“Oh, my God, Ava,” he said with a laugh. “You should have seen the looks on everyone’s faces as you traipsed down the hallway in that getup.”
Audrey frowned. What?
His laughter quieted, and he placed his hands on his hips, giving her the once-over. “I guarantee everyone was wondering just what you have on under that robe.” His gaze swept over her body, making her want to tighten the sash. If she was bolder, she’d treat him to a similar perusal, let her eyes linger on that broad, bare chest and the way the dark, curly hair thinned into a path that led right to his unbuttoned jeans….
She pulled her gaze from dangerous territory. “Uh, do you want me to leave?”
“Since you’re here, and you brought champagne, we might as well have a glass.” He took the bottle.
“You’re not mad at me?”
“God, no. I’ve never been happier.”
“O-kay.”
He crossed to the bar and pulled out two champagne flutes. He had a personal bar in his bedroom? Well, of course he did. Rich people could have whatever they wanted.
He motioned to a pair of French doors leading to a deck. “Let’s take this outside, shall we? We can celebrate.”
Damn. Damn, and double damn. Reluctantly, she followed him outside. A welcoming mountain breeze wrapped itself around her arms and bare legs.
Now she was stuck in Zach’s bedroom, wearing nothing but lingerie and high heels. And the champagne was flowing. You put a man, a woman, champagne, and skimpy lingerie together, and what did you get?
Deep doo-doo. She needed more of that champagne.
Zach handed her a glass of bubbly liquid, his fingers grazing hers. She met his penetrating gaze, and goosebumps rose on her skin. She wished she could read his mind. Did he think she was crazy, as she’d hoped? His gaze dropped to her mouth, and she stopped breathing. Did he want to kiss her? Should she let him if he tried?
No. Her mission to break up with him did not include throwing herself at him, no matter what her body desired.
“You’re shivering,” he said softly. “Want to go back inside?”
She shook her head and moved to the railing, draining half her glass of champagne, hoping to build her courage. Her head started to get that warm and fuzzy feeling it got when she’d had a bit much to drink. When Zach’s arm slid across her shoulders, she jumped.
“Sorry. You looked cold.” He pulled her tighter to his side, his body heat radiating into hers and warming her more than he’d probably intended.
He rubbed his hand up and down her arm, and Audrey swore his touch generated sparks on her skin. She shouldn’t enjoy standing so close like this. She shouldn’t enjoy the feel of his hard, half-naked body next to her near-nakedness. She should be embarrassed and mortified.
Instead, her body tingled with awareness and vitality, as if she’d just woken up from a fabulous dream.
She glanced sideways at his unbuttoned jeans, and wondered if he wore tighty-whiteys or boxers. Or maybe he preferred going commando. Whatever his preference, the bulge beneath his fly told her he was well-endowed. Her toes curled in the high-heeled mules. She wanted to beg him to please fasten that damn, distracting button.
He pulled away and held out his glass. “To us,” he said, grinning in the dim light.
She found herself holding out her drink in a toast. Her hands shook as she sipped the expensive liquid. The sweet bubbles burst inside her mouth, and some of it dribbled down her chin.
Zach reached out and swiped it away with his thumb. “I have the insane urge to kiss you right now,” he said, his voice deep and husky.
She blinked. “Maybe you’re insane.” Her whisper actually sounded throaty and sexy like the real Ava’s.
He chuckled, the sound dancing over her nerves like satin sheets against bare skin. “Maybe.” When he leaned toward her, she knew she should run, but only Charlie’s Angels could successfully run in high heels.
He grasped her jaw and kissed the corner of her mouth, his tongue flicking away the remainder of the champagne. He pulled back enough to peer into her eyes. “You shouldn’t have kissed me like that in the hallway,” he murmured.
“I-I shouldn’t have?” Audrey replied.
He shook his head, still holding her gaze. “Not unless you wanted me to kiss you again. Like this.” He dipped his head and captured her mouth, his tongue skimming along the seam of her lips until she opened to him.
