“You’re ready really early,” she said.
“Usually we have a family meeting before events like this, so I’m anticipating a text from Carlton,” he said.
“Good to know. Who’s Carlton? Is that your dad’s PR guy?” she asked.
“Yeah, he is. He kind of goes over the family image and the dos and don’ts for the event. Normally I’m not in town so I get to miss them, but I’m pretty sure I can’t skip this one.”
“Probably not. I’m going to shower and get dressed for the day. Should I plan to meet you later or come with you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d like you to come with me. I mean, you don’t have to, but if you are there, you’re going to up my image rating.”
She shook her head. “Your image rating is already pretty high.”
“With you maybe,” he said. “But I’m not as polished as Dad and Carlton would like. And I seem okay now, but when you see me next to Dare, Logan and Leo, I do seem like the scruffy one.”
“Good thing I like scruffy.”
“Good thing,” he said.
She gave him a little wave as she walked toward the bedroom. “I better get moving.”
He leaned back against the sofa and turned on ESPN as he waited for her. She’d been so peppy this morning. He’d thought she’d be dwelling on what had happened last night.
Well, hell.
She was ignoring it, wasn’t she?
Was she going to pretend that nothing had happened?
Should he?
He knew that he couldn’t do that. He wasn’t built that way. But she was in full-on wedding-pact mode and that meant they were the picture-perfect couple. He had planned to use their arrangement to sooth his father and keep the criticism at bay, but now that he knew Iris was back to just playing a role, it bothered him. He wanted her to talk about last night or at least be thinking about it so that he’d know she was as affected as he was.
Didn’t it mean anything to her?
He got up and went into the bedroom. He stood there, staring at the closed bathroom door until he heard the shower shut off. Then he ran for the bed and lay down on it, trying to look casual as the door opened and a cloud of steam preceded Iris into the room.
“What are you doing in here?”
“Waiting for you? We’re lovers now, angel face,” he said.
“I know but that was last night. The wedding stuff starts today. This is the contracted thing—”
“I’m not going to embarrass you but I’m also not going to pretend that last night and the other night didn’t happen. There is more between us now than a contract.”
She put her hand on her chest and toyed with her diamond necklace. “You know it still has to end, right?”
“Yes, of course, I’m not sticking around, hoping you’ll put a ring on my finger,” he said. “I have other commitments, as well.”
“Good. Then I see no reason for you not to be in here.”
But she didn’t smile or talk to him while she got ready and he knew that something had changed between them again. They weren’t closer now; there was a new barrier between them and he had the feeling it came from both of them ignoring the truth of what they felt and wanted to say.
Iris didn’t want him as her lover while she was doing the wedding stuff this weekend. And he wanted her to be that. He wanted more from her than he’d contractually asked for and it was too late. He’d signed the agreement and he had to live up to it.
And he would. Come hell or August Bisset.
* * *
Iris didn’t like the fact that Zac was on the bed, but she wasn’t about to let him see he had shaken her. And he did have her in a state. Enough of one that she’d had to leave the room to clear her head and get it on straight. Which was when she’d run into his mom.
Ever since Thea had grabbed her phone and responded to Graham’s text, nothing had been in her control. Her sister had goaded her without even realizing what she was doing. It wasn’t Thea’s fault that Iris always had to appear to be in control. And as much as she hated to admit it, it wasn’t Zac’s fault she’d blurred the lines between them.
She could admit that the first time she’d fallen into bed with him had been sheer lust. She hadn’t had that kind of experience with a guy before. But she’d been hot for him. The second time... Hell, she had no excuse. Last night had been a slip in judgment and from where she stood in the slightly steamy bathroom, pretending she was still putting on her makeup, it seemed downright stupid.
He was hot and sweet and unexpected. And not for her. She wasn’t trying to talk herself out of a good thing; she was reminding herself of her reality. She couldn’t let the romance of Adler finding a great guy influence her. It didn’t matter that she’d wanted a man to grow her brand into “coupledom.” Zac wasn’t that guy—he was only acting the part.
No amount of sex was going to change that.
But would it hurt her to keep having sex with him?
That was the million-dollar question.
She wanted to be a modern woman and say no. She could have sex with a guy and not fall in love with him. After all, look what had happened with Graham. But that had been bad sex. Not the melt-her-panties-off sex she had with Zac. That kind of sex made a girl dream of something more. Something forbidden and as hard to find as a unicorn in Times Square. And as much as she was all about her preppy, practical lifestyle, she was still a dreamer at heart. Underneath her Lilly Pulitzer navy dress with the white embroidery, she was dreaming of a man who’d stand by her side.
The knock on the door startled her and she put her hand to the diamond charm on the necklace before opening the door.
“You okay?” Zac asked.
He looked so sincere and sexy, dressed up to impress his parents. She wanted to tease him about it but frankly she got it. It didn’t matter how grown-up or successful she became, she still wanted her parents’ approval and it made her fall a little bit more for him that he wanted his.
