“Did you laugh in his face?”
She smiled. “I was a bit more diplomatic than that. I told him we might consider a percentage deal instead.”
“And?”
“And,” she said with a little sigh, “he said he’d think about it.”
Zach picked up his coffee cup. “Maybe it’s time to consider some other actor for the part.”
“Not yet. We’ve still got some time left. Actually, I think I might be better off if I bypass Dex’s agent and go straight to Dex himself.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like the guy, Eve. I’d just as soon you kept away from him.”
“I don’t like him, either.” She looked across the table and into Zach’s eyes. “You know that. But liking Dex or disliking him has nothing to do with knowing he’s right for this part.”
Zach’s jaw tightened. “Dealing with Dex instead of his agent is just trading one jerk for another.”
Eve laughed. “You’re right—but it’s worth a shot.”
Zach nodded. She was right. His feelings about Dex were his own problem. Eve was producing this film, and signing actors was her business.
“Sure,” he said. He even managed to smile. “Just keep me posted.”
* * *
By Thursday, Eve had spoken with Dex on the phone several times but he still hadn’t come around. In desperation, she agreed to meet him for lunch.
She arrived at the restaurant prepared for anything and found—to her relief—that Dex had turned over a new leaf.
He was charming and witty, and that was all. There were no hands moving under the table, no offers of the good time they could have if they met somewhere more private.
But there was one moment at the end of the meal…
Dex suddenly leaned over the table. “Do you seriously think I’d do this movie without some personal concessions from you, Evie?” he said softly.
Eve, who was signing their check, looked up. There was something in his voice that made the hair rise on the back of her neck. But Dex was smiling pleasantly, his expression open and easy, and she knew she was being ridiculous.
Dex was talking about business concessions, nothing more.
“We’re prepared to offer you a percentage above the line, Dex,” she said with a cheerful smile. “I think that’s enough.”
Dex laughed. “It’s a concession, Evie. But hardly enough.”
There it was, that same undertone.
“Okay,” he said.
Eve blinked. “Okay?”
Dex grinned. “Well, I’ll at least consider the offer.”
The next day—Friday—Dex telephoned. He told Eve he’d thought things over and decided she might be right. Maybe it was time he took a chance on something different.
“Let’s talk about it tonight, at dinner.”
Eve hesitated, but what choice was there? This was Friday, and she was running out of time.
“All right,” she said, trying not to sound as reluctant as she felt. “No, don’t pick me up. I’ll meet you at Spago’s, at eight.”
“Meet who at eight?” Zach said, as he came walking into the office.
“Zach,” Eve said happily. She rose to her feet as he shut the door. “How’d your meeting go?”
“Terrific.” He put his arms around her. “But I missed you.”
“Emma’s right outside,” Eve whispered, but she settled into his arms.
He grinned. “Emma’s not a dope. She sees the way I look at you. Now, tell me who we’re meeting for dinner tonight—and why. I planned on having you to myself.”
“I know. But…” She hesitated. It was foolish, but she felt as if Zach had caught her doing something she shouldn’t have been. “Not us,” she said. “Just me. I’m having dinner with Dex. I think he’s come around.”
Zach frowned. He let go of her and walked to his desk.
“Good,” he said brusquely. “Tell him to have his agent give me a call.”
“I said, I think he’s come around, Zach. I’ll know more after I’ve met with him tonight.”
Zach yanked off his jacket, loosened his tie and sat down behind his desk. He pulled a stack of papers toward him and began leafing through them.
“I don’t understand this town,” he said tightly. “Why have offices if meetings always take place in restaurants?”
“Come on,” she said gently. “You’ve told me yourself you do half your business on golf courses or playing racquetball.”
He bent over a letter, pretending he was reading it, wishing he could deny what she’d said—but he couldn’t. Almost any kind of business conversation went better outside the stuffy confines of an office. Hadn’t he just talked Triad’s way into a couple of million bucks worth of loans after a fast game of tennis?
He looked up. “You’re right.” Rising, he came around the desk and took her in his arms. “But the thought of you having dinner with that jerk…” He shook his head. “I’m irritable as a bear, sweetheart. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve missed you this week.”
“I’ve been right here all the time,” she said with a little smile.
“Don’t joke about it. I’m going crazy, Eve. I think this has been the longest week of my life.”
A flush rose in her cheeks. She didn’t have to ask what he meant. She felt the same frustration. They had not made love since they’d left the cabin.
Zach had asked her to come to his hotel, but the thought of walking past the reception desk to the bank of elevators had been daunting. He’d offered to come to her apartment, but Eve had pictured the nosy Mrs. Harmon watching through the spy hole as he arrived.
In the end, they’d made do with dinner. With walks on the beach. With going to a new, much-heralded movie. But it wasn’t enough, not anywhere near enough.
“Eve.” Zach took her face in his hands. “Let’s go away for the weekend. Acapulco, maybe. Or San Francisco. I know a little hotel just off Russian Hill that you’ll love.”
She thought of everything there was to do this weekend, the appointment she’d made with the still photographer, the Sunday brunch she’d set with the actress who was to star in Hollywood Wedding.
