The Executive's Decision (16 page)

“We’re meeting clients. So, I promise to keep my hands and manners in check.” He touched her arm and pulled her closer to whisper in her ear. “But before the night is over, you’re mine.”

The sudden twinge in her chest made her want to run. Was it a promise or a threat? She told herself she had to stop worrying. He wasn’t going to hurt her.

There were four others at the table waiting for them. Regan hoped to God she looked okay and their little
romp
in the backseat hadn’t stolen all her professionalism.

“Zachary, how nice of you to join us.” The first man stood. He was tall, gangly, and as old as her father. He shook Zach’s hand and then hers before introducing the others at the table.

Regan sat next to Rebecca, the older gentleman’s assistant and only other woman at the table. Rebecca graciously made conversation while the men bantered about business.

“So you’re Zach’s new assistant?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ve been with him a little over a month.”

The woman nodded. “Mary Ellen had her baby, then?”

“Yes, that was on my first day. Her water broke right in the office.” She reached for a breadstick from the basket on the table. “She had a little girl. Cute as a button.”

With meals ordered, business went on around them. Regan caught a few names she recognized, and they filled her in on the plans for the ground breaking. All the while, Rebecca watched her with a thoughtful eye.

When the meal had ended, Regan excused herself to the ladies’ room. When she walked out to the sinks, Rebecca was there.

“They are such bores. I tell you, if I wasn’t getting paid to pay attention, I think I’d die of boredom,” she said as she fixed her lipstick.

Regan only smiled, but Rebecca still watched her in the mirror. “I just can’t get over the feeling I’ve met you,” she said.

“I don’t think so. This is the first trip I’ve made with Mr. Benson.” She was careful to keep her professionalism by not calling him Zach.

Rebecca tilted her head, and her brows drew closer together. “Where did you work before?”

“I was in Hawaii before. I didn’t make it away from the islands for a few years. I’m sure I resemble someone.”

“Perhaps.” She continued to stare.

When they returned, Regan was relieved to find the men standing at the table shaking hands ready to leave the restaurant. They said their goodbyes and walked outside.

The car waited for them. Zach let Regan in and then followed. She kept her eyes focused out the window. She didn’t want to look at him, afraid that he’d see she was hiding something. She’d never thought anyone would remember her, but they did. Rebecca was proof that her past was still here.

Zach touched her arm gently. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, just fine.” But it wasn’t fine. She’d recognized Rebecca as well, though she wouldn’t have been able to call her by name. They had met. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Regan had been prominently displayed on the arm of Alexander Hamilton. It had been one of the very few times he’d taken her into public with him when she was pregnant. She let out a jagged breath, hoping Zach wasn’t watching as he took a call on his cell phone. Seeing the woman at lunch had made her worry that she would eventually run into others who knew her, and she didn’t want to risk that. As far as she knew, Alexander Hamilton lived his happy life with his wife in a plush villa in Italy, and he thought Regan was dead.

She’d assumed their paths wouldn’t cross again—until today. Now she was scared for her life again. And not only for herself, but for Zach too.

She was bigger than her past was, she reminded herself with a deep breath. Her fresh start of a new life had happened the morning her car wouldn’t start and she fell into Zachary Benson’s lap. She wasn’t going to let that go.

Zach had upgraded his room to a suite to impress her. During the ride to the hotel, she hadn’t smiled once and had barely said a word, but when she saw the suite, a cool smile formed on her lips.

“Zach, this is beautiful.” She spun around in the entry.

“I’ll fix you a drink.” He walked to the stocked bar and poured her a glass of wine and himself a whiskey and Coke.

She was staring out over Dallas when he handed her drink to her. She’d tilted her head when he moved behind her, exposing her neck. It was long, slender, and his need to kiss it grew irresistible. His lips skimmed her skin and her pulse quickened under his lips. Regan turned into him, and he slid his free hand around her waist to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. She felt small in his arms, fragile, and feminine. He took their drinks and set them aside then gathered her back into his arms.

He pulled her blouse from the waist of her skirt. She shuddered. “Zach…”

He didn’t like the fear that clouded her eyes when he touched her. Her body tensed again, and he drew back. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I know, but I’m afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Of you rejecting me later.” Her words were sharp, and they stabbed at him. The pain in them made him bitter toward every man who came before him. But he wanted to be the last, and in order for that to happen, he had to find a way to break through that wall she kept between them.

Zach shook his head and then rested it against hers. “Let me show you what it’s like to have a man who truly loves you touch you.” He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. Their color shifted and he could see the battle brew beneath them.

Finally she nodded.

He skimmed his finger down her neck and to the first button of her shirt. He unfastened it, and she sucked in a breath. “I’ll go slow,” he promised as he unbuttoned the second button. “I’ll treat you as you should have been treated. Regan…” He focused on her eyes. “I love you. I will never hurt you.”

A faint smile formed on her lips, and she nodded again.

Zach locked his eyes with hers. “Let me taste you.”

Regan closed her eyes and let her head fall back. The moan she let free from her throat gave him the permission he’d sought out.

He skimmed his tongue down her neck toward the generous opening in her blouse. One by one he released the tiny buttons until her skin was beneath his fingers.

