Of course more in this case included unavailable, but knowing that didn’t keep her pulse from pounding. He was dressed as impeccably as ever in shades of gray that carried from his tie to his trousers, but she could see signs of wear and tear showing through. From the creases in his forehead to the tiredness around his eyes, she was willing to bet he’d worked straight through the past three days. Sympathy tugged at her, reaching out and drawing her closer, even though those same telltale signs of a man addicted to his job should have sent her running.
“Because…” Riana drew the word out like a drum roll, “my father wants to see your proposal next Friday. I told him you wouldn’t have a problem with that deadline.”
Allison figured Zach wouldn’t have had a problem if Riana had told him the meeting was tomorrow. He’d just kill himself to get it done on time. But she shoved her resentment at the other woman’s game playing aside. This was what Zach wanted, what he’d worked so hard to achieve. And while Allison’s goals may have changed, she hadn’t forgotten the euphoria of a job well done.
But Zach hid whatever he was feeling behind a simple nod of his dark head. “Next Friday it is.”
“You’re also invited to a groundbreaking ceremony at our new site tomorrow.”
“We’ll be there.”
Allison doubted Riana missed how Zach subtly included her in the invitation. Judging by the other woman’s smile, Riana had not only expected but was anticipating her presence at the groundbreaking. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Allison definitely couldn’t say the same.
“I’ve been telling my father quite a bit about you, Zach, so I hope you don’t disappoint.”
The warning in her parting words was impossible to miss as Riana left the office, but Allison paid no attention. The excitement bubbling up inside propelled her forward with a bouncing half step, but she stopped shy of throwing herself into Zach’s arms. A hug, even one intended as an innocent offer of congratulations, would be far too dangerous.
She’d thought she made the right decision on Friday, ducking away from the good-night kiss that almost happened, but somehow a kiss they hadn’t shared was becoming almost impossible for her to ignore. The what if of the moment had gained strength, like a wave building and growing as it rushed toward the shoreline. That almost-kiss seemed just as inevitable, and when it finally hit, Allison doubted she’d have the will to resist the sensual undertow.
Even worse was the awareness in Zach’s blue eyes as he checked her reaction, knowing she didn’t trust herself to touch him. Hoping to cover up her susceptibility to him, Allison quickly said, “Congratulations, Zach. You did it.”
“Don’t open the champagne just yet. This is only the first step.”
The first step in winning yet another account…and another…and another. The reminder of Zach’s unrelenting drive and the reasons why she’d ducked away from his kiss should have sent any thoughts of what if into the deep freeze. But behind the fierce determination in Zach’s straight shoulders and confident stride as he walked toward his desk and waiting computer, she could still sense that hint of vulnerability. The one she was sure he hadn’t intended to reveal when he talked about his father.
My father would never have believed I’d be the one wearing a designer suit or rubbing elbows with this kind of crowd.
Was it any wonder he pushed himself so hard?
The smart thing would be to just let it go, to let Zach keep pushing himself the way he always had, the way he always would. She didn’t really think she could change him, did she? Surely she wasn’t that foolish. Walking over to the mini fridge in the corner of the office, Allison was starting to think she was that foolish and more. But it didn’t stop her from pulling out two bottles of water and holding one in front of Zach’s face. He looked away from the computer screen, eyebrows lifted in question.
“No champagne. Promise. Just thirty seconds to toast that first step.”
His lips lifted in the faintly puzzled smile she was starting to recognize, but he took the bottle and twisted off the plastic cap. Tapping her bottle against his, Allison said, “To first steps.”
“To first steps,” he echoed.
But it wasn’t business firsts crossing Allison’s mind as he lifted the bottle to his lips. Instead first kisses, first dances and other more intimate firsts teased her senses. She took a sip of her own water, but it did little to quench the sudden heat rushing her cheeks as their gazes locked.
A knock against the doorframe broke the moment as Daryl stepped inside the office. “I hear congratulations are in order. I saw Riana Collins on her way out. She said you’ve got a meeting with James next week. Now aren’t you glad you you’ll have Allison here to help with the proposal?”
“I had a feeling Riana might spring a short deadline on us, so I pretty much have the whole thing done.”
Daryl frowned but merely asked, “What do you have in mind for the presentation?”
“I have our recent sales figures already compiled as well as our customer service surveys. Once I see the actual blueprints, I’ll give Collins every option he could ask for. I want to go in with the specs on our latest technology to start. Motion detectors for the showroom, pressure-sensitive alarms for the cases, cameras to cover every angle, and I’ll work from there to give him everything he wants.”
Daryl nodded thoughtfully as Zach continued, but Allison sensed their boss was waiting for something more. Only it turned out he didn’t want that something more from Zach, but from her. Pinning her with a look from behind his wire frames, Daryl asked, “What do you think, Allison?”
“It’s, um, a lot of information.”
“That’s okay,” Zach insisted. “You haven’t been here that long. You can’t be expected to know everything about our systems.”
