Promoted to Wife? (18 page)

Then she was out of the room, and Cal closed the door behind her.

No. This was wrong. Zac surged for the door, but Victor's voice stopped him in his tracks.

 

“She's right, you know,” Victor said calmly. “You can be an idiot.”

Zac felt the fury burn from the inside out as he rounded on the older man. “You do not get to—”

“Shut up, Zac,” Cal butted in. “Let him explain.”

“What's there to explain?” Zac lashed out. “He was giving her money to walk away because she just wasn't good enough for a Prescott. That's the kind of stuff you do, Dad, right?”

At everyone's frowns of confusion, Zac laughed, the bitterness hot in his throat. “‘Money always talks loudest.' Isn't that what you've always said, Dad? You paid Mum to leave, just like you did a bunch of my unsuitable girlfriends. And let's not forget you bought me a place at Sydney uni, right?”

“I think,” Ava gently said from the door. “I should go and check on Emily.” When she took her husband's hand and squeezed it, Zac's anger deflated.

“Ava…” His gut pitched in self-disgust. “It wasn't my intention to ruin your wedding.”

She waved a hand. “Not ruined, just…made it more entertaining. It seems we've started a tradition.” Her lips curved as she and Cal shared a joke before she nodded. “Just don't kill each other, okay?” With a smile she swept the doors open, then closed them firmly behind her.

The room plunged into thick silence. Zac glowered at Victor, memories and past grievances fusing to form a heavy stone in his gut.
I dare you, Dad,
he glared.
I dare you to deny the truth.

“Look, most of those girls were more interested in themselves than in you,” Victor began.

“Way to go, Victor,” Cal muttered and threw himself down into a one-seater.

Zac scowled. “So that made it okay, Dad? You had no right.”

“I had every right! I was protecting you!”

“From what? From leading my own life? From my own mother?”

“She was sick, Zac!” Victor exploded. “You were barely a year old when I came home one day to find you alone in the bathtub! God knows what would've happened if I hadn't been there.”

Zac sucked in a breath, the icy shards piercing his heart. “No.”

“Yes. She couldn't cope—with a baby, with being my wife, with the constant scrutiny and attention, the expectations that entailed.”

Victor's craggy face creased for one second before he quickly composed himself and went on.

“She wanted to leave and I let her go. The settlement was generous.”

“And then she disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“You know,” Zac said, “it took me a long time to come to terms with what you'd done.” He dragged a hand through his hair.
Liar. It's always been there, eating away at you.

“I kept the truth about your mother from you, and I'm sorry.” Victor's brow dipped and he stepped back, a sudden picture of remorse. “I didn't want you to think it was your fault she left.”

“But you never explained
anything.
I asked, but you either ignored me, said ‘she's not coming back,' or changed the subject. Jesus, Dad, you not only tossed her things out, but destroyed every single photo!”

“I was angry,” Victor ground out. “And okay, in retrospect, I should've handled it better. You were a withdrawn, solitary child, and your mother was not well.”

“So you just cut her loose?”

“No!” Victor barked. “Your mother just wanted privacy. So I let her go on the condition she got help and you stayed with me. Yes, I was angry. Yes, I blamed her for a long time. But there was nothing more I could've done. She didn't want to be found—not by you, not by anyone. And my job was to make sure you were safe and well taken care of.”

“I needed a
father,
Dad.” When Zac felt his voice crack, he
stopped, swallowing thickly. “But you were always working. I didn't need the latest PlayStation, I just needed
you.
I needed you to tell me the truth, to let me make my own mistakes. I needed—”

He choked, the past saturating every corner of his mind, overwhelming, suffocating. He shoved one hand through his hair, head downcast.
Dammit, mate. Get. It. Together.

With gritted teeth, he finally lifted his head. “Do you know I've never heard you say ‘good job, son'. Not once.”

Victor frowned. “I'm sure I—”

“Not once.”

Victor's craggy face reddened. “Then I'm sorry, Zac,” he said stiffly.

Zac's eyes widened as they met Cal's, mirroring stunned surprise.

