An Eye for an Eye: Zach and Katie's Story (Redwood Falls) (18 page)

When Katie's fingers tangled through his hair, Zach was totally unprepared by the physical move that she made toward him and what it would do to him. He stood transfixed as pleasure hit him between the eyes and slid down and gripped him in a tight vise around the heart. The feel of her lips clinging to his and her hands holding tightly as if she never wanted to let go were both new and so appealing to his senses that he wasn't sure for a moment that he'd be able to leave her as he'd intended. He ached to have her naked against him, and he knew that she was feeling the invisible web of attraction that had always pulsed between them. His hold tightened around her; she felt so perfect in his embrace that he had the instinctive knowledge that no one else would ever feel the same to him. From the moment that she'd come into his life as a teenager on the cusp of womanhood, he'd wanted her with a fever that couldn't be extinguished.

With a possession he couldn't seem to control, he felt his hands tightening on her soft skin. He drank from her mouth; he needed this kiss like he needed the sunshine and wind on his face to feel alive. He drank from her mouth as if there was no tomorrow, he held her to him with the knowledge that the minutes away from her would feel like hours.

Stunned by the feelings within herself, Katie jerked her mouth from his but continued to hold his head in her hands and their gazes caught and held.

His warm brown eyes devoured hers for a moment, and with what looked and felt like great reluctance, he dropped his hands away from her and took a careful step back.

He cleared his throat. "Be safe, babe," he ordered her again, reminding her of his earlier mandate. "I'll see you tonight."

And before she could completely recover, he turned and left the room.

****

Dallas, Texas

Zach walked swiftly through the underground car park toward the bank of elevators that would take him inside his Dallas office. His mind worked feverishly on how quickly he could solve the point of contention the consortium had with the lines running through Bosque County. He already had a handful of the most brilliant minds in the business working on the problem. And that was good. He wanted to smooth it over, offer a compromise that both parties could agree to, and then get back to Katie as quickly as possible.

It hadn't been the most opportune time to have to leave her by herself. He wasn't afraid to admit to himself that the emotion he was feeling in his gut was fear. Fear she would up and run while he was away; fear that if she did, he wouldn't be able to push through his guilt and move forward with his plans for her. And that wasn't acceptable to him. Being in her vicinity wasn't cooling the heated need he had for her. Being in her company was only making his emotions stronger, sharper. He'd known for a long time that what he felt for Katie Turner was dangerous. But it wasn't something that he could fight against.
He wouldn't fight against
. He wanted her and it wasn't something he wanted to delve into too deeply. With her, he was on automatic pilot, ready to do whatever it took to have her. Now that she was under his control, he would do whatever he needed to do to keep her that way.

And what that was at this moment, was to take care of his immediate business and get back to South Padre, where she waited for him.

He had thought briefly of taking her with him, but had quickly thrown aside that idea. He didn't want her anywhere near Dallas anytime soon. He wanted to keep her away from what was familiar, keep her just a bit on edge, keep her mixed up in a way that left her vulnerable to him. He wanted her to lean on him, turn to him for her needs; he wanted to be the anchor in her world. For now and for the unforeseeable future. If she came to rely on him for those things, it would build a bond between them, a bond that he would quickly take advantage of by binding her to him before she was aware of what was happening.

His cell phone buzzed as he rode the elevator up to his office. He pulled it from his pocket and felt a quick burst of pleasure that Hannah was calling him.

Two hours and a mountain of paperwork later, he'd dealt with the problem with the consortium and was ready to give Hannah his undivided attention when she called and said she was waiting outside his office.

He stood to his feet and walked to the door to greet his little sister.

He held his cell phone to one ear while he twisted the door handle and stood back with a smile to let her in.

Hannah turned and gave the secretary who was on duty a smile. Zach smothered a laugh. The woman was a temp, and unfortunately had probably refused Hannah entrance. But she'd solved the problem in her own way, by calling him on his cell, and Zach reached out and pulled her into a bear hug. He closed the door and she followed him inside and plunked herself down in one of the two chairs that faced his desk.

