by Noelle Adams
Ooh, he’s a smooth charmer, alright. No way she was holding back now. Sadie held her gaze as she asked, “You know what he’s after right? The ‘casting couch’ isn’t only for auditions out here.”
Anger flared in her sister’s eyes. “Matt’s not like that.”
“Every guy is like that,” Sadie retorted. Even Zach, if Matt’s comment a few minutes earlier was to be believed. “I thought you were smarter than this, Gem.”
Lips pressed together, she quickly changed into the blue dress and slipped on a pair of silver sandals with heels. After a quick fluff of her hair in the mirror, she stalked to the door and yanked it open.
“Gemma,” Sadie began.
She spun around with an accusing glare. “You know, just because you’re too afraid of what others think to go after what you want doesn’t mean I have to sit here all alone, too. What I do with my life is my business, so I would suggest you leave me alone and don’t wait up.”
With that parting comment, Gemma slammed the bedroom door.
Indignation rose up, quickly followed by anger over the last part. She jumped off the bed and rushed into the living room just as her sister followed Matt out of the apartment.
“I go after what I want and you would do well to remember what happened the last time you told me not to wait up!” Sadie hollered.
Matt glanced back just before Gemma slammed the apartment door, too.
Damn it. Well, fine! It was Gemma’s life, so let her make her own mistakes. See if she’d be around to help pick up the pieces.
Sadie went into her bedroom and did some of her own door-banging therapy. It didn’t help.
“I go after what I want,” she muttered. “Just watch me.”
Nineteen
Zach saw Sadie’s car pull into the parking lot as he walked toward the building. He waved and then waited for her to park. She was dressed much more casually this morning in a flowing white skirt and fitted coral shirt with a couple of the top buttons undone. Her curls were wild and free, too. It only took one sweeping glance to conclude she looked good in anything. Probably better in nothing.
She hadn’t singled him out for a goodbye yesterday, so this morning her friendly smile was a nice surprise as she glanced toward his convertible. “No private parking space?”
“I don’t mind the walk,” he told her. “I see you got your car working again.”
A strange expression flitted across her face as they continued toward MovieMail, but it was gone as quick as it came. “New battery did the trick.”
“Good. So, how’d everything go yesterday?” He held open the door for her. “Are you going to finish up today?”
“That depends on you.”
“How so,” he asked.
Her coy smile was like a punch in the gut as she walked by. A deep inhale filled his senses with that fresh, ocean-breeze scent of hers, delivering a double whammy.
“I got the interviews out of the way yesterday and would like to get an idea of how you run the company.” She paused to greet Tiffany, glanced the opposite direction toward the door, then faced him squarely. “Today, I want to spend the day with you.”
You could’ve knocked him over with a feather, so when his brother stepped up beside him and slapped him on the back, Zach nearly lost his balance.
“Good morning, everyone.”
Matt’s chipper tone was nothing new, but Zach was surprised when he turned a mega-watt smile toward Sadie.
“And how was your evening, Sadie?”
“Fine, thank you.”
Okay, her cool tone was a bit more normal.
“So was mine.” Matt leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Absolutely wonderful, if you catch my drift.”
If the suggestive tone didn’t clue her in, the accompanying wink certainly would have. What the heck was that? Zach wondered. And why did his brother apparently want Sadie to know he’d had sex last night?
He caught a flash of antagonism in Sadie’s expression before she turned and smiled up at him.
“What do you think, Zach? Can you handle me by your side all day long?”
“Yeah. Sounds wonderful.” He gestured toward his office before the heat creeping up his neck reached his face. A questioning glance for Matt did him no good; his brother had already started across the lobby ahead of them, shoulders set in a rigid line.
“Good,” Sadie said. “And does your offer of dinner still stand?”
“Ah, yeah…of course.”
At the slam of Matt’s office door, Zach caught a smile tugging at Sadie’s lips. Suspicion and jealousy collided. He held it together as they greeted Kris, but when it appeared chitchat would take over, Zach interrupted the two women. “I’ve got a lot on my schedule this morning, so if you’ll excuse us…”
Having been the one to clear his appointments, he caught the expected arch of his assistant’s brow. Thankfully, she kept her vocal response to, “Sorry to have held you up. I’ll talk to you later.”
Zach ushered Sadie into his office. Shutting the door with one hand, he caught her arm and swung her around to face him with the other. “Is there something between you and my brother I should know about?”
Genuine astonishment accompanied her laugh as she shrugged free of his grip. “Me and Matt? God no.”
“Then why did it just feel like you were using me to make him jealous?”
Her gaze seemed to be fixed on one of the buttons of his white dress shirt. “That’s not what that was about.”
“You going to clue me in?”
She took a breath as if to answer, but then hesitated long enough that he got frustrated.
“Sadie, what the hell is going on?”
This time he got a shrug and a sigh before she moved toward his desk to set her bag on one of his guest chairs. “Your brother still believes I’m after you for your money. I was simply messing with him because he annoys me. Not the most mature of responses, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.”
