She had been perched on the end of her desk in front of him, obviously hoping he’d enjoy the view of her long legs and spiked heels. Keary hadn’t allowed his eyes to go lower than her chin. Eve stood up and stomped around the desk to take her seat. “You’re so much like Jack—straightforward. When will you learn a little guile, a little trickery, Keary? Come on, you’ve got to play the game.”

  He smiled. “I believe I do okay.”

  She nodded, eyes narrowed and focused on his face. “Yes, you’re your father’s son all right. Both of you will smile in a person’s face while ripping the shirts off their backs.”

  “I prefer the direct approach,” he countered. “I think it’s more upfront than to do it in secret. Besides, all of my father’s and my associates come out better than they began with our negotiations. Not many can say the same.”

  The blood suffusing her cheeks meant Eve knew he referred to her as being underhanded and stripping those she did business with. She wanted games, and they’d played this one before. Keary made it clear he didn’t like her methods, but Eve didn’t care about that. She wanted to believe despite those feelings, he wanted her because powerful men were often attracted to powerful women. If she only knew the truth—he’d shave his head and become a monk rather than take her to bed. Eve was far from being his type.

  At their banter, Debbie laid a hand on his arm, her eyes widening in alarm. He figured Keary was ruining any chance of getting Eve on board. “Hey, take it easy,” she whispered. “We want her with us, remember?”

  He was not concerned in the least and said aloud. “Don’t worry, Debbie, I believe Eve knows a good thing when she sees it, and we can count on her involvement in the Shore Project.”

  Eve sat in silence sulking. Keary knew her well. She would be stubborn as long as possible, make it look like she wouldn’t do it, and even try pushing them into begging her. But eventually, she would give in.

  “If you weren’t interested,” Keary continued, “you would have said no right away. Am I correct?”

  When she frowned, he thought he might have pushed her too far, but then her mood—as it often did—shifted. A sunny smile broke out on her face, and she stood up. “I’m hungry. Keary, take me to dinner.”

  “My pleasure,” he said simply. Inside, he growled in frustration. This was further delay in seeing Zacari. He stood up prepared to wine and dine this annoying woman until she gave him what he wanted. He’d keep it professional of course because there was no way in hell he’d sleep with a woman to get her business.

  As they prepared to leave, Eve tossed a glance over her shoulder at Debbie and sighed. “I guess you can come too, but when things get hot with me and Keary, you get lost.”

  Behind Eve’s back, Debbie looked like she would launch herself onto her, teeth gritted and fingers curled, long nails ready to rip into Eve. Keary took a step back to allow Eve to pass him out the door and caught Debbie mid-lunge.

  He took a firm hold of her arm and kept her at his side. He pitched his voice low and made sure they were a few more paces behind Eve. “Calm down. She does it to provoke you. She knows there will never be anything between us, and she’s pissed off that you’re so much more beautiful.”

  At his compliment, Debbie preened and clung to him, pressing a breast into his arm. Zacari’s naked form flashed through his mind, her full, sensitive breasts ready for his hands and his mouth. He put space between him and Debbie.

  “This isn’t the time for that. If you let on about the attraction between us, Eve will not deal. Debbie accepted his explanation, and backed off. Keary led both women into the elevator, and they descended to the parking garage.

  When they arrived at the restaurant Eve had chosen, he tried twice to reach Zacari, but she didn’t answer. He punched the drop button and tucked the phone into his shirt pocket. For the next couple of hours, they ate, drank, and spoke of anything other than business. By the time, Debbie and Eve had had a few drinks, they were more tolerant of each other. Keary kept his alcohol to nursing one glass of Tom Collins.

  Eve leaned forward and rested a hand on his thigh. “Why so quiet, Keary, baby? Aren’t you having a good time?”

  “Of course. I always have a good time with you.” He smiled and took the hand off his leg, but did not kiss it or caress it as she probably wanted him to.