His hand slid around her neck and pulled her closer. Her breasts crushed against his bare chest as he pinned her to the railing. A delicious throb pulsed between her legs, and she knew she should stop this before she got into more trouble. But never had she wanted a moment as much as right now. Excitement and anticipation hummed through her veins.
“God, Ava,” he muttered as he moved from her mouth to her neck. He pushed aside the collar of the flimsy robe to nibble the area where her neck and shoulder met. A tingle shot from there all the way down to her toes. “This is insane.”
“I warned you,” she said, her neck arching back as he dipped his tongue into the hollow of her throat.
She, Audrey Thompson, was kissing Zachary Banister. No, not just kissing, but making out with him with the same amount of abandon and passion as the teenagers she caught necking by their lockers at school. And from the hard ridge pressing against her hip, he got off on it as much as she.
“There’s something you haven’t told me.” His voice vibrated against her neck. “Something I really need to know.”
She stiffened and pulled away. “What?” She couldn’t meet his eyes.
“What are you wearing under that robe?”
Her heart fluttered. “That’s for me to know…” What was she saying?
“Is that an invitation?”
“You’re the famous playboy. You figure it out.”
His throaty chuckle skimmed over her nerve endings as he backed up a step. The cool breeze that swept across her body quenched her internal fire about as well as dropping an ice cube into a pot of boiling water. He reached for her champagne flute, then set both glasses on a small table beside a chaise lounge. He grasped the sash holding her robe together, rubbing the silky material between his fingers, all the while staring into her eyes.
He tugged, and the filmy fabric parted, revealing her nearly-naked body. She returned his smile despite the good-girl warning bells in her head, too hot to feel anything other than his searing attention.
“Ah,” he said. “Black lace.”
Her body throbbed in all her intimate places, screaming for his touch even though she knew it was wrong. She should be embarrassed. She barely knew him. Yet her body and mind ached for his next touch.
She didn’t have to wait long before his fingers skimmed the valley between her breasts, then slowly down to her belly button. When he glided a finger between the band of her panties and her bare skin, she closed her eyes.
“Look at me, dollface,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. His blue eyes deepened to midnight as he peered down at her. Audrey’s legs trembled. He pulled her onto the settee with him, straddling his thighs. The muscles of his belly rippled as he positioned her over his zipper. He slid his hands around her hips, moving her this way and that until the ridge of his erection beneath the straining denim aligned with her sensitive core. She gasped, and dug her fingers into his shoulders.
“Feel good?” he said.
“Mm, yes,” she moaned.
He slipped his hands beneath the leg openings of her panties to cup her behind, then pulled her tighter against him. “Come on, baby,” he coaxed, his voice throaty.
Her lace panties dampened, and he hadn’t even touched her. Her sex ached with pent-up need.
Should she be brazen and bold? Or predictable and humdrum?
She closed her eyes, fighting the two sides of her personality. When he licked the swell of her breast, her body jerked. His fingers dug into the fleshy part of her bottom, holding her in place and rocking her oh-so-gently against h
is groin. Her skin burned hot beneath his touch. Sweet sensations radiated from her center, urging her to cross over to the dark side.
She braced her hands on the back of the chair, her arms on either side of his head. Her fingers curled around the top edge of the seat. “I need-” she panted.
“I know you do, baby.”
Her knees squeezed his hips as she grazed her sex across the rough denim beneath her. Passion curled her toes. She began moving against him, aware he watched her through heavy lids.
“Come for me.” He kissed her arm.
“Yes,” she whimpered. When he nipped the tender skin above her breast, the dam burst. Her neck arched, and she cried out in release. Her fingers vise-gripped the chair as the shudders wracked her body. She collapsed onto his chest, and his arms wrapped around her.
“Good?” he asked, skimming his hands up and down her back through the satin robe.
“Mm, yes.”