Zach felt some of his tension fade away as he followed her across the room. “Are you?”
She whirled around when he spoke from directly behind her. “Am I what?”
“After me for my money.”
Her gaze met his and held rock steady. “No.”
Moving closer, he let a hint of his smile show. “Are you after me?”
“No.”
The waver in her gaze contradicted that answer and gave him hope. Placing a hand on either side, he trapped her against the desk and once more found himself drawn in by her enticing scent. “You know, I have years of practice messing with my brother.”
“And…?”
“And I’m more than willing to help.”
“You are?” She wet her lips, drawing his attention to his final target.
“If it keeps you by my side all day and into the evening, I’m all in.”
As he leaned in, his intercom buzzed. Focused on the connection of their lower bodies, and the sweet promise of her mouth, Zach ignored the summons. Sadie inserted her hand between his lips and hers, preventing him from closing the final inch.
“You should get that.”
“I’d rather kiss you.”
She pulled her hand away, but instead of granting his wish, she said, “And I’d rather not have Kris wondering why you’re ignoring her.”
“Believe me, she wouldn’t wonder.”
He realized that didn’t come out right when Sadie frowned and the damn buzzer sounded again. Zach hung his head for a moment, then leaned to the side and forward to jab the speaker button on his desk phone.
“Yeah?”
“Sorry, but George Truner is holding on line one,” Kris returned.
Zach stiffened. He hadn’t expected to talk to Truner until he arrived in North Carolina tomorrow afternoon. Rolling away from Sadie to focus totally on business instead of the feel of her body against his, he disengaged the speaker, picked up the handset and moved around to his side of the desk.
“George, good
morning.”
“It could be better, Zach.”
Great. Now what? He forced a smile into his voice. “How can I help?”
“One of my employees brought to my attention an article printed in one of your local newspapers last week. Sounded like things aren’t as sunny over there in California as you’d have us believe.”
Jaw clenched hard, Zach fisted his free hand and gave the top of his desk calendar a couple of controlled taps. “We’ve been over the financials, George. You know MovieMail is solid.”
Zach didn’t even have to see Sadie’s face to sense her interest.
“What I know is that I want to see those figures again,” George said.
One more tap, this one a bit harder as his aggravation rose. Starting over with a new company was not an option he wanted to consider this far into the negotiations. MovieMail’s foundation was intact, but failure to close the merger would hurt. They needed a rock solid foundation in the online market or risked being left behind.
He debated before covering the phone and lifting his gaze meet Sadie’s. “Can you give me a minute? Maybe grab us a couple of coffees?”
She knew he was getting rid of her and her tight expression told him she didn’t like it one bit. True, he’d promised to answer anything for her interview, but having her listening to his side of the conversation wasn’t a distraction he could afford.
For a second, he thought she’d refuse. Wouldn’t have blamed her if she did, but then she gave an abrupt nod and strode to the door. The moment she closed it behind her, he returned his attention to the phone and discovered he’d lost his patience.
“I’ll bring the figures, and once you’ve reviewed them, again, we close the deal or I walk.”
His heart thudded in the ensuing silence.
“Careful with the ultimatums, Zach.”
“I’m not going to show you anything you haven’t seen twice before. If you’re not ready to commit, I’m not wasting any more time. Now, my flight is scheduled to arrive tomorrow at two, so I’ll see you by three. Have a good day.”
Without waiting for a response, he hung up the phone. Then he flattened his palms on his desk, leaning over, head hung low as he expelled a breath. Damn it. Even when Sadie wasn’t in the room, she messed with his head. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken out his personal frustration on Truner.
A couple more deep breaths eased the adrenaline coursing through his veins. With luck, the risky move would pay off when he arrived at Truner’s office tomorrow, but for right now he had to get his CFO on the phone and make sure he had the most recent numbers in hand.
And just as pressing—figure out how to handle Sadie when she returned.
Twenty
Sadie braced her hands on the counter in the executive kitchen and tried to calm the emotions swirling inside. What she really wanted to do was screw the coffee and march straight back into Zach’s office. He’d given her carte blanche. Said he’d be an open book. And yet once more she found herself bowing out to his request and losing out on a potential scoop.
If she hadn’t been so flustered from their almost kiss, the feel of his body pressing hers against the desk and the intoxicating smell of his woodsy-citrus cologne, she might have been able to use her anger instead of giving in to the hurt. Because, not only had he promised to answer anything, he’d said he trusted her.
Asking her to leave did not convey any level of confidence.
Add in his comment that Kris would know exactly why he ignored her, as if him kissing women in his office was commonplace, and her emotions were all over the place.
This was exactly where she didn’t want to be—in a position where she wanted to believe in Zach, where she cared for him, only to have a sinking feeling her heart would be broken in the end.
The sharp ache in her chest told her it might already be too late.
She straightened and busied herself getting two cups of coffee, making one from Kris’s specification as to how Zach liked his.
After a deep breath, she grasped the cups, and mentally prepared to face him again. Confront him, more like it. Except no more than she drew even with Kris’s desk, the brunette hung up the handset on her phone.
