Twice Tempted (Holland Springs)

by Marquita Valentine

  “Are you out of your damn mind?”

  “You really know how to start a conversation, Luke,” Zoe said.

  “What I know is how not to beat around the bush. Every time I get online, there you are with Romanov.”

  “Maybe you should stay off the internet.” She winced. Antagonizing Luke was akin to waving a red flag in a bull’s face.

  He made an indescribable noise. “So it’s true.”

  She sat up and looked around the room, searching for inspiration on how to get her brother out of her now public personal life. A copy of today’s paper lay in the closest chair. She focused on the front page picture of a Wall Street executive pictured with a blue collar worker. “It’s truly a publicity stunt. I’m hanging out with him as a favor to Aunt M.” Okay, so part of that was true.

  “You expect me to believe that?” he asked, his tone incredulous.

  The phone beeped. She glanced at it and let out a sigh of relief. “Gotta go. Melanie’s calling.”

  “Hold—”

  She pressed talk again. “Oh, thank God, it’s you.”

  “Still me,” her brother said.

  “Holy crap!" She ended the call and scrolled through her contact list to find Melanie’s number. She touched the screen as soon as her best friend’s picture showed up.

  “Oh my God, that man is hot,” Melanie said when she answered. “I must have details. Is he a good kisser? Who am I kidding? Of course he’s a good kisser. How’s he in bed? You don’t have to tell me. Just press one if he rocked your world.”

  “Sorry to burst your erotic bubble, but it’s only a publicity stunt,” Zoe repeated the words, but hearing herself saying them again actually hurt this time.

  “Damn. I had hoped—”

  “What? Someone like Ian Romanov would date me? Please,” Zoe said, ending with a little laugh. It was either that or cry a river of tears.

  The line was silent for a moment. “If you need someone to talk to, I’m here for you.”

  Zoe smiled. “I know, but I’m okay. Seriously.” She traced a pattern on the comforter, then hiked her knees to her chest. “Do me a favor. Tell everyone I’m fine and to not believe anything they read or see.”

  “Whatever you need, Z.”

  After a few more stilted lines of conversation, she finally ended the call and dropped her phone. She wrapped her arms around her legs and placed her chin on her kneecaps.

  Tomorrow she would have fun. Brennen seemed like the kind of guy who knew how to do that. And she wouldn’t think of Christian at all, she swore silently. Not one bit.

  Never again.

  ***

  She froze, unable to believe her eyes.

  Christian lounged against a silver sports car that somehow he’d gotten permission to park on the tarmac. The man looked like sex on a stick. All broad shouldered and lean hipped. His retro aviators and tailored clothes did nothing to help her focus. Why did the man have to look good in everything? And don’t get her started on his hair. Or cheekbones. Or lips. The list could go on and on.

  “I thought Brennen was supposed to be here.” The wind whipped at her pony tail, smacking her in the mouth and sticking to her lip gloss. Great.

  “He’s got arachnophobia,” Christian said, his lips twitching.

  “Does he know something I don’t?” She felt the blood drain from her face. They were in the desert and spiders could be the size of dinner plates. Or at least in her mind they could be.

  He tore away his sunglasses and took a step toward her. “I didn’t mean to get you all worked up. There aren’t any spiders where we’re going. Promise.”

  Before she could breathe easier, the pilot spoke up. “The tarantulas that like to hide under the seats in the ‘copter just hiss at you when they get angry. I haven’t had one bite a customer yet.”

  Her eyes rounded and she looked for Christian for support. “I-I,” she stammered.

  “Need saving?” Christian whispered as the pilot went over his checklist.

  The clipboard in his hand clattered to the ground. “I picked a bad day to stop drinking.”

  Zoe’s heart stuttered in response. “Please, my ride’s gone back to the hotel,” she whispered back, not caring that her rescuer was also her tormentor.

