Temporary Boss...Forever Husband Read online

  It was all part of the game.

  But this—this was different. The feeling of connection, of understanding, cut deeper than desire or sexual attraction, slicing through vital organs and coming way too close to her heart. She swallowed, stunned by how easily he could slip past her defenses.

  As the song came to an end and the band switched tempo to an eighties pop number, Allison quickly slipped from Zach’s arms. “I think I’ll go, um, check my makeup.”

  She didn’t wait for him to protest or to hear if he even bothered, but she could feel the pinprick of his gaze following her until she escaped from the ballroom.

  Like everything else about the hotel, the ladies’ room was elegantly appointed, opening to a small lounge area with a vanity and mirror. Since she’d ducked away as an excuse to escape Zach for a few moments, Allison took only a cursory glance at her hair and makeup. But she needed time to remember all the reasons why she’d pulled away, and that wasn’t going to happen in the five seconds it took to touch up her lip gloss.

  Bracing her palms against the marble top, she gazed into her own reflection and hoped she could talk some sense into herself. He’s wrong for you, she mentally scolded the weakness sapping her willpower. If push comes to shove, he’ll throw you under the bus in a heartbeat.

  Just like Kevin had.

  She’d worked so hard to show she hadn’t simply gotten the job at the ad agency by being his girlfriend. She’d wanted to make him proud, to be sure not to embarrass him. And for all her hard work and consideration, he’d humiliated her, costing Allison her job and the respect of the coworkers she’d once considered friends.

  She had new goals and dreams now, ones that had nothing to do with work or relationships outside of her immediate family. She was going to be an aunt in a little over a month, and she was determined to make some progress in repairing her relationship with her sister as well as to discover the reason behind Bethany and Gage’s separation. She wouldn’t let anything get in the way.

  Confident she had her priorities in order and her hormones under control, Allison had already turned toward the door when she heard voices from further inside the restroom.

  “So tell us more about this gorgeous guy you’ve been after. Shouldn’t you have him wrapped around your finger by now?”

  Allison didn’t recognize the voice, but she remembered the tone. She’d had her share of frenemies in New York—supposed confidants who’d later delighted in her failure. She was reaching for the door, ready to sneak away when a second voice chimed in and froze her in her tracks.

  “I thought you were going to make your move last night, Riana.”

  She should go. Quietly slip out now without the women inside any the wiser. But even with her hand on the doorknob, Allison couldn’t make herself move.

  “Oh, don’t worry. I have everything under control.”

  “You sound pretty confident considering he brought a date tonight.”

  Go. Now. The words shouted in Allison’s mind, but she still didn’t move. Like when she was a kid and had to touch the stove just to see if it was hot, she couldn’t stop herself from listening even though she was just as likely to get burned. “Believe me, she isn’t someone I have to worry about. I know men like Zach. I know what he wants and better yet, we both know I can give it to him.”

  Riana couldn’t possibly have realized Allison was listening but as she slipped away, the woman’s words seemed meant for her ears alone. “What can Allison possibly have to offer him?”

  Chapter Five

  “I can’t believe you talked me into buying so much stuff.”

  “Oh, come on, Bethany!” Sitting across the table from her older sister at a family-style restaurant, Allison laughed, the sound a little too bright, a little too loud. Trying too hard… But the Saturday morning shopping spree was the first time Bethany had agreed to do anything with Allison since she’d moved back and she felt like she had when they were kids. Little sister tagging along—can I come, too? Please, please, please!—oh, so grateful just to be included.

  She would willingly take the blame—and foot the bill—for the entire morning.

  “You need that stuff,” she insisted as she speared a piece of hard-boiled egg from her salad. “Babies require a huge amount of accessories.”

  Bethany was still shaking her head as she flipped through the receipts. Three years apart in age, the sisters looked so much alike even total strangers had no doubt they were closely related. Always the more reserved of the two, Bethany wore her naturally blond hair in a simple bob layered to frame her face. She liked pastels and solid colors over Allison’s more vibrant prints, and had taken to wearing even more conservative outfits in the late stages of pregnancy. “All this for one little baby.”

  “How was your doctor’s appointment last week?” Allison asked as her sister finally set the receipts aside and turned to her own garden salad. “Did you have an ultrasound?”

  “No, I already had one a while ago.”

  She stopped with a bite halfway to her mouth before setting the fork aside. “You already know what you’re going to have?”

  And you didn’t bother to tell me?

  Hurt stopped Allison’s breath in her chest. She and Bethany had been so close once, sharing everything from clothes and shoes to their highest hopes and deepest secrets. But Allison didn’t even know the sex of her sister’s baby.

  “No.” Bethany shot her quick glance before she dropped her gaze back to her salad. “I didn’t ask. I want it to be a surprise.”

  “Oh.” Allison exhaled on a relieved sigh. “Sorry, I just—”

  She bit off the words before she could complain about feeling left out. Not only would the words sound pathetically self-pitying, but her complaint would open the door for her sister to point out three years’ worth of unreturned phone calls, missed holidays, and broken promises. Bethany might not have welcomed her back with open arms, but Allison had only herself to blame.