“And I don't want VP Tech,” Zac added, on a roll. “I design houses, Dad. I love my job and I'm bloody good at it. I just don't understand why you're so hell-bent on involving me in a company I have absolutely no interest in.”

He paused, the cool air stilling as both brothers waited for Victor's answer. When no one said anything, Zac glanced at Cal. His brother just shrugged.

“Because it was the only way you'd ever talk to me,” Victor finally said.

“What's wrong with the phone?”

Victor's eyebrows shot up. “You refused to take my calls. It took a threat to get you down here.”

Damn. Zac scrubbed one hand across his face. The man had a point.

They both fell silent until Victor said, “Look, after I was diagnosed with that tumor, I began thinking about things…regrets, mostly. How I'd do things differently. And you topped the list, son.” He smiled, a thin humorless smile tinged with remorse, be fore exhaling heavily. “The way I handled things with you was inexcusable. My major regret.”

Shock rooted Zac to the spot as reality suddenly tipped sideways. This was crazy. Victor didn't apologize, much less
talk about his feelings. What kind of world was it where Victor Prescott recognized he was wrong?

The same one where Cal gave up the Prescott legacy, apparently. And one where Emily walked out on him.

Emily.
He paused, breath shallow and garbled. What the hell had he done?

“So what was that check for?”

Victor crossed his arms. “My new project. I'm looking for a few good small businesses to help off the ground. I offer silent financial partnership, they do the work, and we both benefit.”

Zac glanced at Cal, who nodded. “He's right.”

“And if you hadn't burst in,” Victor added, “I would've explained that to her.”

Zac studied his father with a critical eye. His hair was thinner, grayer. There were darkening circles under his eyes, eyes that normally held such authority and command but now were simply those of a man who'd experienced life and all its ups and downs, had worked murderous hours for something he passionately believed in.

Looking at the man with whom he'd fought so hard for so long, he realized that now that everything was out in the open, he was more sad than angry. Sad that things had turned out the way they had, sad for all those lost years.

It didn't hurt quite so much. For once, his mind was clear with purpose.

Zac shook his head. “She wouldn't have taken it.”

“Hmmm. Well.” Victor slowly loosened his tie with a sigh. “I
was
trying to do something nice.”

Zac's eyes narrowed. The past had taught him to refute it. Argue. Deny. Yet the truth lay heavy in the air, truth that couldn't be denied or ignored.

For the first time in a long time, Zac actually believed him. It was a start, however small.

He gave Cal a contrite look. “Sorry about messing up your wedding, mate.”

“You didn't. And I'm not the one you should be apologizing to,” Cal said pointedly.

Zac nodded. Could he be a bigger idiot?

He surged for the door, grabbed the handle and wrenched it open. “I've got to be somewhere.”

W
hen Zac's phone rang as he strode along the path to the guest suites he had half a mind to ignore it. But then he glanced at the display. His solicitor. “Andrew.”

“I texted you but you didn't call back.”

“Sorry. Patchy reception,” Zac said. “What's up?”

“Good news,” Andrew said. “The AVO's been dropped.”

Zac paused, rubbing his temple as relief washed over him. “Mate, thank you. I really owe you for this one.”

“Oh, it wasn't me. When I fronted up at the station, it'd already been taken care of.”

Confused, Zac thanked him again, then hung up. The only way that could've happened was if Haylee had withdrawn the charges. Which meant…

He pounded on Emily's door, a faint thread of relief mingling with overwhelming trepidation the longer the seconds grew.

Finally, the door opened and Ava stood there. She said nothing, just gave him a small smile and a pat on his arm and left.

Emily was zipping the top off her suitcase and shoving it open. Seeing her flushed and barefoot, her shoes kicked across
the room, quickened his heartbeat, forcing every single thought from his brain.

She barely glanced up when he gently closed the door.

“Leaving?” Zac said softly.

“Well, I hardly think it's appropriate to stay, do you?”

In silence, he watched her scoop up a pile of neatly folded clothes, then stuff them into the bag.

“Emily.” He paused to clear his throat, then started again. “Look, I—”

“You don't have to explain yourself, Zac.” She kept right on packing, refusing to meet his eyes. “That's quite okay.”