“Yeah,” she said. Her heart wasn’t in putting up her normal shield this morning. Or at least not with him.
“We said no lies between us.”
She sighed and brushed past him, trying not to let the scent of his aftershave send sensual tingles of awareness through her body, but she couldn’t help remembering how strong that scent had been on his naked chest last night.
“I know,” she said, going to the wardrobe where she’d stored her shoes and pulling out a pair of strappy white sandals that would give her a few extra inches of height. “But you’re throwing me off my game, Zac.”
“What? How am I doing that?” he asked.
She wished she could be Thea and just bluntly tell him that sex was making her addle-brained, but she wasn’t her twin. She was Iris, and there was no way she was going to bring up sex now. They were on their way to lunch with his entire family, and she had to keep the new girlfriend act going.
“Nothing. I think I’m just tired this morning and nervous about meeting your family.”
He nodded, then walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “They’re going to be so impressed that you’re with me, you’re not going to have to worry about anything. I’m the black sheep of the family.”
Only the Bissets would consider an America’s Cup team member the black sheep. She smiled and realized he’d done it again: eased her nerves by being himself. She had to find a way to make her feelings more casual. But everything about him made her want to cling.
She wasn’t a clinger.
She didn’t want to be the woman Graham had accused her of being.
Heck, was she reacting this way because she was trying to prove something to Graham?
She hoped not. She wouldn’t be that petty and spiteful. But she always knew a part of her would love to rub in his face that she’d had a fabulous night of
orgasms in Zac’s arms.
She groaned.
“Iris?”
“Sorry. I just had the worst thought.”
“Want to share it?”
“No, you’ll think I’m a lunatic.”
“Now I have to know what it was,” he said, with that crooked smile of his.
“You know that guy who broke up with me, forcing me to hire you?” she asked. “Well he called me a cold fish because I couldn’t climax with him and said lots of other mean things about me in the sack. And I was just thinking I wish I could tell him about last night. I think the issue was him, not me.”
Zac smiled at her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her with passion. When he lifted his head, he said, “Angel face, it definitely wasn’t you.”
She put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him back, pouring all her fears and hopes into the embrace. When she stepped back, she told herself that was the last behind-closed-doors kiss they’d share. From now on, everything between them would be for show.
Really.
Thirteen
Juliette stood in the corner of the large conservatory that her mother always used for welcoming guests when the weather allowed. The July sky was gorgeous. Juliette almost wished she were the kind of woman to allow herself to believe in things like signs from heaven because she could have sworn that it was her sister looking down on them and giving Adler a perfect day.
But she didn’t.
Her husband had changed his jacket three times, wanting to appear casual as he welcomed his one-time friend—and now enemy for more than thirty-five years—to lunch. Over the years Juliette had seen newspaper articles and some photos occasionally of Tad and his wife, Cora, but August always left events if they showed up so she’d never met them. Watching him try had always been the one thing that she hadn’t been able to resist about him. August was a big man with big appetites, big ambition and a very big temper, but she’d glimpsed the vulnerability in him that he hid from the world.
They’d been married almost forty years so she knew that was to be expected.
“There you are, Jules,” her mother said as she entered the room. “I have Michael and his staff ready with the welcoming drinks. I assume most of our guests will drink but he told me you asked him to include a nonalcoholic one, as well.”
“I did, Mother. I hope you don’t mind,” she said. “I’m not sure what to expect from the Williams family, but I wanted to give everyone a choice.”
“Good thinking.”
Her mom had a way of making her feel like her party-hosting skills had stopped developing when she’d been throwing tea parties for her dolls even though she had a reputation for throwing the best parties in the Hamptons.
“Thanks.”
“Do you really think she might make you a grandmother?” her mom asked.
“I don’t know. And we shouldn’t be discussing this now. Though I am ready,” Juliette admitted.
“I am too. And what’s with your boys? I thought they’d be more like Auggie and marry young, but they seem to be waiting,” her mother said.
“They are like Auggie but on the business side, not in terms of starting a family,” Juliette said. All of her children were determined to make their mark on the world, and she didn’t blame them. She’d often wondered if she’d had a career whether her marriage would have been different. Her life certainly would have. She might not even still be married to Auggie.
They heard the door open and Juliette was glad that the guests had started arriving. She liked socializing because it distracted her from her own thoughts and her own life.
“Gran,” Zac said, coming into the conservatory with Iris Collins on his arm.
Iris was too sophisticated for her son, and if Juliette were being honest, she thought the younger woman was a little too prim. Zac liked his women more...well, sporty for one thing. And loose but not in a negative way.
“Zac, so good to see you. Your mother and I are both delighted you’re back from Australia,” her mom said as she went to hug him.
