by KB Winters
“Hey.” He grinned almost shyly, and I smiled back.
“Morning. Didn’t know you were a chef.” I walked toward him, smiling seductively, but really thinking about those pancakes and eggs. Everything smelled so damn good, and my mouth was watering. But before I reached him, a sound drew my attention, the sound of heels tapping down the wooden floor. Both of us froze, glancing at each other.
“Who’s that?” I demanded, tugging my robe tight around myself, but he shook his head.
“I don’t know.” He moved to stand in front of me, protecting me. The heels grew closer and closer until a woman entered the room. A woman I recognized.
Alana Moffet.
Chapter 19
Zach
“What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded as soon as I laid eyes on Alana, shifting to make sure she couldn’t get a good look at Jessibelle. The last thing I needed was for her to figure out what was going on between us and wind up blabbing it to someone important.
“I was in touch with your brother,” she explained, “and he said you’d gone to the house in Atherton and I was worried—”
“Worried about what and how does he know I’m here?” I snapped. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“You used the catering staff,” she pointed out, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her head. Despite the dramatic looks she often used on various shoots, on her off-time, she appeared quite plain, brown hair and blue eyes and no make-up as far as I could tell. It was odd, having her in front of me again like this. A few months ago, I would’ve given anything to have her back, but now, I just wanted her gone.
“And why did he think it would be a good idea to send you up?” I asked, frowning. I knew my brother well, and I couldn’t imagine he’d think it would be wise to send up the woman who, as far as he was concerned, had broken my heart and left me alone at my darkest hour.
“I really need to talk to you,” she explained, her voice dropping as she peered over my shoulder. I guess I couldn’t hide Jessibelle from her forever. Jessibelle stepped forward and glanced up at me.
“I’ll give you guys some privacy,” she said, and I could hear the disappointment in her voice.
“I just wanted to make sure you were all right,” Alana blurted out. “You can’t blame me for that.”
“Okay. I’m all right, now go.” Before I could escort her toward the door, tears began to spill down her cheeks. Oh, shit. Well, if I kicked her out now, I’d have looked like a raging asshole, and that was the last thing I wanted Jessibelle to think about me.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she gasped, as she attempted to catch her breath. “I should have never let you go. I can see that now. I was just so scared of what you’d become. You have to understand that.”
“I do,” I admitted, hoping if I just stuck to what she wanted to hear, she’d get out of here. “But you need to go.”
“You can’t seriously stand in front of me like this and tell me you don’t feel anything,” she replied angrily, blinking back tears and dashing a couple away with the back of her hand. I studied her and realized for the first time since we’d split up, I could say without a doubt that I had no feelings left for this woman.
I’d fallen for Jessibelle so hard, I hadn’t been able to give much time or thought to Alana, but now I knew for sure. I didn’t want to be with her. If I had the choice between the two women, I’d take Jessibelle every single time. And now, I just needed to get Alana gone and get back to business with Jessi.
“I really should get going.” Jessibelle came up from behind me, fully dressed, bag in hand, and I could feel her discomfort coming off her in waves. I couldn’t say I blamed her. She was trapped in an awkward situation. We should’ve been enjoying ourselves over breakfast and finding our way back to bed for the rest of the morning. I turned to catch her arm, to ask her to stay because there was nothing Alana could say or do that would make me want Jessibelle to leave. But she was already a dozen feet away from me. And Alana had other ideas.
As Jessibelle made her way to the door, Alana threw herself at me. I’d heard of women throwing themselves at people before, but I’d never been on the receiving end of such an action.
I reached out to catch her, and her tears came harder than before, her body shaking in my arms as it was wracked with deep sobs. I looked over my shoulder at Jessibelle, wanting nothing more than to go after her.
“Alana, please,” I pulled her to her feet. “Nothing’s going to change my mind on this. You need to go.”
“But things are different now!” she protested, lifting her head and looking at me. “You must see that.”
“No, they’re not.” I shook my head. “One of us still doesn’t want to be with the other. It’s just switched sides now. I’m sorry it’s turned out like this, but you didn’t seriously expect me to sit around waiting for you to come back all this time.”
“I love you so much,” she gasped, heaving in a breath. “You’ve got to give us another chance, Zachary.”
“I don’t fucking have to do anything.” I bristled at her implication. I didn’t like being told what to do, never had. “We are done.”
“Things have changed now.” She managed to plant her hand on the table and stand herself up. She was still a little shaky, but I decided to give her the chance to say her piece. I didn’t know why, I should’ve been enjoying myself, reveling in my victory, and here I was trying to remind my ex why she’d left me.
“Okay,” I waved my hand, indicating for her to continue. “What? What has changed? Did your heart melt?”
“Like, you’ve got more time now,” she pointed out. “That’s why you were able to come all the way up here and take some time away from work.”
“I’m still working,” I snapped. “That woman who’s here, she’s my lawyer.”
“Oh?” Alana raised her eyebrows pointedly, but I shook my head.
