When he pulled back to look at her, he saw the dark desire in her eyes. That desire was for him. To realize she wanted him as much as he wanted her was a rush and it fueled his fire for her.
In a delirious rush, he claimed her mouth and she commandeered his sanity. He held her so close that he could feel their hearts beat in sync. Or maybe it was simply the rush of desire coursing through them, creating their very own rhythm. She slipped her fingers into his hair, and the need between them became so feverish it threatened to consume them both.
Without breaking the spell, he eased her back on the couch and made short order of ridding himself of his shirt. He wanted to feel her skin against his.
He undid the first two buttons on her blouse but then grabbed the hem and pulled it up and over her head. He was too impatient to work the rest of the damn things. At least he had enough of his wits about him to know better than to give it a firm yank and rip it off of her.
As he tossed her blouse aside, he felt her demeanor shift.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He probably needed to slow down. He wanted her so badly, but this was not a race. He wanted to savor every moment of the first time he made love to her. Most of all, he wanted her to enjoy it, too.
“I need to tell you something.” Her voice was small.
Birth control.
Damn it. Why hadn’t he thought of that before now? Probably because he hadn’t counted on this happening just yet. But it felt so right.
“If you don’t have anything, I can go out and get something.”
Her face was a question mark.
“Condoms?” he said.
“Oh. No, that’s not it. Well, yeah, we would need those.” Her voice was a little shaky. Joaquin lifted himself off her to give her some room. She wriggled out from under him and sat up, crossing her arms over the front of her.
“If we’re moving too fast, we can slow down,” he said.
“I know this might sound corny and old-fashioned, but for a long time I wanted to save it for my wedding night.”
It?
Oh—
“So you’ve never—”
She shook her head. “Don’t look at me like I’m some sort of unicorn.”
“No. I’m not. Or if you thought I was, I’m sorry. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
“Why?” she asked.
He probably needed to shut the hell up because everything he said was just making the situation worse.
She shrugged. “Actually, I’m sorry. I probably sounded a little defensive. I didn’t mean to. All of Steffi-Anne’s innuendos and her pointing out all the guys I dated probably gave you the wrong idea.”
God, was that what she thought? “Do you think I’m here just because I think you’re easy?”
A nervous hiccup escaped her beautiful lips. “That sounds so high school–ish. Are you trying to make it with the fast girl, Joaquin?”
“Zoe. Be serious.”
“I’m just kidding. Please don’t make this any weirder than it already is. And I’ll stop making it weird on my end. So, I’ll just say it. I have dated a lot of guys, but I’ve never slept with any of them. In fact, in the past when things have gotten to this point, I usually don’t see them anymore.”
Joaquin sat back against the couch. “Are you breaking up with me?”
“Am I your girlfriend?”
“Aren’t you? I just assumed. But if we’re reliving high school, do you want me to ask you to go steady? I know it took me a while to get here.” He gestured between them. “But I’d like to see where this goes. We can take things slowly. That doesn’t bother me at all. I just want you to be okay with...us.”
Zoe looked uncertain and a little uncomfortable.
Joaquin reached down and picked her blouse off the floor and handed it to her.
“Thank you.” But she held it in her lap. Sitting there in her lacy bra, she didn’t get dressed or try to hide herself.
“I hope you don’t think I’m some kind of a weirdo,” she finally said.
“No.” He reached out and took her hand. “Of course not.”
“When I was in college, one of my friends got burned by a guy who promised to love her forever. So, she gave herself to him body and soul. It lasted maybe three months. He broke her. I know people get hurt every day and lots of relationships don’t last, but she was so devastated and I couldn’t help but think that if everything was going to end, I didn’t want to give myself to a guy who really didn’t care that he was taking the most special gift I could give him. He’d just move on like it was nothing. If you think that’s weird, it’s okay, but it’s who I am and I can’t be anyone else.”
He reached out and lifted her chin so that she was looking him in the eye.
“I don’t take it lightly. As long as you’ll have me, I’d like to keep exploring this thing between you and me. I want to spend time with you, but let’s take it slow.”
She smiled at him. “You really are a prince, aren’t you?”
He bent down and kissed her, soft and tender.
After he said good-night with a plan for them to cook dinner together tomorrow night, the slow realization washed over him that they didn’t need to rush things. Women like Zoe didn’t fool around for fun. Before anything could happen, he needed to make sure he was ready for the type of serious commitment she was expecting.
* * *
The next day Zoe was relieved when Joaquin acted perfectly normal. She might not be ready to give him that ultimate part of herself just yet, but after he’d left she knew down to her bones that she didn’t want to lose him.
She hadn’t been kidding when she’d called him a prince. After kissing as many frogs as she had in her life, she would know.
She’d stopped by the coffee shop and picked up two cappuccinos. It was a peace offering, or at least a gesture that meant she truly wanted things to be okay between them.
She’d worried for a moment when she’d gone to his office and he had asked her to shut the door. She was afraid that he’d had time to think about things and change his mind. Because in her experience when guys discovered she was a virgin, they took it one of two ways: they either beat a hasty retreat or they took it as a challenge that they were going to be the one who would convince her she didn’t want to save it for marriage.