As he walked around behind his desk and sat, he asked, "What are you doing in the city?"

Hannah eased back in the chair and he couldn't help but notice that she looked uncomfortable. She studied him for a moment and the look in her eyes wasn't inducing any warm feelings within him. "I'm only here to see you."

Pleasure hit him, but only momentarily. Something had to be wrong for her to travel this far and want to see him face to face, when a phone call would have been sufficient for mere pleasantries.

He zeroed his gaze in on her and asked immediately, "What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath and blew it out nervously, ruffling the wisps of blonde hair around her face. "Nothing's wrong in my life, but I don't think you're going to care for what I have to say. If your reaction to Katie is anything like--"

He jerked to attention at her comment. "Katie? What's wrong? What does Katie have to do with this?"

His sister seemed to be momentarily flummoxed into silence at his reaction. Her eyes left his and landed on his pen, which he held in a grip so tight, he thought he might break the object in two. Just as quickly, he began tapping the pen on the desk in a rhythm that reflected the stress he suddenly seemed to be under. His reaction was undoubtedly unnerving to her and she hadn't even started talking to him yet.

Her brows came together in a frown as she raised her gaze back to his. "Nothing. I was just going to say that since you don't like Katie--"

Again, Zachary couldn't control himself and he cut her off. "I don't dislike Katie." His tone was strained; he couldn't keep it from his voice.

Hannah seemed surprised he would deny not liking Katie and told him so in no uncertain terms. "That's crap, Zach. You've never liked Katie. You've tolerated her because she's one of my best friends and she loves me. Why don't you just admit it?"

Wanting to move past his supposed
dislike
of Katie, he asked, "Are we fighting? You've come here to what? Pick a fight?" Confusion replaced his pleasure at seeing his sister. He wasn't used to anything from Hannah except immediate compliance. She had never been one to rock the boat about anything. At least, not as far as he was aware.

She sucked in a breath and stared him down. "No. You're throwing me off track by refusing to admit you don't like Katie. I have something to tell you that doesn't have anything to do with Katie, not really--"

Zach's pen landed in a thump on the desk in front of him in a display of impatience that he couldn't control. "Damn it, Hannah! Does it or doesn't it?"

"It doesn't!" she slammed out and took a deep, controlling breath. "It's about Josh."

"Josh?" He asked in confusion, relieved they could move past the subject of Katie when he wasn't ready to talk about her with anyone, not least of all his little sister.

"Josh Turner," she elaborated a tad more softly.

He racked his brain for which Turner she could be referring to and then hit upon the probable one. "The cousin?" he questioned.

"Yes," she responded, holding his eyes steadily.

Zachary's brows drew together in a grimace as he thought about Chris Turner's son. "What about him?"

Hannah lifted her chin and he could see her muscles tighten. Her torso moved forward a few inches and she said in a determined voice, "I'm going to marry him, this weekend."

Zach felt the sucker-punch to his stomach like a blow he wasn't ready for. He tried to breathe evenly as he took a moment to regroup. His eyes narrowed as he was filled with the same anger he used to feel when thinking about the Turner family. Only this time it was worse. His little sister thought she was going to marry Chris Turner's son? "No, you're damn well not."

"Yes, I am." Her voice was adamant.

"Bull-fucking-shit,"
he refuted in a stream of obscenities meant to underline his feelings on the matter.

"Probably tomorrow," she responded as if he hadn't spoken.

Zach stood to his feet and began pacing the floor in a small area adjacent to where she was sitting. "What the hell is this all about?"

She boldly met his eyes and responded sharply, "I'm sorry I've hidden this from you all these years, but I was young and didn't want to face your anger and hurt." Her eyes searched his and she continued in a more gentle voice, "I've been in love with Josh for years." As Hannah spoke, Zach reached out and put the flat of his hand on his desk, to support his weight, feeling as if he'd taken a body blow. Hannah watched him with a sad expression in her eyes and then continued, "A long, long time. Before Cindy left you. Before there was any animosity between our families."

