What should stop them? If she went in with both eyes open and focused on the upcoming promotion that would have Zach living in airports and hotels, he’d never have to know she’d so foolishly fallen for him. And she could have tonight. This moment. Right here, right now.
Indecision still plaguing her, Allison focused on the house. “This isn’t what I expected.” Nestled amid desert landscaping on a large lot, the Spanish-style house with its flat roof and arched entryway had a classic, old-world feel. An intricate bronze-colored wrought iron gate opened into the patio braced by aged wooden beams. “It’s so…”
“So what?” he prodded when her voice trailed away.
Allison waited until she’d climbed from the car and met Zach at the front grill before she explained, “So…not you.”
He chuckled. “And what would be me?”
“I don’t know. I guess I pictured a place like Knox.”
“You thought I’d live in an office building? I’m dedicated but not that dedicated,” he told her with a sideways glance as their footsteps tapped on the stones and motion-activated sensors lighted the way like magic. Cactus, lantana and sage lined the path, and a rustle off to the left alerted Allison to other desert survivors who still called this area northwest of Phoenix home—lizards, ground squirrels, rabbits, coyotes, and even javelina though she hadn’t seen one in years.
“No, not an office building, but a place filled with glass and granite and steel…not this.”
“Disappointed?”
“Are you kidding? This place is great,” she said, captivated by the house’s rustic desert charm.
The gate squeaked slightly as Zach pushed it open, and with a grin he admitted, “Keep forgetting to fix that.”
“Oh, I don’t know. That’s one of those touches that makes a house feel like home.”
He laughed. “That’s an excuse for poor home maintenance I’ve never used before.”
“It’s not poor maintenance,” Allison argued. “It’s reassurance. In the house where I grew up, there was a squeaky step near the landing my dad never fixed. Once he heard that squeak, he knew Bethany and I were home safe, and he could go to sleep.”
“Couldn’t you have skipped over the squeaky step so he wouldn’t have known what time you got in?”
“And cause my dad a sleepless night? Nah, we wouldn’t have done that.”
In the faint light of the porch, Zach turned to lead her across the patio with its colorful Mexican tile to the oversized front door but not before she caught the look in his eyes. A loneliness and longing that tugged at her heart. Feeling her way as carefully as she would navigating the spiny cactus in his front yard, she said, “I’m sure your mother worried about you on nights you stayed out late.”
“We looked out for each other, but my mother worked two jobs most of the time I was a teenager. She counted on me to take care of myself.”
Once Zach disabled the alarm and hit the lights, Allison had a faint impression of warm beige walls, wood floors, and oversized leather furniture. The effect was rustic and masculine, suiting the house and the man who lived there. She wasn’t sure exactly when they stopped talking, but she was well aware of all they weren’t saying when Zach stepped closer.
She felt a little stalked, one of those rabbits faced with a coyote’s stealthy approach. Indecisive, spellbound, unsure which direction to flee…
“So this is it. We did it. We survived two weeks working together.”
But Allison was no helpless bunny, and she didn’t want to run. “Thanks to you, that was a far greater challenge than winning the account.”
“Thanks to me?”
“You are notoriously difficult.”
Zach laughed. “The worst part is going to be facing Daryl and having to admit that he was right.”
“We did make a good team,” she admitted. “Eventually.”
Meeting his gaze, the teasing moment faded away along with the last of Allison’s reservations. He might have spent most of his life taking care of himself, and one night couldn’t change that, but she wanted this one night to show how much she cared. Hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake, she had to point out, “We do still work together.”
But instead of agreeing with her, instead of taking a step back, Zach murmured, “Not until Monday.”
And Monday, like work, suddenly seemed far, far away, especially when Zach and his bedroom were much, much closer.
Reading her answer in her eyes, he pulled her into his arms and claimed her with a kiss so hot the air seemed to sizzle around them. It stole her breath and left her gasping for more. Rising on her toes, she pressed her body to his. Close, then closer until she could hear his ragged breathing and feel his heart thundering. Until she resented every article of clothing, every millimeter of distance separating them.
He muttered her name against her mouth, her cheek, her throat. Each husky whisper and arousing touch sent shivers running up and down her spine. She thought she just might melt into the floor, but Zach pulled her tight, and she melted into him instead.
Allison fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, but their small size and tight fit resisted her clumsy efforts, so she pulled the tails from his trousers instead. Beneath the crisp material, each brush of her palms over the smooth skin of his back and tight muscles of his stomach made her greedy for more.
“Make love to me, Zach.”
He groaned her name in what she might have thought was a protest until he swept her up into his arms. Allison smothered her startled laughter against his neck, breathing in the scent of his skin and the anticipation of what was to come as he carried her into the bedroom. Zach didn’t turn on the lamp but between the moon streaming through the open curtains and the light from the hallway, the bed was awash in a soft glow.
She could see the intensity in his dark eyes as he laid her on the bed and stripped off his shirt. When he sank down next to her, she had the freedom to explore his broad shoulders, muscled chest and stomach, first with her eyes and then with her hands. His hair-roughened skin tickled her palms, but it was Zach who sucked in a quick breath when her fingertips brushed his abdomen as she worked the buckle on his belt.
