One more thing to put on his to-do list. After he nailed the presentation.
Zach showered quickly and dressed in the pair of khaki shorts again. After their paint fight, his pants and shoes had been splattered beyond repair, and he’d thrown them out. He’d pick up enough to get by when he and Jenna ventured out later today. For now, shorts and a casual button-up shirt would have to do.
Jenna was still sleeping when he left the hut and headed to the main building to wait for the delivery of the laptop. He didn’t know what Marcy had done to get the computer delivered so quickly, but by the time he got to the lobby and fixed himself a coffee at the espresso bar, a courier had arrived at the front desk and was looking for him.
He peeled off a good tip and asked whether the resort had a business center. Within minutes, he had the computer unboxed and online and was on the phone with Dillon getting his desktop downloaded.
Zach had the business center to himself—he supposed not many newlyweds really brought work with them to their honeymoons. And the type that did—CEOs and the like—were most likely not the target demographic of Paradise Island. They were on a yacht in the Greek Isles somewhere. Still, there was nowhere else he’d rather be.
He hadn’t even noticed how much time had passed until Jenna appeared in the doorway.
“Knock, knock,” she said, leaning against the doorjamb.
“Hey,” he said, sitting back and rubbing his bleary eyes. Zach shut the laptop’s lid as she came around the table.
“I don’t want to disturb you,” she said. “But the clerk said you’re been in here since dawn, and I thought you might be hungry.”
She put a brown paper bag on the table then hopped up to sit on the edge of the table.
She was simply radiant this morning. She wore another little sundress today, in shades of turquoise and blue. Her cheeks and nose were the slightest bit of pink, and her dark curls were wind-blown, telling Zach that she’d been outside, whether on their deck or maybe walking on the beach. Her lips were pink an a little swollen, evidence of yesterday’s “nap” and the post-nap activities they’d gotten up to later.
Zach stood and wedged himself in between her knees then gathered her to him and kissed her deeply.
She tasted just as sweet and hot as she looked, and instantly, his blood started to pump harder. No woman had ever made him so hot so fast. Just Jenna.
He pulled away but kept one hand in her hair. He loved her hair.
“Sorry to leave you so early this morning,” he said.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I figured you were working.”
“Yeah. Sorry. Big meeting when I get back.” He felt bad about leaving her alone.
“It’s fine. I…need to get used to be alone again. Doing my own thing. I don’t need you to baby-sit me every minute of the day and night.”
Zach hated that she felt that way, even though he knew she was probably right. “What did you do today?”
“Breakfast, a walk on the beach. Got a couple messages from Niki. She let Elliot know I was okay but still wants to know when I’ll be home.”
A frown creased her brow.
“Screw him,” Zach said. “He was a jerk, and now he’s lost you. He needs to get over it.”
He hadn’t known he had a possessive streak until Jenna. He’d been so wrapped up inside himself all these years. Zach felt like Jenna had cracked something open inside of him, and for the first time, he saw things that had been invisible before. Especially how he was with other people. Jenna made him consider the people that were closest to him and how he interacted with them.
Marcy, for example.
How had he never realized what a great employee she was? He’d been so obsessed with his data and his numbers that he took her for granted. That was going to change. As it was, he was lucky she hadn’t left his ass for a boss who wasn’t such a jerk a long time ago.
And there was his family. He missed them, he realized. And paying for college or buying a house didn’t make him a good son or brother. He’d just become an uncle, and he wasn’t even sure what the kid’s full name was. That had to change, too.
These past few days, here with Jenna, he’d hardly thought about work, other than the big project. The more shocking thing was that he kind of resented working on the presentation that had sucked up some of the limited amount of time he had left with Jenna. That was until he figured out a way to keep her in his life.
Zach didn’t know what that looked like, what she wanted, or even how to go about it. He knew he loved her now. But where did she fit in? When he got back to reality, would she become an afterthought, like everything else in his life that wasn’t work? He didn’t want that for her. And he didn’t think she would be willing to accept less than everything he had. If she accepted Zach at all.
One problem at a time. First, the presentation. Then his personal life. He’d tackle each challenge like he had any other in his life, through logic and planning and data collection, followed by reasoned, measured, precise execution.
“I think he’ll get over it,” Jenna said, bringing Zach back to the conversation. “It’s just that I feel bad. This wasn’t Elliot’s fault. I should have faced my doubts earlier instead of pushing them away. I think I was so intent on being married and having a family again that I sort of was willing to settle, you know?”
“You shouldn’t have to settle,” Zach said, and he wasn’t thinking of Elliot but rather himself. Could he give her what she deserved? A man totally focused on her. That was just the barest beginning of what she deserved.
She sighed. “Anyway, enough of that. Elliot and all the rest will be there waiting for me when I get back. I’m more interested in today.”
“Yes, I understand there’s to be another anti adventure. Please, please tell me it involves you.” He traced a finger tip down her bare leg. “And me.” He rubbed back up her thigh until his fingertips were just under the flounce of her skirt. “And some kind of horizontal surface.” He moved closer until his lips were a breath away from hers. “Preferably clothing optional.”