“No. It's not. Can you—” He frowned as she disappeared into the bathroom. A few seconds passed before impatience sent him to the door, only to barely avoid a collision when Emily came barreling back out.

When he grabbed her arms, she gasped.

He dropped his hands. “Can you stop for a second and just talk to me?”

She took a step back, her toiletry bag pressed up against her chest, her eyes cool. “About what?”

“About what an idiot I am.”

His lips tweaked encouragingly, but hers remained flat.

“Okay.” He grasped her arms more gently this time, and felt the tiny shiver she tried to suppress. Slowly, he guided her from the doorway, across the room and down onto the solid pine chair before taking a seat next to her on the edge of the bed.

“I hesitated back there, I admit it. And my only excuse is…well.” He sighed with a shrug. “Okay, I have no excuse. I'm sorry.”

She finally met his eyes, giving him a thorough going-over. “You actually thought I'd take the money? After everything that's happened?”

“Not for one second,” he said firmly. “It was just shock, seeing Victor pull that stunt. I choked and I'm sorry. He's used money as a bargaining tool all my life, and watching you two at the reception, chatting so easily—”

“I was doing that for you.”

“Me?”

She tossed her toiletry bag on the bed and eased back in the chair. “Calming the waters. Putting your dad in a good mood. For you.”

He started. “I didn't realize.”

“Well, I was.” She firmly crossed her arms and legs, the overt body language telling him he wasn't out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.

“And did you go and see Haylee for me?”

A small frown passed fleetingly across her brow. “No. I saw Josh.”

The look on his face tilted her chin up. “I offered to help, you refused. So I called Josh's assistant and found out where he was having lunch.”

“What did you tell him?”

“The truth. We talked about a few things. Apparently Haylee's been acting out since her parents' divorce last year. She has a bit of a problem letting go of her exes.”

“She…”

She stared at him, daring him to make an issue of this. Hell, he should be delighted to be in the clear, but instead, all he could think of was that she'd sacrificed her privacy to help him.

This time, she'd been the one to charge in and save
him.

And by doing that, she might as well have taken out a full-page ad about their relationship. Which had to mean something. Surely it meant something?

“You really are quite extraordinary, do you know that?” he murmured with a smile. “What on earth would I do without you?”

She stilled, her bright blue eyes capturing his for long, agonizing seconds before they suddenly began to flutter.

“I'm sure my replacement will do a great job,” she said softly.

“That's not what I meant.”

They stared at each other as the air practically crackled with unspoken words. But as Zac took a breath and opened his mouth, Emily got in first.

“My mother was a cokehead, a drunk and a welfare cheat,” she blurted out. “I don't know who my dad was—my mom had an affair with some guy, then went back to Pete, my stepfather. AJ is actually my half-sister, six years older. My mother taught us to shoplift when I was five. When we got caught, Charlene and Pete did a runner and we were shipped off to the Department of Community Services, then foster care when DOCS couldn't find any relatives to take me. I was ten.” She paused, gauging his stunned silence before continuing. “AJ ran off and I didn't see her again until I was twenty-three, when she tracked me down through my uncle's obituary. Yes, I've had it tougher than some, but I would never take money from your father. Never.”

She finally stopped to take a breath, clamping her mouth shut. Yet past her defensiveness, the bright eyes that held his so steadily, Zac could see the turmoil. Turmoil that had been shoved down deep, then covered over by hyper-efficiency.

Chaos, uncertainty and disorganization—they all scared the crap out of her.

“I'm not telling you this for sympathy,” she added quickly, her face reddening. “I just… I thought you should know.”

His silence, his expression laced with concern and sympathy, ripped at Emily's composure, the walls she'd built crumbling as she wrestled with tainted memories. Her mother's booze and drug-soaked hangovers, the constant hunger-filled days. Charlene and Pete screaming at each other. The dead-of-the-night departures. Too many goodbyes.

She hadn't planned on saying this much, but it was like her mouth had yanked the steering wheel from her hands and had floored it. Zac did that to her, made her feel crazy, out of control. He'd invaded her life, challenging her self-preservation, demanding she open up to him, and now she couldn't reconstruct her defense no matter how hard she tried.