"That's not possible. You were too young," he mumbled, as if in a trance, as if he was numb to what was going on around him.

"I had just started tenth grade when we spoke for the first time."

Zach felt his face flush and his hands clasped into fists. "He took advantage of you--"

"
No, he didn't!
Never!
I chased him
relentlessly. He would barely talk to me, let alone touch me, because he thought I was too young. You have no idea how--how disciplined he was."

Zach had nothing to say to that and remained quiet as she continued, "He wanted me, too, don't get me wrong. And I was incorrigible, practically throwing myself at him. But he wouldn't take advantage of me, wouldn't be less than honorable." She watched him as if for a reaction but he held himself immobile, standing still and trying to take it in. "And I mean he wouldn't touch me at all, he wouldn't even kiss me. He promised that when I was older, if I still felt the same way, we could try then. And of course, I still felt the same. It's a feeling that I've always had for him; I always will."

Zach studied his sister, taking in the determination that showed in every line of her body. What would it feel like to have someone love him like that? To be that determined to marry him, against all the odds, against what their families might want, and do whatever it took just to
have him?
Unerringly, and against his will, a vision of Katie infiltrated his mind. Katie standing up, clenching her fists, and saying she loved him. He shook his head and pushed the thought from his brain. This wasn't about him. And it wasn't about Katie.

It was about Hannah. And Zach was having trouble believing that Josh Turner only wanted his sister and not anything more. Not because his sister wasn't sweet and pretty, but because the dude was Chris Turner's son. As soon as the thought came to him, he felt guilty because of Katie, because Josh was someone she seemed to love like a brother, but he couldn't stop from voicing his concern, "He must be after something, it's too coincidental that Katie would want to be your friend and--"

Hannah looked gutted and Zach was immediately contrite for upsetting her. She interrupted him in a harsh voice. "Is it really so impossible to believe that he might want me for myself?"

He looked her over, his eyes going from the top of her head to her feet and back again. He softened his voice as the unconditional love he had for Hannah came to the fore, "No, not impossible at all."

Appeased somewhat, she soldiered on. "And you're wrong about Katie. Think about it, Zach. Now that you know how I feel about Josh, who do you really think pursued our friendship?"

Zach thought of the times in the past when he'd accused Katie of using Hannah to get to him. He'd been so wrong about her, in so many ways. If anything, it sounded as if his sister had used Katie; it certainly hadn't been the other way around. He answered with a rough shake of his head, "Shit. You did."

"Of course it was me. Mom and Dad were in Shreveport so much, Josh was always working, and then Ava got pregnant," she said, referring to her best friend from school. "Katie was friendly and sweet and more open than anyone I had ever met. It was like she got me, you know? She didn't know how insanely crazy I was about Josh; she just knew I needed a friend. You've done her a disservice, Zach. You've been harsh and cruel to her in looks if not in words. You have no idea what a kind and generous person she is."

Zachary was tortured by the things that Hannah was telling him. He admitted to himself he'd been harsh to Katie in not only looks, but in words, and recently, in actions as well. He knew Hannah loved Katie, and so did their parents.
God,
if anyone ever found out what he'd been doing. But the thought of Hannah actually marrying Chris Turner's son wasn't sitting well with him, to say the least. And then he realized something else.
This
was the secret that Katie knew about. Maybe she didn't know they were getting married, but she damn sure knew they were together. So, this was the thing she didn't want to tell him. And he didn't know how that made him feel. He was glad that she'd covered for Hannah; he was pleased that Katie had Hannah's back. And of course, it didn't escape him that she was protecting her cousin, as well.
But shit, he wanted Katie to have his back. He wanted her to feel close to him, wanted her to want to protect him like she was protecting Hannah and her cousin.