  Eve popped up to her feet. “I want to dance. Let’s go dancing, Keary.” She spun to Debbie almost losing her footing. “I know plenty of sexy men who would do anything for me. I can give you one, and we could dance all night.”

  Debbie’d had too many martinis. “S-sure, but keep him for yer-s-self. I’ll take Keary.” Her words slurred so much, he didn’t think Eve had understood. Eve wiggled her hips, got her feet tangled and landed on his lap just as his phone rang.

  He moved to haul her off of him, when Eve giggled and found the phone in his pocket. He lunged for it, but she was too fast. She rolled onto the floor at the same time pressing the connect button. “Hello,” she cooed into the phone. “This is Keary’s phone, his lover speaking.”

  Keary snatched the phone away from her, not caring if he’d been a little too rough. Eve’s face reddened, and she whimpered “ouch, that hurt.” He ignored her to look down at the phone. The line had gone dead. In checking caller ID, he found what he dreaded most. Zacari had called.

  “This night is over,” he barked. “Get up, Eve. I’m taking you both home.”

  She struggled to her feet, her face a mask of drunken confusion. He settled the bill and hauled them both by their elbows. As Eve stumbled along, she mumbled, “What about the deal?”

  “Take it or leave it,” he ground out. “Get the paperwork on Debbie’s desk by seven a.m., or we’re no longer interested.”

  She fell into the front seat of his car. “Fine, I’ll take it. The papers are already signed. I’ll send a carrier.”

  Keary slammed the door in her face. He’d reached his limit. Most of the time, it took a lot to make him lose his temper, but knowing Eve’s games had made Zacari assume he was out having sex with another woman rather than talk to her had taken him there. He remembered everything about that night they met, including the fact that she’d been drinking because her boyfriend had cheated on her with her best friend. While his and Zacari’s relationship wasn’t defined, they had just been in bed together, and he’d be the lowest man on the planet to leave her bed only to find another woman’s the next night.

  While he did thirty miles over the speed limit, he dialed her. She didn’t answer. He dared not leave a message with the two other women in the car. No telling what other stupid remarks would come out of Eve’s mouth. Gripping the steering wheel harder, he ground his teeth. All this on top of the fact that Debbie would be in New York at his father’s house.

  He considered taking her to his apartment, but she might think he was ashamed of her or thought she wasn’t good enough to stay at his father’s house. Not being sure of the atmosphere or what was on Jack’s mind, he didn’t want to put more strain on her than necessary. There was no right solution. He’d just have to do the best he could, and that would start with him talking to her. Slamming his fist on the steering wheel, he pressed harder on the gas. No matter what the time, he would go to her place. He needed to explain and be sure she was okay. Work could damn well wait.

  Chapter Eight

  Zacari yanked clothes from her closet and more from her dresser. Her room looked like a cyclone hit it. She shouldn’t let Keary get to her, but she couldn’t help it. She’d cried when she hung up the phone. Stupid of her for falling in love with him and thinking that last night was special. Why would it be? It was sex.

  She brushed the wetness from her cheeks and dragged her suitcase to the top of the bed. An ache started in her side, and muscles in her stomach spasmed. She winced, rubbing her belly and breathing deeply until it eased. If she had this baby tomorrow it wouldn’t be soon enough.

  That thought stopped her in her tracks. “No. Hell no! He’s not going to affect the health of my son.” She looked down at her belly. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Everything is okay. Stop kicking Mommy now.”

  She laughed. Her son could sense everything that happened to her, especially when she was upset. Last week she’d treated herself to a movie, an intense one that made her scream out loud at points. Her son had kicked like a field kicker in a football game. She’d learned her lesson with that and would wait until after he was born to see anything that would scare her.

  The phone rang and buzzed on the nightstand, but Zacari ignored it. Let the bastard wonder what she was thinking. He’d gotten caught, like they always do. Zacari wasn’t an idiot. She knew Keary was smart enough not to let that woman answer the phone. In fact, she thought she heard a growl of anger just before she hung up. Whatever. That didn’t change the fact that he’d been with her in the first place. And here he had been trying to convince her he wasn’t seeing Debbie. Probably seeing them both.

