“No…”
“I think you’ve gone on lying to yourself for years. You know how I know? Because I’ve been doing the same thing. In my arrogance, I thought you’d taught me such a bitter lesson I was immune to women like you…and to you specifically. Until I kissed you…”
She swallowed, suddenly not liking the way he was holding her, or the way he was looking at her with that big-bad-wolf grin.
“I’d better go.”
“You’re so damned beautiful.” He was staring at her as if she were a puzzle. “How can you look so innocent? I have enough money to buy practically anything, anybody, I want and I usually do. I want you. Why should I deny myself?”
Drawing her closer, he reached up and gently brushed away the lock of blond hair that feathered against her skin.
Her tummy flipped. Tenderness from him was the last thing she’d expected, and it caused hot, unwanted excitement to course through her.
He smelled of chlorine and sunlight, scotch and of his own clean male scent, which somehow she’d never forgotten. All of it together intoxicated her.
Her reaction frightened her. When she tried to back away, his grip on her wrist tightened.
“I want you to move in with me for a while. I want to figure out this thing that’s still between us.”
“Impossible!” He wanted sex. He just wasn’t going to say it. “There’s nothing between us.”
Again, she tried to jerk free, but his hand and body were granite hard.
“You’re such a liar. Before we kissed, I would have agreed. I wanted to believe that,” he said. “But unlike you, I’m uncomfortable lying to myself.”
“I’m under contract in New York. I’ve got an opening night in eight weeks. We’re going to be rehearsing, and I have several scenes to shoot for a movie in L.A. My calendar is full. Crammed.”
“So reschedule.”
“I have commitments, a life… Other people are involved. Producers, my director, the rest of the cast.”
“Odd-you failed to mention your movie-star boyfriend… Hugh, I believe?” His eyes darkened.
“Yes! Of course-Hugh. We’re in the same film.”
Zach’s grim smile held no satisfaction. “And you think I don’t have someone special or plenty on my plate?”
Someone special.
The thought of him having a girlfriend he truly cared about tugged painfully at her heart-which was ridiculous!
“Even I, who know next to nothing about the theater world, have heard the term understudy,” he continued. “Reschedule.”
“I hate you.”
“Good. We’re on the same page.” His voice was harsh. “You’ll live here, with me, weekends only-until your opening night. I don’t care how you live the rest of the week. Or with whom. I’ll be commuting here from Houston.”
“I have to know exactly what you want from me,” she whispered.
“I’m a man. You’re a woman. Use your imagination.”
“This is crazy.”
“You forget, I’m a gambler. Ever since you pulled your little stunt and nearly destroyed me, I’ve gotten to where I am by operating on my gut. If I feel like it’s right to go ahead with a deal, I do…whether or not I have all the facts to support my decision. Even if the facts tell me it might be the wrong thing to do-as in your case-I do it. It’s worked for me so far.”
“This isn’t business. I won’t have you gambling with my future, with Tuck’s future.”
“It’s the way I operate. Take it or leave it. Since I hold the winning cards where your brother and his band of merry thieves are concerned, I don’t think you have a better option.”
“Is it sex? Do you want me to sleep with you? If that’s it-just say so.”
“Sex?” His black gaze raked her. “I won’t say that offer doesn’t tempt me. Did you mean tonight?”
When she didn’t deny it, when she bit her lip and said nothing, he cupped her chin. Again, his hold was gentle, only this time it was more intimate as he studied her, his black eyes lingering on her lips before traveling lower. His hand stroked her throat. When his fingers slid briefly beneath the neckline of her dress, causing her skin to burn and her pulse to race even faster, she gasped in anticipation.
“I want you in bed, but it’s not that simple,” he finally murmured, removing his hand.
Only after he stopped touching her could she breathe again.
“I want you in bed, but I want you to be willing. So, this isn’t just about sex. Not by a long shot.”
No, it was about submission, about complete domination and control. She’d read plenty about how ruthless he was. He wanted to humiliate her as thoroughly as he’d humiliated his stepmother.
She shut her eyes because his gaze was too powerful and her own desire was beginning to feel too palpable.
“I loved you,” he whispered. “I trusted you, but you betrayed me.”
“I…I…loved…you, too.”
“Shut up, Summer! You and your stepfather and his cronies nearly sent me to prison. For statutory rape. I was nineteen. Now, any time a reporter shows up here or in Houston to do a new story on me, they dredge up the past. That’s not something I’ll easily forget. Or forgive-ever.”
“But…”
“Even though my uncle got me out of that mess, even though I’ve made a success of myself, a cloud has hung over my name. For years. No matter how much money I made. Because of you. Do you understand? At the least opportune times, when delicate deals hang in the balance, a belligerent press will hound me about those trumped- up charges, especially because you’re so famous now. No matter how high I climb, somebody’s always there, wanting to throw me back in the gutter where you put me. So, I came back to this town-to set things straight once and for all. I want to bury the past and silence my accusers. If you move in with me, everybody around here will think you approve of me and always have.
So, yes, this is about more than sex or revenge or whatever the hell else you think.”
“You seem to have done okay in Houston.”
“No thanks to you! If you’d had your way, I’d be a registered sex offender today. My uncle was at least able to get that part of my record expunged.” The rough bitterness that edged his low tone made her shiver.
“Despite what you say, your plan sounds like revenge.”
“You owe me,” he muttered. “You don’t want me to press charges and sic the crazy justice system on your brother, the way you stuck it to me. Because we both know how destructive and long-reaching the consequences for that would be.
If you do what I ask, Tuck gets a free ride. My plane and pilot will be at LaGuardia Airport every Friday at 3:00 p.m. to pick you up and fly you here for as long as your companionship amuses me. Be there, or by damn, I’ll forget how beautiful and vulnerable and innocent-looking you are and do as I please with your brother.”
“You wouldn’t-”
“Are you willing to risk Tuck’s future on that assumption? My anger over the way you railroaded me fueled my ambition to achieve all I’ve achieved. I doubt Tuck will be so lucky if you throw him to the wolves.”
She was shuddering violently when he let her go. Still, his burning eyes didn’t release her for another long moment.
“And I have one more condition-you’re not to tell a soul about our little bargain.”
“Don’t do this,” she pleaded softly.
“If it gives you any pleasure, I feel as trapped as you do,” he muttered.
“Then why are you punishing us both?”
“This meeting’s adjourned!” he said in a harder tone. “I intend to finish swimming laps. Naked. You can watch me or join me or leave. Your choice.”
Grinning darkly with cynical, angry amusement that stung her to the quick, his hands moved to his waist to shed his towel. Even though he took his time, and she had plenty of time to turn away, she stood where she was,
