by Noelle Adams
He closed the distance between them by half and inadvertently inhaled the light, fresh scent of whatever perfume she wore.
“I’m not just suggestin’, Ms. Barton, I’m encouragin’.”
She leaned back slightly, lashes lowering over the mischief shining in her eyes. Zach felt blood rush to exactly where her attention had shifted. God, if she kept this up, his jeans were going to get mighty uncomfortable mighty fast.
“May I help you?”
Zach and Sadie both jerked their heads around to face the brisk-sounding, gray-haired woman on the opposite side of the counter.
Twelve
Sadie couldn’t believe she was actually flirting with Zach. About his underwear, of all things! The question had been a split-second choice, a decision she should’ve considered the ramifications to. Like now…she had a fantasy flash-vision of his assets encased in snug, soft cotton boxer briefs and had to force herself to swallow.
Next to her, Zach cleared his throat twice as the worker looked into the box on the counter.
He leaned forward, his gaze shifting to the woman’s nametag. “Hi…Karen…we’re here to turn over these baby ducks.”
“Their mother was hit on the highway the other day,” Sadie added.
Karen’s blue gaze barely flicked to her before returning to Zach. Not that Sadie could blame her when she caught sight of his smile. The woman softened before their eyes, and though she had to be at least twenty-five years older than him, she blushed like a teenager. Just like Sadie knew she’d done more than once this evening.
“Are these the little guys that were in the paper yesterday?” Karen asked.
“They are,” Sadie confirmed as Zach nodded.
“It was so good of you to stop and save them. That’s such a busy highway.”
Zach straightened. “Sadie here is their true rescuer.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” she protested.
Confusion added more wrinkles to the older woman’s brow. “The article said a man saved them.”
“He did.”
“Until the jerk didn’t get his fifteen minutes of fame,” Zach interjected. “So Sadie took them under her wing and here we are.”
She smiled self-consciously, unwilling to go into further detail. “Do we need to fill out any paperwork or anything?”
Karen withdrew a sheet of paper from a slot on the wall behind her and slid it across to the counter. “If you can just fill this out with your name and contact information, we’ll be all set. And of course, donations are always appreciated…”
She cringed inside, thinking of rent due in a week, but dug in her purse for a pen and her checkbook. “Of course.”
“I’ll get the donation,” Zach said quickly.
“That’s okay.” She’d taken responsibility for the ducks when she brought them home, she’d follow through to the end. When Zach reached for his wallet anyway, Sadie grasped his forearm and gave a warning squeeze. “I got it.”
Zach cast a quick glance at their interested observer, then focused back on Sadie. “It’s not a big deal, Sadie.”
“To you, maybe,” she muttered.
“Which is exactly why I’ll make the donation.”
He slid a hundred dollar bill across the counter as if it were a five. Sadie wrote out a check for twenty dollars anyway and added it to Zach’s money. The two pieces of paper on the counter illustrated the differences in their lives, reminding her of the earlier decision to resist her attraction to Zach and why. The gulf between them was too vast to bridge, and no matter how fun or charming or sexy he was, in the end, she was the one who’d end up hurt.
Zach received a warm smile from the smitten sanctuary worker while Sadie took one last moment to say goodbye to the baby ducks. She’d only had them a day, but she was going to miss their quacking.
Back in the car, Sadie waited for Zach to start the engine, only to find him watching her, his expression oddly contemplative in the dim light of the setting sun.
“I’ve got a lot of things to get done tomorrow, so…”
“You never told me your favorite ice cream,” he reminded.
Funny he should remember she hadn’t answered that question, but she didn’t want to admit she also loved vanilla and chocolate swirled with that rich ribbon of caramel. She silently acknowledged it was stupid, but admitting they had one thing in common could lead to more, which would only lead to fairytale wishes that had no hope of coming true.
“Mint chocolate chip.” She gestured toward the road they’d come in on. “Can we go?”