“Sadie, got a minute?”
She glanced toward Zach’s office door. The flip-flop of her stomach told her an extra minute might not be such a bad idea. Placing one cup on the corner of the desk, she sipped her steaming brew and sat on the edge of the chair opposite the smiling assistant.
“What’s up?”
“I was curious what approach you planned to take with your article. If you don’t mind my asking?”
“Well, now that you’ve asked, it wouldn’t matter if I minded, would it?”
Kris laughed, looking a bit sheepish. “No.”
Sadie took another sip of coffee. She supposed it didn’t matter if Kris knew. It wouldn’t change what she wrote and she had no doubt she’d read the article once it was published. If it sold.
A juicy scoop about financials would’ve increased that possibility, yet as she sat there, she knew it wouldn’t fit with the direction she envisioned for the piece. Maybe stepping out of his office was for the best. Ignorance would keep her from being tempted to exploit the knowledge. She wouldn’t want to do something in desperation that she’d regret later.
“It’s going to be Zach’s story. I mean, MovieMail will figure in, obviously, but he will be the focus, not the company.”
Kris picked up a card from her desk and leaned over to hand it to Sadie. “In that case, my cousin’s husband works at OLEP and he’d like to talk to you about the article.”
Sadie stared at the name on the card in her hand. Chuck Ericson, Acquiring Editor, Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary People. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“I love this magazine,” Sadie said. In fact, it was at the top of her list of publications to submit the article to. They didn’t cater to the sensational, but instead delivered exactly what their title promised. Exactly the type of journalism she’d envisioned when she started college.
Before reality set in and the only job she could land was at Life’s a Beach.
“It’s not a guaranteed sale,” Kris cautioned with a sideways glance toward her phone display. “But he’s definitely interested. And it looks like Zach’s off the phone now.”
Picking up his coffee, Sadie rose to her feet and backed toward the office. “Thank you very much. Just having a direct contact there is amazing.”
“Knock ‘em dead,” Kris encouraged.
Sadie’s grin faded as she spun around to find Zach holding the door open. His grim expression reawakened her anxiety. She handed his cup over on her way through, only to have his hand close over hers. Once the door was closed, he pulled her around to face him.
“Everything okay?” she asked as the tempo of her pulse jumped.
“Not really.”
“Oh.” So his phone call hadn’t gone well. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
That answer sparked her irritation. She opened her mouth to get the confrontation under way, to see if he would keep his promise and tell her what the call was about, but his tug on her arm drew her closer. Her pulse leapt again when he leaned in and kissed her.
Any thought of resistance disappeared the moment his tongue slipped between her lips, seeking entrance. She’d dreamt of his kisses the past how many nights, denying herself now was impossible.
His hand held hers captive with his coffee cup, and her other still had her own cup, so she had no way to touch him. No way to anchor herself against his body, to feel those muscles that’d tempted her on his deck the other night. Until he maneuvered to press her up against the door—then she got the full effect of his hard length.
And wanted more.
Zach bent the slightest bit at the knees, lowering to her level as he angled his head to deepen the kiss. She surrendered to the dominate pressure of his mouth, enjoying the slide of hi
s tongue against hers as heat spread.
Her fingers slackened and the cup in her hand began to slip from her grasp. A quick jerk kept it from spilling to the floor, but the movement broke their connection for a split second. That was all she needed for reality to rush back in.
Zach eased back until his body no longer supported hers against the door. She locked her weakened knees as his darkened gaze dropped to her lips, dipped lower for a moment, then rose once more.
“That’s better,” he murmured. “Now we can talk.”
His grip shifted to the rim of his coffee cup, freeing her hand as he lifted it from her fingers. Then he turned and strolled across the floor toward his desk.
Sadie leaned her head back against the door, eyes closed as she drew in a steadying breath. Really? She was supposed to concentrate on work after that?
Stiffening at a sudden thought, she shoved away from the door to follow him. “Was that meant to distract me?”
“No, it was meant to distract me.” He remained on her side of the desk and leaned back against it after he’d faced her.
“From what?” she demanded. “The phone call you didn’t want me to hear? Is MovieMail in trouble financially?”
An inner debate warred in those expressive jade eyes and ended with, “Not yet.”
“But you could be?”
“Could is a general word too easily misinterpreted. Any company could have financial trouble at any time.”
“We’re not talking about any company, Zach, we’re talking about your company. And you…” She trailed off, realizing she wanted him to honor his vow of openness without her voicing any reminders.
You’re testing him, a small voice whispered in her ear.
No. More like she’d decided earlier she didn’t want to know, so what was the point of pushing?
“And I…what?” he prompted.
Yeah, what? She sat in one of his leather guest chairs and tucked the business card Kris had given her into a side pocket on her bag while gathering her thoughts. Withdrawing her journal with all her interview notes, she returned her attention to Zach.
“You’re right. Could is way too general, and you’ve already assured me the company is just fine, so let’s move on. I’m still waiting for the answer to how you came up with the idea for MovieMail?”