No, he said. I dont need help. This is all I brought. He paused. If you hadnt spent your night here waiting on me, what glamorous place would you have been?
In L.A., at Hughs premiere.
At the mention of Hugh, Zachs eyes darkened.
I was going out there this weekend because we start shooting together next week.
Are you two doing a love scene? His voice was hard now.
More than one.
Annoyed because hed nailed her and because, like most people, he so obviously attached undue significance to anything of a sexual nature on film, she ignored his question.
I dont want to talk about Hugh with you.
Good. Because neither the hell do I.
She hesitated, wondering why he sounded jealous and not knowing where to go from here. Are you hungry?
Look, theres no need for you to worry about me. Its late And Ive screwed up your schedule enough today as it is.
Of course he was right, but he looked so bone weary, as if it had taken everything out of him to get here while shed rested on his plane and had been pampered at Grams.
Ill just put some cheese and ham out, she said. You bought it, after all.
Not so that you would stay up and wait on me. I can take care of myself.
It wont take a minute, she insisted, stubbornly refusing to let him boss her around.
Okay. Ill be back down after I freshen up. He left her and carried his bag and briefcase upstairs.
By the time he strode into the kitchen, shed opened a bottle of wine and set a single place for him at the kitchen table.
When he sat down, she noted that his black hair was still gleaming wet.
Youre not eating? he said, sipping wine, when she hovered but didnt sit.
I ate at Grams earlier.
Not those chocolate-chip cookies she baked just for me, I hope? he teased.
She bakes them for me, too-even though I tell her not to. Summer grinned back at him. As she pulled out a chair, she couldnt stop staring into his utterly gorgeous eyes. Was there a man alive with longer lashes? A tiny pulse had begun to throb much too fast at the base of her throat, causing her breath to catch.
What was going on? How could she actually be so thrilled he was here, safe and sound, when hed forced her to come to him, when he intended to deliberately humiliate her? When Thurman and the rest of the town were judging and accusing her? When Hugh was sulking in L.A. and her agent and director were apoplectic? When shed disappointed poor, darling Gram, who was hoping for a happy ending to this farce?
I had a few cookies after a chicken sandwich, she replied, striving to sound nonchalant. Dessert is allowed sometimes, you know.
Even for an actress who has to keep her perfect figureso shell look mouth-wateringly sexy in those love sceneswith Hugh?
His angry black gaze flicked over her breasts in her thin T-shirt. His male assessment accused her even as it made her blood heat.
Love scenes in movies arent the least bit sexy. Theyre all about creating an illusion for the viewer.
Is that so? You always were good at creating illusions.
He glanced away abruptly, trying to hide his obvious interest in her body and his fury at the thought of her with Hugh, but it was too late. Suddenly the walls of his kitchen felt as if they were closing in on her, and she couldnt breathe. How could he charge the air between them with a mere question and a hot, proprietary glance?
You have no right to attack me or to look at me like that. No right at all.
Then maybe you shouldnt dress the way you do, he muttered in a tone so savage she knew he was as provoked as she.
Im wearing an ordinary T-shirt.
His hard eyes burned her breasts again. Right. I guess its the fact the materials so thin and youre braless underneath thats getting to me.
Sorry!
When she felt her nipples tighten and poke at the cotton fabric, she clenched her hands. He was impossible. Since hed come back to Bonne Terre, hed been turning everything into some sort of sex game.
Why youre determined to put us both through a weekend like this, I cant imagine.
He stared at her for a long time. You know why. Just as you know you have it coming. He stabbed a piece of cheese.
I think Id better go back to bed, she said abruptly, not trusting herself, or him, or the intimacy of their cozy little situation. Were obviously not a couple who can cohabitate easily and naturally.
At her rejection, his dark face was suddenly blank and cold. Good idea. Go ahead. Ill clean up-alone.
Youre supposed to be a billionaire. Why dont you have staff to do all that?
Because theyre people, and Id have to deal with them and their problems. Because I want to live informally here and not be bothered by too many prying eyes. Because I couldnt be herelike thiswith you, if I had a staff. Not that I dont have a cleaning lady. And my secretary just hired a gardener. So, do you have more questions about how I live my life before you leave me in peace?
He wanted her gone! She was getting on his nerves! His attitude infuriated her. Hed blackmailed her into coming here, hadnt he? Hed launched the blatant sexual attack.
What had she expected-wine and roses?