“I spotted a Baskin Robbins a couple exits back. What do you say we grab a burger and a couple of scoops.”
So tempting. Zach and the ice cream. Zach more so. Before she could reply, her cell phone rang. Sadie recognized Gemma’s signature tone and quickly decided she didn’t want to face another round of her younger sister trying to talk her into the party. Or checking to see if she was okay as she sat home alone.
Then she’d have to explain she wasn’t home alone and that’d open up a whole new round of questions she didn’t want to avoid in front of Zach.
“You going to get that?” he asked.
“It’s my sister.” The phone went silent. “I’ll call her back later.”
“After ice cream?”
“After you take me home.”
“You’re stubborn.”
She smiled. “Says the pot to the kettle.”
He laughed, but it faded when Gemma’s ringtone started up again. Sadie glanced at the ID out of habit, thinking it was strange her sister would call right back instead of leaving a message or sending her a quick text.
“You should—”
She’d already pressed the button and raised the phone to her ear. “Hey sis, what’s up?”
Gemma’s sob had Sadie stiffening in the seat.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?”
“Sadie, thank God you answered.” The muted, rhythmic thump of bass filtered through from the background. “I—we’re at the beach house, but things have gotten a little out of control here. Sadie, I’m scared.”
“Where are you?” she repeated.
Zach leaned forward into her line of vision, concern in his expression. “What’s going on?”
Sadie shook her head as she listened to Gemma speak through her tears.
“Jason’s been drinking a lot and I think he did some coke.”
“Then just leave, Gemma. I’ll come get you.”
With her dead car battery. Damn!
“I-I can’t. He started getting a little too pushy, so I locked myself in one of the bedrooms. I don’t want to go back out there—some of the people here are really scary. I don’t know what to do, Sadie.”
“It’s okay, Gem, we’ll figure it out.”
Zach’s hand settled on her shoulder. “What do you need?”
She muffled the phone. “I hate to even ask, but with my car battery dead…”
“Get me an address and we’re there,” he said without hesitation.
Sadie nodded as he started the car, scrambling for her purse to get her notebook and pen. “Gemma, earlier you mentioned Malibu, but do you know the address?”
Another sob almost drowned out her, “No.”
“Hey, it’s okay, settle down. What about Jason’s last name?”
Zack had his cell phone out, ready to search the name. Sadie switched to speaker and held her phone out so he could hear her sister, too.
“Z-Zuckerman.”
“Okay, good. Now what about his dad’s name? Or a street name? Can you remember anything so I can locate an address?”
“Um…I think he said his dad’s name is Thor. Or maybe Thorne?”
Zach’s indrawn breath drew Sadie’s attention.
“Thorpe Zuckerman?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s it,” Gemma exclaimed.
“Sonofabitch,” Zach muttered, pitching his phone in the center console before shifting the car into reverse.
&
nbsp; “Who is that?” Gemma asked.
Alarmed by his tone, Sadie ignored her sister and asked Zach, “What?”
“I know where she is,” Zach said in a low voice.
“That’s good.”
“No. It’s not.”
His ominous statement was punctuated by the jerk of the car as he shifted from reverse to drive. The convertible’s tires squealed as they left the parking lot and sped down the lane to the highway.
The knot of anxiety tightened in Sadie’s stomach. “Zach, now I’m scared.”
“You’re with Zach?” Gemma asked.
His large hand snaked out and grabbed Sadie’s. With her hand trapped between his and the phone, he pressed it against her chest.
“It’s going to be okay. Just keep her talking until we get there and make sure she stays locked in that room.”
Sadie nodded, heart pounding as much from the lingering warmth of his touch as from his words and their swift entrance onto the freeway.
“Gemma, we have the address and we’re on the way, so just hang tight. Um…what’s the room look like that you’re in?”
“Ugly.” A loud sniffle came across the line. “Rich people don’t know how to decorate. Besides, I’d rather hear about Zach. It’s about time you had a date. That picture in the paper was nice, but he’s way hotter in person.”