She thought of all that, smiled and said, “Yes.”
Zach let out his breath. For a moment there, he’d half expected her to turn him down. But that was impossible. She wanted to be alone with him as much as he wanted to be alone with her, and his arms tightened around her as he thought of what the weekend would be like.
“Will you pick me up early Saturday morning?”
He grinned. “I’ll do better than that. We’ll leave this afternoon, right after work. How’s that?”
“Perfect. All I need is an hour to pack, and…” Eve’s face fell. “Oh, Zach. I’ve got that dinner appointment. With Dex.”
She saw the smile fade from his face.
“Dammit,” he growled. “The hell with him. Break the appointment.”
“No, I can’t. I told you——”
“I know what you told me. And I’m telling you, the hell with Burton. Call him up, tell him to either agree to our deal or forget about it.”
“Zach, please——”
“He’s hitting on you, isn’t he?”
Her eyes flew to Zach’s face. It was as harsh and unyielding as his voice.
“Come on, Eve, I’m not a fool. The first time I met Burton, you told me you thought he was a creep. I know the reason. He’s been trying to get you into bed.”
Eve flushed. “Maybe, in the past. But that’s all done with. I told you, he sees the potential in Hollywood Wedding. And——”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I’m a big girl, Zach. I can take care of myself.” She put her hand on his arm. The tension in it almost thrummed beneath her fingers. “It was just a game he plays, and now it’s over.”
“In that case, have dinner with him.” His eyes met hers. “But I’m coming along.”
“Zach, don’t be ridiculous. I don’t need protection.
”
His smile was wolflike. “Humor me. If he’s serious about this part, he won’t mind my presence.”
Dex was serious now, Eve was sure of it. Still, she had the feeling that bringing the two men together would be like trying to mix oil and water.
“Eve?”
She looked at Zach. He was smiling pleasantly, but she could sense the tension still smoldering in him, and she knew what she had to do.
The movie was important—but nothing could ever be as important as Zach.
She sighed and put her arms around his neck. “Whatever you say,” she whispered.
Zach felt the tension ease from him as his arms went around her and he kissed her. It was a long, sweet kiss, filled with promise and tenderness, and when it ended, he knew it was time to admit the truth, to himself and to Eve.
He was head over heels in love.
* * *
This was going to be one heck of a weekend, Zach thought as he pulled the Porsche to the curb outside Eve’s apartment that evening. Oh, yeah, it was going to be a winner.
He smiled as he got out of the car and trotted up the steps to the door.
I love you, Eve, he would say, in the tiny, romantic garden of the hotel in San Francisco. I love you—and I want to marry you.
God, he could hardly believe it. His heart surged into his throat as he rang the doorbell. He had never imagined himself falling in love again. Marrying again…
The door opened. Eve stood there, smiling, a vision of perfection in a short black dress, and Zach knew that he was kidding himself.
He had never been in love before, not really. And he’d never been married, either, not the way he would be, once he married Eve.
She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman and never thought he’d find. A friend. A partner. A lover.
“Zach?” Eve gave him a searching look. “What is it? You look so strange.”
He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her. Better still, he wanted to drop to one knee and make the most old-fashioned marriage proposal a man had made since Romeo proposed to Juliet.
But not with Mrs. Harmon’s eye behind the spy hole in the door. Not with Dex Burton waiting in the wings.
No. This had to be just right. Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow…
“I was just wondering if I’d ever seen a more beautiful sight than you,” he said. Eve smiled, and he put his arm around her and led her down the steps. “Good night, Mrs. Harmon,” he called, waving a hand high in the air.
Eve looked at his laughing face. She laughed, too, and leaned into his shoulder.
Maybe the night wasn’t going to be so difficult, after all.
* * *
Dex was a study in sophistication. If he was surprised to find Zach with Eve, he didn’t show it.
“Both principals from Triad,” he said. “I’m flattered.”
“Eve and I are a team,” Zach said with a polite smile.
But the arm he slid around Eve’s waist, the way he held her against his side, said something more.
Eve saw Dex’s eyebrows raise, and she stiffened. This was precisely the kind of thing she’d told Zach she wanted to avoid.
But why? She loved this man, and she was beginning to dare think he might love her, too. Her heart filled with joy at the thought. She’d been wrong, wanting to hide their relationship.
“Yes,” she said, smiling at Dex, “Zach’s right. We are.”
“How nice for you both,” Dex said pleasantly, and they settled in at the table.
The evening went well, but even after dessert and coffee, Dex still hadn’t committed to the role.
“I know what you’re saying, Eve. I understand this part would give me the chance to test my mettle.” He sighed. “But I’m just not fully convinced.”
Zach leaned forward. “What more can we offer you, Burton? Eve’s outlined an excellent package. If the film does well—and we’re convinced it will—you’ll not only reap terrific publicity, you’ll make a fortune.”
Dex nodded. “I know. But, as I say, I’m not yet completely convinced.”
He looked at Eve and smiled, and as he did, she felt his hand on her leg.
