by Douglas, Michelle; Gordon, Lucy; Pembroke, Sophie; Hardy, Kate
Flynn... The thought of his brother stalled him for a moment, until he remembered him shaking Thomas’s hand after that godforsaken speech. He didn’t know Thea—didn’t know what she needed, let alone what she wanted. He didn’t love her any more than Thea loved him. Zeke knew that for sure.
Maybe he’d even understand. And even if he didn’t...Zeke was close to the edge of not caring. Flynn didn’t deserve her—he’d proved that tonight. And Zeke needed this. Needed her more than ever before.
Zeke ran his palms up Thea’s back, deepening the kiss, and felt his heartbeat quicken at the little noises she made. Half moans, half squeaks, they let him know exactly how much more she wanted. And how much he planned to give her...
‘Zeke,’ Thea murmured, pulling back just a little. ‘What about—?’
‘Shh...’ Zeke trailed his fingers over her neck, feeling her shiver against him. ‘Just pleasure, remember?’
Thea gave a little nod, as if she couldn’t help but agree, and Zeke took that as permission to kiss her again. First her lips, deep and wanting. Then her jaw, her neck, her collarbone, down into the deep V of her dress and the lacy bra beyond.
‘Oh, Zeke.’ Thea shuddered again as his hand crept up her thigh, under her skirt, and he smiled against her skin. He remembered this, too. Remembered how natural it felt to have her in his arms, how she responded to his every touch, every kiss. How she arched up against him, her body begging for more. How could she pretend that she wanted anything other than this, than him, when her whole body told him otherwise?
He wanted to get her upstairs. Wanted her in his bed, her naked skin against his. But he knew that he had only this moment to convince her, to change her mind, and he couldn’t risk the pause being enough to break her out of pleasure’s spell. No, he knew Thea. With cold air between them, and a whole staircase to climb to find a bed, she’d start doubting herself. He didn’t have time for her to have second thoughts. She was supposed to get married tomorrow, and he couldn’t let that happen.
So it would have to be here. He’d seduce her right here on the terrace. Then she’d see she couldn’t marry Flynn. And Flynn would understand that. Wouldn’t he?
Tightening his hold on her, Zeke pulled Thea up from the swing across onto his lap, so her knees fell neatly either side of his thighs, all without breaking their kiss. Her body seemed to know exactly what he had planned, moving with his without hesitation. As if it had done it before... Which, of course, it had. Zeke smiled at the memory.
‘This remind you of anything?’ he murmured, kissing his way back up her throat.
Thea murmured in agreement. ‘Your twenty-first birthday party.’
‘Out on the balcony...’
‘With the party going on right underneath us.’
‘That was all you, you know.’
Thea pressed against him and he couldn’t help but gasp.
‘I seem to remember you being there, too.’
‘Yeah, but you’re the one who dragged me up there.’ He could see it now, in his memories. The bright blue dress she’d worn, the naughty look in her eye, the way she’d bitten her lip as she raised her eyebrows and waited for him to follow her into the house...
‘I didn’t hear you complaining,’ Thea said, her hands pushing his shirt up to get to his skin.
Zeke sucked in a breath at the feel of her fingers on his chest. ‘I really wasn’t.’
She stilled for a moment, and Zeke’s hands tightened instinctively on her thighs, keeping her close. ‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘I just... I’ve never felt that again. What I felt that night, with you...’
The words were a whisper, an ashamed admission, but Zeke’s eyelids fluttered closed in relief at the sound of them. ‘Me neither. It’s never been like it was with you. Not with anyone.’ Never felt so much like coming home.
She kissed him then, her hands on his face, deep and loving, and he knew for the first time in eight years that things were going to be okay again.
‘Make love to me, Zeke,’ Thea whispered, and Zeke looked up into her eyes and smiled.
‘Always.’
* * *
Thea blinked in the darkness and wondered how it was possible that she’d forgotten this feeling. The sense that her whole body had relaxed into the place where it belonged. That moment of sheer bliss and an empty mind.
