Zoe’s shoulders slumped as she tried her cell phone once more. “I still can’t get a signal. I’ve never had problems getting a signal. This just can’t be happening.”
She looked as if she were about to burst into tears. Kyle wanted to comfort her but stayed where he was. The tension in the air was thick enough to slice.
He swallowed a sigh. What did I do to make her so angry?
Zoe finally broke the silence. “There was a time when I really wanted to impress you, Kyle. I wanted—no, needed—your approval, but instead, you made me feel as if I would never be good enough to make it as a designer.”
He was surprised by her words. “It was not my intention to make you feel that way. You always seem to be in competition with me. I only wanted to remind you that you still had much to learn.”
“I wanted to be the best,” she said quietly.
“So did I,” Kyle said. “And for the record, I’ve always been proud of you, Zoe. If we’re being honest, I might as well admit that there was a time when I was somewhat threatened by your talent. I struggled with finding my muse during that time while the world itself seemed to inspire you.”
Zoe looked surprised. “To me, it looked like your creativity flowed effortlessly.”
Kyle noticed that her shoulders had relaxed, the anger lines around her mouth had vanished. She looked like the Zoe he used to know. She looked...gorgeous. “Zoe,” he began, his voice low. “I’m sorry for the way I acted after we kissed.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“That one kiss that we shared left an indelible imprint in my mind,” Kyle confessed. “I know that I told you that we should forget it ever happened, but I can’t. I remember not wanting the moment to end, but then reality set in.”
“You suddenly remembered that I worked for you,” Zoe interjected.
“Please let me explain,” he said. “I felt guilty for putting you in a compromising situation. I just thought that if we stayed within our boundaries, things would go back to normal, but they didn’t. You became so distant—I wasn’t sure what to think.”
“It was because of the way you treated me afterward,” she told him. “Kyle, you dismissed me as if I was just another employee. You never once treated me like a woman with feelings. I was humiliated.”
“I promise you that I will never make that mistake again, Zoe.” His gaze slid over her. “One thing is for sure. You are definitely all woman.”
* * *
Is it my imagination, or is it getting hot in here?
Zoe’s face flushed with heat as she looked up at Kyle, watching him take her in slowly. He stood a few yards from her, pushing up his sleeves as if he, too, was suddenly feeling warm. Zoe couldn’t resist a peek at his fabulous forearms.
Why am I being tortured this way?
She tore her gaze away from him, got up off the floor and walked to the back of the room, checking her phone. One bar of service came up. “I finally have a signal,” she told Kyle, as she tried to make a call, “but it’s not enough to get a call through.”
Beads of perspiration formed on her forehead. If she didn’t get away from Kyle Hamilton soon, she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. “Jerry and Sasha were supposed to be coming with the rest of our supplies. They should have been here by now.” She began fanning herself with her right hand again.
Kyle walked over to her. “Zoe, we’re going to get out of here.” He gently wiped the sweat from her brow.
She shrugged him off.
“Take it easy, sweetheart,” he whispered. “Why does everything have to end in a fight when it comes to you and me?”
“You know why,” Zoe said. “It’s what we’ve always done.”
Kyle met her gaze. “I don’t want to fight with you. I’d rather be kissing you.”
Her eyes strayed to his lips.
“We’ve been in this room for over an hour now. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of bickering,” he said softly.
Zoe made a small gasp of surprise when his mouth drifted across hers, and for a moment she stiffened in his arms, her fingers trembling against his chest.
Kyle pulled away and looked down at her as if expecting Zoe to protest. When she didn’t, he seemed to take that as encouragement. As his lips touched hers once more, it was like oxygen to a fire that had been smoldering unseen for years. The heat had overcome the ice and blazed into a wildfire.
Unstoppable.
Chapter 7
Kyle’s unexpected tenderness and the passion between them after so much time brought tears pouring down Zoe’s face.
“Why are you crying?” Kyle asked her, confusion in his dark eyes.
“I’m fine,” Zoe whispered. She did not add that she was blissfully more than just fine. For her, making love with Kyle was exactly as she had always imagined it would be. She would have told him that had they not heard voices on the other side of the door.
Zoe dressed quickly, spurred by the fear that someone would finally come to their aid and find them half naked.
Kyle buckled his belt as he called out for help.
“How did you two get locked up in this room?” the hotel worker asked when he opened the door.
If the worker had an inkling of what had transpired between them in that room, he was gentlemanly enough not to let on.
Zoe glanced down at her watch and groaned. “I have to go,” she said as she rushed off.
Kyle caught up with her. “Zoe, don’t you think we should talk about what just happened?”
“I can’t right now. I’m already late.” She felt the walls closing in on her.
“Calm down, sweetheart.”
“I can’t,” she said. “Jerry is going to be livid.”
“Zoe, it wasn’t your fault. We were locked in the supply room.”
She wasn’t listening to him. “Maybe if I’m lucky I can still salvage this mess.”