“Actually,” she said, putting a finger to his lips and creating a tiny bit of space, “that’s exactly what I have planned. We have a two o’clock appointment. There will be a lot of skin involved.”
Zach glanced at the clock on the wall above the door. “So that gives us almost an hour,” he said, more concerned about the forty-five minutes or so they had until it was time to leave than where they were actually going.
Jenna leaned in and kissed him, her arms going around his neck in the completely trusting way she had. Then she pulled back. “But we need to get going, actually. It’s a bit of a drive.”
He groaned and pulled back. “Fine,” he said. He grabbed the laptop and the packaging it had come in. He still felt a little bad. “I’m going to have to work some more this afternoon when we get back,” he said. “But I want to make it up to you.”
“Zach. You don’t have anything to make up. You’ve been…” She blinked, and he got the impression that she was tearing up a little. “You’ve been great. More than great. I don’t know how I would have gotten through this week without you.”
His heart was melting. Totally melting. This woman turned him inside out.
“There’s still time for me to screw it up,” He said, kissing her tightly on the lips. “Peopling and all.”
“I don’t believe that.” She shook her head. “I trust you completely.”
Chapter Sixteen
“I love it,” Zach said as the tattoo artist put some gel on Jenna’s new ink and prepared to cover it with a bandage.
“I do, too.” The hummingbird now gracing the inside of her wrist was delicate, shaded in tones of pink, green, and pale yellow with thin little vines curling around it.
“It’s an amazing tribute to your mom,” Zach said, putting a hand on her shoulde
r.
“Thanks,” she said. “I thought having needles full of link jammed into my skin was a pretty good anti for a couples’ massage.”
“Totally,” Zach agreed.
“Your turn,” Jenna said.
“Oh, I don’t think so.” He looked horrified.
“You think this was a dumb idea?”
“No, of course not. It’s just…needles. And I don’t want you to see my manly tears if it’s as painful as they say.”
“It barely hurts.” She nudged him toward the chair. “Come on. I kick-boxed for you. It doesn’t count if you don’t do it, too. And that will mean there’s an unchecked box on my list. I know how you feel about unchecked boxes.”
“Fine,” he said, sitting back in the chair.
“What are you going to get?”
“No idea.”
“How about something to commemorate your time here?”
“Like a Sizzling Threeway?”
Jenna laughed. “Well, I was thinking of a palm tree or something, but whatever floats your boat. Just remember, it’s permanent.”
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”
“I’m just going to use the bathroom and I’ll be back.”
The tattoo artist handed Zach a book of his work, and Jenna heard them discussing options. By the time she returned, the artist was already at work on Zach’s ankle.
“You pick something?” She tried to peer around the artist’s hands at the outline taking shape.
“No peeking,” he said, grabbing her hand and tugging her toward him before she could tell what the outline on Zach’s ankle was.
She sat down on the stool Zach had occupied during her time in the chair and took his hand again.
“How are you doing there, big guy?” she asked with a grin.
He grimaced. “Great. Thanks.”
“Please tell me he’s not inking a hamburger on you.”
“Not a burger, no,” he said, wincing as the artist hit a sensitive spot. She was dying to know what he was getting.
“The ankle is one of the most painful places, man,” the tattoo artist said.
“I wish you would have told me that before we agreed on this,” Zach said.
“Want me to distract you?” Jenna asked, remembering how Zach had done such a good job calming her flight anxiety.
“Absolutely.” The hot look Zach gave her made her think of all kinds of fun ways she could distract him from what was happening at the other end of his body. But she didn’t think the tattoo artist would appreciate that. Or maybe he would. Ick.
“How about I return the favor and fill you in on my sad dating history?”
“Sad? Somehow I doubt that. You had to be the girl all the guys tried to date.”
Jenna snorted. “Hardly. I was quiet and shy and turned beaming red whenever a guy looked my way. I had bad skin and hadn’t fully learned to control my curls, so my hair always looked like a bad case of bedhead. I didn’t have any boyfriends in high school.”
“A late bloomer, then. What about college?”
“College was…pretty much the same. Except for the bad skin. Plus, I discovered the magic of good hair products.”
“Any serious relationships?”
“No. I mean, I dated some, experimented, you might say. But nothing that lasted longer than a few months.”
“Until Elliot.”
“Yes. I guess he kind of swept me off my feet. At first, anyway, he wined me and dined me, and when he proposed…”
“You thought it’d be forever.”
“Yeah. Stupid, huh?”
“Not stupid. Just the wrong guy. Gotta wait for Mr. Right.”
“Well, he’s late.”
“All done here, dude.”
“Thank God. The manly tears were about to flow.”
“Can I look now?”
“Go ahead.”
Jenna swiveled on the stool and looked at Zach’s ankle. “It’s tiny,” she said.