“It’s not like that,” I muttered, irritated. “She’s just working for me. We’re staying out here because—”
I realized I didn’t have a good reason as to why Jessi and I were sequestered away in this place—but I didn’t have to give her one, anyway. I shook my head again.
“It’s confidential,” I finished up.
“Well, if you can take a few months off like you did before, then you can take some time off to spend it with me.”
“I wasn’t taking time off,” I replied tautly. “I was depressed, Alana. I couldn’t leave the house. I didn’t want to see anyone or do anything. It wasn’t like one of your fucking retreats.”
She stared at me, a flicker of incomprehension in her eyes. She didn’t get where I was coming from, and frankly, I didn’t want to explain the ins and outs of clinical depression to her. Her eyes filled with tears again and her legs began to buckle, so I reached forward to catch her. Shit, this wasn’t going well. I needed her out of here as soon as possible. I looked over my shoulder, to where Jessibelle had left us, hoping she’d stuck around, but she was nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t blame her for leaving. But I couldn’t just dump Alana on the kitchen floor and go after the woman I really wanted. I’d look like a monster.
“But you have more time for me now,” she was blubbering. “That was the problem. You were too obsessed with work.”
“The problem was we just didn’t work together,” I replied bluntly. I needed to wrap this up, before Jessibelle got too far away for me to give her an explanation.
“Please,” she begged one last time. “Please, just give us another chance. That’s all I’m asking.”
“And I’m telling you, the answer is no,” I shot back, stiffening with anger. I had already told her a few times, but she was just choosing not to hear it. That wasn’t my problem. It was hers.
“How did you get up here?” I demanded. “Driver?”
She nodded weakly.
“Then you can get out of here the same way.” I snapped and pulled her to her feet, guiding her toward the door.
&n
bsp; Now I had to go find Jessibelle.
Chapter 20
Jessibelle
As I sat in the cab I’d called to take me home, the tears began to fall. I hadn’t unpacked anything the night before, so it made for a quick getaway from the drama at Zach’s house.
Last night had been perfect. At least, that was what I told myself. But as soon as that woman turned up, it was clear what perfect was.
And apparently, it wasn’t me.
Alana Moffet was one of the most famous women in the world, her face plastered on every billboard and on the cover of every magazine I picked up. It was almost surreal, seeing her in person like that, seeing her crumpled on the floor of Zach’s house as though he’d physically hurt her in some way.
She was part of the reason he’d holed up in his mansion for so long. She’d destroyed a chunk of his life when she left. That much was clear, and now she was in his gorgeous holiday home making it clear that the only thing in the world she wanted was him. I couldn’t blame her, but damn if I knew any way I could stand up to the overwhelming competition.
He would’ve been crazy not to take her back. I pressed my forehead to the window of the taxi, allowing the cool glass to soothe my racing thoughts. It didn’t do a lot of good. I couldn’t stop thinking about them, about the way he put his arms around her and held her as she cried. Yes, he’d said he didn’t want to get back together with her, but that was likely just for show. I couldn’t imagine a man who’d turn down a woman like that, throwing herself at him. He’d have to be crazy.
The tears were flowing down my cheeks by that point, obvious enough that the driver was peering at me through the rear-view mirror. I wanted to tell him to leave me alone and let me wallow in my sadness, but I knew he was just trying to be helpful and offer me someone to talk to in my time of need. But the only person I wanted to talk to was back in his house with his arms wrapped around another woman.
It was clear now what I had been to him. A rebound. I had suspected it, but now I was certain I was just a piece of ass until that woman came back to him.
He must have known she couldn’t stay away, because the two of them fit together. Like two rich, famous, and beautiful pieces of a puzzle. The successful, handsome businessman and the gorgeous model with a career that spanned the globe. I didn’t fit anywhere into the equation, except as a story they shared when they were being honest with each other about what they both got up to while they weren’t together. I was a fling, nothing more. I needed to get it through my head. Zach and I had never made sense together, not really, not in the way the two of them did. I was a start-up lawyer with a mouth and a lot of baggage. I wasn’t a model who could sweep into any room and have every man in it staring at me, slack-jawed.
What was confusing to me was the night before had felt like something real. It was one thing for the two of us to have hot, heady, hungry sex in the back of a limo when we got the chance, but it was quite another for him to invite me all the way out there to his beautiful house in the country and then make love to me all night long. It was sweet and slow and careful and perfect, the kind of sex that stuck in the back of your mind for the rest of your life. And now it was over.
I gripped my bag to my lap and watched as the beautiful scenery retreated. My bag was full of papers, the stuff we needed to get done that day, and now I’d just have to take it on by myself. Would he still want me representing him in court? Would I still want to do it? I knew I couldn’t really turn it down based on how good it would look for my career, but the thought of facing him again made my heart sink to my stomach. I didn’t want to have to see him, to have to face up to the fact I had been stupid enough to fall for him. It felt like Aston all over again, that asshole dragged my heart through the mud, used me for sex and then left me behind. Or maybe that was just what I deserved. Maybe that’s what I should have gotten used to putting up with. Because those were apparently the kind of men I was attracted to, no matter how much I wanted something real, something solid, something I could hold on to.