  She stomped through the apartment to the living room and searched through her purse. “Damn it, where is it?” She hadn’t been able to leave it to Jack or Keary to know she might need a doctor’s note to say she could fly. Some airlines had no restrictions, but others did, and since neither Jack nor Keary had bothered to tell her which one they were taking, she had to be prepared.

  A few hours later, Zacari was all packed with her bag still on the bed. She wasn’t sure how long they were staying, whether it was one night or several, but she was prepared. Earlier, she’d considered telling them both what cliff to jump off, but she still needed her job. One thing was for sure, when she got back to Chicago, she’d start looking for something else. Maybe no one would want to hire a woman so far along, but she’d never know unless she tried.

  Weary and yawning, she checked the clock. Eleven thirty. She should have been in bed ages ago. Her stomach growled. “Of course you’re hungry now that it’s time to go to bed, she grumbled heading to the kitchen. In the refrigerator, nothing seemed appealing, not even her staple from last week, tacos.

  The bell rang followed by a couple pounds on the door. Zacari jumped, her heart thumping in her chest. Who in the hell would be visiting this time of night? And then she remembered Keary. She thought about not answering, but something told her he’d keep knocking and disturb the neighbors.

  She found the bat she kept in the corner by her tiny bookshelf and grasped it as she approached the door. “Who is it?”

  “It’s me. Let me in, Zacari, so we can talk,” Keary called out.

  “I’ll see you in the morning when you pick me up for the airport,” she replied. “Oh wait, you never bothered telling me what time did you? All I knew was what day I was being summoned!”

  “Baby, don’t be that way. Please, let me in. We’ll talk.”

  She had a flashback to Melvin, her ex, when she’d told him she never wanted to set eyes on him. “Aw, baby, don’t be that way.” Keary might sound sincere, but jerks were the same. They all had the same vocabulary.

  “I’m in bed!”

  He fell silent, and she thought he’d given up, but he knocked harder and longer. “I can keep this up for hours. Think your neighbors will mind?”

  She let out a small screech of anger and unlocked the door. When she’d wrenched it open, she didn’t look at him but pivoted to return her bat to the corner. Behind her Keary stepped in and locked the door. She picked up her pace back to her bedroom, hoping he wouldn’t touch her because already, flashes of them in each other’s arms were zinging across her conscious.

  Keary followed her into the bedroom and paused in the doorway. “Wow, looks like a cyclone hit.”

  Zacari glared at him and headed to her suitcase. “If you’re here to tell me how it wasn’t you, it wasn’t you fault, or the whole thing was a misunderstanding, save it. You’re not my man.” She put a hand to her lip and said with as much sarcasm as she could inflict into her tone, “Why do I feel like I’ve said that before?”

  “If you’ll just…”

  She grunted tugging on her suitcase. Keary rushed over to take it from her. “Don’t ever lift anything heavy. Ask me, and I’ll do it for you.”

  “Aren’t you sweet.” She rolled her eyes.

  His face fell, and she could have sworn he was hurt before he schooled his features. “Now that I think of it, I’m sure you won’t believe me. I remember what you said that night we met, that your boyfriend had cheated on you.”

  “Ex.”

  “Your ex. I think you deserve an explanation at least, even if we aren’t sure what we are at this point. As of last night, we were at least lovers. I do not jump out of bed with one woman and move on to the next.” Zacari remained quiet pretending she wasn’t listening to him as she straightened her room. He continued speaking as if she was. “I have a business associate whom Jack would like to come in on a project he’s putting together. For whatever reason, she is…uh…attracted to me. I haven’t encouraged it. Earlier, I needed to meet with her and Debbie to finalize the agreement. She got smashed and acted less than professional, hence the stupid words on the phone she snatched from my pocket. That’s all.”