“I suppose not,” she agreed, knowing he was right and knowing, too, that he probably thought he was helping. Defending her even if he’d done it in a completely patronizing way. “I don’t know nearly as much as you do about all this technology, but I’m guessing James Collins won’t either. And you’re giving him a lot of information without establishing a connection between Knox and Collins Jewelers.”
“A connection?” he echoed. “I want to win another account, not make a love match on a game show.”
She knew Zach wasn’t the type to be open-minded to ideas other than his own, but Allison hadn’t expected the immediate rejection of her opinion. And it hurt. Their “relationship” might have been nothing but show for Riana Collins, but after Friday night, Allison thought she’d done enough to genuinely earn Zach’s respect. She’d been wrong. Again.
“You and every other security systems firm in town,” she shot back. “What’s to keep Collins Jewelers from simply being another account? Why should James Collins pick Knox?”
Zach opened his mouth to argue, Allison was sure, but Daryl beat him to it. “That’s an interesting question, Allison, and I’m glad you mentioned it. It’s always good to see things from a fresh angle.”
Thinking he was about to brush off her idea only in a kinder, gentler way than Zach already had, Allison was unprepared when Daryl turned to Zach and said, “I think you need to pursue Allison’s idea for the Collins proposal. Give it a personal twist.”
A personal twist.
The only personal twisting going on was happening in Zach’s gut after his boss spoke that last pronouncement and left. What the hell was Daryl thinking? Everything he’d read, and Zach had read everything, pointed to James Collins as a serious, no-nonsense businessman. Hadn’t Allison been the one to recognize that James had been willing to risk disappointing his daughter by missing the benefit that should have meant a great deal to them both?
Something she should have remembered before she started talking about the best way to reach out and touch the man’s feelings!
“Zach…”
“Do you realize my first meeting with James Collins was nearly a month ago? That I’ve been working on my pre
sentation that whole time? And now I’ve got a week to do the whole thing over?”
Allison swallowed, but she didn’t back down. “Daryl asked for my opinion. You don’t have to agree with it—”
“No, I just have to rework my whole presentation around it.”
“Daryl didn’t say that. Only to give it a more personal slant. To make Collins feel like Knox is the right choice.” Doubt must have been written on his face because Allison stepped forward, warming to the subject. “Think about it, Zach. Why does a forty-five-year-old man buy a sports car? Is it because those cars are safer or better made? Maybe. Are they five or six times better than a used sedan? Probably not. But that guy’s willing to pay five or six times more to get that sports car. Because of the way it makes him feel. Rich, powerful, sexy…”
“Do not tell me I have to go into a meeting and make James Collins feel sexy.”
A faint blush lit her cheeks and her lashes dropped to hide her eyes, but not before he saw the hint of desire flare in her eyes. Trying hard not to notice, he picked up on the hitch in her breathing, the quickening of the pulse at her throat. Music drifted through his memory, turning his mind back to Friday night and the warmth and softness of holding Allison…
His throat caught as he tried to swallow, his mouth suddenly dry, and he thought maybe Allison knew what she was talking about. She damn sure knew how to make him feel! As frustrated as he was by Allison’s interference, he still wanted to pull her into his arms, to have her body pressed against him again.
“You need to make him feel something,” Allison stressed. “And I can help—”
“I don’t need any help.”
Added pressure of reworking his proposal on a shortened deadline aside, Zach fully intended to win the Collins account. But rise or fall, he would do it on his own. His success or his failure. He wasn’t his father. He wouldn’t keep someone around just to have a fall guy to blame if it all went wrong.
“That wasn’t what you said last week.”
“That was different.”
“Different. Right.” Allison couldn’t keep the faintly mocking tone from her voice. Because last week all he’d needed her to do was smile and look pretty. Hadn’t working with Kevin taught her all about that? He hadn’t wanted her to have her own ideas either—especially not if they were going to be better than his.
Zach swore. “I didn’t mean—”
“I think your meaning was perfectly clear. You—”
“Um, excuse me?”
The crackle of Martha’s voice across the intercom froze the rest of Allison’s words in her throat. She’d been too worked up to notice the phone’s initial beep and hated to think what the older woman might have overheard. She hadn’t even started her official first day, and already she and Zach couldn’t talk to each other without arguing.
Even Zach looked a little embarrassed as he asked, “What is it, Martha?”
“There’s a phone call.”
“What line?”
“Line two, but it’s for Allison. Her sister.”
Bethany? Her sister rarely called her at home and never at work. Memories of the last time her sister had called her at the office flooded over Allison until she thought she might drown.
“Allison? Are you okay?”
She barely recognized the feel of Zach’s hands at her shoulders or the concern in his blue eyes. “I have to— My sister—” Brushing by him, she grabbed the phone and instantly knew something was wrong. She could hear the clog of tears in her sister’s voice. “Bethany?”
“I didn’t want to bother you at work.”
“Forget work. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“The delivery men came with the furniture.”
“Okay.” The words were the last she expected to hear but didn’t slow her heart.
“I-I don’t know what to do. When they said they delivered, I thought they meant they delivered, not that they’d just dump everything outside and—” Her voice cut off with a gasp followed by a loud thump.
