The feeling only increased as Riana edged Allison out of the way to place a proprietary hand on Zach’s arm and offer her a self-satisfied smile. “There are some people I’d like Zach to meet. You’ll excuse us, won’t you, Allison?”
I know what Zach wants and better yet, we both know I can give it to him.
Allison watched silently as Zach shook hands with the mayor. The words Riana had spoken at the benefit were far more than a meaningless boast. Riana Collins could give Zach what he wanted. An in with her father. Business contacts with some of the most important people in the state.
And Zach was in his element—confident, charismatic and in control. Little wonder Riana wanted to claim him for herself.
Allison felt the same. But not because Zach was ambitious or successful or going places. Instead, she was falling for the man Zach could be despite all those things. The guy who’d helped her sister, the salesman who went out of his way to reassure a little old lady in Sun City, the son who spoke of his mother with pride in his voice. That was the Zach Wilder who could make her forget Kevin, who could slip past her defenses and make her want…
But would that matter if in the end, Zach wanted more? More than she could offer, more than she could give? She’d loved Kevin, but that certainly hadn’t been enough to keep him from resenting her success or taking her work and passing it off as his own. Zach was ten times more driven and dedicated than her ex ever dreamed of being. Wouldn’t that make Zach so much harder to please?
“I don’t blame you, you know.”
Lost in thoughts of whether Zach would even give romance a chance, Allison started at the sound of Riana’s pseudo-sympathetic voice. “Blame me for what?”
“For trying to hold on to Zach. He’s smart, gorgeous, successful.” Riana scraped Allison from head to toe with a look suggesting she was clutching onto Zach’s coattails by her fingernails. “But sooner or later, he’s going to realize you’re only holding him back.”
As much as Allison hated to admit it, Riana had a point. The key to any relationship with Zach would be knowing that in the end, she’d have to let him go.
“I’m looking forward to our meeting next week,” Zach told James Collins. He’d counted on a chance to talk to the other man after the failure of his last two attempts, but his gaze kept wandering back to Allison.
He’d seen something in her eyes earlier, something soft and dangerous. She’d acted like he was some kind of hero when he was only doing his job. And okay, so maybe Sylvie wasn’t his typical client, but he hadn’t totally gone out of his way to help her. Not really. Not like Allison made it seem.
She hid it well, but a slight frown pulled at her eyebrows, her expressive green eyes troubled by whatever subtle, or not so subtle, dig Riana made, and Zach caught himself leaning in that direction. Ready to rush to Allison’s aid even though he didn’t know what he was so worried about. The night of the benefit, hadn’t Allison already proved she could hold her own with Riana Collins? More importantly, he trusted her to hold her own.
Make Collins feel like Knox is the right choice.
He still didn’t think he needed to wrap the presentation in hearts and flowers, but if he trusted Allison to handle Riana, maybe he should consider what she’d suggested.
As James Collins moved on to take a photo with the lead architect, Zach had his chance to ingratiate himself in with the mayor and councilmen Riana had introduced him to. But as with all dealings with Riana, serious strings were attached. If he didn’t dance to her tune like the marionette she wanted, she’d cut ties in an instant. He preferred to make his own contacts like he always had.
After saying his farewells, Zach walked back over to Allison. She was dressed for the outdoor meeting in a button-down camel-colored shirt, a denim skirt and calf length boots. Her hair shimmered in the sunlight, catching the warm rays, and Zach fisted his hands in his pockets, denying the urge to bury his fingers in the honeyed strands. She’d used some kind of shiny lip gloss that reminded him of the strawberry they’d shared the night of the benefit. He hadn’t been able to get the scent or the flavor or Allison out of his mind since.
“You okay?” he asked, keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” The slightly facetious tone told Zach Riana had struck a nerve, but Allison wasn’t going to fill him in.
“I guess it was that whole method acting thing. I wanted to make sure my pretend girlfriend isn’t the jealous type.”