  Zacari dropped the blouse in her hand and stared at him. Keary had spoken each word in a robotic monotone. She wasn’t ready to believe him of course. Did business people behave that way? Okay never mind, of course they do. I’ve seen some of them when they’ve had a little too much to drink. Not a pretty sight.

  “What time are we leaving tomorrow?” she asked rather than discuss his night out.

  Keary walked over to her and lifted her chin, but Zacari pulled away. She went to the bathroom to be sure she hadn’t missed any of the toiletries. She wanted them in her bag but accessible in the morning when she got up to get ready. Keary came behind her and lifted the small bag as if that was too heavy for her to handle too. With a noisy breath, she followed him out.

  “What you do in your personal life is not my concern. What time are we leaving, I asked.”

  “You’re not even going to comment on what I just said?” he grumped. She gave him a look. “I mean more than that. Zacari, I want us to work things out before we go to New York.”

  “And I don’t give a crap.” She whipped away from him to mentally go over everything she’d packed and to figure out if she’d forgotten something crucial. Keary sighed and let fall a few words she didn’t catch but figured were curses.

  He stalked across the room to her doorway and muttered, “six” and then slammed out of the front door. As soon as she knew he was gone, Zacari sunk to the floor and cried. When she remembered she’d have trouble getting up, she cried harder and then laughed at herself for being stupid.

  Late that night, she fell into a restless sleep after spending too long thinking about whether Keary was the good man he seemed to be. Before tonight, she thought he’d given her nothing to doubt him over, and his explanation did make sense. When she convinced herself that it didn’t matter, that they didn’t need to be in a relationship to be good parents, she finally got some sleep. Too soon, though, her alarm clock sounded at five in the morning.

  * * * *

  Zacari pretended to be asleep for the entire flight to New York so Keary wouldn’t bother her. At one point when she could no longer stand the crick in her neck from leaning one way, Keary reached out to gently lay her head on his shoulder. After that, Zacari did fall asleep and didn’t rouse until Keary woke her at LaGuardia.

  Near the baggage claim, a limo driver held up a sign that read “Keary O’Connor”. This time Zacari wasn’t so amazed by the luxury which was a part of Keary’s everyday life. She let him place a hand at her lower back and guide her into the car. When she was settled, he slipped in beside her, his hard thigh brushing hers. A shock of delight heated her pussy, but Zacari scooted away before the feeling got out of hand. She felt Keary’s eyes on her, but she didn’t meet his gaze.

  Sooner than she expected, they arrived at a beautiful but brick house, nestled among many trees. The house was a good size, but grounds eclipsed it. Keary commented, “Jack likes intimacy. He likes to keep his family close. Since I have only one sister and my stepmother, this was more than enough. Of course the grounds had to be expansive. He loves to ride as do I.”

  He thinks this is small?

  “You have horses?” she said aloud.

  He nodded.

  The limo pulled up to the front door. She’d wanted to ask him why he always called his father Jack rather than Dad, which to her didn’t sound like the intimacy Jack liked, but he was already opening the door to get out. Zacari followed him. From habit she was going to go to the back of the car to get her suitcase, but Keary blocked her path. Zacari glared at him. Damn, it wasn’t like she was some kind of modern woman who hated men doing things for her. She just forgot since she’d been used to handling her own with no one to help.

  Rolling her eyes at him, she turned around and walked up the two steps leading to the door. It sat open, and Keary half expected a servant or something, but the small pretty redhead standing there to greet them had to be Keary’s stepmother.

  “Hello, you must be Zacari,” she said with a friendly smile. She pulled Zacari into a hug which shocked her. “I’m so glad to meet you. Come in.”

  “Mom,” Keary said and kissed the woman on the cheek when she moved to him. So this woman he called Mom but didn’t extend the same to his father. Zacari looked at Keary and saw genuine affection there. She wondered where his mother was.

  Keary introduced the two of them when they were all in the house. Zacari clutched her hands together in front of her. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. O’Connor. You have a beautiful home.”