‘Should I go there to see him before?’
‘If you want to.’
‘Is the surgery dangerous?’
‘Another bypass and a valve replacement, I believe.’
It was weird but hearing all this life-and-death stuff suddenly made the lies she’d been telling herself all day seem petty and ridiculous.
For someone who had spent her life avoiding excitement and danger, it was not easy to acknowledge the idea that had been growing in her head. Because if danger had a name and a face and a really incredible body, she was thinking of throwing herself at him, giving herself to him. The thought was scary and liberating at the same time.
Zach just tapped into a reckless part of her. It had required no effort on his part; just breathing did it. Her response would require more effort. Forget instincts, she needed to use her brain.
It would have been helpful if he had remained the unacceptable but very handsome face of capitalism; instead, she knew more, knew there was nothing two-dimensional about him. She understood when people did not want to discuss their backgrounds for fear of others assuming they were using it in some way, but why hide the things he was giving back to society?
She took a shallow breath and closed down the conflicting theories whirring around in her head. She had to get through the next couple of hours first.
‘Well?’
He arched a brow. ‘Well, what?’ And carried on walking, requiring her to skip on her heels to catch him up.
‘Well, isn’t there a list? Don’t eat with your mouth full, don’t get drunk and dance on the tables, don’t talk politics, insult the guests or slag off the powerful and influential even if they are total sleazes?’
‘I think you have covered the essentials and the file had everything you need in it.’ He paused. ‘But actually no one here should give you a hard time. This will get easier.’
‘Well, at least I won’t get drunk so there will be no online pictures of me dancing on the table. I only got drunk once and I didn’t like it.’ The memory made her wince, but underneath she was feeling moderately pleased she was proving they could have a normal conversation without any sex stuff getting in the way. It had all been in her head anyway.
He looked amused. ‘It rarely stops anyone repeating the process.’
‘I had my drink spiked.’
The amusement slid from his eyes. She had the impression he didn’t even know that he put his hands heavily on her shoulders, but she knew they felt very heavy; she couldn’t move.
Actually, she wasn’t really trying.
‘What happened?’
‘I was at a nightclub for someone’s birthday. It was all right, my friends got me out of there.’ She chose not to think what might have happened if they hadn’t, if the two men trying to half-carry her out to the waiting car had succeeded. ‘For a while I struggled with trust, but then I realised I was letting fear rule my life.’ She stepped a little ahead of him, paused and twirled around to face him, hitting him full blast with her golden stare, leaving him no escape route.
‘You have to trust someone sometime, don’t you think, Zach?’
He could feel the pulse pounding in his temple. ‘Is there some sort of message in there for me?’
She shrugged. ‘Just throwing it out there. Some people are bad. They hurt you, but there are a lot of people that are good, too. You miss such a lot by pushing them away.’
‘And if someone spikes your drink?’
‘I refuse to live in fear...’ Her beautiful smile flashed out. ‘I had friends to look out for me and here... I have you, I think?’
He ignored the voice in his head that yelled coward, his eyes sliding from hers. ‘Tonight you do, but there are a lot of tomorrows. There is such a thing as too trusting, Katina.’
‘How so?’
The exhaustion came over him in a tide; fighting the uncontrollable urge to take her in his arms became in the space of a heartbeat just too much. He stopped fighting and surrendered to the roar and the hunger, the ache of wanting.
Holding her wide eyes with his, he placed one large hand in the small of her back, noting the flare in her golden eyes as he curved his free hand around the back of her head and dragged her into him.
She did register that the combustible, exciting quality that she was always conscious of in him was not in the background but right there, in her face, reminding her he was too male, too everything. But nothing running through her head had prepared her for what his intention was. She was in denial right up to the moment that his lips covered hers.