But after she closed the door, Joaquin had taken the coffees from her and set them on the desk. Then he’d pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she was questioning whether waiting was what she really wanted.
That’s how good they were together.
Crazy good.
Fireworks good.
I-want-to-wake-up-to-a-kiss-like-that-every-morning-for-the-rest-of-my-life good.
Zoe wasn’t sure if the knocking she heard was her heart pounding or—
“Excuse me?”
Oh, God. It was Steffi-Anne.
After they broke the kiss, Joaquin kept his arm around Zoe.
“Good morning, Steffi-Anne,” he said. “How can I help you?”
The woman looked as if she had been sucking on lemons.
“Elaine Baker from personnel and I need to see the two of you in her office right now.”
* * *
That evening, Zoe sat at Joaquin’s kitchen table, looking over the consensual relationship agreement that Elaine Baker and their good friend Steffi-Anne had insisted they sign.
Apparently if two employees were in a relationship, they had to declare it—even if one was an independent contractor and the other was the boss’s daughter.
“It’s policy set by Mr. Robinson’s attorneys,” said Steffi-Anne. “It’s so people won’t sue Robinson Tech for sexual harassment. Zoe, as Gerald’s daughter, you of all people should understand how important this is.”
/> “I’m not going to sue anyone,” Joaquin said, clearly irritated.
Steffi-Anne pushed the document across the desk toward him. “Then you should have no problem signing this agreement.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Zoe said. “I’ve dated several Robinson employees, but why has this never come up before now?”
“That’s not important,” said Elaine. “But I do need both of you to sign these now.”
“Neither of us is going to sign anything until we have time to read through the document carefully,” said Zoe. “I’m sure you will understand that we need to take the forms with us.”
“Be my guest.” Steffi-Anne sniffed. “In fact, take the weekend. But we need them signed and turned in first thing Monday morning.”
Or what? Zoe wanted to say. Are you going to fire us? I don’t think so.
Never in her life had she wanted to play the boss’s daughter card so much. Never in the history of working for Robinson Tech had she been so tempted to tell both Elaine Baker and Steffi-Anne to back off or she’d have their jobs. And it had crossed her mind more than once to go to her father and sweet-talk him into letting her be an exception to the rule. And he probably would’ve done it. He liked Joaquin. He respected him.
Even though Zoe knew that the stunt was strictly fueled by jealousy, she refused to let it compromise her principles.
She had taken such pride in being like everyone else, in working her way up the ladder and proving her worth, that she wasn’t going to buckle now. Even if Joaquin had seemed a little bothered by signing a statement that would essentially formalize their relationship. She didn’t want to pressure him.
Could there be a case for sexual harassment when they hadn’t even had sex? She almost made a joke about it but stopped. She couldn’t quite tell if Joaquin was quiet because he was feeling boxed in by this agreement or if her lack of experience was finally sinking in. When she had tried to talk to him about it earlier, he had managed to put her off by changing the subject.
Since they were supposed to be cooking together tonight, it would probably be best to forget the form for now and spend time in the kitchen with him.
Zoe was glad she did because it seemed to be the right choice. Together they made one of Joaquin’s favorite dishes: arroz con pollo, chicken and rice. But it was so much more than that. It had red bell peppers and peas cooked in a broth of wine, saffron and tomato paste. It was a little bit of Miami heaven on a plate.
Dinner was so delicious that it seemed to lighten the mood. She certainly didn’t want to cause things to go south by pressing the darned consensual relationship agreement.
They had all weekend to deal with it. Right now, she was content to snuggle up next to Joaquin on the couch. While he watched some political show on TV, she read a magazine that she’d picked up on her lunch break because of the cover story about “Bonnie Lord Charlie” Fortune Chesterfield and his fiancée, Alice Meyers.
It was so cozy, she couldn’t help but think, This is what it would be like to be married to Joaquin. It made her heart sing and the butterflies in her stomach fly in giddy formation.
Savoring the feeling, Zoe flipped the pages until she came to the article on Charles and Alice. Charles Fortune Chesterfield wasn’t actually a prince, though that was what the media had dubbed him. But he did come from a long line of British nobility and was devastatingly handsome, if you liked the dark-haired, blue-eyed rakish type. Personally, Zoe preferred men who were tall, dark and Latin. Her appreciative gaze drifted to Joaquin and lingered for a moment before finding its way back to the article about Charles and Alice’s whirlwind romance. Their story was enough to make a girl believe in fairy tales. And, of course, she adored those.
The other thing Zoe found so compelling about Charles was that he was actually the youngest son of Josephine Fortune Chesterfield, the same Josephine with whom she’d had dinner at Cowboy Country. Joaquin had cracked a joke about “Bonnie Lord Charlie” when he’d seen the magazine cover, but he hadn’t said much else.
In fact, even though Joaquin had been gracious about introducing her to his father when she’d been stranded in Horseback Hollow, he’d told her so little about his family and his background that she had the feeling he might be holding back. As crazy as it seemed, reading about his potential stepbrother felt as though she was getting a glimpse into one facet of Joaquin’s life.