Her heart pounding, she turned stiffly. Marching to her bedroom, she locked herself in and threw herself on the bed where she lay wide-awake, tossing and turning and staring up at the ceiling for what felt like an endless time.
Her mood was ridiculous. She should be thrilled he didnt want her tonight.
She heard the savage clink of dishes and silver in the kitchen, of a garbage lid being slammed, of the disposal grinding violently. His heavy tread resounded in the hall outside her door and on the stairs. Then he stomped about in the room above hers. Something crashed to his floor so hard she sprang to a sitting position. Fisting her sheets, she stared at the ceiling listening, but after that bit of violence, he quieted.
When he turned on the water, the sound of it hummed in her blood. She imagined him naked in his shower with hot suds washing over his warm, sleek muscles. And despite what hed said to anger her, she wanted to go up and join him.
Slowly, she got out of bed and went to her bathroom. Stripping, she turned on her own shower. When the water was warm, she stepped into the steam, threw her head back and let the pulsing flow drench her. She cupped her breasts and imagined him seizing her, thrusting inside her. She imagined her hands circling his hard waist. She imagined pressing herself against him even tighter as she begged for more.
The water ran down her limbs and circled in the drain. Sighing in frustration, she fell back against the tile wall while the spray streamed over her. A strange sensation of loss and a fierce longing to move beyond their past and their present darkness possessed her.
She clenched her fists, beat the tiles, but it did no good.
He disliked her, yet he would force her to stay with him.
He disliked her, yet he would force her to stay with him.
Did he intend to hook her on his lovemaking and then laugh at her and leave her? Would he flaunt their relationship to everybody in Bonne Terre and beyond to prove she and her stepfather had wronged him?
She closed her eyes and pushed her wet hair out of her face. Because of her own shameless desire, she was on emotionally unsafe ground.
How would she make it through the weekend without falling more deeply under his spell?
Five
When Summer awoke the next day, she sat up slowly, her heart racing, as she thought about Zach upstairs in his own bed. Except for the birds, the house seemed too quiet and dark. But that was only because she was used to pedestrians on the sidewalks and tenants on the stairs, to sirens and traffic, to garbage trucks making their early rounds as the Upper West Side woke up.
Fearing Zach might not have slept any better than she had, she crept noiselessly from her bed to the bathroom where she brushed her teeth, washed her face and combed her hair.
Rummaging through her suitcase, she put on a T-shirt and a pair of tight-fitting jeans. Okay, so hed probably comment on how tight they were, but she didnt own any other kind.
Grabbing her script, she headed for the kitchen where she found a bag of coffee. She closed all the doors before she ground the coffee and started a pot. Listening to the birds, she decided it might be more fun to work on the porch.
She went to the door and was taking great pains to open it without making the slightest sound, when the security alarm began to blare.
With a little scream, she clamped her hands over her ears and fought without success to remember the code.
Blast it! she muttered as Zach slammed down the stairs.
Wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, and dragging a golf club, he hurled himself into the kitchen.
My fault. I forgot about the alarm, she said, staring at his chest and finding him heart-throbbingly magnificent. I was trying so hard not to wake you.
He punched in the code and set the golf club down. Its okay. Usually I get up way before now. Coffee smells good. He raked his hands through his hair.
It does, doesnt it? She broke off, tongue-tied as usual around him, maybe because his gaze left her breathless.
Did you sleep okay? he asked in a rough tone.
I guess.
I had a tough night, too, he murmured, grinning sheepishly.
His super-hot gaze made her tummy flip. Suddenly, sharing the kitchen with him when he was sexily shirtless, when he kept his eyes welded to hers, seemed too intimate. She felt as awkward as she would have on a first date when she knew something might happen but didnt know what. Quickly, she turned away and poured herself a coffee. Then she scurried outside. Behind her she heard his knowing chuckle.
Not that she could work out here, she mused, not when he was bustling about in the kitchen.
Concentrate on something else! Anything else but him!
The morning air was fresh and cool, and the sky a vivid pink. As her frantic gaze wandered to the fringe of trees that edged the far corner of his property, three doe and a tiny fawn picked their way out of the woods in a swirl of ground fog to nibble a clump of damp grass.
Summer tiptoed back to the kitchen door and pushed it open. Holding a fingertip against her lips, she waved to Zach to come out.
When he joined her, he smiled, as charmed by the scene as she.
Ill bet you never see anything like that in Manhattan.
There are all sorts of amazing sights in Manhattan, she murmured in a futile attempt to discount the awe that sharing the dawn with him inspired.