My man picker was broken. And I needed to fix it somehow.
The way Zach touched me was going over and over again in my mind. The man had skills. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who could make me feel that good only to drop me as soon as someone else came along—but maybe this was part of his game from the start.
Maybe he was with me to make Alana jealous. Yeah, that was it. He just wanted to make her jealous and used me as a patsy.
I didn’t know how she could’ve heard about us, but chances were, he could have slipped some information to her or his brother to be sure she found out about us and came running. It would explain why she’d come all the way to Atherton as soon as she could. She did mention his brother. He might have sent her because he figured she’d be a better fit for him than I would. Or maybe he just understood that hooking up with the person who was meant to be acting as a legal counsel was a bad idea and decided to put a stop to it.
I put my head in my hands and wondered how long it would be until I was back in the city. Too long, no doubt, and with a hefty cab bill on top of that. Maybe I could charge it back to Zach? An amused smile flickered on to my face at the thought. Yes, that would be a start, something to pay him back for what he’d put me through over the last day or so. It would only be a tiny corner of his enormous fortune, but it would make me feel better. And besides, I was meant to be up at that house on business—not her.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I grabbed for it. Maybe it was Zach, calling to ask me back so we could figure stuff out. But the number wasn’t one my cell recognized, and I frowned at the screen before I lifted it to my ear to answer. I needed anything to get my mind off my swirling thoughts, even if it was just someone from my phone company offering me an upgrade.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Jessibelle.” A familiar voice came down the line, one that made me jump.
“Aston?” I whispered.
“I’m so glad I got hold of you,” he announced, and the usual cockiness I found in his voice was missing.
“Why the hell are you calling me?” I demanded. I’d had enough of exes today, whether they were mine or someone else’s.
“Ever since I saw you at the court, I can’t stop thinking about you,” he blurted out, and I fought the urge to correct his grammar.
“What the—”
“I wanted to invite you out for dinner,” he said. “I know I fucked up really bad, but I need to see you again, Jessi. Come on, baby, I need a chance to make things right.”
I blinked twice. I had dreamed for so long that Aston would come crawling back to me, that he would acknowledge everything he’d done wrong and beg for my forgiveness, but in those fantasies, I always turned him down. However, after what had happened with Zach, my ego had just taken a firm fucking. And to my shock, I found myself open to the suggestion.
“When?” I asked, the word sounding foreign to my ears. He even sounded a little taken aback that I was agreeing to this.
“Where are you now?” he asked, sounding surprised. “I’ll come meet you.”
“I’m out of town right now, but I’ll be back in the city this evening,” I replied. “I’ll text you when I’m free.”
“See you soon,” he said, and I could almost hear the triumphant grin in his voice as he hung up the phone. I stared at the blank screen and wondered if I hadn’t just made a huge mistake.
***
I sat across from Aston at a crazy-fancy restaurant in the expensive side of town. He still looked a little surprised I was there with him, but he couldn’t have been half as shocked as I was. I’d promised myself a dozen times over I’d never go near this man again, and yet there I was, letting him take me out for dinner. I could tell myself it was just so he could explain himself, but I knew he didn’t even deserve that. It was because I needed someone to salve my aching ego.
It had been painfully awkward so far, as he attempted to sprinkle niceties into the conversation and was met with sull
en irritation from me. So, once the waiter had taken our orders—I made sure to go straight for an entrée in the hope of speeding things up—I guess he figured he had nothing left to lose and launched into it.
“Jessibelle, I’ve been thinking about you so much since I saw you in the court room.” He sounded as though he’d carefully rehearsed his words. “And I know I fucked up and I’d do anything to take it back.”
He paused, as though expecting me to jump in and accept his apology, but I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. He would have to do better to convince me he was a changed man.
“I know it’s going to be hard for you to trust me again,” he went on. I raised my eyebrows. You can say that again.
“But I want you to know I’m willing to do anything to get you back,” he said hesitantly. “Including quitting the case.”
“What?” My eyes widened. I knew better than anyone how hard he’d worked to get his job at the firm and how unlikely it was for him to accept walking away from it.
“And if that’s not enough,” he said, hesitating as if unsure he could say the next part, “then the firm, too.”
I stared at him, in complete shock, and he looked steadily back.
“Are you serious?” I spluttered, finally managing to find the words. He nodded, and I struggled to think. My mind was reeling. After everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and now he was dropping this on top of me too? I had no idea what to say, what to think, or how to feel. Instead, I stared dumbly across the table at the man I had promised myself I’d never give a second chance.
Chapter 21
Zach
As we drove back to the city, my mind raced. I had come up to this place so dead-certain there was only one woman for me, and now I was leaving not certain I’d been right about that.
I still wanted Jessibelle, badly. I knew that for sure. But everything Alana had laid out for me in the hour she’d demanded my attention had gotten me thinking.