Allison gave a sound of disbelief. “Jealous, ha! I trust my pretend boyfriend completely. We have a strong pretend relationship. One built on honesty and respect.”
Even though she hadn’t lost her teasing smile, and Zach hadn’t stopped staring at the dimple it revealed, he caught a hint of longing underscoring her words, reminding him of what little she’d told him of her ex. Kevin, with the wandering eyes and wandering hands. “That’s what you deserve, Allie.”
And that was what he would have told Allison last night in the parking garage if she’d let him. Even though every excuse she’d given for him to pull away had been logical and valid and, hell, nothing he hadn’t said before, the real reason was because he couldn’t be the kind of man she wanted. And he didn’t want either of them thinking otherwise.
“But I’m not—”
She stopped his words with a touch, a hand on his arm in a move too casual to raise eyebrows in a business setting, but the warmth of her skin against his felt far more intimate than it should. “It’s all pretend, remember?”
An adult version of a childlike game where no one got hurt because everyone knew it wasn’t real. But Allison wasn’t saying—she didn’t mean—she couldn’t be suggesting they play the game for something other than Riana’s benefit… Could she?
Zach was spared from coming up with an answer he didn’t have when a voice called his name.
“Zach Wilder?”
He turned at the sound of the deep baritone, but not in time to avoid a blow between the shoulder blades that nearly knocked the breath from his lungs. He looked up to meet the dark gaze of a man who towered over him by nearly a foot and outweighed him by one-hundred pounds. “You probably don’t remember me, but you—hell, you look just like your old man.”
The slap on the back was nothing compared to the right hook those words delivered. Just like your old man.
Oblivious to the hit Zach had taken, the other man went on. “Me and Nathan, man, we went to high school together. I’m Ted Thompson.”
The name flashed across the screen in Zach’s mind—grainy footage from football games taped decades ago. “You were the center.”
“Yeah!” The recognition earned Zach a clap on the shoulder. “Me and your dad, we had the greatest time in high school. He ever tell you about that?”
Nathan Wilder had talked of little else. His high school glory days were all he’d had. That and the million dollar dreams his wife and child had cost him.
“We lost touch after graduation. Don’t know if you remember, but I went on to college and pro ball. Blew my knee out after five years in the NFL, but not before I got this.” Ted held out a huge hand sporting an equally enormous ring—the kind awarded to Super Bowl winners. “So what’s Nate been up to?”
Zach was vaguely aware of Allison sliding her palm down his arm to take his hand. The squeeze she gave caused pin-pricks along his skin, as if his entire body had somehow gone numb and was now beginning the painful sensation of waking up. “I’m sorry, Mr. Thompson,” she said, “but Zach’s father passed away over ten years ago.”
The big man swore beneath his breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear. I’d always hoped we’d get the old gang back together, toss the pigskin around and talk about the old days. Your dad—” Ted shook his head. “I always thought he could have been great.”
It was the story of Nathan Wilder’s life—what could have been. Zach knew it all too well, but his life would have a different ending. He would succeed where his father had failed
. Nothing, and no one, would stand in his way.
As Zach drove Allison back to Knox, he could feel the weight of her gaze on him, her green eyes filled with a sympathy he didn’t deserve. Her voice was soft when she told him, “I lost my dad six months ago.” Reaching out, she covered the hand he’d fisted on his thigh, her soothing touch adding to his sense of guilt. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through. I still have days when I can’t believe he’s gone. I have so many things to tell him, so many things I wished I’d said…”
“Don’t,” he bit out, his voice sharper than he’d intended. He could have simply nodded, silently accepting that they had a shared sense of grief. But he couldn’t do it. Couldn’t cheapen Allison’s genuine sorrow by pretending to feel something he didn’t anymore than he could find the will to pull his hand away from hers.
“It’s not the same, Allie.” He waited until he reached a red light to meet her gaze and tell her, “My relationship with my father wasn’t anything like you had with yours.”