“Got ya on speaker, Gem.”
“Oops. Hiyya, Zach.”
“Hey, Gemma.” Zach navigated from one lane to the next at about seventy-five, determined concentration softened by his grin.
A few more minutes of conversation and Gemma had relaxed enough that Sadie wondered how much her sister had had to drink. She saw the ocean from the highway, and instead of feeling better, anxiety doubled. She pressed the phone back to her chest and asked, “How much longer?”
“Five minutes, ten at the most.”
“We’re almost there,” she told Gemma.
“Oh, good, ‘cuz I wanna take a nap.”
Sadie frowned as she glanced at the digital numbers on Zach’s dashboard clock. It was a couple minutes after nine. Gemma was buzzed, but certainly not pass-out-drunk. And alcohol usually wound her sister up, it didn’t bring her down.
“Gemma? Did you get your own drinks at the party, or did Jason bring them to you?”
Zach shot her a quick look and the expression on his face mirrored her worry.
“I got my own. You always say—”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, and I kept an eye on them.”
From the tone of her sister’s voice, Sadie could practically see her rolling her eyes.
“We’ve only talked about this a million times,” Gemma added. “And besides, the one I’m drinking now tastes fine.”
“I thought you were locked in the bedroom!” she exclaimed.
“I am. I brought this one with me. After I got you on the phone I figured a few more sips would help calm me down.”
“Stop drinking that right now!”
Gemma started crying again. “Don’t yell at me.”
Deep breath. “I’m sorry. Just please don’t drink any more, okay?”
“Fine.”
“We’re here,” Zach said in an undertone.
“Gemma—can you tell us what bedroom you’re in?”
“The one where people aren’t having sex.”
Sadie peered through the palm trees at the house as Zach found a place to park amidst the throng of cars. “Are you upstairs or down?”
“Up.”
“We’ll be there in a second,” she told Gemma before shutting off the phone.
“I’ll find her,” Zach assured Sadie. “Stay here.”
He exited without waiting for an answer and Sadie sat dumbfounded for about three seconds before she shoved the phone in her pocket, grabbed the keys from the ignition and bolted after him. Dodging a weaving couple on their way down the sidewalk, she caught up to Zach at the entrance to the house.
When she bumped into him from behind, he did a double take. His jaw tightened, but he simply took her hand and hollered above the chest-thumping music, “Stick with me.”
Yet another dire warning to make her wonder what the heck she was walking into as he shoved through the door. Noise assaulted her ears and bodies filled the house from the massive foyer to a tall fireplace across the huge room. The music assaulted her eardrums while the bass vibrated the fine hairs on her arms.
She wrinkled her nose. Ever since prom, she’d avoided parties like this. Hated the stupid things people did when their drinking got out of control. Drugs were the stupidest thing of all. And though Gemma said she’d watched her cup, Sadie couldn’t help but worry.
Zach dragged her toward the curved staircase on their right. The crowd pressed close and her fingers were wrenched from his. Anxiety became panic and her pulse skyrocketed.
“Zach!”
Bodies parted, and as quick as they’d been separated, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her close. She leaned against his chest, soaking in his warm protection for the brief moment before he swung around to urge her up the stairs ahead of him.
The hallway was empty compared to downstairs, but still contained a handful of couples making out in various states of undress. Sadie averted her gaze and stuck with Zach, who started with the first door at the top. It swung open easily, and even though Gemma had warned them, Sadie sucked in a surprised gasp at the couple on the bed, the woman on top, head thrown back as she rode the bucking man. Face burning, she jerked back, only a glance needed to know the dark-haired girl wasn’t her sister.
Zach shut the door and they moved on to the next. Another couple, but this time under the covers—thank God. The guy chucked a pillow across the room as the girl screeched and yelled at them to get out after Zach had already clicked the door shut.