“This was an amazing day for you,” she whispered.
“Tonight’s turning out to be even more amazing,” he vowed, his deep voice rough with desire, but Allison knew better than to take words murmured against heated skin to heart. She knew better.
Still, she had to take in a deep breath before she added, “Winning the Collins account—”
The hunger in his gaze turned slightly incredulous as he pulled back to meet her gaze. “You might not believe this, Allie, but I really don’t want to talk about work right now.”
“So I don’t have to worry then? That I’m taking advantage of your emotional state?”
He gave a bark of laughter as he caught her body to his and rolled her beneath him. “You’ve had the advantage since we met. Each time I look at you, all I can think of is doing this…and this…and this…”
Allison barely noticed as Zach stripped away her clothes, except when it meant she had to stop kissing him to toss aside her shirt or shimmy out of her skirt. His fingertips trailed down her throat to the curve of her breast. Her nipple tightened in anticipation, and her whole body arched to his touch. Need poured through her, melting muscle and bone until her body felt liquefied, bound to Zach’s magnetic pull as completely as the oceans were to the moon. She rose and fell with every stroke—along her breasts, her belly, her thighs…
There was something special about their lovemaking, something rare and precious and…finite. But Allison didn’t want to think about the future when the present held such promise. His body sank into hers, and she welcomed him just as she’d welcomed his kiss, his touch. Her arms and legs wrapped tight, never wanting to let him go…
Slowly, he began to move, a gradually increasing pace destined to drive her wild. Her body rose and fell with every thrust, again and again until golden sunbu
rsts flared behind her eyelids and the pleasure broke over them in a glorious shower that sent them drifting softly back to earth, to the comfort of each other’s arms.
Zach awoke Monday morning, and for the first time in memory, he didn’t want to go to work. Of course, for the first time in memory, he also had a beautiful woman sleeping in his bed. He’d had affairs before, but rarely had a woman spent the night and never the entire weekend. But after their first time making love, he hadn’t wanted to let Allison go. They’d spent the weekend locked in the world of make-believe where Monday would never come.
But the game of pretend couldn’t last forever, and reality was seeing each other at work in less than two hours.
Seated on the bed beside a still sleeping Allison, Zach reached out to brush her hair back from her forehead. The morning sunlight cutting through the blinds turned her hair to gold. She was wearing one of his dress shirts, one he’d never wear again without thinking of her, but he already knew every inch of skin hidden beneath the material. Knew it, and yet ached to explore every one of her curves all over again. She amazed him. She was bold and confident, but at the same time caring and vulnerable. And the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her…
As if sensing the weight of his gaze, her eyes fluttered open. She pushed her hair back from her eyes and yet not a hint of sleep clouded her expression. When she spoke, it was like she’d picked up on the conversation he’d been having in his own mind. “So this is it. Back to work.” Allison smiled, but the expression looked a little forced and vulnerability shook the edges of her smile.
She was making this easy on him, saying all the things he didn’t want to say so he wouldn’t have to feel guilty. Which only made him feel like even more of an SOB. “Allie—”
“It’s okay, Zach. Really.” She climbed from the bed and started collecting the clothes he’d scattered throughout the bedroom again and again, barely able to be in the same room with her without stripping them off. “I know you’re probably worried that I’ll—I don’t know. Be so overwhelmed with lust that I’ll grab you in the middle of a meeting for a make out session, but I promise to restrain myself.”
“Too bad.”
“Yeah, isn’t it?” Her smile fell away completely, stripping away Allison’s tough façade and leaving only the vulnerable woman behind.
He knew the right decision would be to end things now. To chalk their amazing time together up to a single weekend of passion and let them both get back to their lives. Winning the Collins contract was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the work ahead of him, and the decision about VP was supposed to be announced in the next week. A promotion that meant almost constant traveling, a challenge to even the strongest relationships, forget one just starting out.
And wouldn’t it be better to let go now before that newness wore off?
Let her go…let her go…let her go… Think of the promotion, think of San Francisco, think of moving up and moving on.
The motto that had always inspired him in the past fell short. And—another first—he couldn’t do it. Faced with a choice between his personal life and his career, and he couldn’t make the right one.
“I don’t want to stop seeing you, Allie.” Her green eyes widened as she took a shaky step backward, her shirt tangled in her hands, and Zach wondered if he wasn’t about to make an enormous fool of himself. Maybe he wanted their relationship to continue, but was he so certain Allison wanted the same? Swallowing hard, he took a step forward, erasing the distance she’d put between them and then some.
“I know it probably sounds crazy. I can’t pretend it doesn’t, and—hell, I don’t even know what I’m offering. You pointed out more than once that I’d make a terrible boyfriend. I’m going to be swamped with this new account and the promotion to VP means I’ll be traveling all the time…”
His voice trailed off. “You deserve so much better.”
So much more than he had to offer.