Maybe she hadn’t forgotten. Maybe, as great as her memories were, it had never been like this for them before. Because, seriously, surely she’d remember something that good.
She breathed in one last breath of satisfaction...pleasure and home.
Then she sat up and faced the real world again.
Her senses and thoughts crashed in immediately—a whole parade of them, ranging from her complete idiocy to her goosebumps. It was cold on the terrace...colder than Thea had thought Tuscany could be in the summer. Of course it would probably be warmer if she was still wearing her dress... Beside her Zeke lay on the swing seat, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal a broad expanse of tanned chest.
Somehow this seemed far more dignified for men.
Reaching for her dress and slipping it over her shoulders, Thea tried to stop her mind spinning with the idea of what she’d just done. She’d cheated on her fiancé. She’d become that woman—the one who made a stupid mistake that might cost her everything. The night before her own wedding. At her rehearsal dinner! All because Zeke had started talking about pleasure and making her remember how good things had used to be... And hadn’t she just finished telling him that wasn’t what she wanted any more?
But she couldn’t blame Zeke, however manipulated she felt. She’d wanted it. Asked for it, even. All he’d done was give her what she’d craved. What she’d spent eight years trying to forget.
Thea sighed and Zeke stirred at the sound, snaking an arm around her waist to pull her closer. She sank into him as if, having given in once, all her will power had gone.
This was the hardest part. If it was just great sex with Zeke she was giving up it would be easy. Well, maybe not easy, but certainly doable. But that wasn’t all it was.
‘You’re thinking too loudly,’ Zeke murmured against her ear, and she sighed again.
It wasn’t the sex. It was the way her body felt in tune with his...the way he could anticipate what she needed before she knew she needed it. The way she felt right in his arms. The way she fitted—they fitted together. Not just physically, either.
It just felt so natural with Zeke, in a way she knew it never would with Flynn.
But was that enough?
Zeke might know what she needed, but there was no guarantee that he’d give it to her. As much as she’d loved him when they were younger, she knew him, too. Knew what mattered most to him. And while he might have proclaimed from the rafters that the only thing that mattered to him was her, in the end he’d still left her behind when she wouldn’t fit in with his plans. Hadn’t even listened when she’d tried to explain why she couldn’t go.
Sometimes she wondered if it really had been love. It had felt like it, then. But they’d been kids. What had they known?
And even now Zeke didn’t understand about doing the careful thing, the right thing. About not taking the risk of making things worse. For him, the risk was half the fun—always had been. He’d liked the thought of getting caught at his twenty-first birthday party. And she knew, from watching This Minute grow and develop through the business pages, that half the fun for Zeke was knowing that he was only ever one step, one chance, one risk away from it all coming down. He’d been lucky—brilliant too, of course—but it could have gone either way.
And Thea didn’t have room for any more mistakes in her life. Couldn’t risk being left with nothing, no place, again.
‘Seriously,’ Zeke said, shifting to sit up properly, his shirt flapping close
d over his chest.
That might make it easier for her to think clearly, at least.
‘What’s going on in that head of yours?’
Thea sat up. ‘I have to go. I need to... My guests are inside.’
Zeke’s expression hardened. Reaching over, he picked up her bra and held it out to her, dangling from his fingers. ‘You might need this.’
Thea snatched it from him. ‘What did you think I was going to do next, Zeke? I’m supposed to be getting married tomorrow, and I’m out here with the best man! That’s never a good decision.’
He shook his head ruefully. ‘I should have known. You think I’m a mistake.’
‘I didn’t say that, Zeke.’ She never would, knowing how much of his childhood he’d spent thinking that. That his parents would have been happier with just Flynn, their planned and chosen child, rather than the biological one who had come along at exactly the wrong moment. ‘I just...I need to tell Flynn.’ That much was a given, surely? ‘I need to sort all this out.’
