Not in practice sounded like Rebecca wouldn’t be his usual speedy catch-and-release conquest. But maybe that was all right. He hadn’t lied to Trey the other night. He was tired of chasing females, only to leave them by the roadside. Admittedly, if this one let him bed her right away, he wouldn’t turn her down, but maybe actually talking to a woman on a date, with no expectations beyond that, wouldn’t be awful. He could relax and let her relax too. If she were as tightly wound as today’s exchange suggested, she needed it.
~
Like his CFO, Zane Alexander packed an extra punch in person. For one thing, he was plain old big—6’4” or 5” with muscle packed onto his muscle and shoulders she was certain could still play quarterback. Staring at him from her height-challenged state easily could have overwhelmed her.
Rebecca was fortunate she was ballsier than she looked.
Her hormones had a harder time digging in their heels. He was a hunk and a half. Great body. Great face. Killer smile and blue eyes. If Trey was quirkily good-looking, Zane was flat out handsome. His hair was a thick sandy color, expertly styled to create a just-rolled-out-of-bed, finger-combed casualness. He wore the same uniform as the rest of the magazine staff: straight-legged jeans topped by a short sleeve Henley with the Bad Boys logo on the left breast. No one looked bad in it, but as he leaned forward over his knees on that willow-shaded bench—the better to meet her gaze—he was drool worthy.
The gray waffle cotton hugged his torso lovingly. Even the sweat marks beneath his arms didn’t lessen his sexiness. From where she sat, his body’s reaction to the August heat just made him smell better. He and Trey both had good taste in cologne.
The fact that Zane had asked her out—and that she’d accepted—somewhat astonished her.
Should she have said yes? Would having dinner with him create more complications between her and Trey? Not that there necessarily was anything between them apart from a work relationship. They’d both agreed their hot-as-Hades indiscretion in the Bad Boys kitchen shouldn’t be repeated.
Crap, Rebecca thought, her insides melting like flambé—both for the hunk in front of her and the one she’d just remembered. A bead of sweat rolled down the small of her back. Could a woman cream through a pair of panties and blue jeans? That would be embarrassing.
“Rebecca?” Zane said like he was about to laugh. The back of one big knuckle brushed the side of her leg. It was a light touch, really, but it raised a pulsing tingle inside her clit.
“What?” she asked, aware she’d missed something.
“Is tonight okay for dinner? I could pick you up around six.”
He could pick her up, and they’d sit across from each other at an intimate table. She’d stare at that full-lipped mouth, watching it grin, watching it eat, wondering how it would feel eating her . . .
“Tonight is fine,” she said, slightly strangled. She didn’t have to sleep with him. Probably he wouldn’t want to once he realized what an oddball she was. She’d wrestle her hormones into submission. Rebecca was no stranger to self-control.
“Good,” he said, smiling at her and giving her thigh a pat.
That settled, he sat back and rolled his big shoulders. The way this shifted his chest muscles fascinated her. Despite his magazine-perfect grooming, he seemed as much animal as man. Rebecca truly couldn’t look away. He didn’t appear to have the same problem.
“Ah,” he said, his gaze directed toward the lagoon and the photo shoot. “Here are your brothers now.”
Rebecca jerked her much too X-rated attention away from him. Her brothers were indeed coming over. For some reason, the twins were dripping from head to toe. They’d been supplied with Bad Boy brand robes to wrap over their skimpy Speedos. Soaked state aside, they looked happy.
“Hey, Becca,” Pete greeted her. “Hello, Mr. Alexander. We were going to introduce you two, but I guess you took care of it yourselves.”
Rebecca’s head had a lot going on in it right then. Nonetheless, a light bulb did turn on. This whole thing—Pete’s claim that Charlie needed his meds, asking that she not change out of her snug old jeans—was the boys’ idea of a fix-up.
“Glad you’re feeling all right,” she said dryly to Charlie.
“Oh sure,” he said. “I don’t mind being tossed overboard with Pete. The other guys were only horsing around.”
“I meant you’ve recovered from your anxiety attack.”
Her slightly younger little brother had sufficient conscience to blush. “Oh. Um, that was a false alarm. Caroline didn’t show up after all.”
“That’s too bad.” Rebecca ladled on the sympathy. “Why don’t you invite her for Sunday dinner? I’ll meet her then.”
“Uh,” Charlie stammered. “I don’t— She might—”
Pete covered his snickers with his hand.
“I haven’t decided how to pay you back yet,” she warned him.
“Pay me back for what?” Pete said with his sweetest smile.
Zane stopped her answer by rising. “I see you’ve got family stuff to talk about. Go ahead and take a break, boys. I’ll see you—” he pinned Rebecca with a sexy smile “—around six o’clock tonight.”
“He’ll see you?” Pete repeated as soon as Zane was out of earshot. “He asked you out already?”
He seemed both delighted and surprised.
“That’s quick work,” Charlie said in a similar tone.
She wasn’t mad enough to scold them. The flattering aspects of having a date with a guy like Zane were making her giddy. On principle, she pretended to be annoyed.
“You two,” she said, “are lucky you’re too old to be grounded.”
~
The photo shoot was duller after Rebecca left, but Zane stayed until the end. Rebecca’s brothers waved goodbye to him as they straggled off with the others. Their gawky man-boyishness amused him, while their innate niceness reminded him of their big sister. She flitted in and out of his thoughts as he returned to TBBC’s headquarters. Work reclaimed his attention there, mostly. He had one meeting, two calls, and a boring report to review. To lessen the drudgery of that, he read the document on his tablet between showering and changing for dinner. Spending long hours at the office made it handy for him and Trey to share a trio of rooms behind their offices. They had a full bath, a walk-in wardrobe, and a quiet space with a napping couch.