  Christian flashed a smile, his teeth white and even in the bright sun. “We’ll have to get a rain check, Charlie. The lady’s not feeling so well.”

  “Thank you, Jesus.” Charlie gave them a small salute and pulled out a silver flask, drank deeply and weaved away.

  Christian made it to the car before her, opening the passenger side door and waiting for her to slide in before he shut the door. He joined her a few seconds later, buckling his seatbelt and starting the engine.

  “Like my car?”

  “It’s nice.” And probably cost more than the renovations had on her house.

  “It’s a rental.”

  “Of course it is.”

  Glancing at her, he grinned. “Admit it: you thought it was mine.” He drove the car between non-existent gates, turning onto Airport Road.

  She bit the side of her lip. “Okay, so I thought it was yours.”

  “I have a nearly identical one in L.A.”

  “You better be glad I don’t have a pillow handy.”

  He laughed and shifted gears.

  As the sports car purred down the winding road, she looked at Christian out of the corner of her eye. He kept his hands at ten and two, only moving them to shift or find a playlist on his iPod.

  “You can take me back to the hotel.” She tapped her fingers against her thigh. “I have work to do anyway.”

  “Not happening. I’ve got you all to myself and I plan to take advantage of it,” he said, “Besides, you owe me.”

  Panic assailed her, turning her body hot then cold. Had he found out? “For what?”

  “Saving your ass from Charlie, the almost sober pilot.” Tension left her in one big breath of air.

  “I say it makes us even.”

  He glanced at her, then back at the road. “How’s your sunburn?”

  “Much better. I spent the better part of yesterday at the spa.” She ran her hands up and down her arms as goose bumps appeared. “Those ladies are miracle workers.”

  “Would you like me to turn off the a/c?”

  She looked out of the window, not actually seeing anything. “Thanks, I get cold easily.”

  “Zoe, love?”

  The car slowed to a stop and she turned to face him. “What?”

  His eyes met hers. He leaned close, his mouth dangerously close to hers. “You’re a terrible liar.”

  “Am not,” she protested, dragging in copious amounts of air in order not to pass out from his nearness. The soft brush of his lips had her gripping the leather seat to keep from touching him.

  “Right or left?” His lips brushed hers again and he had to repeat the question before she could respond.

  “Um… left.” Her eyes closed but nothing happened. She cracked open a lid to find him staring at her.

  “I can’t drive with you blocking my view of the road.”

  “Sorry.” She threw herself back so hard that the side of her head hit the door. “Ow!” Rubbing the sore spot, she refused to look at him as the car picked up speed.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Fine.” She grabbed her purse, digging through it find her cell. “Crap.”

  “Something wrong?”

  “I left my phone in my room at the hotel.”

  “Guess you’re entirely at my mercy.”

  She groaned. Why did he have to make it sound so appealing?

  Chapter Thirteen

  The day was perfect for driving: Sunny, warm and not a cloud in sight.

  As for his road trip companion, she looked less than thrilled at the thought of being with him. Lips shiny from gloss tempted him to stop the car and spend the next few hours kissing her, but he was going to do the right thing this time.

  No matter how much
it killed him.

  He pulled the car off onto the curb, put it park and turned to face her. “I would like to apologize for my behavior on the plane. Not for what happened between us in bed but the aftermath. I had no right to pry into your past relationships,” Christian began, smiling slightly when she hmphed. “From now on we’ll do things on your terms. Whatever you want out of this relationship, you’ll get.” She gave him a skeptical look. “Please, Zoe. Let’s keep getting to know one another. Ask me anything you want, and I’ll answer you truthfully.”

  “What’s in those pictures?”

  He should have known she’d ask something like this, but in all honesty it would be a relief to get it off his chest and for some reason he thought he could trust her. However, this wasn’t something he could sit here and tell her. He put the car back in gear and eased back on the road.

  “Me committing about a dozen crimes, but the time/date stamp has been photoshopped.”

  “So they’re fakes?”