Zeke blew out a breath and settled back against the swing. ‘Yeah, okay. I guess disappearing in the middle of the night at some party never was your style, was it?’
‘No, that was all you.’ Thea gave him a sad smile, remembering that night eight years ago and knowing with absolute certainty, for the first time, that she could never have gone with him even if Helena hadn’t needed her. She wasn’t built for Zeke’s kind of life.
She just hoped he realised that, too.
* * *
Zeke watched Thea walk back inside, her hair no longer so groomed and her make-up long gone. Would she go and fix herself up first? What was the point, if she was just going to tell Flynn that she couldn’t marry him? Sure, Flynn would know exactly what they’d been doing, but was that such a bad thing? It gave a point-of-no-return sort of feel to things.
Settling back against the swing seat, Zeke pushed aside the guilt that flooded him at the thought of his brother. It wasn’t a love match; he knew that. And this wasn’t like when they were kids. He wasn’t taking Thea just so that Flynn couldn’t have her. She belonged with him—always had. Surely Flynn would understand that?
He hoped so. With conscious effort Zeke relaxed his muscles, feeling the happy thrumming that buzzed through his blood, the reminder of everything the evening had brought him. Who would have thought, when she’d dumped him on the roadside that afternoon, that the day would end here?
He should have known that appealing to her reasonable side wouldn’t work. Thea wasn’t like other people. She needed to see the truth, feel it, not just be told it. Why hadn’t he remembered that?
It didn’t matter now. He’d shown her they belonged together. Even her most conservative, analytical, risk-averse side couldn’t deny that now. She wanted a place to belong? He could give her that. He could give her everything she needed if she let him. Finally they’d get the life they’d been denied eight years ago, and he was going to make it so good for her. Make her loosen up a bit, reveal the Thea he knew was hiding in there somewhere.
Once the sale of This Minute went through to Glasshouse they could go anywhere, do anything. Maybe they’d just travel for a bit, see the world, get to know one another again as adults. He’d have to take things slowly, so as not to scare her. He knew Thea: even after the jump forward their relationship had taken this evening she was bound to scuttle a few paces back. But Zeke didn’t care how slowly it went, how much he had to gentle her along. He’d have Thea in his arms every night, just as he’d always wanted. This time he was her choice. Not Flynn, not Helena, not the business, not her father or his. Him. Zeke. And he could live with everything in their past as long as he was her last choice.
Zeke smiled to himself as he listened to the sounds of the dinner finishing up and people starting to leave inside. He’d go back in soon, find Thea when she was ready for him.
Sure, there was a lot to figure out first—starting with calling off the wedding tomorrow. But once that was done there was a whole new future out there for them.
He was sure of it.
* * *
The sounds of the rehearsal dinner were fading. How many people must have left already without even seeing her? She should have been there, playing hostess, saying goodbye to people, looking excited about tomorrow. If Isabella would let her, of course. She had to start reclaiming that role if she was going to be Flynn’s wife. People needed to see that she belonged there, at the head of table, running things.
Image was everything; she was the PR face of Morrison-Ashton and, however much this should have been a private event, it wasn’t. These were clients, associates, investors, and she should have been there, working the room. Putting on a show.
And instead she’d been outside on the terrace, sleeping with the best man in the open air.
A shudder ran through her. What had she been thinking? Anyone could have walked out and seen them, and then everything would have been destroyed.
Of course, she reminded herself, it might still be once she told Flynn.
‘Thea?’ Helena clattered into the hall on her high heels. ‘Are you okay? I kept everyone else off the terrace and they’re all starting to leave now. Do you want to say goodbye? If not I can cover for you if you want to just go to bed?’
Thea gave her sister a half-smile. ‘You take such good care of me.’
Helena shook her head and stepped forward to wrap her arms around Thea’s waist. ‘Not nearly as good as you take of me.’