A sliver of light shone from the slit beneath the door of the third room and hope lifted Sadie’s spirits. Until the image of the naked, contorted foursome burned into her brain.
“Christ!” Zach slammed the door on their moans and exclamations of encouragement to each other. “Your sister seems to be the only one with the sense to lock the damn door.”
Two more rooms waited at the end of the hall and Sadie left Zach’s side to check one while he checked the other. His door swung open; hers did not. She pounded on the wood.
“Gemma? It’s Sadie. Open the door! Come on, Gemma.”
“Mine was empty,” Zach said as he joined her.
At the same time, Gemma’s voice sounded on the other side. “Sadie?”
“Yes, it’s me and Zach. Let us in.”
The door swung open and she had a brief glimpse of her sister’s tear streaked face and mascara smudged eyes before she launched herself into Sadie’s arms, talking a mile a minute.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I dumped the rest of that drink and made myself throw up. Oh my God, it was so gross, but I feel a little better already.”
Sadie met Zach’s small smile over her sister’s head before holding her at arm’s length to look into her eyes. They appeared a bit glassy, but that could be from the tears. The main thing was her pupils didn’t appear abnormally dilated. Nor was she slurring her words, and she seemed stable enough on her own feet.
“Can you remember everything that happened tonight?”
Gemma nodded.
“From the time Jason picked you up until now…any fuzzy areas? Dizziness? Lost time or blackouts?”
“No…”
“And you’re sure nothing was put in your drink?”
“I was completely aware of what was going on, which is why I called you.”
“Well you’ve never called me before, which is why I’m making sure you’re okay.”
“I’m okay.” She reached for both Sadie’s hands. “Really. I just had too much to drink and now I’m tired and want to go home.”
Gemma’s voice trailed off on a whine and Sadie considered her one more moment before sighing. “Alright, le
t’s go.”
Zach led the way back downstairs and Sadie kept an arm around her slim shoulders, steadying her steps when Gemma wobbled in her ridiculously high heels. They were almost to the bottom when her sister stiffened and pulled back.
“Uh-oh. There’s Jason.”
Zach cast them a quick glance before following her gaze to the tall, broad, blond guy approaching the bottom of the stairs. Jason was definitely attractive, but Sadie shivered at the nasty expression that flitted across his face when his gaze passed over Zach. It morphed into a surprisingly charming smile as it settled on her and Gemma.
“Hey, baby…where you going?”
Sadie gave her an encouraging squeeze and her little sis lifted her chin. “I’m going home.”
“Come on, the party’s just getting started. Your friends can stay too.”
“No thanks,” Sadie interjected quickly.
“I insist.”
Jason moved closer. His muscled build fairly blocked their exit as others in the near vicinity turned to watch the exchange. She wondered what the hell she’d have done if she’d come alone and was doubly grateful for Zach’s presence.
He held up a placating hand. “Ladies want to leave, so we’re leaving. Don’t make this more complicated than that.”
Gaze narrowed, Jason shifted his attention from the girls to Zach. Sadie’s anxiety grew when he took the last step to face Jason eye to eye. The guy blinked, eased back, and then shrugged with a smug smile.
“Fine. Take her. I’ve had better anyway.”
Zach fisted both hands in Jason’s shirt and slammed him backward against the wall before the jerk’s words even registered on Sadie.
“Shit—ease up, man, I’m kidding,” Jason exclaimed.
“Gemma,” Zach bit out, “Did he hurt you?”
“N-no.”
Material bunched around the guy’s throat as Zach lifted him to his tiptoes. The suppressed violence in Zach’s defense of her sister had Sadie’s heart racing. Not from fear, but appreciation for his protection. A little voice tried to whisper of Cinderella and her Prince, but Jason’s alarmed voice drowned it out.
“I swear, I didn’t touch her!”
Gemma cringed at Sadie’s side, but her voice was strong. “Really, he didn’t. Please don’t—I just want to go.”