Juliette hugged Iris and then stepped back to hug Zac. Her boys were all taller than her now and his hug engulfed her. She held him longer than she knew she should, but she’d missed this tall blond boy of hers. He always made sailing seem like it was a gentleman’s sport but she knew it was dangerous and she worried about him.
“Mom,” he said, kissing her on the forehead.
“Sweetie,” she answered. “Tell me why you were in Boston and how you met Iris. I know that’s where it happened but the details are murky.”
Zac put his arm out, drawing Iris in to the curve of his body. “Nothing murky about it, Mom. I quit my old America’s Cup team and was in Boston looking for sponsors for my run in the next one. If I asked Dad, there’d be strings attached. Iris’s father runs an investment group and we met when I was waiting to speak to him.”
“I stumbled and he caught me,” Iris said.
Zac looked down at Iris and winked and suddenly Juliette loved seeing her son with this woman. There was something about them that made her want to smile.
“Your dad won’t be happy about the investment but I think everything else will be fine,” Juliette said.
“I know but once I caught Iris I told myself not to let her go. It’s not every day I meet a woman like Iris.”
“So true,” Nick Williams said, coming up behind Zac and clapping him on the shoulder.
Juliette smiled at Adler’s fiancé. She’d met him a few times before and found him to be a very likeable man. But, of course, he was a thorn in Logan’s side, always foiling his business deals and trying to beat him to market. So she understood that not everyone in her family was happy to see him, not to mention that he was marrying Adler.
“Hey, man,” Zac said, turning to shake Nick’s hand as Adler came in with an older woman.
There was something familiar about the tall brunette, Juliette thought as she came closer. Then their eyes met and both women froze. Dear God.
It was the other woman who’d been in labor the night Juliette had given birth to her unnamed stillborn baby. Except she was a brunette now, not a blonde, and she wore the trappings of wealth as easily as if she’d been born to it.
Was this Cora Williams? The girl—Bonnie, she’d said her name was. Bonnie Smith. They’d both been in that post-delivery room crying. Juliette because she’d lost her baby that she’d hoped would save her marriage and Bonnie because she’d been cut off from her family, had no job and no way to support twins.
She remembered that moment when they’d realized there was a solution that would serve them both. If Juliette raised one of the fraternal twins as her own son, it would solve their problems.
Juliette had made a deal that only she, Bonnie and the nurse Jennifer had known about. They’d switched her stillborn child for one of the healthy boys. Juliette had given Bonnie a large sum of money from her private trust fund so she could go back to school and raise her son. Jennifer had taken a small sum to falsify the documents.
There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t think about the deal she’d made. How her Logan wasn’t really hers. But until this moment she’d expected to keep the secret until her grave.
She’d never met Nick’s parents...that meant that Nick was probably the other twin. She saw stars and thought she was going to pass out.
Crap.
This wasn’t good.
The woman... Cora. Heck, she remembered everything about that night but at the time she’d called herself Bonnie Smith.
“Auntie Jules, this is Nick’s mom, Cora,” Adler said, bringing them both face-to-face. Cora seemed as shocked as Juliette felt.
But manners guided her and Juliette put out her hand. “So nice to meet you.”
“You, as well,” Cora said, but her hands were clammy. “I feel like I know you from all
of Adler’s stories.”
“Me too,” Juliette said. She knew they needed to talk but not now. Not today.
“Adler, is this your fiancé? I’m so eager to meet him and get to know his family,” Auggie said as he came in.
Cora turned and Juliette saw the look on her husband’s face as he saw her. She knew that look. Cora and Auggie had been lovers.
“Cora?”
“August,” Cora said, then turned to Juliette. “You never said your husband was August Bisset.”
“I didn’t know you knew him.”
“We need to talk,” Cora said.
“I think we do,” Juliette said.
* * *
Zac saw the color leave his mother’s face and the shock on his dad’s when he saw Nick’s mom. Nick looked at him and they both seemed to be of the same mindset. Carlton had entered the room and looked at Cora and then blanched.
“Why is Bonnie Smith here?” Carlton asked as he came into the room. The older man had been his father’s PR man and spin doctor since the beginning of his career. In fact, Zac had never been at a family meeting that wasn’t chaired by Carlton. He was the one who cleaned up messes for the family. There were times when Zac liked the older man; he was nicer than his father. But there were other times when Carlton could be tough as nails. This was one of those times.
“Bonnie? This is my mother. Cora Williams,” Nick said, stepping to Cora’s side and putting his arm around her shoulders. “Is there a problem?”
“Don’t worry about it, Nicky. I need to speak to August and Juliette alone. Will you keep an eye out for your dad?” Cora said.
Nick pulled his mom aside, away from everyone else, and Adler was looking at Zac’s mom like she wanted to ask a million questions, but she wasn’t saying a word. His father just walked out of the room with Carlton, turning around briefly. “Vivian, may we use your study?”
Her One Night Proposal (One Night Book 4) Page 12