  “Not exactly.

  “Why don’t you release them yourself, prove what really happened and then move on?”

  “Any other time, I’d agree with you, but there’s more at stake than my career. There’s this organization that has taken a chance on me, staked their reputation on my word that I’ve changed. It’s called Back To School or B.T.S. for short. They help kids get back on the right track.” He changed lanes and blew past a silver minivan. “I’m supposed to start doing PSA’s for them in the fall, but if this gets out—not only will I look bad, they will look worse.”

  “What made you do something illegal in the first place?”

  She sounded a like a journalist asking him these questions, but it felt good to confess his sins to her. “Got in with the wrong crowd, tried to be a badass. Whatever my brother did that pleased my father, I made certain to do the exact opposite. Eventually it caught up with me when I decided to join the real thing.”

  “What happened?”

  He flicked his eyes in her direction. There was no sign of judgment on her face. Yet. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I’ll give you the highlights. There was this guy, Giles, and he never liked me. He was always trying to pick a fight or just fu— er, mess with me. Usually, I shrugged it off, but that night it was my birthday and not one person in my family called. Not one. ” His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. His jaw tightened and he had to breathe in a couple of times before he was able to speak again. “Can’t actually blame them since I was a complete ass to be around.”

  “They still should have called,” she said, her voice so firm that it felt like she was on his side.

  “Thanks, sweetheart.” He opened the moon roof with the press of a button. “So this piece of work is calling me out. Telling me I’m just playing at being like them. That I didn’t belong. Of course by this time, I’m pissed – drunk—and tired of putting up with him. I wanted to prove him wrong. So, it made complete sense to snort half of Columbia up my nose and off of some rather unusual surfaces. If it hadn’t been for Sasha, my cousin, getting me out of there, I don’t know what would have happened.”

  “Oh.”

  That was it? He glanced at her again. There was a furrow between her brows and her teeth nibbled on her bottom lip.

  “I warned you about the whole answering truthfully thing.” Wind blew into the interior, whipping her ponytail around and obscuring her face. “Look, I get it that a woman from your background doesn’t want to be with someone like me. My past isn’t –”

  She laced her fingers through his and squeezed. His heart tripled its beats at the small gesture.

  “We all make mistakes. And you can trust me to keep all your secrets.” She placed his hand back on his thigh, but he wouldn’t let go when she tried to pull away.

  Desire and comfort warred with each other. He really should take her back to the hotel. It wasn’t fair to foist the consequences of his bad decisions on her. She’d already done her part to make him look good.

  With a heavy sigh, he did a U-turn on the mostly empty interstate.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. “I thought we were going to spend the day together.”

  “After what happened on the plane and what I’ve admitted?”

  “My turn to be truthful.” She shifted in her seat, facing him. “I want to spend the day with you.”

  A grin found its way to his face and he couldn’t stop smiling. It was as if the albatross hanging from his neck had been cut loose by her kiss and words. After pulling off his earpiece, he turned the car around and handed her his phone. “How about you turn off my phone and chunk it in the backseat. Today, it’s just Christian and Zoe, two people who are visiting the town of, ” He scanned the road sign, reading the list of upcoming town exits, “Coyote Hallow.”

  “Oh my God.”

  He checked his side mirror, eyes widening in disbelief as his phone crashed to the asphalt. “What the—”

  “I’m so sorry. I overdid it and your phone went through the moon roof,” she said as he braked hard and reached for his seatbelt. “I’ll pay for a new one, with an indestructible cover.”

  “Don’t worry. It might have survived.”

  A semi in the opposite lane barreled by, decimating it.

  “ I don’t think it survived,” she said, her voice thin.

  He blinked a couple of times, then got out to collect the remains.

  There were tears in her eyes when he returned with the carcass of his phone. The sound of ‘Angry Birds’ gave one last hurrah and he chuckled. Then full blown laughter came rushing out. She stared at him like he’d just lost his mind.