He shifted and pulled her sideways into his lap. He angled his head for a kiss, then paused. “What’s this?”
She followed the downward direction of his gaze, thinking for a moment he was being a jokester again, that he referred to the evidence of his obvious arousal. What she saw resting in his upturned palm pulled the plug on her afterglow.
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “That’s my boob.”
Chapter Four
Audrey didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Dropping a fake boob in Zach’s hand after what had just happened between them ranked in the top five most embarrassing moments of her life. Maybe even top two.
A sign, if ever there was one.
Grabbing the rubbery orb, she said, “I think I’ll go now.” She avoided his gaze as she climbed off his lap, wishing she could click her heels together three times and disappear.
His hand on her wrist stopped her. “What’s going on here?”
“I bought the gel breast enhancers instead of the gel bra. The clerk at the lingerie store told me it was the wrong choice, but I didn’t listen.” She forced herself to look at him, to push all her mortification aside for the moment. “Zachary, I’m sorry. I should have told you the truth before…before we, um…” She curled her fingers around the fake breast, amazed how lifelike it felt in her hands.
Alcohol and orgasm fuzzed her head. Her limbs tingled with warmth. This ridiculous charade was finally over. She could go home now.
“Why would I care that you had your implants removed, Ava?”
Champagne bubbles burst in her throat and stomach, and she willed herself not to burp. Ava. He still thought she was Ava. The churning in her stomach had to be from guilt, not relief. “I, ah, well, I just thought…”
“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said.
She forced a weak smile, and reached for the champagne. “Want more?” When he shook his head, she downed it straight from the bottle in one big gulp.
She set the bottle down and turned away, then pulled the lapels of her robe together. Her fingers fumbled at the sash, and she couldn’t get it to tie. She said a few choice words under her breath.
“Ava.” She heard Zach rise from the settee, then he grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. He pushed her hands aside, and tied the sash for her. “You okay?”
“Fine. Embarrassed, mortified and humiliated, too. But fine. Peachy. Dandy.” She burped. “Jim Dandy.”
“I think you’ve had enough to drink. We both know how you react to too much champagne.”
How would he know how she acted with too much champagne? Oh. Ava. Duh.
“I think it’s great you had them removed, although I’m surprised.”
Think fast, Audrey commanded herself. “I, uh, had some problems with them.” What would happen when he next saw Ava…the real Ava? With real fake boobs? She’d let Ava deal with that. Not her problem.
His bare pecs flexed as he raked his fingers through his thick black hair and stared past the railing into the darkness of Sun Valley and Ketchum. “What just happened here?” he asked.
Did he really have to rub it in? “I think it’s obvious, don’t you?”
“Actually, I don’t think it’s obvious at all.”
“My boob fell out. What else is there to say?”
His booming laughter startled her. “When did you get so funny?”
“I can’t say I’m finding the humor in any of this.” But she couldn’t help the smile that tugged on her mouth.
“I wasn’t talking about your, ah-” He motioned to the gel-filled breast in her hand. She shoved it behind her back. “I meant what just happened between us.”
She blinked. “Oh. That.” She cleared her throat. “Um, what about it?”
“You’ve never acted like that with me before.”
Audrey had never acted like that with anyone before. But he referred to Ava, of course. Disappointment sliced through her. “I haven’t?”
He shook his head, not breaking her gaze. “No, you haven’t.”
“Well, that’s because…” Because what, Audrey? She lifted her chin. Her brain was somewhere behind all that booze. “That’s because you’ve never acted like that with me before.”
His eyes narrowed. “True,” he said.
His words sank in. A thrilling little buzz hummed in the pit of her stomach that had nothing to do with the champagne. He’d never kissed Ava like he just kissed her.
But he was in love with Ava. Wasn’t he? Warning bells warred with celebration in her head. Oh, crap. She’d listened to her raging hormones rather than her common sense, and she’d blown it.
