by Jamie Begley
Stump took a break before going up the last floor, resting her butt on his thigh. “Not enough to think they are one of God’s finest creations.”
“You haven’t tasted one of mine.” She impishly grinned at him, unconsciously stroking the back of his neck. “I’m going to make you a batch for saving my life,” she promised.
“Usually when I save a woman’s life, they give me more than cookies,” he joked glibly.
Her eyes flew wide at the suggestive comment, mortified that she had to control the urge to keep from squirming on his thigh.
She hadn’t lived under a rock, so it wasn’t the first sexual innuendo she had heard or fielded, but it was the first time she found herself attracted to the person saying it. She was more used to men ignoring her when she was with her friends. Even when she went out alone, they would concentrate their efforts on the other females in the room before going to her as a last-ditch effort not to go home alone.
Zoey had no illusions about herself—her father had made sure of that. He had told her she was coyote ugly. When she had asked him what that meant, he had told her in graphic detail. As she grew older and away from her father’s influence, she had critically observed others when she went out. Plus, with her broadening experience as a life coach to many men who weren’t shy about confiding what they found attractive about women, she had come to the conclusion that she was a wallflower. She wasn’t pretty or ugly. She was just ordinary. She wasn’t pretty enough to stand out in a group of other women, nor ugly enough to make a man regret having sex with her enough to want to chew his arm off to escape.
“I don’t think you have any problem finding women to bake for you, whether you save their lives or not.”
“Penni and Grace been gossiping about me?” He tilted his head back as he sneered down at her.
“Actually, we don’t gossip,” she answered haughtily.
“Women were born to gossip, and men were born to fu—”
“You can’t control it, can you?”
He lifted her higher in his arms as they reached the landing of her floor. “What? Being a jerk?”
“Being sexist.”
“You didn’t mind me being sexist when you asked me to carry your ass up these stairs.”
“That was my mistake.” She stopped moving her fingers along the back of his neck, upset at his attitude.
“Mine, too. I should have left you to crawl up the stairs instead of feeling sorry for you.”
His words were a painful reminder of the numerous occasions children would say that to her when they asked why she didn’t have a mother like them. Her father would use it to garner women’s sympathy. No matter how kind those women were to him, he would take advantage of her, regardless of the hole he would leave in their world when they discovered their bank accounts drained. As much as her father’s girlfriends and wives had grown to love her, Zoey experienced firsthand their feelings toward her evaporating each day when the true extent of his treachery was exposed. And it was always exposed. Each time they left a town and friends she had grown to love, it wasn’t without consequences. She had left a piece of her soul behind.
Zoey blinked back hurt tears. “Why do we always end up in an argument?” She couldn’t understand the animosity that kept arising every time they spent more than a couple of minutes together.
She tensed as he started to lower her feet to the floor, expecting him to jar her knee. She was shocked that, despite his obvious anger toward her, Stump lowered her gently, as a feather would land on a pillow.
“You want to know why?” He removed her hands that were still clasped around his neck.
“Yes! Is it the way I talk? The car I drive? My age? The way I look? I know I’m not pretty, I get the message loud and clear that you think I’m a kook, and you aren’t attracted to me, but could we please be civil until we no longer need to work together? Please… that’s all I’m asking.” Zoey didn’t care that she was making a fool of herself while giving the heartfelt plea. She genuinely wanted to get along with Stump.
Her stomach was twisting in knots at the harsh way he was staring at her. Her hand went to her belly, wanting them to stop the constant arguments.
“You don’t think you’re pretty?” Stump looked at her as if she was even crazier than he had given her credit for. “You don’t think I’m attracted to you? Lady, are you out of your fucking mind?”
15
The words that had sprung from her lips cut him like a knife. How could a woman who looked like her not realize she was pretty? She had male clients. Surely one those fuckers had hit on her? He could tell from her expression that they hadn’t.
Stump had to grip the handrail to stop himself from jerking the zany woman into his arms. His dick was so hard from carrying her that each step had been torture for him. He had only gone two steps after picking her up to realize he was fighting a losing battle with himself.
He had been fighting his attraction to her since he first saw Zoey in Penni’s office. She stood out from the women; her sultry, lustrous lashes shielding eyes of spectacular beauty. It wasn’t the hazel color of them that had him battling with himself. It was as if he were staring into the window of Zoey’s soul, witnessing such incredible beauty that you wanted to reach through the window, catch the vision behind it, and never let it go.
He had seen how Ice and Jackal changed after their marriages, and he was smart enough to know that Zoey would have the same effect on him… if he let her.
Ice and Jackal were still just as coldblooded and ruthless, where the club was concerned, except the brothers were no longer numero uno. Penni and Grace filled those slot’s now. That wasn’t going to happen to him. No woman was going to change him; Hannibal and the brothers would always come first with him.
“Fuck.”
“I asked you, please don’t—”
Stump raised a hand, stopping her reprimand. “Give me a second.”
“Give you a second? For what?”