He was quiet for a minute. “My dad was the quarterback of his high school football team. His team only lost one game that he started, and he took them to the state championship three years in a row. He was the golden boy.”
Zach never knew that man. The unwanted responsibility and burden of marriage and fatherhood had quickly tarnished that shine. “He was looking forward to a college scholarship. He never missed going to the Fiesta Bowl and thought he’d play in a couple of bowl games before moving on to the pros.”
“Those are some big dreams,” Allison agreed with enough feeling to tell him she knew the story didn’t have a happy ending.
“My father’s senior year, he got my mother pregnant. They both graduated high school, but my dad didn’t go on to college. He started working in the warehouse of a shipping company. He hated that job. No cameras or cheerleaders when you spend your life standing at a conveyor belt. My dad’s dreams ended with a walk down the aisle, and he never stopped resenting me and my mom for ruining the life he could have had. It’s like Ted said back there. My dad was the ultimate could-have-been.”
“You know, it doesn’t have to be that way. Having a family has its own rewards. And it’s not without cameras or cheerleaders. People who love you and celebrate all the moments and milestones in life.”
It sounded good. Too good. Kind of like that game of pretend. But fourteen years of real life had taught Zach a harsher, darker lesson of what family could mean.
“My father would disagree.”
Allison sighed as she pulled her hand away. And even though it was for the best, he felt the loss of her touch immediately. The selfishness of that need was too much of a reminder of Nathan Wilder, a man who only cared about his wants, his desire, his lost dreams, to hell with his wife and child.
“Did you ever stop to think your father was wrong?” she asked. “Wrong about family? Wrong about you?”
“Even if he was, even if you’re right about how great family can be, that doesn’t change who I am and what I want.”
“The Collins account.”
“That’s right,” Zach agreed, feeling defensive even though Allison hadn’t argued, hadn’t tried to convince him maybe he could be a family man and a businessman, too.
“Wouldn’t it be nice, though, just once to have someone to share in that success?”
He’d never been interested in sharing. His accomplishments were his…and his alone. But for the first time in his life, Zach was struck by how hollow that victory sounded.
After a morning filled with meetings, it was almost noon when Zach stepped into his office and stopped short. He still wasn’t used to seeing Allison there. With only a week left until the Collins presentation, he wouldn’t have time to get used to seeing her. But that didn’t stop him from taking a moment to watch her, unnoticed from just inside the doorway.
He had a perfect view of her profile as she sat at her desk, gazing at the computer screen—the elegant arch of her eyebrow, the high curve of her cheekbone, the delicate shape of her lips…
Working as much as he did, Zach didn’t have the string of lovers or one-night stands some men liked to boast about. But he’d been with enough women for one kiss to blur into the next without any moment standing out as particularly memorable or earth-shattering. Until Allison.
Monday night’s kiss had haunted him just like the one from the week before. Seductive and potent, it followed him home, slipping into his thoughts, sliding into his dreams, convincing his subconscious Allison was there. He’d reached out to pull her naked body down to his only to wake up alone…and wanting.
With any other woman, he might have suggested a fling—a red-hot affair to burn the sexual tension out of their systems. Hell, he’d even considered it after that first kiss before he found out they’d be working together. Before he got to know Allison. Despite the temp jobs she flitted to, one after another, she wasn’t the kind of woman who treated relationships the same way. As much as she tried to hide it, hurt lingered in the shadows of her eyes whenever she spoke about her ex-boyfriend. She’d loved Kevin enough for their breakup to have left her heartbroken and vulnerable. The trendy clothes, the bright colors, and even her cocky attitude were all a façade to protect the real woman inside. A woman not nearly as tough as she pretended.
And even if she had been, Zach sensed getting over Allison wouldn’t be so easy. That making love to her wouldn’t be the end of his wanting, but the beginning…
Shaking off the discomforting thought, Zach cleared his throat as he crossed the room. “Daryl asked for an update on the Collins presentation, and I told him you’ve been…shopping?” He spoke the last word in a question, but he could clearly see the website she was surfing and a gold link bracelet with a heart charm on the screen.
