Beautifully Irresistible (17 page)

“I’m good, thanks, Jasper,” I replied as he gave me a hug.

As hugs went, it lasted a bit too long and I realised that Jasper was breathing in the scent of my hair.

“Son, put my woman down, would you!” Zack laughed as he appeared in the kitchen.

“Sorry, Dad!” Jasper said, quickly pulling away from me.

Zack gave Scarlett a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he gave me a long kiss on the lips. We were like a little family unit, only he had no idea of what the real purpose of me working here was.

That made me sad.

Zack left shortly after and I realised with the events of last night, he hadn’t told me about the merger and how the meeting went.

After the school drop off, I went to the police station for a meeting with DI Ross.

“Come in, Black. Are you alright after yesterday?” he asked me, showing a tiny bit of concern for me.

“I’m fine thanks, Sir,” I replied.

My lip was a bit of a mess.

“We got Alan Scott to confess about the video that he had taken and we pressed him to tell us what else he knew.”

“He said he saw Phoebe Cole arguing with a tall man in the woods on the day of her disappearance. Apparently she saw him and screamed at him to get lost. I don’t think he hung around. She was on her horse. Unfortunately, this unknown man had his back to him and he didn’t see his face. He was wearing a baseball cap. Alan was too far away to hear the conversation. His eye sight is very poor and he didn’t seem to have a clue as to the identity of this man but he said it wasn’t Tyler Henderson as this man was a lot taller.”

“I see. So she was arguing with a mystery man in the woods. We really need to find out who he was.”

“I know. We will have to do more digging. Tyler Henderson is due in this afternoon for a little chat. I don’t think we will get much out of him. He was obviously the last in a long line of lovers. I will let you know what we find out. See you next week and shut the door on the way out, would you?”

He was such a charmer DI Ross. I was thinking about another look in Zack’s study and possibly a trip into his office might be helpful although more tricky.

There could be suspects lurking there if her holding up the merger was motive for her murder.

“Hi, Jennifer, are you alright after last night?” PC Anderson asked me as she passed me in the corridor.

“I’m fine, thanks. I had a lucky escape.”

“Mr Cole is absolutely gorgeous, you lucky thing!”

I smiled as I thought about him.

“Yes, he is and he is a lovely man.”

“Have you got the hots for him?”

“Yes, a bit” I laughed.

What I meant was a lot. Like the love of my life.

“Ha! It was good seeing you. Take care.”

I headed back to the house and pottered about in the kitchen, baking some cupcakes for Scarlett and Jasper. Marcia was cleaning the bedrooms so whilst the cakes were baking, I decided to nip to the study to see if it was unlocked again.

When I reached the study, I was pleased to find the door unlocked and I sneaked inside. Zack must have forgotten to lock it or Marcia needed to clean it. I started to rifle through the drawers but turned up nothing except an expensive ancient bottle of Scotch.

Come on! There had to be something in here!

As I concentrated on the task, I suddenly heard Marcia coming down the wide staircase, humming loudly. Trying not to panic, I ducked underneath the desk to hide in case she came into the room. Seconds ticked by. She opened the door and picked up the bin to empty it. I held my breath.

“I will do in here tomorrow. Yes, that’s what I will do,” she said to herself as she resumed her humming.

Thankfully, I heard the door shut behind her after a few moments. As I clambered out of my hiding place, my shoulder knocked into something that was taped securely to the underneath of the desk.

I ran my finger lightly along it and quickly realised what it was.

It was a gun.

My heart was pounding and my mouth was dry.

Carefully tracing around the edge, I gently pulled the tape off and the gun dropped onto the carpet.

Touching it as little as possible, I found a large envelope in the desk drawer and dropped the gun inside it.

I crawled out from under the desk and quietly opened the study door, checking around before I bolted upstairs to hide the gun in my bedroom. I then casually returned to the kitchen to take out the cakes.

Before I picked up the twins, I dropped into the police station to give the gun in to Ross.

“Good work, Black. I will send this to the lab and fast track it to see what we can pick up,” he told me.

Pulling up to the school, I saw Scarlett standing waiting for me on the steps.

She was with a boy. He had quite long, very dark hair and he was a definite improvement on spotty Ollie. His handsome face lit up as he talked to Scarlett. So this was Connor. As I came to a stop at the kerb, Connor put his hand around her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. As kisses went, it was quite a long one and I had to stop looking at them as I started to feel quite uncomfortable.

“Bye,” she shouted, waving at him as she got into the car.

“Is that Connor?” I asked her, wiggling my eyebrows.

“Yes, he’s gorgeous, isn’t he?”

“He looks very nice, Scarlett.”

“I can’t wait for this weekend!”

“Don’t you think you should tell your Dad?”

“No, not yet. I promise I will after the weekend. I just want to see how it goes first. He won’t be happy, though!”

“As long as Connor treats you well, your Dad will be fine. I will speak to him about it and fight your corner for you.”

“Thanks, Jennifer.”

“Get a room, Scarlett!” Jasper grumbled as he got into the car.

“You need talk! I saw you with your tongue down Amy’s throat at lunch time!” she shouted angrily.

“Well, that’s different!” he grinned.

“Given up playing it cool, have we, Jasper?” I teased him.

“Oh yes!” he laughed, putting his headphones on.

When we pulled up to the house, I noticed that Zack’s Range Rover was parked up. He must have finished early. My stomach did a little flip as I crashed straight into him in the hallway.

“Sorry!” I giggled.