Charles and Alice were so old-world chic it made her wistful. She stared at a picture of the couple with their baby boy, Flynn, who had Charles’s dark hair and blue eyes. They made an adorable family. Alice was beautiful with her wavy blond shoulder-length hair and blue eyes; she was tall and thin, with long legs that went on for miles. A perfect lady for Bonnie Lord Charlie.
She tried not to think of the great Fortune hunt and how Ben kept pushing the issue against their father’s wishes. She hadn’t talked to her brother since the family meeting last week. But they’d be okay, once he finally accepted the fact that Gerald Robinson was not Jerome Fortune. She just needed to put some distance between them for now.
Yes, it was crazy, she thought as she flipped the pages in the magazine, looking at the photos, pausing to read the captions. Yep. It was all crazy and farfetched and— She paused at one of the pictures, a close-up of the heirloom ring Charles had given Alice when they got engaged. She held the magazine up to get better light so she could get a better look. The caption said it was a present passed down to Charles from the famous Kate Fortune.
In the light, she could see it was an emerald ring with the letter F on it.
Zoe gasped. No. It can’t be. This has to be some sort of Twilight Zone coincidence.
“What’s wrong?” Joaquin asked.
Zoe didn’t answer because she didn’t quite know how to explain. Because if she was remembering right— She suddenly felt a little light-headed.
Joaquin turned off the TV with the remote. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Zoe gave herself a mental shake. Joaquin was so levelheaded. He could probably help her process this. Besides, if their relationship was going to grow, they needed to share. Just a moment ago she had been thinking about how he didn’t seem very open about his own family. Maybe she should encourage communication by example.
“Look at this ring.” She pointed to the picture. “I’ve seen it before. Or one almost exactly like it. I found it when I was a little girl, playing around in my father’s office. I thought it was such a treasure. When I asked my dad if I could have it, he snatched it away from me and yelled at me, asking me where I found it. I told him it was in a box on his desk. He asked me how I opened the box because it was supposed to be locked.”
Joaquin was listening attentively. She paused, thinking about how to say this last part.
She took a deep breath.
“I remember what happened so vividly because it’s the only time I can ever remember my father yelling at me. Even though he yells at everyone else on a daily basis.”
She tried to laugh, but it turned into a sob and the tears began to meander down her face.
“Zoe, don’t cry.” Joaquin wiped her tears. “I want to help, but I’m not sure I understand.”
It nearly broke her heart to explain. “This ring in the picture is exactly like my father’s. I think I just found the proof that Ben has been looking for to prove—”
A sob caused her voice to break. She cleared her throat before she began again.
“Don’t you see what the picture caption says?”
Joaquin picked up the magazine and read it silently.
Zoe found her voice again. “Kate Fortune gave Charles a family heirloom ring that is identical to the one I saw in my father’s office that day. Are you doing the math with me, Joaquin?”
Joaquin’s brow knit and he nodded as if the truth was slowly daw
ning on him. But what was he supposed to say? She knew he wasn’t going to damn her father. Even after all of this, she didn’t want him to.
“I think my father has been lying to us all this time. But why? I don’t understand why.”
He lowered his gaze, but not before Zoe saw the shadow that darkened his eyes. He was such a complex man that she didn’t know what he was thinking. Maybe she shouldn’t have told him.
“If it’s true,” he said, “the only one who can answer that question is your father. All I know is that all families have secrets. So this doesn’t make your family any worse.”
Zoe’s mind was reeling.
“All families have secrets? What’s yours, Joaquin?” she asked through her tears.
He frowned, shrugged, but he wouldn’t look at her. She had to fight the urge to reach out and lift his chin, to force his eyes to meet hers.
The question seemed to catch him by surprise, but right before he spoke, he leaned in unexpectedly and dusted her lips with a kiss.
“My secret is...that I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Chapter Ten
Joaquin was such a study in contradictions.
He claimed to be falling in love with her, yet when Sunday evening rolled ’round, he still hadn’t signed the consensual relationship agreement. She’d mentioned it again later Saturday evening, thinking his declaration of love would make signing it a no-brainer. If they were a couple, didn’t it stand to reason that they were in a consensual relationship? Then again, they hadn’t had sex, so maybe his definition was different than hers. Because when she’d brought it up again, he’d hedged.
That was the last time she was going to mention it. She had other things to sort out right now. Questioning Joaquin’s feelings wouldn’t do anyone any good.
She had to figure out what she was going to do with the information she’d discovered about the ring Charles Fortune Chesterfield had given his fiancée. What were the chances it was a coincidence that it was identical to the one she’d found in that box that was supposed to be locked in her father’s study? If it didn’t matter, why had he gone off the rails the way he had? It was the one and only time he’d ever yelled at her. His anger had been so white-hot, it had burned the details of that moment into her brain. She remembered that ring as though she were looking at a photograph of it—and it was the same one she had seen on Alice Meyers’s left hand in that magazine photograph.
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