“Zoe—”
She shook her head. “I have to go.”
Zoe rushed down the escalator, hoping the planner could pencil her in after she was a no-show for their appointment. She groaned again when she glimpsed Sasha leaving the special-events office.
“Where were you?” Sasha questioned.
“I got locked in the supply room somehow,” Zoe said. “Where’s Jerry?”
“He’s back at the office. When I got here, you were nowhere to be found, so I met with the planner.” Sasha broke into a wide grin. “Don’t worry, I wrote down everything we discussed.”
Zoe’s smile was tight. “Thank you.”
“Can you help me with these supplies?”
She nodded. “Sure.”
Zoe struggled to keep from gritting her teeth. Sasha was the very last person she wanted to be indebted to...ever.
“It must have been very scary for you in that room.”
“I was okay,” Zoe said carefully.
“Really? How on earth did you remain so calm?” Sasha asked. “Especially being in there all alone. I probably would have freaked out.”
Zoe was not about to tell Sasha that she had been locked in the room with Kyle. Her nemesis would run straight to Jerry with the news.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
She glanced over at Sasha and nodded. “I’m fine.”
Kyle was in the hallway talking with the janitor when she and Sasha arrived at the supply room. Zoe glanced at the woman beside her and said, “I’m glad that you were here to take my place at the meeting.”
“I am, too,” Sasha said. “Jerry would be furious with you if I hadn’t shown up when I did. Who knows... He might not have allowed you to keep your job.”
“Why would I lose my job?” Zoe asked. “I was accidentally locked in a room with no way to get out.”
Sasha nodded in Kyle’s direction. “Looks like Kyle may be having some issues, as well.”
“Why do you say that?” She glanced over at Kyle, who was with the custodian. They appeared to be examining the lock on the door.
“Why else would he be talking with the custodian?” She gave Zoe a sidelong glance. “You two weren’t locked in the supply room together, were you?”
“As a matter of fact, we were,” Zoe said truthfully. “Let’s just get this stuff put away and get back to Guava.” She put the bags she had been carrying on a shelf. “I thought Jerry was coming with you. That’s what he told me.”
“He had a change of plans,” Sasha said. “It’s a good thing, too.”
Zoe held her temper in check. She was grateful to Sasha for stepping up, but she knew the woman would never let her forget it.
The question now, she thought, as Sasha looked at Kyle and the custodian, and then back at Zoe, was what else would she never let Zoe forget?
* * *
Kyle wanted to go after Zoe, but he decided to just let her leave. He would reach out to her later, when her overly curious coworker wasn’t around.
Zoe had barely spared him a glance just now. He wondered if she had been able to make her appointment. Or maybe she’d just made up the appointment to get away from him.
He did not want to consider that possibility. Especially not after the way they had just made love. He had no idea how they had gotten locked in that room, but after what they’d shared, Kyle had no regrets.
Zoe had feelings for him—that much Kyle was sure of—but he knew instinctively that she wasn’t ready to admit it.
The truth was that he also cared for her.
He couldn’t deny that any longer.
When he returned to his office thirty minutes later, Kyle picked up the phone.
Her voice mail came on.
“Hey, it’s me. I wanted to check on you. Give me a call when you get this message. Zoe, I really want to talk to you.”
He hung up, frustrated that he couldn’t talk to her right away. The connection he’d felt from the moment he’d first laid eyes on Zoe was still there. Kyle did not know what it all meant, but he did know one thing: he longed to possess Zoe heart and soul. He had never felt this way about anybody.
He was conflicted over his feelings because allowing himself to get close to her meant giving up a part of his own soul. But Zoe had gotten under his skin and he knew with every fiber of his being that there would be no other woman for him.
* * *
Zoe rested her forehead against the beige ceramic tiles while hot, pulsing streams of water pounded against her back.
“What was I thinking?” she whispered.
How could she give herself so freely to the man she loved but knew without a doubt did not love her in return?
Out of the shower, Zoe dried off and dressed in a pair of pink sweats and a tank top. As she sat on her bed and tried to figure out her next move, her cell phone rang.
She was surprised to see Kyle’s number on caller ID but could not bring herself to answer, because she’d just proved that when it came to Kyle Hamilton, she could not control herself.
She was sure that for Kyle, what had happened between them in the room had been no more than an instinctive male response to a situation already charged with tension.
To add to her humiliation, Sasha had had to take her place at the meeting. Zoe had assumed that she would go running to Jerry as soon as they returned to the office, but he never said anything. Zoe figured that meant that Sasha was waiting for a more opportune moment.
Best to tell Jerry about what had happened in the morning, Zoe decided, so Sasha would not be able to hold anything over her head.
Zoe left her bedroom and went to greet her roommate, who had just come in. “Hey, Liora. I was just about to order some dinner. Are you hungry?”