“I'm a foster kid who was given up by her parents—no wonder I suck at relationships. For years I kept everything in a suitcase. Ready to leave in minutes. It took me ages to actually buy furniture. I've never…”
Felt I've belonged anywhere. Until now.
She swallowed, her stomach fluttering.

His expression softened.

“Your past doesn't define who you are.”

“But it does influence you. You know that. Which is why I said yes to you. It was about sex, not emotion.”

He flinched as if she'd landed a physical blow. “Do you think that's all we are?”

Her breath hitched. “Isn't it?”

His expression was a tangle of emotions she couldn't quite unravel. “You tell me.”

This was it. He wanted the truth and she'd never lied to him before. But instead of leaping into that abyss of uncertainty, she took a shuddering breath. “I find myself—” she glanced up at his unreadable face, then quickly away “—wanting more. Feeling more. Look, the fact is, I think I'm in love with you, and it's a strange, scary thing. But this doesn't have to mean—”

She ended in a squeak of surprise as Zac surged forward, ending up on his knees before her.

Her wrists captured by a pair of strong hands, silenced by those intense eyes as they searched her face, she could see the dark edges of his pupils, the small lines bracketing his mouth.

“Emily.” He paused to breathe in deep, his eyes closing for a brief second before they returned to hers with burning intensity. “I know there's comfort in predictability. And I know you hate chaos and disorder. But that's what love is—it's crazy, unpredictable and full of mistakes.”

“Look, you don't know…What?” She frowned. “Are you saying…What
are
you saying?”

“I said,” he slid his hands down to capture hers, “I love you.” He gave a wry snort. “I've actually been in love with you for months.”

She was totally and utterly speechless.

“Em? Sweetheart?” He gently shook her hands, his mouth curving into a slow smile. “Can you say something?”

“No one's said that to me in a very long time.”

Zac drew in a long breath. Lord, she was amazing. She may be compact, fitting under his chin, yet the power she wielded was infinite. She could destroy him with a few mere words.

“Then let me repeat it. Emily Reynolds, I love you. I love the way you're so hyper-organized, I love the way you blink and chew on your lip when you're nervous…the way you're doing right now,” he added with a grin. “I love your loyalty, your sense of right and wrong. And—” his mouth swooped down, so close he could feel the warmth from her cheek on his “—I love kissing you, making love to you. I love every single inch of your gorgeous body.”

All the words Emily had prepared, silently rehearsing over and over in her head, disappeared into a delicious haze as Zac kissed her slowly, tenderly, thoroughly.

When he finally pulled back, his hands still cupping her face, swelling elation threatened to choke her. It was like she'd been soaring a thousand feet off the ground.

“Do you want to add anything?” he murmured, eyes dark with flickering arousal.

“I think I found someone to fill my position.”

His laugh rumbled through her, shaking her entire body. “I don't think anyone could ever do that, my love. And while we're on the subject of you leaving…”

“Yes?”

His arms tightened around her. “You should at least consider Victor's offer. He knows a good investment when he sees it.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” A myriad of emotions passed over his face until he settled on one Emily recognized. Peace.

When his lips gently met her upturned mouth again, it was like their first kiss all over again. Desire rampaged through every vein, arousing her, filling her with such a need that she thought her heart would explode from it.

Was it possible to be any happier right now?

“Marry me, Emily.” His lips moved across her neck, little flares of heat on her skin. “I won't lose you. Be my wife.”

Yes. Yes, it was.

Her breath hitched as she pulled back and stared into his face. His eyes may have been languid with desire, his mouth curved into a sexy smile, but his expression was deadly serious.

This was so much more than she ever deserved. Ever expected. Ever hoped. Joy surged until she was sure her face would crack from the huge grin.

“You're not going to lose me. And yes, I will marry you.”

In between laughter and a few tears, they kissed again, until suddenly, kisses were no longer enough.

Their clothes were quickly discarded, the bedcovers yanked off, and they fell to the mattress in a tumble.

“I love you, Emily,” he murmured, loving the way her eyes widened and her full mouth curved.

“And I love you, too, Zac.”

And then, suddenly, words were no longer necessary.