Was that true? Thea wasn’t sure. She’d stayed, yes, when Helena had needed her, and she’d done the best she could to help her. But she’d never pressed her sister to talk about what had happened, never pushed her to get counselling or other help. Whereas ever since she’d come back, thinner and paler, with her stomach still slightly rounded and hidden under baggy jumpers, Helena had made looking out for Thea a priority. She’d been there when her engagements had gone bad, she’d helped Isabella look after the house and Dad while Thea got on with climbing the corporate ladder, she’d smoothed out every difficult conversation, every awkward dinner party between the Morrisons and the Ashtons.
And tonight she’d protected Thea’s privacy while she made another huge mistake.
‘I need to talk to Flynn.’
Helena pulled back, frowning. ‘Are you sure? Now?’
‘Yes. Before I lose my nerve.’
‘What are you going to tell him?’ Helena asked.
Thea wondered how much her sister knew about her and Zeke. What Zeke had told her. What she imagined had happened out on the terrace.
Thea took a breath. ‘Everything.’
Helena studied her for a long moment, then nodded. ‘Okay, then. I’ll fetch him. You go and wait in the library, yeah?’
‘Okay.’
The library was shaded and dark, the tiny haloes of light around the table lamps barely enough to illuminate the chairs beside them, let alone the bookcases. Thea trailed her fingers across the shelves, waiting for Flynn, trying not to listen to the sounds of the guests leaving.
Helena’s tinkling laugh caught her attention, though. ‘She’s been up since dawn! She’s so excited about tomorrow. I think she’s just crashed! I sent her to bed when she couldn’t stop yawning. Can’t have the bride looking anything but well rested on her wedding day, can we?’
Murmurs of amused agreement from the departing guests made Thea wince. How many lies had Helena told for her tonight?
The library door cracked open, and Thea spun away from the bookshelf.
‘Thea?’ Flynn asked, his voice as calm and even as it always was. ‘Are you in here?’
Stepping into the light, Thea tried to smile. ‘I’m here.’
Flynn closed the door carefully behind him with a click, then turned to her. ‘Are you okay? Helena said you wanted to talk to me. I’d
have come sooner, but our guests...’
Thea winced again. ‘Yeah, sorry. I should have been there to talk with them. To say goodbye, at least.’
‘Where were you?’ Flynn asked. ‘Helena’s telling everyone you went to bed, but to be honest you don’t look that tired. You look... I don’t know...’
But Thea did. Her jaw tightened as she imagined what she must look like. Her hair would be rumpled, her dress creased, her make-up faded. She wished the library had a mirror for her to assess the damage. And maybe, a small part of her insisted, to see if she had that same glow, same radiance, that truly great sex with Zeke had always given her.
She kind of hoped not. She couldn’t imagine that was something any man would want to see on his fiancée’s face if he hadn’t put it there. Even someone as affable and not in love with her as Flynn.
‘I was on the terrace,’ Thea said. ‘With Zeke.’
‘But Helena said...’ Flynn’s face hardened. ‘Helena lied. What’s going on, Thea?’
‘I...I need to tell you some things.’ Pacing over to the reading area, Thea placed her hands on the back of one leather wingback chair, her fingernails pressing into the leather. ‘Perhaps you should sit.’
‘You too, then,’ Flynn said, motioning at her chair. When she hesitated, he added, ‘Come on, Thea, you look like you’re about to fall over.’
Thea slipped around and sat down, instantly regretting it as the stupid table lamp that gave only a glow to the rest of the room illuminated her completely. She could feel the light on her face and see the lamp opposite doing the same to Flynn’s as he took his seat. It felt as if she was sitting in an interrogation room, which really didn’t give her a good feeling about how the rest of this conversation was going to go.
‘So...’ Flynn said. ‘Talk.’
She should have asked for a drink. Should have stolen the rest of the champagne she’d left outside with Zeke. Should have stayed at her rehearsal dinner if she was going to rewrite the evening.
Instead she took a breath and searched her mind for where to begin.