Her innocent expression told him that she didn’t have a clue what effect she had on him. No woman in this day and age could be as innocent as her expression implied. Was she playing him? Or was she really this naïve?
Something deep inside of him was telling him that she was the latter.
Making sure he didn’t startle her into hurting her knee, he lifted her and turned her until her back was to the wall. “I don’t want to scare the hell out of you by showing you exactly how much I am attracted to you.” Stump reached out, using his knuckles to close her gaping mouth while making sure he didn’t touch any other part of her body. “So, don’t freak out when I tell you that I’m attracted to you. That every time you look at me, I feel as if my dick is going to come out of my jeans.”
Instead of being scared, Zoey seemed intrigued.
“Really?”
“For real.” Stump pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m trying really hard, and I mean, really fucking hard.” Stump pressed his dick to the vee between her legs, showing her exactly how attracted he was to her. Then he waited for her reaction, expecting her to slap his face.
Her little tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. “I didn’t know.”
“I see that. Now you do.” Stump lowered his lips, brushing his mouth lightly over hers and feeling her lips tremble.
“Am I interrupting?”
Both Zoey and Stump jumped at the sound of Penni’s amused voice coming from the landing below as she continued up the steps to where they were standing against the wall.
Zoey pushed him back then moved around him to wait for Penni as she reached the landing.
“Of course not. Stump was just helping me up the stairs.”
He saw Zoey wince when she tried to move back too quickly to make room for Penni in the small area. “Careful. I wouldn’t want you to hurt your knee.”
His lips twitched when color flooded her cheeks.
“I’m glad Stump was here to help you up the steps.” Penni gave them both searching glances. “The own
er said the elevator should be running again before noon.”
The memory of Zoey nearly plunging down the elevator shaft and how that soft body could have been maimed from a calculated plan to destroy her had him realizing he was beginning to care about Zoey.
“Jackal contact the owner?” Stump opened the door of the stairway, following them into the hallway.
Penni nodded as both women unlocked their corresponding office doors. “The elevator was slated for inspection this morning, which is why all the caution signs were posted last night after the building was closed. Someone deliberately removed the caution sign from the floor of the garage where Zoey parks.”
Penni looked at her friend in concern. “Zoey, I think it’s time to consider involving the police. I know you don’t really believe that anyone is targeting you, but this morning, if Stump hadn’t been there….” Penni shuddered. “The owner is going to make a report that someone tampered with the signs. If you don’t contact them that you think it was deliberate to hurt you, I will.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t have a death wish.” Zoey hugged her friend, pulling away before Penni could return the gesture. “I have appointments all day. When I get off, my first stop is the police station.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Stump had gone into Zoey’s office to make sure no one was waiting for her. If he hadn’t walked out from behind her at that moment, he would have missed the way Zoey’s eyes slid away from Penni’s as she made the promise.
“Thank you. With Wylie teething, and then worrying about you, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a week.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m like a cat—I have nine lives.” Zoey tried to joke away Penni’s concerns while giving a bright smile to the man who was coming down the hallway. “Felix, don’t you look handsome today? Is that a new jacket?”
“Yes. You really like it?”
“I don’t like it.” Zoey twined her arm through the man’s, leading him into her office. “I love it.”
Stump raised his brows at her when their eyes met as she closed her door. The jacket was butt-ass ugly. He wouldn’t be caught dead in it, and he sure as fuck wouldn’t wear those designer jeans ironed.
Stump went to take a seat behind his desk when he heard Penni shut the office door.
“Leave the door open—”
“I’ll close it when we’re finished talking,” she said, walking closer to his desk.
“What about?” If she wanted to talk about the kiss he and Zoey had shared, she was going to be disappointed.
Penni laid her purse on his desk. “Zoey’s never lied to me before.”
“You caught that?” He leaned back in his computer chair, crossing his legs at the ankles.
“Zoey’s the worst liar on the planet. Why wouldn’t she want the police to investigate a possible connection to her?”
“There could be a couple of reasons. Maybe she knows who it is and doesn’t want them in trouble, or she’s afraid it will make it worse. It could also be because she doesn’t want it publicized to her followers. As many followers as she has, it would be impossible to keep the story from leaking.”
“Whoever it is isn’t going to stop, are they?” Penni paced back and forth in front of the desk, clearly unsatisfied with his reasoning.
“No.” He had come to the same conclusion when he’d seen the empty elevator shaft.
Penni stopped pacing in the middle in the floor. “Zoey said she has nine lives. What if the last two attempts weren’t the only ones and she hasn’t told us?”
His eyes narrowed. “Damn, you might be right. How much do you know about her?”
“She’s very reserved. I really don’t know more about her now than when we first met. I didn’t even know she had a boyfriend until she mentioned it the other day.”
Stump stared down at his dusty motorcycle boots. He forgot Zoey had a boyfriend. He would have still kissed her, but if Zoey couldn’t hide the fact that she was a terrible liar to Penni, there was no way she would cheat on her boyfriend. If Penni hadn’t appeared, there was no doubt in his mind that Zoey would have kept kissing him.