With the promotion only days away, a few stolen moments over the next week or so would be all they would have. And for Allison, Zach knew it would never be enough. Preparing himself for her rejection, he stepped back from the bed as if those few feet could somehow distance him from the loss to come.
Clearing her throat, Allison said, “Well, when you put it all like that, how could I possibly refuse?”
Relief washed over him, a wave damn near strong enough to knock him off his feet. This mattered; Allison mattered, more than he wanted to admit. More than…
The thought hovered on the edges of his subconscious, but he pushed it aside as he rescued the twisted shirt from her hands, once again tossing her clothes aside, this time without even having to take them off. He pulled back a mere inch from kissing her with a mock frown. “There still can’t be any make out sessions in the conference room.”
Allison’s laughter gave voice to all the crazy, wild happiness he felt inside. “Then I guess I’ll just have to have my way with you now.”
Chapter Twelve
Zach walked into work, fighting the urge to whistle. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so relaxed, so at ease. But why shouldn’t he? Everything was falling in place for him. He and Allison had spent every free moment together since the party last Friday. Seeing her at work wasn’t as difficult as he thought it might be. For all her teasing, Allison had treated him the same as she had the week before, before they’d slept together.
If anyone was having a hard time keeping his hands to himself, Zach admitted ruefully, it was him.
Fortunately and as he’d predicted, the work she’d done on the Collins proposal had gotten her noticed. Daryl had asked her to help out another salesman when she wasn’t working with Zach. To his surprise, she hadn’t talked about leaving Knox again or about her plan to move on to yet another temp job. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized Allison should stay at Knox.
She’d done an amazing job; Daryl and the rest of the sales staff liked her. Hell, she was even on Martha’s good side—a place Zach rarely managed to venture. She should stay—especially since in a few weeks Zach would be out of the office more than he’d be around. The board would be coming back any day now with a decision for the VP position, and Zach knew he was in. After winning the Collins account, not to mention all the work he’d done in the past six years, how could they not give him the promotion?
“You’re late again.” Martha’s voice cut into his thoughts as he walked by the reception desk.
Zach’s eyebrows rose. “Late? It’s not even eight o’clock.”
“Exactly,” she announced with a hint of spark in her normally serious expression. “When do you ever get here after me? Other than this past week.”
Zach frowned. He had been taking his time coming in to the office, unwilling to leave Allison in the morning. And not just reluctant to leave her bed, although that was certainly part of it. That morning, they’d lingered over coffee on her back patio, enjoying the cool morning and arguing over which section of the paper he got to read first. She’d held the business section out of reach, telling him he needed to focus on the “Life” section a bit more.
“I didn’t have any appointments first thing. If I had—”
“Zach, I’m teasing,” Martha interrupted. “You deserve some time to yourself. Everyone knows how hard you work around here.”
Rolling his shoulders, he tried to dislodge the sudden uncertainty pressing down on him. He did deserve some time—even if he wasn’t exactly spending that time to himself. Coming in on time instead of an hour and a half early certainly didn’t mean he was losing his edge.
He was still trying to convince himself later that morning when Daryl asked him to come into his office. He should have expected what was to come, but his boss’s announcement that the board had come to a decision caught him off guard. Somehow he thought they’d contact him directly rather than going through Daryl and a conference call. Sinking into the leather chair across from Daryl’s desk, he greete
d the board members across the intercom and listened as they told him how close of a decision it had been as they’d compared the candidates and weighed who would be best for the job before making their choice.
Zach wasn’t exactly sure when the news sunk in that what he was hearing wasn’t congratulations, but condolences.
“So, you see, Zach,” the faceless, impersonal voice crackled over the speaker, “although your track record is impressive, we feel a more experienced salesman would be better suited for the vice president position.”
The compliments and consolation droned on, but Zach stopped listening after the initial rejection. Pretty it up as much as you want, no still meant no. And he’d been so damn sure the answer would be yes! The loss broadsided him, knocking him off center and leaving him listing and rudderless. Out of control.
Was this how it felt, he wondered dimly, when his father found out Caroline was pregnant? When Nathan Wilder had watched all his dreams slip out of his grasp, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it?
He kept his expression carefully blank. The owner of the disembodied voice couldn’t see him, but Daryl sat across the gleaming cherry desk, watching closely.
When the meaningless buzz of meaningless words coming from the speakerphone finally ceased, Zach replied without a hint of what he really thought revealed in his voice. “Thank you for considering me. I’m sure you made the right choice.”
Daryl was silent as he disconnected the call, as if waiting for Zach’s outburst. “I’m sorry, Zach.”
Shoving out of the leather armchair, Zach braced his palms on the desk. “Dammit, Daryl, Bob Henderson hasn’t brought in one new account since I started working sales!”
“But the accounts he has—”
“Are some of the biggest in California,” Zach finished for his boss. “Sitting on the same damn accounts for six years does not mean that Bob is a good salesman. It means he was a good salesman.”
Daryl stood and circled his desk. “No one is questioning the success you’ve had since you joined the sales team. You should be proud.”
Temporary Boss...Forever Husband Page 17