"What's wrong?" he murmured.
"Nothing."
Without looking in her direction, his lips twisted into a small, sarcastic smile. "Look, I didn't mean anything by that. I was just getting you to relax."
So the kiss was purely mechanical. It was all a part of his grand scheme to turn her into a rebel. Or was it some kind of macho cop-out to save his self-esteem?
She wanted to ask but she could only manage, "Huh?"
He looked at her, his eyes smoldering dangerously behind hooded lids. She braced herself for what was to come. "Chalk the experience up to practice, Annie. You seemed to need it."
"What?" she exploded. "I need practice at kissing now?"
"Yeah." He looked away. "It's all part of being a wild child. Which you're clearly not," he said, his voice low and rough. "And since you'll probably have to kiss this Dug-E guy to convince him..." He trailed off and stood abruptly, his face turned away from her.
She stared at him, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "He's eighteen!"
Zack seemed to stiffen, but it might have been her imagination, wanting to get some sort of reaction. She sensed rather than saw evidence of the bubbling heat of anger boiling, barely contained, just below his controlled surface.
"Right," he said evenly. "He's probably got more experience than you."
Annie had to stand and move around to face him to get a good, satisfying, cracking slap on his cheek.
Zack's only reaction to the slap was a slight, mocking smile.
"Good," he said. "That's exactly what a rebel would do. You're learning." After a hesitation, he added, "Although it's not very becoming on you."
This time he caught her hand inches from his cheek.
"I think I'd better shut up now," he said.
"I think you should've shut up five minutes ago."
"You had your tongue down my throat five minutes ago." He still held her hand, but not tightly. She could've pulled free at any time. "Then all of a sudden you didn't."
Was there a hint of disappointment in his hooded eyes? It was difficult to tell with her heart thumping so hard she was practically blinded by the rush of blood to her head. "Sorry," was all she could say.
"Yeah, right. Well, now that things have suddenly become awkward I guess I better go."
"Guess so." She followed him to the door, cursing herself for letting things go too far, then cursing herself for not letting them go far enough.
"Are you going to take me for a ride tomorrow?" she asked, trying desperately to keep her voice steady. She wasn't sure what she wanted his answer to be. She wanted to see him again but that would mean falling deeper and deeper—something that scared her where Zack was concerned. He was so unattainable she didn't stand a chance. Not for what she wanted. And she wanted it all. The picket fence, the nursery full of babies and a devoted husband. Not a roll in the hay, no matter how good.
He shrugged, glancing up at the sky. "We'll see. Looks like rain."
"Right," she said quietly. "Rain." There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
CHAPTER 10
On Monday, it didn't rain and Zack didn't call. Annie went to work and she guessed he went to wherever he went to on Monday mornings. He probably had a stylish office but she didn't know where and she didn't know what he did there. Most likely he made millions of dollars with one phone call. It sounded so cool that she decided that was definitely what he did on Monday mornings.
She, on the other hand, spilled her first cup of coffee over her keyboard, bumped into Lenny in the hallway and mumbled through the obligatory "How was your weekend" conversation with him. He made a comment about how terrible she looked and she decided it was best to sit and hide at her desk for the rest of the day. It would be safer and she was less likely to kill someone.
She cursed the raging hormones that had kept her up all night and made the day even worse than every other Monday. Ever.
"Have a rough weekend, Annie?" Bob asked. She hadn't even noticed him approach her desk and she began to wonder if she'd actually fallen asleep sitting up.
"Something like that," she muttered. Zack's friend and her boss was the last person she wanted to have a chat with.
But Bob, holding a box of doughnuts covered in pink icing, pushed the papers on her desk to the side and sat on the cleared space, barely large enough for his behind. He placed the box beside him and crossed his arms, resting them on a stomach that strained the buttons on his extra large shirt. Annie kept one eye on the buttons in case they popped off and flew at her eye.
"What's up, Bob?"
He shrugged. "Nothing much, just wanted to see how it went with Zack over the weekend."
"Fine."
"You two hit it off?"
"More or less."
He shook his head. "You argued with him didn't you?"
She threw up her hands. "Why are you blaming me? Maybe he drove me to it." She cocked an eyebrow. "What has he said anyway?"
"Nothing, I haven't spoken to him yet. I noticed you were in a bad mood and I figured it didn't go well." He sighed. "Pity. I half expected you two to get along. Either that or you'd kill each other."
"I'm still alive," she muttered.
"Barely. You should look at yourself." He patted her shoulder and stood. The desk groaned in relief. "Don't worry. We'll just wing it when Dug-E arrives. We'll get by somehow."
Annie translated that as 'We don't have a hope in hell without Zack.' He was right. She had the clothes and a few riding skills under her belt, but she didn't have the attitude. Or a bike. Or the social contacts.
"Bob," she called after him. He returned, his feet moving quickly for a man past his prime with an unhealthy fondness for doughnuts. "Can you tell me one thing?"
"Shoot."
"Is Zack as...bad as his reputation suggests?"
His eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know? What did he say?"
She shrugged, trying to appear as if she didn't really care. She was an atrocious actor. "Nothing. I'm just getting mixed signals. One minute he seems so laid back and devil-may-care and the next he's tense and mysterious."
"He's not as bad as the tabloids make him out to be. He hates the public attention and I guess that can make him seem stand-offish. Get him on his ranch and he's a different man."
Zack had a ranch? How had this piece of information slipped her research? And why had he never mentioned it? Maybe he didn't want her to know.