“She has over fifty thousand followers. She had to have mentioned some private details of her life to you when you had lunch or hung out together.”
“I can’t even tell you how old she is for sure. She’s good at getting you to talk about yourself so you really don’t notice she doesn’t talk much about herself. Online, she only posts positive messages—what’s she wearing, her fitness goals, or a diet she’s trying. And she also writes blogs about her electric car and teas.” Penni rubbed the back of her neck, beginning to pace again. “She doesn’t show pictures of her personal friends, whether they’re male or female. If you were trying to figure her out by using social media, the only thing it would show is a woman who has a variety of interests that appeal to the mass of people who follow her. I know she has a large group of friends, because I’m one of them, and so is Grace, Vida, Casey… but you would never know who they are unless you’re one of them.”
Stump had already come to that conclusion when he had gone online to find out more about her.
“Can you think of one who would know more about her private life than you?”
Penni’s eyes turned introspective before refocusing on his. “No. Grace, maybe, but I doubt it. Casey, Vida, Sawyer, Ginny, and Gianna probably even less.”
“Then, how close of a friend can any of you be? Jackal and I aren’t BFFs, but I still know the next day if he gets laid, or if Wylie keeps you up all night.”
Her eyes flashed angrily at him. “Has he been complaining?”
“He doesn’t have to. I can tell by how he acts the next day. Either he’s in a good mood… for him, or he’s ripping the brothers a new asshole for some stupid shit he wants done around the club. Men don’t usually share personal crap like women do, so it’s strange she doesn’t.
“Has she always lived in Queen City?” Stump could use his connection to Henry, who knew everyone in the large city. While the owner of the Purple Pussycat might not know Zoey personally, he would be able to find out who did.
“I don’t know.” Penni raised her hands in bewilderment.
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
“I wouldn’t normally want you to snoop into one of my friend’s lives, but I don’t want to turn on the news one morning to find out she was a victim of a stalker and I could have stopped it.”
“I won’t let that happen.” Stump straightened in his chair to go open the door.
“Why? Because Ice ordered you to keep Grace happy, or because you are starting to like her?”
“I’ll find out if there is anything in Zoey’s life jeopardizing her safety. Zoey and I have one thing in common: I don’t like to share shit about mine either.”
“Zoey isn’t like the women you normally hook up with. She’s… special.”
Stump didn’t know what his relationship with Zoey was going to be. He only knew it was going somewhere. Until then, he wasn’t going to have Penni and Grace already imagining them married before he was able to get the woman in his bed. Even if he did, marriage wasn’t on the horizon. He had no intention of ever being tied to a particular woman.
“Penni, it was barely a kiss. Don’t read more into it than there was,” he cautioned. Stump didn’t want Penni building hopes for Zoey that weren’t going to come true. He might be attracted to her now, but few of his attractions lasted longer than a couple of months.
“I’m just saying—”
“I know what you’re saying…” He started to tell her to mind her own business, but then relented at Penni’s obvious concern. “I agree she is special,” Stump reluctantly admitted.
Pleased, Penni went into the back office as he sat back down at his desk, cursing to himself that he opened his mouth to allay her fears, despite his intention to keep his life private.
Texting Henry, he asked the man to find out any inf
ormation he could. Then he finished the computer searches that Kaden wanted before Grace arrived.
When she did, he gave her the folder of the pictures and the data he researched to make the singer’s decision easier.
“You’re already finished?”
Taking the file from him, they both went into Penni’s office. She looked up from her computer as they entered.
“If you’re finished with that, I have another tour I need scheduled. It’s for a children’s production. I never booked this type of tour before. Use the schedule of cities that I booked for Mouth2Mouth, but find smaller venues in that area. It’s an adventure play for autistic children, so smaller venues would more suitable so the children won’t be overwhelmed.”
Grace took a seat at her desk. “I’ll email you Mouth2Mouth’s schedule.”
Stump returned to his desk, knowing he would be undisturbed until lunchtime.
As he worked, he kept a constant eye on Zoey’s door and on his cell phone, waiting for Henry’s reply.
When Penni and Grace entered his office to leave for lunch, he asked them if the restaurant they were going to had oatmeal.
They stopped at his question, both with big grins on their faces.
“Have you become one of Zoey’s followers?” Grace leaned over his computer. Switching the screen, she googled the restaurant’s menu. “You’re in luck. You want blueberries on it, too?”
“No, get me the donut-flavored one.”
“You’re taking away the health benefits from it by adding all that sugar.”
“You’re right. Get me the Coney dog with extra cheese and onion rings.”
“Zoey will smell your breath from across the hall,” Penni warned.
“Make it fries.”
“Good choice. Grace and I both thank you.”
“What for?”
“Zoey wouldn’t have been the only one treated to your bad breath for the rest of the day.”
Stump missed the days when he didn’t have to work with women. Men never commented on what he ate or his breath.
A ping from his phone alerted him to the incoming text as they left. Picking it up, he read the message twice before scrolling through his numbers to call Henry.