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Her eyes became wounded, wounded for him, and she said softly, “No, that’s not it …nobody thinks you’re fragile … she told you?”
“About Josh? Yeah.”
She reached up and slid her fingers over his where he held her lock of hair. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for keeping it from me?”
“No—yes. No.” One side of her lips lifted in a sad smile, a smile that held commiseration. “I’m sorry for all the pain you’ve endured. I’m sorry for what happened, and now I’m sorry that knowing Josh and Hannah are together is probably very painful for you as well.”
He silently digested the apology that she offered so sincerely, and her inherent sweetness that allowed her to offer it to him, when she was in no way to blame for anything that had ever happened. An arrow of guilt slid down and burned into his guts. “It’s not your fault.”
She nodded her head softly, still holding his eyes as something passed between them. “And yet here I am,” she said, almost in a questioning tone.
His hand tightened in her hair. “No one said that I’m not an ass,” he said in a low tone, tongue-in-cheek.
“True,” she agreed softly, with a tiny glimmer of a smile that somehow seemed to calm him.
“Did you know they’re getting married?”
Zach could tell she took his question the wrong way when she shrugged her shoulders as if it were inevitable. “I imagine they will. They’ve been together forever. Josh won’t ever let her go and Hannah is just as crazy about him. Truly, Zach … you don’t have anything to worry about. He loves her so much.”
Zach knew in that moment that Katie hadn’t known about the other couple’s immediate plans and he rubbed his thumb over her cheekbone. “No, I mean they’re getting married now. This weekend.”
“What? No way!! Why?”
“Evidently he wants to and so does she and she says she doesn’t care about a big wedding so they’re doing it.”
“Vegas?”
Zach thought about it for a moment and tried to remember the conversation. “I’m assuming, we didn’t discuss that aspect. If they planned ahead, I guess they might do it at the courthouse, but I assumed she meant an elopement and that means Las Vegas.”
“Oh my God. My mom will flip a switch when she finds out. She’ll murder Josh for this.”
“Your mom? What do you think my parents will do? I don’t think Hannah’s mom will ever forgive her for this.”
“Are you being serious? She’ll forgive her.”
“Yeah, I know she will, but she’s going to be disappointed.”
“Well, I guess we all are. But it’s their wedding, after all.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, watching Katie intently. “I wish you hadn’t been scared to tell me about them.”
“No one thinks you’re fragile, Zach,” she reiterated. “But we knew you wouldn’t be happy and it wasn’t my secret to tell.”
“Okay, I get that. But I don’t want you scared to tell me anything, okay?” At her nod, he continued, “You can trust me, Katie. You don’t have to be afraid to tell me anything or to speak your mind.”
She looked at him with what could only be called suspicion in her eyes and the easy atmosphere between them seemed to dissolve in the blink of an eye. “How can I trust you? You’ve done nothing but try to hurt me, from the moment I became friends with Hannah.” Her voice became sharper as the words tumbled from her mouth. “You’ve called me names, insulted me, hurt my feelings, forced me into a relationship with you. I can go on—”
He cut her off. “No. Don’t go on. I get it.”
“Zach, this situation is impossible. You’ve been saying you won’t force me, and God help me, I’m beginning to believe you. But why? Why are we doing this? Why am I here with you? You hate me—”
“Goddamnit, Katie! I don’t hate you. Quit saying that. I don’t hate you … I—don’t know what I feel for you, but it’s not hate.” His tirade slowly ended and his tone evened out again. “I assure you, it’s not hate. It’s not even at the same end of the spectrum as hate; it’s not remotely close.”
They glared at each other, hostility and confusion evident on both their faces.
Katie exhaled a pent up breath. “You can let me go. You can let me out of the contract.” She warmed to the subject. “It’s simple. You can give my parents more time to come up with the money. I can go back to work and help them with the payments. We don’t have to stay in this situation. You can let me go.”
Zach raked his fingers through his hair and watched her picking nervously at a loose string on her shirt. Frustration screamed through his veins. He spoke softly. “I’m not letting you go, Katie. Forget it. It’s not going to happen.”
“But—”
“No.” His voice was adamant. “Quit thinking about it. Call me what you want. I don’t give a shit. I’m not letting you out of the contract. You have two truths here, sweetheart. I’m not going to force you, and I’m not letting you go. Bank on it.”
Katie stared mutinously at him.
Zach stared back until the seething silence became too much for him. “Fuck it. Go to bed.”
Katie didn’t need to be told twice. She pushed to her feet and threw the pillow in his direction.
He raised his arm and deflected it easily.
She was almost to the door when his voice rang out. “Wait.”
Katie stopped and turned, antagonism radiating from every pore of her trembling body.
“Come here. I want a goodnight kiss.”
“You want a what?” Katie asked, aggravated beyond belief.
“You heard me.” He stalked toward her and reached out one lean hand and encapsulated her wrist. “I want a goodnight kiss.”
“Are you insane? After the fight we just had?”
“I want a goddamn goodnight kiss and you’re going to give it to me. Get used to it. It’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen every night.”
Katie was about to blow a fuse. He was holding her tightly by the wrist, but that was the only contact between their bodies. Through the dark haze of anger she was feeling, a realization jumped out at her. She wasn’t scared. She wasn’t scared of Zach. She was pissed, sure, but not afraid of him. With that thought blazing in her brain, out of nowhere, she did something she couldn’t explain. She pushed her face toward his, and placed a quick, closed-mouth kiss on his lips. It was a firm kiss, her lips sealed shut tight, and she pushed so hard she could feel his teeth behind his closed mouth.
She jerked her mouth away. “There. Satisfied?”
The anger shimmering from Katie’s body could be felt pulsing through the wrist Zach held and it radiated up his arm and down through his veins. A vision of all that seething emotion let loose in his bed blasted through his brain. Shit, he wanted her. He had always wanted her and he was beginning to think he always fucking would. His anger abruptly dissipated and an unnamed emotion slid down his spine that began screwing with him in a different way. “Yeah. I’m satisfied. For now.” He leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss on her brow. “Go to bed.”
Katie turned and fled.
****
The next morning, Katie found the house empty. She poured a cup of coffee and went to the bank of windows overlooking the water. She watched as a lone figure ran on the beach, and it took only seconds to realize that it was Zach. Her sluggish brain slowly began to function and she began thinking about the night before.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the ring of a cell phone. She glanced over and saw Zach’s phone on the coffee table alongside his laptop. She’d never known him not to answer it. Not giving herself time to think about whether she was doing right or wrong, she picked it up. “Hello?” Her voice was still raspy from lack of use.
A moment of silence on the other end of the line ended with, “Hannah? This is Betty Cargill, sweetie. Is Zachary available?”
Katie straightened up and tried to focus on the conversation. She knew Zach’s secretary
was an older woman named Betty. “He’s out running right now, Mrs.Cargill. May I have him call you back?”
“How’ve you been, sweetie? I’ve thought of you often. Your brother isn’t very talkative, you know.”