She froze, jerked back and shot a quick glance at Zach, but he was frowning into his coffee cup. He’d had enough of Dex’s posturing, she knew, and that was a damned good thing, because all she wanted right now was to get out of here.
The slimy bastard! He hadn’t finished his ugly little game yet. She could only imagine that it must give him a perverse kind of excitement, thinking he could play it in front of Zach when he knew she and Zach were lovers.
He was wrong. Dead wrong, Eve thought coldly. She would find a way to make Triad succeed without Burton, and even if it didn’t, Hollywood Wedding was only a movie.
Zach—Zach was everything.
She shoved back her chair. “Zach,” she said, “it’s late.”
Zach looked up. “Yes.” There was surprise in his eyes, and then relief. He smiled at her as he signaled to their waiter. “It is.”
“It’s not late,” Dex said, still smiling. “It’s the shank of the evening.”
“I don’t think so,” Eve said coolly, and stood up. “Goodbye, Dex.”
Zach caught up to her as she stepped out of the restaurant.
“Hey.” He turned her toward him. “Eve?” His smile was puzzled. “What happened back there?”
“Nothing much. I just decided that you were right. Dex is not only a fool, he’s a sneaky little leech, as well. The one thing he isn’t is the only actor in Hollywood.”
Zach put his arm around her as the parking attendant hurried off to get the Porsche from the lot.
“Did I upset you? Letting him know you and I were…that we’re involved. I didn’t plan it, it just seemed to happen.”
“I’m glad it did. I was wrong about keeping us a secret.” She looked at him. “I did have reasons, Zach. And—and it’s time to tell you what they are.”
Zach put a finger beneath her chin, tilted her face up and kissed her gently.
“Not tonight,” he said huskily. “Tomorrow, darling. When we reach San Francisco. I have something to tell you then, too.” A faint smile curved across his lips. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m not even going to ask you to come back to my hotel with me tonight.” His smile faded. “Just tell me this. If I’d asked, would you have come?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “But this is better. I can go home and make myself beautiful for you tomorrow.”
Zach smiled. “You couldn’t be more beautiful than you already are.”
The attendant drove up in the Porsche. Zach handed the boy a tip that made his eyes bulge, and he and Eve got into the car.
Once they’d pulled out into traffic, he reached across the shift lever and took her hand in his.
Had there really been a time he had distrusted this woman? He almost laughed.
If the answer was yes, it must have been in another lifetime.
CHAPTER TEN
EVE locked the door to her apartment and leaned against it, smiling.
In all her life, she had never been this happy.
Zach had walked her to the door, taken her in his arms and given her a kiss filled with promise. When it ended, he’d framed her face in his hands.
“Eve,” he’d whispered, “my beautiful Eve, I——”
Both of them had heard the sound of Mrs. Harmon’s door as it eased open. Zach had groaned, laughed and planted a kiss on Eve’s forehead.
“Tomorrow, darling,” he’d said.
Whistling jauntily, he’d trotted down the steps.
Eve knew—oh, she knew—what he’d been going to say. The unspoken words had almost shimmered in the air.
I love you.
She did a mad, swift dance around her tiny living room. What a wonderful night this had turned out to be, she thought happily. In some strange way, she probably owed Dex a vote of thanks.
Dex. Eve shuddered. She could still see
his lecherous smile, feel his oily touch.
“Ugh,” she said, and began stripping off her clothes.
By the time she reached the bathroom, there was a trail of clothes behind her—her high-heeled sandals, her black dress, her stockings, her panties, her bra.
With a final shudder, she stepped into the shower.
* * *
Zach drove toward his hotel, still whistling, still feeling wonderful.
That old snoop, Mrs. Harmon. He laughed as he coasted to a stop at a red light. If she hadn’t poked her nose out the door, Eve would know how he felt by now. He’d been determined to wait for tomorrow and a more romantic setting, but standing there with Eve in his arms, he’d known he had to tell her.
Those three most simple, most complex words in the world had been on the very tip of his tongue—until Mrs. Harmon had turned a twosome into a threesome.
He should have said the words anyway. To heck with Mrs. Harmon. To heck with romantic settings. What did he need but Eve and those three magic words?
Zach leaned out his window.
“I love her,” he yelled to the startled driver in the next lane.
He loved her too much to wait for tomorrow.
The light went green. Zach shot a look into his rearview mirror, jammed his foot to the floor and damned near fishtailed the Porsche into a U-turn.
* * *
Eve was still in the shower. She had scrubbed the part of her thigh Dex had touched until the skin was red. She knew it was silly, but it made her feel better.
She laughed as she tilted her face to the spray. Not that she wasn’t feeling wonderful already. How she loved Zach. How she adored him!
Why had she let him leave tonight? She could have asked him to come in, to stay with her for the first time in her very own bed.
Being in his arms would have erased the memory of Dex’s sleazy touch better than all the soap and hot water in the world.
She stepped from the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. Her heart tripped into a quicker cadence. There was nothing to stop her from phoning Zach at his hotel.
If only he’d asked to stay. If only he’d think what she was thinking and come back…
The doorbell rang.
“Zach,” Eve whispered.
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