He licked and nipped down her neck and chest to the swell of her breasts. He unhooked her bra. She quivered in his hands as he cupped her breasts and sampled each nipple with his tongue.

Her hands were in his hair, her head thrown back, exposing the delicate skin of her throat which he feasted on again.

“I’m ready,” she whispered. “Make love to me, Zach.”

An excitement he’d never felt before pulsed through him when she said she was ready. She was surrendering more than her body to him. She was giving him her heart.

Every muscle in his body tensed as he brushed a kiss over her lips, scooped her legs from beneath her, and carried her to the bedroom. He laid her down and looked at her. He unbuttoned his shirt as she looked up at him.

Regan sat up and began to unbutton his slacks. She met his chest and stomach with gentle kisses as she pulled away the fabric and let the pants fall to the floor.

Zach pushed her back to the bed and pulled the skirt from her hips. He didn’t look down at her naked body. He only met her eyes.

She reached, pulling him atop of her. She wrapped her legs around him, and he couldn’t wait any longer, but he couldn’t just take her. He had to protect her and that meant taking the moment to leave her body and find the condom he’d put in the drawer.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said breathlessly.

“I promised I’d take care of you.” He rolled on the condom then gathered her back into his arms and kissed her as he entered her. A faint gasp escaped her as he rocked himself inside of her.

The slowness of the moment was over. Heat and desire took over. She met his pace as he dug to be deeper and deeper inside of her. Her hands clung to his back. Her fingernails clawed at his flesh. She quivered her acceptance of him inside of her, which took him to the edge.

Pleasure burned inside him. His body pressed hard to hers as he released. His mouth consumed hers. It had gone quickly, but he couldn’t have waited. He’d never wanted to touch and feel another person as much as he had with Regan.

“I love you, Reagan. I love you so much,” he said with his weight still on top of her, keeping her still.

Tears welled in her eyes, and he moved to her side, his arm still draped over her.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry. I only meant…”

“I’m sorry. It’s been a very long time.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks as fast as she could. “I’ve broken every promise to myself,” she said with her voice quivering. “I shouldn’t be here now. I shouldn’t be wrapped in your arms with you telling me things like this.”

She rolled from him and gathered her discarded clothing.

He touched her back. “Don’t run from me. No more running.” But she wouldn’t face him. Zach sat up and gripped her shoulders, resting his cheek to her back. “Tell me why this frightens you. Tell me why I can’t get close enough to you to love you. Tell me what happened.”

She shook her head and then let out a cry.

“All you need to know is I fell in love with a man I worked for, and he hurt me.”

“Did he hit you?” Every instinct urged him to grip her tightly and hold her, but he didn’t want to scare her. He pulled back his hand.

“I’m not fragile,” she said, but really hadn’t answered his question.

“Regan, you have to open up to me. I love you, and you’re shutting yourself away from me. There is nothing you could tell me that would change how I feel for you.”

She turned to look at him. “I’ve only had three lovers before you. I thought I was in love with each of them. I know now I was wrong. I was young with the first two. But I gave myself to them wholeheartedly. With the last, the one who… well, the one who hurt me, I surrendered completely.” She clenched her jaw and shook her head. The tears had stopped, but he could see she was now angry. “He could say all the right things. Do all the right things and make me believe things I never would have believed in. I left a good job for him. I followed him. He was rich, handsome, and persuasive. I was his assistant. We traveled the world, but I was to stand by his side with my notebook open and my mouth shut, and I knew how it was.”

She looked away and took a deep breath. Her hands had clutched into fists, and she shoved back her shoulders as she turned to look at him. “What I didn’t know was that he was abusing me. Mentally. He was tearing down my defenses and building walls with rules and gifts. In the end the walls were so tall I didn’t see the bulldozer. I didn’t see he was keeping me and loving another. That with his influence, charm, and money he had chosen someone else for his wife. In my insecurities I never noticed that I had even helped plan some of the events.” Tears began to fall, and she wiped them quickly.

“He married his
woman
. The woman chosen for him by his parents and their money, a woman that he’d been sleeping with as long as he was with me. My heart was ripped in two. He was my boss. He used me, betrayed me, and left me. And yes,” she started, then paused, and swallowed hard. “He hit me.”

Zach’s entire body tensed, and he took her hand and gripped it tight. She covered it with her other hand, which was cold and shaking. “I returned to Nashville, lived on my savings, worked small jobs to keep sane, and I survived. Fate brought me to your door, and now I’m afraid it’ll happen all over again.”

He eased back and looked at her. “I’m sorry, Regan.” He skimmed her hair with his hand. If only he knew who the man was, he’d see to him. He’d make him pay for his mistakes. Every part of him wanted to rip him apart for hurting the woman he loved and keeping her from loving him. “I cannot promise you that through all this I won’t hurt you at some time. It’s human to make mistakes. But I will promise that I will never lie to you. I will never do wrong by you or harm you. If you or I choose to go our separate ways, we do so honestly. And just for the record, I’m not ashamed of what we have. You’re not just my assistant. You are a vital part of my life at the office and away. I meant what I said. I love you.”