“I’m in the mood for Thai,” Liora said with a tired smile. “Girl, that little pop star Jerri Bell worked my nerves today. She kept messing up her makeup and then yelling at me to fix it like I was her personal maid.”
Zoe laughed. “I hear that she is a bit of a diva. Jerry designed her gown for the Grammys and vowed to never work with her again.”
“I can certainly understand why he feels that way.” Liora set her work bag down on the floor in the living room.
“I’ll order dinner,” Zoe said.
“How was your day?” Liora asked when Zoe hung up the phone.
“It was interesting,” Zoe said. “Kyle and I got locked in the supply room at the Childs Hotel for over an hour. I was then late for my meeting and Sasha, of all people, bailed me out.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I wish I was,” Zoe said as she went to answer the door and pay the deliveryman. “Sadly, it’s all very true.”
“So what did you and Kyle talk about while you were locked together in that room all that time?” Liora asked as she pulled out some plates for their takeout.
“He told me that he and Roberta Dallard are not a couple.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I guess so,” Zoe replied. “He has no reason to lie about something like that to me.”
Liora studied her for a moment. “Did something else happen between you and Kyle?”
“Not really,” Zoe said. She wasn’t ready to talk about what had transpired between her and Kyle. She was still trying to get used to reality of what had happened.
Liora watched her for a moment, and then changed the subject. “I’m so excited about working the Guava show with you this year.”
“After your work was featured in Glamour, Jerry was more than happy to use your artistry on our models.”
“Fashion Week starts on Thursday,” Liora said. “Can you believe that it’s here already? I’m looking forward to Vanessa Bonnard’s pregala on Tuesday night.”
Zoe felt her face heat up at the very thought of seeing Kyle again, but it was unavoidable and she’d better get used to it. They would be running into each other frequently over the next week.
“Are you listening to me?” Liora asked.
She nodded. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.”
“What’s going on with you, Zoe? Are you feeling anxious about the show?”
“Somewhat,” she said. “I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.”
“Drink a cup of herbal tea,” Liora suggested. “It should help calm you.”
“I will.”
Liora helped Zoe clean up after they finished eating. Zoe could feel her roommate watching her closely.
“You never did tell me what happened with Kyle while you two were locked up all that time,” Liora finally said.
“We talked about Roberta and why I left RHD.”
“How did it go?”
“I don’t think that anything was resolved,” Zoe replied honestly, stifling a yawn. “I’m sorry, Liora. I must be more exhausted than I thought. I’m going to call it a night.”
“I won’t be long behind you,” her roommate said.
Zoe walked into her bedroom and climbed into the king-size bed. She propped up the pillows against the fabric headboard and lay back. She kept wishing that she could wake up from this dream.
There was just one problem.
It was no dream.
Zoe squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to block out the image of her and Kyle making love without any thought that someone could have walked in on them. Worse, what if Sasha had found them? Jerry would have been livid.
More than that, she wondered what Kyle thought about their making love. Were his thoughts just as turbulent as her own?
Chapter 8
Kyle checked his phone—again—to see if
Zoe had returned his call.
“You must be expecting an important phone call,” Nelson commented.
“I thought I’d hear from someone tonight, but I guess not.” He set his phone down on the coffee table where a small mountain of personal correspondence waited for his attention. Kyle picked up the first envelope in the stack.
“I can’t believe you and Zoe were locked inside that room for all that time,” Nelson said.
“The strange thing about it is that someone had to have locked us in, according to the custodian,” Kyle stated, tapping the envelope against his desk. “The door didn’t lock on its own.”
“What do you think happened?”
He gave a slight shrug. “I guess someone mistakenly locked the door. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Nelson chuckled. “It was fate.”
“It wasn’t the worst thing that could’ve happened, I have to admit. Zoe and I were able to have a real conversation. Something that was long overdue.”
“Good,” Nelson said. “Maybe the next time I see Zoe, the air won’t be so thick with tension. I could’ve cut it with a knife the last time we were all together.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that. I think we are finally in a good space. We still have to work some things out, but I’m sure we’ll get there.”
Deep down, Kyle wondered why Zoe had not bothered to call him back. She could be busy at work, he reasoned. It was Fashion Week, after all. No one knew better than he did what that meant.
He just needed to relax.
Zoe would call him whenever she was ready to talk. At least he hoped that she would. There was much that Kyle wanted to say to her.
“I’m going to work on my audition,” Nelson announced. “Are you planning to be up for a while?”
He nodded. “I’m going to have a glass of wine and maybe watch some television.”
“Daniel said he might drop by for drinks later.”
Kyle chuckled. “Don’t count on seeing my brother until he actually shows up. He’ll get home and fall asleep in a minute.”
Nelson laughed and went to his room, and Kyle turned his attention back to the mail on his desk. Reading through a bunch of correspondence was the last thing on his mind. All he wanted to do was talk to Zoe.
Styles of Seduction Page 6