  After a brief hesitation, Bethany reached into her purse, tucked beside her on the booth’s red vinyl seat. “Here, take a look. I’ve been carrying this with me.”

  To Allison, the grainy photo looked like a snapshot taken of a television set that had lost reception. If not for the small, white arrow pointing to the baby’s head, she wouldn’t have had a clue what she was looking at. But what a difference that arrow made, transforming black and white nothingness into a living, breathing miracle.

  “Oh, my gosh! You’re having a baby!”

  Bethany rubbed a hand over her extended stomach. “Yeah, I’d kind of figured that out already.”

  “I know, but look!” Allison stared at the ultrasound picture, the miracle of her niece or nephew. “Have you thought of names? Of course you have. Do you—”

  “No, I haven’t decided,” Bethany insisted.

  Allison set the ultrasound picture aside, knowing her sister’s sudden reticence had more to do with her separation than it did with picking names for the child she carried. “Have you seen Gage?”

  Bethany shook her head. The quick movement sent her chin-length hair swinging. “Not since he moved out.”

  Her sister still hadn’t told her the reason for husband’s abrupt desertion. Even though their mother believed Allison would be the one her sister would open up to, Allison knew she’d lost the right to ask. It would be up to Bethany to tell her what had happened, and if she didn’t, well, then it would be up to Allison to keep her questions at bay.

  The silent separation reminded Allison of a rare fight back when they’d shared a room as kids. Bethany had walked off a line bisecting the area between their beds, an invisible barrier between the two of them. They were adults now, but Allison felt that emotional line and read signs in her sister’s expression that clearly warned, “Do not cross.”

  Still, she had to ask, “You are happy about the baby, aren’t you?”

  Her sister picked up the black-and-white picture. A smile trembled on her lips as she rubbed her
thumb across the image. “Of course I am. I’ve always wanted a baby. Always,” she voice drifted away on a whisper. “But this isn’t how I expected…things.”

  “I’m sure whatever problems you’re having with Gage, the two of you will—”

  “What about you?” Bethany asked suddenly, interrupting the encouragement Allison would have given.

  “What do you mean?”

  “How’s work?”

  Allison dropped her gaze to her salad, digging through the lettuce as if hunting for lost treasure. As kids, the sister had sworn they had a kind of sibling ESP when it came to reading the other’s mind. Despite the distance between them, she feared her sister would end up reading her thoughts—not about work, but about Zach.

  She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Allison owed Riana Collins. Overhearing the other woman’s conversation had shored up Allison’s defenses like no mental pep talk could. Success meant everything to Zach, and if he was going to cross the line from business to pleasure, didn’t it make more sense for him to cross it with Riana? After all, he’d made no secret of how badly he wanted the Collins deal, and Riana had considerable influence over who might get it.

  She could give Zach’s career an extra boost while Allison would be little more than a speed bump along the way.

  And yet when he’d walked her to her door last night, for a brief moment illuminated by her front porch light, she’d seen the desire in his eyes, felt the heat as his gaze locked on her lips, and knew he wanted to kiss her again. Maybe as badly as she’d wanted him to kiss her. But what did it mean that he was tempted to break his rules? That the sizzle of attraction between them was somehow special? Or was Zach simply the type to bend his beliefs to fit the situation?

  Allison didn’t know, and she feared it wasn’t possible to know until it was too late to protect herself and she ended up emotional roadkill once again. She was still dusting off from the last time and wasn’t willing to take another chance. So she’d ducked away with Riana’s voice ringing in her ears.

  I know what Zach wants… We both know I can give it to him.

  Allison had no illusions that she could make any such claim, but that didn’t keep thoughts of seeing Zach, working with Zach, from circling around and around until she felt dizzy.

  “Work is fine,” she insisted, but her sister still picked up on her uncertainty even if not for the reason behind it.

  Bethany gave a soft sound of disbelief. “Which means you’re bored out of your mind.”

  “I never said that,” Allison protested.

  “You didn’t have to. Anyone can see it.”

  Bethany spoke the words with an older sister certainty that had never failed to annoy Allison. She took a deep breath, determined not to fall into a battle of “am not” versus “are too.” “See what? And how? You’ve never been interested in my work.”

  “No, but I know what you’ve been doing. Yoga on Monday, pottery on Tuesday, gym on Wednesday, arts and crafts at the community college on Thursday, book club on Friday—”

  “Yeah, so I have a lot of interests,” Allison said, somewhat defensively even as she refused to make excuses for her sudden acquisition of a dozen or so hobbies or her dismal failure at most of them.

  “You have a lot of time because you have a job that doesn’t hold your interest. Even if you don’t want to admit it.”

  What Allison didn’t want to admit was that she’d purposely left time open with the hope of using it to salvage her relationship with her sister, an effort that so far had proved as big a failure as her hobbies.

  “I like the temp jobs,” she insisted, “and, well, the one I’m working now has turned out to be anything but boring.” She didn’t know what working with Zach would be like, but she wouldn’t be bored. “Besides, I wanted to be around for Mom. In case she needed me.” Thinking of her mother, Allison added, “I hope she’s having a good time.”