“Bethany? What happened? What’s going on?”
By now, Allison could tell the tears were no longer threatening. Her sister was crying as she said, “The wind just blew the crib over.”
“The crib is outside?” Allison turned toward the window in Zach’s office as if she could somehow see her sister’s townhouse from there. Two days’ worth of dark clouds were finally delivering the promised storm—a few scattered raindrops pelted the glass and the palms across the street waved wildly.
“Everything’s outside. In boxes! The man said we only paid for delivery, not installation, and that we didn’t tell them we needed them to carry everything upstairs to the townhouse.”
Bethany’s townhouse had a first-floor garage with a staircase leading to the kitchen and exterior stairs leading to the front door. “Well, tell them we’ll pay the extra for second delivery and installation,” Allison said as her breathing started to slow. This, this was a problem she could solve, a call for help she could handle. She already knew what she’d say to the salesman who hadn’t mentioned an additional delivery or installation fee.
“I tried that, but they said because it wasn’t on the schedule, they wouldn’t have time.”
Hearing the note of hysteria growing in her sister’s voice, Allison kept her words firm and matter-of-fact. Giving in to sympathy would be the thing to push Bethany over the edge. “Then they’re going to have to take everything back to the store, and we’ll reschedule the delivery for a day when they can actually deliver the baby furniture inside the house and put it together.”
Silence filled the line, and Allison closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, already knowing what was about to come. “They’ve already left,” Bethany said in a small voice. “I didn’t think—” A sob cut off her words. “How am I going to handle delivering a baby when I can’t even handle a delivery of furniture?”
The connection was a bit of a stretch, but Allison knew that right now, everything in her sister’s life revolved around her pregnancy and the coming baby. “You can do this, and when that baby comes, Mom and I will be there to help every step of the way. For now, sit tight. I’ll be there in a few minutes, and we’ll figure out what to do.”
“O-Okay.” Bethany sniffed and offered a quiet, “Thank you, Allison.”
“Hey, what are sisters for?” she teased against the lump in her throat. The last thing she wanted was for her sister to stress out at a time like this, but Allison was grateful for any opportunity that might help bridge the distance between them.
The second she hung up the phone, she could no longer ignore the pinprick of awareness lifting the hairs on the back of her neck. And although she wasn’t the least bit surprised to find Zach watching her, it did leave her feeling disconcerted to know she’d already become so attuned to his presence that she could sense the weight of his gaze.
“I have to go.”
“Allison, wait.”
Thinking he might try to stop her, she overrode his protest. “No. I think we’ve said all we have to say to each other right now, and unlike you, my sister does need my help.”
“And you’re going to do what? You can’t move the furniture yourself.”
Everything about Zach—from the muscular arms he’d cross over his broad chest, to his widespread stance, to the certainty in his blue gaze—spoke of strength, confidence and ability. It was almost impossible to imagine him needing someone or wanting to be needed. The emotional walls surrounding him wouldn’t allow the kind of weakness to let someone that close, but Allison didn’t understand why the thought made her feel even more vulnerable.
“Maybe not,” she admitted as she grabbed her purse from her desk and ducked around him to reach the hallway, “but at least I can be there for my sister.”
Something she’d failed to do for the past three years, and the weight of that remorse overrode her current feeling of guilt for slipping into the elevator and ignoring Zach as he called out after her.
Chapter Six
As Allison pulled into her sister’s driveway, Bethany stepped out from the open garage, pushing her windblown hair back from her face. A dozen various sized boxes filled the driveway along with a miniature mattress that Allison bet still weighed a ton. Zach was right about one thing—she wouldn’t be able to carry the furniture upstairs by herself. But with the pieces still in boxes and the mattress wrapped in protective plastic, she could at least drag everything into the garage.
A burst of wind practically tore the car door from her hand, and Allison hurried up the driveway. “It’s going to be okay,” she called out. “I’ve got a plan.”
Surprisingly, her sister smiled. “I know.”
“You do?”
Bethany nodded. “Your boss called a few minutes after I got off the phone with you.”
It was the last thing Allison expected her sister to say. “Zach?”
Bethany waited until Allison hurried up the driveway and ducked into the garage and out of the wind. “He told me about the guy.”
Rather than repeat yet another one of her sister’s statements, Allison waited for Bethany to explain what “guy.”
“He said Brad would be here in a half an hour and that he’d move everything inside and put the furniture together.” She frowned. “Zach said you left in such a hurry that you forgot to give him the address here.”
Why would Zach send someone to help? The unexpected kindness knocked the wind out of Allison’s anger and left her drifting.
“Is something wrong?” Bethany asked.
“No, of course not.” She certainly couldn’t tell her sister she was mad at Zach and wanted to hold on to her anger because that emotion was easier, safer than the attraction she felt. And no way would she admit that she wanted to be the one to help, the one to come to the rescue. That would be far too petty and far too small.
“Be sure to thank Zach for this,” Bethany said, big sister reminding little sis of her manners.
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