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She wore a flared floral skirt that fell well below her knees and she’d teamed it with her prettiest blouse, an off-white button-down with delicate beading around the collar. The shoes on her feet were ballerina flats. Her make-up was understated, and although she had hoped for a sophisticated look, she knew she appeared to be exactly what she was, an elementary school teacher.
She put it from her mind, because it was, after all, the best she could do, and besides, for whatever reason, Zachary McIntyre wasn’t interested in her clothes. She knew that much.
When she arrived at the top floor, the receptionist led her to Zach’s office. After a brief knock, he called enter, and before she was ready, she was standing in his office with the door closed behind her.
When he looked up from the computer screen, he met her eyes briefly, and then he gave her body a cursory look before his eyes clashed with hers again. “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, Miss Turner. What can I do for you?”
The rage Katie felt all the way up in the elevator escalated when she heard the sarcastic tone of his harsh voice, and she was mildly aware that any teasing or cajoling quality she’d heard from him before was completely absent. So be it. It should make the situation easier to deal with it. After all, she regretted the softer emotions that she sometimes felt about Zach. If he was going to be sarcastic, those softer feelings would be easier to suppress. “Don’t play games with me, Zach. You know why I’m here.” She held herself stiffly from across the room.
He pushed his chair away from his desk, leaned back and crossed one booted foot over his knee in a totally relaxed posture that Katie didn’t quite buy. “Do I?” he asked.
Katie ignored his question and continued her diatribe. “I can’t believe you did it. I can’t believe what you did to my parents. To Josh and to me.” She stopped speaking to catch her breath. She needed to slow down and breathe properly so she could retain what little control she had left.
“Are you referring to when I kindly stopped the bank from foreclosing on your parents’ farm?”
“You didn’t kindly do anything, you bastard. You purposely manipulated my mother into telling you her problems, and then you ruthlessly took advantage of the situation.” Her chest heaved.
“Is that what you think?” he asked softly, too softly, with a kind of heat in his eyes that she’d never seen before.
“Yes,” she hissed. “Your intention was to blackmail me from the word go. You had no intention of helping them, not ever.” She took a deep breath. “You have no honor.” When she said that, something shifted in the room and a dangerous sizzle filled the air.
He was quiet for a long moment as if debating something and then he inclined his head and said softly, “Thank you. It was quite the coup, don’t you think?” One dark, masculine eyebrow rose.
“I hate you.” Katie hissed the words.
At her words, some indefinable emotion hardened what was left of Zachary’s heart and he felt his features turn to stone. She hated him? His temples began to throb and his mouth flattened.
In the three years since he’d seen her mother and set up the loan, he hadn’t given the money he’d lent to them a lot of thought. He remembered feeling satisfaction at the time, knowing damn good and well he’d get to call in the loan eventually, if he chose to. He’d even admit he had ulterior motives three years ago. But he’d put it on the back burner, so to speak, and as the years had passed, he’d slowly began to feel remorse for what he’d tentatively planned. He couldn’t actually blackmail Katie. And he didn’t want to. He didn’t want antagonism between them. He’d never wanted it to be that way between them. He’d even thought about extending the loan to the Turners with more favorable terms for them but had been so busy he’d forgotten about it. He hadn’t even realized the loan had been called in; it had been done automatically, through his financial department.
But here Katie stood, in front of him now, spitting fire and accusing him of something that even if he was guilty of briefly contemplating three years ago, he had never planned on putting into action.
Anger and a healthy dose of embarrassment licked through him. He’d actually thought he could wear her down. He’d sent her roses after roses after roses and for what? For nothing. For her to throw them away and probably have a good laugh at his expense. He was embarrassed to admit he’d been almost lovesick over her in the past. But not anymore. She didn’t want him and he should just leave her the fuck alone. But instead, he found himself snarling at her and giving back as good as he was getting. “Hatred is fine for what I have planned for you. In fact, hatred is the perfect emotion between us. There is not and never will be room for anything else. Remember that.”
The harshness of his own words pricked at his conscience, but damn, what did he have to lose? She hated him and always would. He hadn’t wanted it to be this way between them, but he was stunned to realize that after all this time, he was prepared to take her any way he could get her.
He came to his feet and crossed the large expanse of carpet until he stood in front of her. Taking her hand, he led her over to one of the two upholstered chairs facing his desk. He deposited her there and leaned over her with his arms caging her in. Fully cognizant of the fact that he was making a decision in anger that he knew he was going to regret later, he enunciated clearly, “Just so we’re clear on the deal. I’m assuming you know what I want from you to clear the note? Or am I wrong and you’re going to let me foreclose on your lovely parents?”
Katie shifted in her seat and closed her eyes. “I hate you.” She took a deep breath. “I hate you. I h—”
“Be quiet,” he hissed back at her, her hatred fuelling an emotion he refused to acknowledge. Instead, he allowed his anger to salvage his pride. “You’re being a sore loser and frankly, I expected better of you.”
“Really? You reduce me to whoring for you and you expect me to take it lying down?” The accidental double entendre of her words made him laugh, even though he was feeling no humor in the situation.
“Exactly. I want you lying down.” Zach grabbed her chin and was mildly shocked that his frustration was making him act so out of the ordinary. But God, he wanted her. And if he couldn’t have her heart, her mind, then he’d soothe himself by taking her body. He studied the striations of her deep green eyes and felt another vicious jolt to his guts. “I want you every way I can get you. Lying down, standing up.” He lifted her face up to his and held it clamped in the vise of his large palm. “And bent over, babe.”
Katie gasped and he took immediate advantage. He closed his lips over hers and took her mouth in a brutal, searing kiss that was indicative of how their future relationship would play out. Tears came to her eyes and one slowly rolled down her cheek and blended with the open-mouthed kiss.
He jerked his head back when he tasted salt and roughly used his thumbs to wipe away the moisture from her face. “Stop that. I don’t want a goddamn martyr in my bed. Tears do nothing for me. They won’t help your case at all. In fact, you keep that shit up and it’s going to piss me off. I promise you, in your situation, you don’t want me pissed.”
Katie shivered and lowered her eyes from his. If this wasn’t an example of him being pissed off, she didn’t ever want to experience the real thing.
She took a few sustaining breaths and tried to gain some control over her erratic emotions.
Zach stepped away from her. “That’s better. I need to explain the situation to you so you know what you’re getting into. I don’t want you to come back at me later with any complaints. After all, you can still back out. You don’t have to agree to anything. You have a choice. I won’t be accused of tricking you or forcing you. Understand?”
Katie nodded her head slightly.
He leaned back against his desk and surveyed her. “You’ve got what, a week or two left of the school year?”
“Yes. The rest of this w-week. I work at a private school, it lets out early.” Her voice was shaky.
“And have you sign
ed a new contract for next year yet?” He demanded to know.
Katie felt dread pool low, down deep in her belly. “No, not yet,” she whispered.
“Good. Don’t.” His answer was short, succinct.
