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
CARMEN SHED HER parka the minute she and Zac tumbled through the door in a mass of limbs and kisses. The rest of her clothes followed suit, until she was left in just her bra and panties. Her whole body burned for him.
And, yes, maybe sleeping with him again was a bad decision, but she’d denied the connection and chemistry between them for days—months. There was no more denying it now. Tomorrow she’d go back to devoting all her time to others. Tonight was just for her.
He took off his jacket as well and tossed it aside, then tugged his sweater over his head, leaving his muscled torso bare. He stalked toward her slowly, as she inched back toward the bed, and his hot, greedy gaze roamed over her.
“I didn’t
think it was possible to want you any more than I already did, but I was wrong.”
“Same.”
She gave him a slow smile. The more time she’d spent with Zac this weekend, and the more she’d learned about him, the more she’d discovered they were more alike than different. He was sexy as hell, yes. But he was also strong, smart, honest and true. Maybe he wasn’t Mr. Forever, but he was hers for this weekend.
After crawling onto the bed, Carmen leaned back on her elbows and propped one leg up, letting the other dangle over the edge of the mattress as she crooked her finger at him. “Come here...”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The half-growled, half-groaned words only stoked the passion in her blood higher. Zac removed his jeans, then dropped to his knees on the floor beside the bed, taking her hips in his hands and pulling her to the end of the mattress. He leaned in, his broad shoulders forcing her thighs to part wider.
His eyes met hers over the length of her body, and the heat in his stare was brazen. Then he grinned. “This is for beating me at bowling.”
The first gentle lick of his tongue across the silk of her panties made Carmen’s breath catch. During their one-night stand he’d been an attentive lover. But that had been rushed and they’d both been drunk. Now he seemed more than happy to take all the time in the world. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, clenching the covers in her hands to keep from crying out in sweet frustration.
Zac slid her panties down her legs, then licked her again, using his fingers to stroke her as well. Carmen arched beneath him, unable to hold back her soft moans of need any longer. He slid one finger inside her, then two, as his tongue nuzzled her most sensitive flesh.
“You’re so ready for me,” he whispered, the words reverberating through her body.
She slipped a hand down to hold him closer to her. “Zac, please...”
“Please what, darling?” he asked. “Tell me what you want.”
A Weekend with Her Fake Fiancé Page 11