  Though it had been Donna’s idea to cruise the Mexican Riviera in memory of her late husband, Allison didn’t think her mother had ever traveled without her father. She’d certainly never left the country.

  “Oh, she said she’s having a great time.”

  “You talked to her? When?” Ship to shore calls cost a fortune, so Allison hadn’t expected to hear from their mother during the three weeks she was gone.

  “Yesterday while the ship was in port in Cabo San Lucas. She was only on shore for a few hours, so she called me to check in. I’m sure she’ll call you when she gets a chance. She didn’t want to bother you at work.”

  Bethany said the words casually, but for Allison, there was nothing casual about them. Bethany turned her attention back to her meal, but for Allison the bite of fresh bread had turned to glue, sticking in her throat and refusing to budge. Callously rubbing in the reminder of a missed phone call seemed too cruel even if Bethany hadn’t forgiven her, yet Allison couldn’t believe her sister had forgotten.

  The last time Bethany had tried to get a hold of her at work was with the news that their father had had a heart attack. In the middle of an important advertising pitch, it had been hours before Allison received the message. In the end, she won the account—but lost her father.

  Allison had to give Daryl Evans credit. When the man made up his mind to make a move, he didn’t wait. The original plan had been for Allison to stay on hand at the reception desk and help Martha ease back into working full time. But by the end of the day on Monday, the older woman was eager to get back to her old job and all too willing to ease Allison into her new position as Zach’s assistant, starting first thing Tuesday morning.

  Someone from IT had already set her up with a laptop and Daryl had arranged for another desk to be added on to Zach’s, creating an L-shaped workspace for the two of them. Martha had encouraged her to take the last hour of the day to arrange her new space to her liking, and Allison had transferred all her personal knickknacks from the receptionist’s area to the office she would now share with Zach. She’d just perched on the edge of her chair when Martha’s voice sounded over the intercom.

  “Allison, there’s a woman here to see Zach.” Lowering her voice, she whispered, “She doesn’t have an appointment.”

  “But he’s not here.” Allison hadn’t seen him all day, but that hadn’t stopped her heart from skipping a beat every time the elevator bell chimed.

  “I tried to get her to reschedule a time later in the week,” the receptionist was saying, “but she said she’d rather wait and that she’d be more comfortable in Zach’s office.”

  Riana Collins. Zach might have dozens of clients, but those words couldn’t have come from anyone else.

  “Go ahead and send her back.”

  Allison took a deep breath and put on her best professional smile even though she doubted Riana’s reasons for dropping by had anything to do with business. Her suspicions were confirmed when the other woman blinked in surprise as she spotted Allison. “I thought this was Zach’s office.”

  Despite the frown tugging at her brows, the other woman was gorgeous as ever in a ruby red sweater and black skirt topped by a short flared trench coat in deference to the gray clouds that had blown in over the weekend and lingered all day. She looked ready for a photo shoot, and in her own seafoam sweater and beige skirt, Allison felt washed out by comparison. Not even the floral scarf she’d added to give the outfit an extra pop of color helped dismiss the feeling.

  Still, she held her head high as she said, “It is. We share the space.” She took a brief glance at the desks behind her, grateful Daryl had outfitted her role as Zach’s assistant so quickly and slightly amused that, if anything, Zach appeared like the newcomer to the office. “Zach and I work very closely together, so if there’s anything I can do—”

  “I’ll wait for Zach. I called him earlier, and he said he was on his way back. But in the meantime, we’ll have a chance to talk.”

  Allison couldn’t think of much she’d like to do less, but she kept her smile in place. “I hear th
e gala on Friday broke a record for donations. Congratulations.”

  “The evening was a success. Everyone who was there said so.”

  Riana tossed her head proudly, but the bravado didn’t hide the hurt that Riana’s own father hadn’t been among the everyone. Allison felt a touch of sympathy for the other woman, but the feeling didn’t last long as Riana continued, “I have to admit, I was surprised to see Zach with you.”

  “Why is that?”

  “He doesn’t seem the type to have an office romance, but then I suppose it’s convenient, isn’t it? With as much as Zach works, you probably wouldn’t see him much if you didn’t work together.”

  The cutting dig was effective; no woman wanted to be thought of as little more than a convenience, and Allison had to force herself to remember that she wasn’t Zach’s convenient girlfriend. She was his pretend girlfriend, and no matter what she’d told Zach about her method acting, there was no reason for Allison to feel a tug of anger as Riana tried to jerk her chain. No reason at all.

  “Zach does work hard, but we make time to see each other. I guess you could say it’s quality over quantity.”

  “Well, I hope you don’t mind if that quantity takes a significant drop over the next few weeks.”

  “And why would that happen, Riana?”

  Zach’s deep voice struck a chord inside Allison that resonated throughout her body until her nerve endings started to sing. She turned toward the door and soaked in the sight of him, as if over the weekend she’d somehow forgotten how gorgeous he was. She hadn’t, but she’d spent much of that time convincing herself his eyes weren’t that blue, his dark hair that thick, his mouth that tempting, his features that perfect a combination of rugged and handsome. Time she’d wasted because Zach was all that and more.