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed, but a hint of color came to her cheeks as if he had caught her doing something she shouldn’t. “You have a seriously overinflated idea of what a temp receptionist pulls in. No way could I afford one of James Collins’s pieces. But I thought about personalizing our—I mean, your presentation by importing pictures of his jewelry. Crediting the website, of course,” she said as she clicked open a file showing how she’d incorporated both companies’ logos as well as photos of some truly impressive pieces of jewelry.
“Wow, that’s—you’ve done a great job.”
Meeting with Daryl that morning, Zach hadn’t had any idea how he was going to incorporate the personal twist his boss expected him to add to the Collins presentation, but after the groundbreaking yesterday, he’d made up his mind to see what Allison could do. He leaned closer to get a better look, but his focus was further challenged by the strawberry scent of her shampoo and the golden hair tucked behind the curve of her ear. He’d rested a hand against the back of her chair, his fingers within reach of her shoulder covered by a beige blouse embroidered with roses along a neckline that highlighted her delicate collarbones and gold locket resting between her breasts.
“We can do the same with the PowerPoint presentation. Something like this.” She opened another program and clicked the mouse. Pictures of Collins’s jewelry on a black background faded in and out between his slides. “We could also put a watermark behind the slides—either more of Collins’s jewelry or maybe their logo. It would be subtle, so it wouldn’t take away from the information you’re presenting, but still leave a clear impression.”
“I like that, but what about using our logo instead?” Zach suggested, warming to the idea.
“You’re right. That’s even better. It would show how Knox Security would be part of their stores, but always in the background, leaving the real focus on the jewelry.” Allison clicked a few more times on the mouse, switching from his gradient shades of blue to gray to an image of Knox’s logo. “How’s that?”
“Perfect.”
“Yeah?” She turned to him with a pleased grin that slowly faded as she realized how close he was.
Memories from their last kiss still h
overed between them, dynamite waiting for another spark. It wouldn’t take much, Zach thought as his gaze lowered to Allison’s mouth, mere inches from his own. All he had to do was lean forward, just a little—
“Hi—oh, goodness, I hope I’m not interrupting.”
Zach pulled back, and Allison practically sprang to her feet at the sound of the feminine voice. He took a deep breath, trying to regain total control before he turned, already knowing what he’d find.
His mother stood in the doorway, a bright smile on her face, looking as stylish as ever in a pair of gray wool slacks and lavender sweater. With her sleek, brunette pageboy and trim figure, Caroline Wilder was still a lovely woman who didn’t look old enough to be his mother.
“Zach, sweetie.” She sailed into the office and met him with a vanilla-scented kiss. The standard greeting failed to take him by surprise, but his jaw about hit the floor when Caroline circled the desk to embrace an equally stunned Allison. “And Allison, dear. It’s so good to meet you. You’ll have to forgive my ill-mannered son for not introducing us sooner.”
“I, um—nice to meet you, too?”
Zach heard the question in her voice but had no explanation for his mother’s out-of-character reaction. “I got a phone call from Danielle Jones yesterday. You remember her, don’t you, Zach?”
The name rang a bell—a good friend of his mother’s…and a breast cancer survivor. Realization hit his stomach and sank slowly to his gut.
“She was at the benefit last Friday and saw you together. She said the two of you were very circumspect but, well, Danielle’s been happily married for twenty-five years. She knows people in love when she sees them. Danielle called me to get all the details, and I was forced to admit my own son tells me nothing about his personal life.”
Because there’d never been anything to tell. There still was nothing to tell no matter what Danielle thought she saw. A couple in love? Hardly. But the six degrees of separation between his mother, Danielle Jones, and someone at the benefit who might report back to Riana Collins was way too close for Zach to tell the truth.
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