  “What the hell? Now, we’re really free,” he said.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Coyote Hallow was a one of everything town. One beauty shop, one general store, one police station, one diner and one gas station/taxidermy shop with the motto: ‘We stuff while you pump. Roadkill welcome’. All crammed on one street.

  Christian parked near the diner, then rushed over to open the door for Zoe.

  She gave him a grin and her hand as he helped her out. “Thank you kind sir.”

  “The lady is most welcome.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to whisper in her ear, “Tell me when I get too handsy. Wouldn’t want to break the boundaries you’ve set.”

  She pushed him away, but grabbed his hand in her familiar fashion of interlacing her fingers through his. “The lady is very hungry.”

  Heads swiveled as they entered the restaurant, but for once Zoe seemed unfazed by it all and headed over to the nearest booth.

  “Customer service,” someone yelled as they sat across from each other.

  He plucked a menu from behind a mini-jukebox and handed it to her before snagging another.

  A gum-smacking waitress with big hair meandered over to their booth. “What can I get ya?” Her gum snapped, crackled and popped like the cereal.

  Nodding at Zoe, he said, “Go on, love.”

  “I’ll have a cheeseburger, well-done, fries and a chocolate shake. Hold the pickles, onions and tomatoes and can I have mayo?”

  “Black cow, frog legs, hockey puck and walk it,” the waitress shouted, then raised her brows at him. “What about you, sweet cheeks?”

  He perused the menu while the waitress, whose name tag proclaimed her to be Betty, waited with one hand on her hip. She was wearing orthopedic shoes and had fluffy pink hair that reminded him of cotton candy.

  Zoe looked under her brows at him and covered her mouth.

  “Make it two. No lettuce.”

  Betty shouted out another slew of diner lingo and walked away without another word. The noise level in the diner returned to normal.

  “You’ll get used to it,” he said.

  “Get used to what, sweet cheeks?” Her eyebrows wiggled.

  “Very funny.” He tapped her on the nose. “People staring when we walked in.”

  She drew back and scooped up their menus, dropping the
m into place behind the mini-juke box. “They’re not staring at us because of who you are.”

  “How do you know?”

  “That’s what people in a small town do. They stare at people who are new in town. Heck, I’ve done it.”

  He stretched his arms along the back of the booth, wishing he’d sat on the same side as her, but it was easier this way. Easier to keep his hands to himself. Tapping her nose didn’t count. Her eyes met his and she gave him a sweet smile.

  His heart stopped. Her lips moved, but he couldn’t make out the words.

  “What?” he asked, snapping out of his daze.

  “Why don’t you get along with Sebastian?” she repeated.

  Betty brought their food to the table. Zoe grabbed a couple of fries while he gulped down a good portion of his shake.

  “You kids enjoy.” Their waitress didn’t wait to see if they needed anything else and shuffled off, her cotton candy hair barely moving.

  Setting his milkshake down, he titled his head and shook it, waiting for his brain freeze to thaw before he answered. “Because he’s the serious one, the golden child, etcetera,” Christian said, “I don’t think I’ve had a polite conversation with him beyond ‘hello’ and ‘nice to see you’ in years.”

  “To sum it up: Christian, bad. Sebastian, good,” he said. “Who’s your favorite sibling?”

  She finished chewing the bite of her cheeseburger. “They’re all my favorites.”

  “Liar.”

  Smiling she took another bite of her burger. A small dab of ketchup accented the corner of her mouth.

  “You’ve got something right here.” He swiped a finger at the corner of his.

  After watching her attempt to wipe it off and somehow missing it, he leaned over and wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. She turned at the last second and kissed it.

  “Thank you,” she murmured before her pink tongue licked at her full lips.

  His gut clenched in response. “Anytime. Speaking of time, can’t you extend your stay?” There. He’d put it out in the open. “Or you could come out to LA and stay…with me. I’ve got plenty of room.”