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Chapter Eleven
Dale was trying to look intrigued by what Cybil was saying, really trying. But he was losing the battle fast. This had been such a bad idea. The woman was beautiful and sexy but boring him out of his mind. All he’d been thinking about the whole damn evening was the woman who sat across from them at another table. Zoe.
It was so crazy that they’d picked the same restaurant the sisters did. It was not as if there weren’t any other nice places around. In this part of town there were too many to count. But he and Darryn had agreed quickly that this was where they wanted to go to.
After this morning, he had tried to put Zoe out of his mind and focus on his date for the evening. But his body wasn’t interested in anything his brain was trying to convey.
And to make matters worse, he had to witness another man touching her. He didn’t like that. At all. He had another woman with him, there was nothing between him and Zoe, and the fact that another man touched her shouldn’t bother him. Except, it did.
When he and Darryn had entered the restaurant earlier with their dates, he’d known Zoe was around even before he’d seen her. Something happened to the air around her, something he picked up on every time.
So when he turned around and saw her there, laughing with her sister, he wasn’t even surprised. His first ridiculous reaction was to be relieved. Relieved because she was with her sister and not with another man.
And, hell, she looked magnificent. She wore a tight-fitting, short grey dress, seemingly demure, but he caught a glimpse of a pair of high-heeled sexy black boots peeping out from underneath the table. His heart lurched, his pulse quickened, and both had yet to settle down.
Zoe’s cool gaze when Darryn stopped at their table infuriated him. She’d barely glanced in his direction. And all he could think of was kissing her until the coolness disappeared. Because he’d felt the heat beneath her cool façade, knew exactly what to do to bring it to the surface.
He’d also seen the whole exchange between the two sisters, the waiter and the two men who had just about been slobbering all over them. He’d seen it because he had been watching Zoe for most of the evening. And what he realized now was that if he couldn’t come up with an excuse why he and Darryn had to leave quickly, Dale might just do something extremely foolish.
“Are you ready to leave?” Darryn asked in a clipped voice, and before anyone could answer, he signaled to the waiter to bring the bill.
Relieved, Dale stood up. Darryn was clearly also not enjoying his date. “I’ll settle the bill, you get the car,” Dale said and left. Behind him he could hear the two women asking Darryn what was next on the agenda for the evening.
He turned back to offer an excuse for why he had to go home, but Darryn was already talking to them.
“Maybe another night, ladies, we have an urgent early morning meeting,” he said.
Dale settled the bill and went out to find his brother. Usually an evening with Cybil ended in bed, but tonight he couldn’t wait to drop off his date. Just the idea of touching someone else was making him feel ill.
At least one thing had become quite clear this evening. No other woman would do while Zoe Sutherland occupied his mind, body, and soul.
*
Somehow, Zoe wasn’teven surprised when she heard the buzzer of the door downstairs.
She pressed the button. “Dale?” she asked in as cool a voice as she could.
“Zoe… how… Yes, it’s me. May I come up?”
Zoe’s finger hovered for a second before she pressed the button to open the gate downstairs. Then she opened the front door and walked back to the lounge. Hannah had had a quick cup of coffee, but had left a while ago, thank goodness. She didn’t want to think about what her sister would have said.
She sank down on the couch and combed back her hair. Damn it, she should be in bed, sleeping, but she was so restless and kept thinking about Dale—about the woman on his arm, about why she was upset to see him with someone else, about Peter Walsh working for them, about how and why she got the job in London.
At least now that Dale was here he could provide answers about Peter Walsh. It was the only reason she was glad he was coming up the stairs to her flat.
The front door closed.
“Zoe?” Dale called, and she heard him walking down the corridor.
“Come in, I’m here,” she said at the same time as he appeared in the doorway.
Her heart lurched, the way it always did when she saw him. Damn it.
She attacked, flinging out questions before she said something she’d regret. “Why didn’t you tell me Peter Walsh worked for you? And whose idea was it that I got work in London? And why?”
Without saying a word, Dale lifted an eyebrow and slowly advanced until he stood in front of her. She had to bend her head backwards to look up at him.
For long minutes he stared down at her until her neck protested.