He was wearing a dark blue suit with a grey tie. As always he looked handsome, virile, delicious and outrageously fuckable.

My mouth started to water at the breath-taking sight. Zack scooped me into his arms and kissed me long and deep. I hummed my delight as I melted into his embrace. His tongue twisted with mine. A wonderful feeling rushed from my scalp down to my toes, making them curl.

“Lovely,” I gasped reluctantly pulling away from him.

Scarlett and Jasper laughed as they dumped their bags.

“Hello. Good day?” he asked smiling at us all.

“Very good, thanks, Dad,” Scarlett said, winking at me.

Other than finding a gun in your study, that is!

“Ooh, do I smell cakes? I love cakes!” Scarlett said, bolting into the kitchen.

Jasper was in her wake, following the delicious odour. I had placed the cakes on a fancy stand that I had found in the cupboard and they looked very nice if I said so myself.

“Yes, I made them for you two.”

“Don’t I get one?” Zack asked, pouting.

God, he looked so sexy. His gorgeous mouth curled up in a grin as he pulled me into another hug, wrapping his arms around me.

“You can have one only if you are a good boy!” I laughed.

Jasper had already stuffed two into his mouth and Scarlett told him off for being such a pig.

“You are taking the night off, Miss Black. I am taking you to Chez Mario tonight to wine and dine you.”

“Ooh, very nice. I have heard it’s very posh there.”

“Only the best will do for you, my princess.”

I quickly found something for the twins to eat in the freezer.

“Well, I better go and get ready and make myself presentable,” I told him as I went upstairs.

I put on a sexy bra, suspenders, stockings and a thong. Looking at myself in the mirror I saw that I was a sexual creature and I had Zack to thank for that.

I didn’t have many smart outfits with me but I found a simple black dress with quite a plunging neckline. I am quite curvy with an hourglass figure.

I would have rocked in the fifties.

Zack was waiting at the bottom of the stairs wearing a casual shirt and dark grey trousers. He looked like he had just stepped off the catwalk in Milan. Zack looked absolutely gorgeous and I still couldn’t believe that he was mine.

Well, sort of mine.

“You look beautiful, Jennifer, and I see you are wearing the earrings I gave you,” his lovely eyes shone as he looked at me.

“Thank you, Zack, and you don’t look too shabby yourself!”

“Wow! Jennifer, you look gorgeous!” Jasper said as he passed me in the hallway.

His eyes gleamed at me as he leaned forward and kissed my hand.

“Keep your hands and eyes off her, Jasper!” Zack told him.

He glared at his son, nudging him out of the way.

“Sorry!” Jasper mumbled, heading upstairs.

Our taxi pulled up outside and we climbed into the back. I greedily breathed in his lovely scent as we sat together.

As we drove along, he took my hand in his and kissed my fingers, never taking his eyes off me. I felt desire course through my body. He leant over and kissed me as I ran my fingers through his thick hair.

God, I wanted him so much, in fact, all the time. Would this feeling ever go away? I doubted it.

The taxi came to an abrupt stop outside the restaurant.

“This is your stop love birds,” the taxi driver laughed as we pulled away from each other.

As we entered Chez Mario, a small round dark-haired man rushed over to greet us.

“Mr Cole, it’s so good to see you.”

“Thank you Mario.”

“Would you like your usual table?”

“No, another will be fine,” Zack replied stiffly.

He looked annoyed.

“Whatever you wish, Mr Cole. Please follow me.”

We took our seats at a quiet table in the corner.

“Are you okay?” I asked him gently.

“I’m sorry. I’m fine. Phoebe and I used to come here in happier times. I just don’t like thinking about her when I am with you.”

Zack ordered some ridiculously expensive wine and we waited for our food to arrive.

“Are you alright after the Alan thing? I have been worried about you all day.”

“I will be fine, thanks to you,” I smiled at him.

I wished that I could stop thinking about the gun. It was really worrying me.

“I think that Jasper has developed a full blown crush on you, Jennifer!” Zack laughed.

“Oh god,” I groaned giggling.

“He has good taste, like his father!” Zack whispered, leaning over to kiss me.

He had a wicked look in his eyes and I knew full well I was going to get it again later. Our libidos were clearly extremely well matched.

How absolutely marvellous!

Our food came and we chatted about growing up. New Orleans sounded amazing and a lot more fun than North Yorkshire.

“Good evening, Zack.”

I looked up and a tall dark-haired, not particularly handsome man was standing at the side of our table.

“Good evening, David.”

His face took on an annoyed expression.

“Who is this divine creature and where have you been hiding her?”

“This divine stunning, beautiful woman is my housekeeper and live-in lover Jennifer!” Zack boldly declared.

I just about managed not to spray a mouthful of red wine all over the table.

“Oh, I see. It’s very nice to meet you, Jennifer” David told me, shaking my hand.

I was dying to laugh.

“Enjoy your meal, David,” Zack said, rudely dismissing him.

“Who was that?” I giggled.

“My idiot work associate. He winds me up so much, he is so incompetent.”

We were continuing with our meal when a very attractive blonde in her late thirties sauntered over to our table.

I took back what I said about the table being quiet.

“Zachary darling, how are you?”

She fawned over him, touching his shoulder. A surge of jealousy washed over me as my hackles rose like a cat.

“Tara, it’s good to see you,” Zack told her, standing up and kissing her cheeks.

“I’m Tara darling, Phoebe’s best friend,” she informed me, looking me up and down.

“It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Jennifer, Zack’s housekeeper,” I told her, leaving out the lover part.