The Playboy Billionaire (The Romero Brothers, Book 3) (17 page)

“Where’s the tape, Selina?” Zack demanded
in a cool voice, his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants, his chin tilted
up.

Selina feigned innocence. “What tape?”

“Don’t test my patience, Selina.”

“Okay. I’ve had a change of heart.”

“I didn’t realize you had a heart.”

“Ouch. Now that really hurt. Okay, so I
deserve that, Zack. I’m here to offer a truce, Zack. I just…want to be friends
with you. I promise you, I won’t try to sell that magical time we had together
in Vegas. That will be our little…” she murmured as she leaned over to him, her
lips close to his but Zack was not responsive to her. “Secret,” she finished
her sentence.

Selina unhooked the
shirt
dress
she was wearing and it dropped to the floor. My God! She was stark
naked under there.

She wrapped her arms around Zack and slid
her hands through his jacket, trying to wiggle it off. “It’s over, Selina,
please get don’t do this to yourself. Get your clothes back on.”

“What? No way. Mr. Playboy refusing this?
What? Have you turned gay on me, Zack?”

“Do you think because a man is decent
enough to not have sex with you at the drop of a hat, he’s automatically gay?
Please, you're embarrassing yourself!” He tilted his head back and chuckled.

Selina was taken aback, fury flared in her
eyes.

She hugged her hands around his neck and
pulled him to her. “I know you want me. I don’t care what you say.” She forced
a kiss on his lips.

“Oh, God!” a voice cried out behind them.
It was Blue.

“Oh, fuck, no!” Zack hollered, biting down
on his lip. “Blue. It’s not what it looks like.”

“How could you…
.I
…?”
Blue’s eyes were tearful, getting red.

Selina was clearly enjoying the little
"misunderstanding." Oops!

“It’s okay, honey. It was only sex, nothing
more.”

Blue stormed out and stumbled down the hall.
Tears blinded her. Zack tried to reach out to her but Selina held him back. He
literally picked up Selina and placed her over by the table to move her out of
his way. Blue had managed to make her way to the driveway.

A pretty, scratch that, a gorgeous naked
woman was in his office, kissing him. A note was on the reception desk outside
his office that he was not to be disturbed! Shit! How the hell could Zack explain
this all to Blue?

Blue pressed her foot on the gas pedal as
she sped down the country road leading out of Mayberry Hill. Her heart was
palpitating in her chest.

Oh,
what a fool I was.

To think that Zack.
To think Zack and I…

Who could blame him? He was just like all
the rest. Liars. Cheats!
But…what about all that talk?
That felt so real. The way he made her feel was real. She should have listened
to him but the pain was far too great. Did he think she was an idiot?

The horrible memories of Elliot came
rushing to her mind.

Blue caught Elliot near the water cooler
with his hand up Emily’s dress, making out with her against the wall. “Oh,
fuck, Blue! It’s not what it looks like,” were the words that flew out of Elliot’s
mouth and stabbed her like a knife to her heart.

So that was what men called it now? “Not
what it looks like?” Well, it sure looked like she’d been taken in one too many
times.

Just then a silver sedan drove up near her
car. Was it Zack in one of his fancy cars? She couldn’t tell the model or the
make. The windows were tinted dark.

She felt her heart pound hard against her
rib cage again. Something told her, it probably wasn’t Zack.

This couldn’t possibly be déjà vu.

Her car suddenly sputtered and the engine
light came on.
Crap!
She was supposed
to stop by the gas station to fill up the tank. She had planned to do so but
had left her bag at the winery office and had returned earlier to grab it.
That’s when she decided to surprise Zack in his office. But, oh, the surprise was
on her, wasn’t it?

Her car slowed. It was grinding and tilted
to the side.

Crap!
She’d probably run over a nail in the road. She had a flat tire,
too!
Great!

One of the things she was going to do was
get a new car. But her father purchased this old car for her. It held such
sentimental value to her.

But that wasn’t going to help her now.
 
 
Blue hopped out of the driver’s side door
and went quickly to the trunk to grab the spare tire and jack. Her father had
taught her how to change her own tire if she needed to do so if stranded out
and about. She had the tools inside her trunk. But before she could reach into
it, a man grabbed her from behind and covered her face with a cloth.

Blue passed out.

Blue woke up, dazed. Where was she? Her
head hurt like hangover hell. What the heck had she inhaled in that cloth?
Well, she at least remembered that much.

She was in a hospital room.

“You okay?” Zack’s soothing voice called to
her. His hand was on her forehead gently stroking her head.

“Zack, what happened?” she groaned.

“It’s okay; luckily we got to the scene in
time.”

“Who was that?”

“I guess you were right about that
ex-Senator guy.”

“What?”

“He was the one who had this all set up. He
was trying to…hurt you.” Zack’s tone was serious, void of emotion. It chilled
her to hear him speak in that voice. But he was visibly upset as much as she
was.

Zack got up from the side of the bed. It
looked as if he’d been there all night. It was three o’clock in the morning.
She was at the county hospital.

“Why did you do that, Blue? You just ran
off without letting me explain. And you could have gotten yourself hurt out there,”
he said, looking out the window at the darkness with the city lights. He heaved
a sigh.

“Zack.”

“Blue, I would kill myself before I hurt
you like that, do you understand me? I used to be lady’s man, but I would never
have two women at the same time. Not all men are like that, Blue.”

“Elliot was.”