She moaned and pressed her palms to her temples. None of this made any sense. And none of it mattered. She’d forgotten her whole purpose for being here. She chanced a look through the French doors to the giant bed, and her legs started to quiver. She needed to get out of here, pronto.
She grasped the railing for balance, and tried to sift through the fuzziness in her head. She would just have to tell the truth. “I need to throw up,” she said.
Zach rushed to her side and grabbed her elbow, leading her inside toward his private bathroom.
She yanked her arm from his grip, and stumbled toward the hall door with legs that would have embarrassed Gumby. “No, I’ll just go back to my room and sleep it off. And throw up. Not necessarily in that order.”
*****
The next morning, Zach sat alone in the dining room, nursing his second cup of strong coffee. He glanced at the grandfather clock at the opposite end of the table for the third time in as many minutes. Maybe he should go check on Ava.
He shifted in his chair, not quite ready to see her. His and Ava’s relationship had always been superficial, their kissing nothing more than a pleasant pastime. Since hiring her as his lead flight attendant, he’d never looked twice at her. But last night on the balcony… Wow. She’d been amazing. Even now, just thinking about it, his body tightened. Being attracted to her sure would make this whole charade more believable. It could also complicate matters. He pressed his lips together.
The rest of his family milled into the room, giving him the evil eye.
“Nice ruckus last night, brother,” Theresa said, sitting across from him. “Do you think your girlfriend could possibly have made any more noise?”
“Yes, actually. I’m quite certain she could have,” he said, his good humor returning.
Theresa leaned toward him and whispered, “I know what you’re doing. They’ll never buy it.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
Theresa studied him. “This is about Rachel, isn’t it? You’re still ticked off at what they did to you.”
Hearing Rachel’s name used to feel like a fist in the gut. Now, it was more like a knife in the back. And his parents had helped her turn the blade. “Don’t read anything more into this than the obvious.”
She leaned back in her chair. “You’ve never been able to lie to me, baby bro.”
His mother took the seat beside him, and righted the fine china cup so Stoudt could pour h
er coffee. Staying with his family was like being at a luxury hotel, with every need anticipated. He liked taking care of himself, doing things his own way.
He glanced at his mom as she sipped her coffee. She loved him, and wanted what was best for him. Both his parents did. But sometimes they were overzealous in their attempts to control his life. Sometimes, they got parenthood and business confused. Rachel’s beautiful face popped into his mind, and he frowned.
His mom touched his forearm, and cleared her throat in a way that warned him he was about to be reprimanded. “You might want to remind Ms. Divine that some of us need our beauty sleep, and that we’d appreciate it if she observed the family’s bedtime.”
Theresa stared at her lap, hiding a grin. He held back his own smile. “Absolutely. I’ll be sure to tell her.”
“Where is your, ah, fiancée, anyway?” asked Garrett, shaking out the linen napkin and spreading it onto his lap. The word ‘fiancée’ seemed to stick in his throat.
Zach didn’t hold back the smile this time. “She had a bit much to drink last night and-”
The double doors leading from the foyer slammed open. Everyone jerked in their seats and turned toward the sound.
Zach almost spit his coffee onto the tablecloth. Ava stood in the doorway, her eyes shaded with black cat-eye glasses, and her body squeezed into skintight white capris and a red leather bustier.
“Oh, God,” she muttered, leaning against the doorframe as if it would offer her support. “I need a drink.”
His mom straightened primly. “It’s barely nine in the morning, Ms. Divine.”
Ava nudged the glasses down her straight nose and peered at the clock. “Oh, right. I need two drinks, then.”
Zach burst out laughing, then hid the gaffe with a not-so-subtle coughing fit. His mother patted him on the back as if he were still just a kid. From behind him, Stoudt coughed, too. No way could the Banister butler, the epitome of decorum and respect, be hiding laughter.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Divine, but the bar doesn’t open until noon here.” Garrett’s voice dripped with derision.
Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom Page 126