“Someone told me it’s permanent,” he said. “I thought I should start small.”
She moved to get a better look and discovered that his new body art wasn’t a Sizzling Threeway but a tiny, tiny pair of daylilies done in a pinkish red on the outside of his ankle. The kind that hummingbirds were often painted or drawn hovering around.
Something in her chest shifted. “To go with my hummingbird?”
He nodded, smiling. “Seemed appropriate. If we’re in this together.”
She nodded, her throat tight, unable to come up with a snappy comeback.
His grin faded. “Do you like it? Should I have gotten the palm tree?”
“No,” she said. “It’s got a lot of potential.” She grinned up at him.
Zach paid the tattoo artist, and they headed outside. The late afternoon sun had been obscured by a patch of rainclouds over the ocean, and she knew that the frequent, but usually short, burst of afternoon showers was about to hit.
“I always wanted to get a tattoo for my mom,” Jenna said as he took her hand. “Elliot thought it was trashy.”
“We’ve established that Elliot’s opinions are worthless,” Zach said.
“True.” She bit at her lip, wondering if she should say anything further. It wasn’t like Zach was probably really that excited to talk about Elliot all the time. He’d been surprisingly patient over the last few days as she had started to work out her relationship issues. Well, ex-relationship issues. “I just…I think I need to focus on what I want. For me.”
“I think you’re exactly right.”
“And that starts with someplace to live.”
He looked away then back at her. “Will you stay in the city?”
“Yes, I think so. For now, anyway. I don’t have a lot of money, and I need to find a job, so it’ll have to be somewhere cheap.” She sighed. “I want to stay close to Aggie and the rest of my friends if I can.”
“Let me help you,” he said.
“I don’t want your money, if that’s what you mean.”
He sighed deeply. “It could be a loan.”
“No. But thanks.” The last thing she wanted from Zach was a loan or money of any kind. “It’s just…I need to do this on my own, you know? I want to do it on my own.”
“Then how about help with finding a place?” he offered. “And organizing things. I’m an excellent planner and checklist composer.”
Jenna laughed. “You are definitely a man with a plan. But don’t you need to work?”
“It can wait.” There was a pier with a shelter on one end, and as the raindrops started to fall, Zach and Jenna jogged to it.
They sat down on the bench, and Zach took out his phone.
“First thing is housing,” Zach said. “Rent or buy?”
“Wow. We’re doing this now,” Jenna said. “I guess you don’t know the meaning of the word procrastination.”
“Not in my vocabulary,” he said. “Rent or buy?”
“Rent for now until I figure out employment. I might have to get a job that’s outside the city and need to move.”
Zach tapped something into his phone screen. “Apartment or house?”
“Apartment, same reason. Easier to get in and out of if needed.”
“Roommate?”
“Maybe. Depends on the cost of the places I can find.”
Zach stopped typing and looked at Jenna.
“Why don’t you stay with me for a while? Just a few weeks, until you get back on your feet.”
“No.” She didn’t even have to think about it.
“Wow, that was fast. Not even a maybe.” He sounded a little offended.
She sighed. “I appreciate your offer. Really, I do. It would just be…complicated.”
Zach said nothing, just looked at her with a weir
d expression on his face.
“I mean, we agreed that this week was just about fun. Sex and fun and time out of our real lives. If we continued to see each other when we leave here and go home…well, it would get complicated.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said, looking at her, and for a moment, she thought he might be asking if…no. That was ridiculous. He’d said he was not a relationship guy. And Jenna? Well, she was a relationship junkie. To even entertain the thought was disaster. Total devastation. She had to quit cold turkey.
“You work all the time, and I…I need to figure some things out.”
“I see.”
Jenna got the strangest feeling that she had hurt his feelings somehow. She didn’t like the thought of that. “And besides, how would you explain me to your women?”
“My women?”
“Come on. There have to be women. You’re wealthy and successful and sweet and not too bad to look at. Not to mention a world-class lover. They probably hound you day and night.”
“Oh, those women,” he said. “Yeah. I could say you’re the help, I guess.” He paused then turned on the Smolder. “World class, huh?”
“Well, maybe not to the French judge. But from where I’m sitting, definitely a nine. With potential.”
“Hmmm. What do I need to do to get to a ten?”
“Telling you would be cheating.”
He touched her face and went in for a kiss. Gentle, thorough, delicious.
“Mmm…we’re throwing out the French score. Average is now 9.3.”
“Progress,” he said, putting his arm around Jenna and snuggling her into his chest.
Living with Zach would be amazing in some ways. This part. This would be amazing. And the talking. She hadn’t fully realized how lonely she actually was until Zach came along. It was sort of ironic that the loneliest time in her life was during her engagement to Elliot.
But as great as this was, this was temporary, time out of their real lives. Zach was a workaholic. He’d admitted that. And Jenna ultimately wanted a family and a life companion. Workaholic and family man were mutually exclusive.
The Anti-Honeymoon Page 14