Zack swallowed. His Adam’s apple bobbed in
this throat. “I’m sorry about what happened between you and that idiot guy,
Blue. I’m not an idiot. Romeros don’t play that game. We’re raised to have
respect for our women.”

“God, I know how it must have looked,
Blue,” Zack said in a low voice, leaning against the seat by the window. Zack
explained the whole story about Selina and the videotaped recording.

“Oh, no. That’s…
.terrible
!”
she said, digesting the details.

“I know. But it’s over between us and it
has been for a long time now. I just wanted her to get help.”

“Do you think she’s made copies? Do you
think she’ll ever?”

“She handed over the tape to me. I have to
trust the universe that nothing stupid will show up somewhere online in the
future. But in the meantime I don’t live in the fear of what may never be.
Worry never solves anything.”

“I know.” Blue grinned. She was happy to be
okay with Zack again. She went crazy out of her mind thinking that they’d been
torn apart. She needed him, craved him,
desired
him to
be in her life, forever!

“Blue, I’ve never felt this way about
anyone before in my life.”

“I…I know.”

“How do you really know?”

“Your grandfather shared quite a bit about
you.” She grinned sheepishly.

Zack responded with a smile. “Yeah, my old
man is something, isn’t he?”

“You mean, your old grandfather.” Blue cocked
a brow teasing him back.

“Seriously, though. You know a lot about me
and I want to know everything there is about you. I need to know that there are
no surprises, Blue. I love you, and quite frankly, I want to spend the rest of
my life with you.”

Blue sat up on the bed, her heart gushing.
What had he just said? “You…you do?”

“I can’t stop thinking about you, Blue. I
don’t think I
can not
have you in my life. We’re meant
to be together.”

“I feel the same way about you, too, Zack.
I love you so much,” she said, leaning into his firm chest, feeling the warmth
and positive energy from him rushing through her body.
His
currents racing through her.

“Now, why didn’t you tell me about that
former senator, Aitkin?”

Blue pulled her head away from him to look
deep into his eyes. Tears stinging her eyes. “That he’s a creep, a lowlife and
a wife-cheater?”

“No,” Zack said, leaning closer to her. “That
he’s your father.”

Blue covered her face with her hands. She
recomposed herself and then got up.

“I…It’s a long story, Zack.”

“I have all night,
Blue
.
If we’re going to be together, I need to know everything. You believe he had
something to do with killing your parents, right?”

“Well, no. I mean, yes.” Blue drew in a
deep breath. She was shaking. Zack motioned to hug her but she
stopped
 
him
.
“I’m fine.”

She sat up on the chair and told him
everything. Blue’s mother worked for the senator and his family as a domestic.
He then later seduced her mother. Her mother fell pregnant the same time as the
senator’s wife. Of course, this would have caused great scandal to the family
and the senate.

So naturally, Blue’s mother married the man
who she grew up to know as her father. As far as Blue was concerned the parents
who raised her were her real parents—her only true parents.

“So in other words, you had proof the man
was a liar and a cheat,” Zack clarified, a disgusted look
on
 
his
face. “You
were
the proof. And he wanted to silence
you.”

She nodded solemnly. “My father, my adopted
father who is Courtney’s real dad, lost his job and he decided to blackmail the
senator into supporting all of us since he was my biological dad. You see
,
only Dad knew the real secret. He’d met and married my mom
when she was already two months pregnant with me.”

“I see.”

“I think he planned to get rid of all of us
to cover his tracks but he couldn’t do it himself, so he got others to try to
do the dirty work.”

“Well, you will no longer have to worry
about him.”

“W-why?”

“He was questioned by police last night.
They got a confession out of the thug who tried to kidnap you.”

“Oh.” Blue felt as if she would faint.

“Don’t worry about your family name. My men
are on the case. The senator doesn’t want any more embarrassment than you do.
And your mother’s—your parents’ good name will be protected. We’re seeing
to it that nothing gets out in the news. I think he’s going to accept a plea
bargain on this count. Apparently, leading a double life wasn’t his only pastime.”

“I see.”

“Listen,” Zack’s voice changed, “we're not
going to let anything bother us tonight, right? Let’s have a good night sleep
in…” Zack looked around at the modest size hospital room.

“You don’t have to sleep here, Zack. The bed
is like a cot to you.” Blue was ever so aware of his six-foot-four frame.

“Baby, as long as we’re together, I don’t
care where we sleep.” He nuzzled her on the forehead sending shivers of
pleasure down her spine. Oh, she loved to feel Zack against her skin.

She really felt his magic, his warmth, his
genuine affection and that
was
all she needed to get
by in life. That was all she needed, period!

In the morning when she woke up, Zack was by
her side. She kissed him on the lips as he lay in a dream-state sleep. She
giggled at how wonderfully innocent he looked bundled close beside her on the
bed. She managed to get off the bed without disturbing him and went into the
bathroom. Her eyes widened in shock when she looked at her left hand. Oh. My.
God!

How did that get there?

She looked over at Zack who was, probably,
pretending to sleep. A grin curled his soft, sexy lips. She tilted her head
back and laughed.

“Yes!”

He opened his eyes without effort. “I just
wanted to surprised you, baby. I’m glad it fits. Do you know how hard it was to
get your finger size without you knowing?” Zack cocked a brow.

On her ring finger, during her sleep, Zack
probably took his time and placed a beautiful diamond engagement ring on her.
The largest, sparkling one she’d ever seen.