The Billionaire's Gentle Rescue (The Sisterhood) (8 page)

Now, here she was, standing in Marco’s conference room with three other people who were getting ready for a slide show to discuss options for her marketing strategy. She was terrified of the terms they were throwing about and wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. She kept looking to Marco who would either nod or shake his head when she wasn’t sure, letting him guide her through the possibilities.

Four hours later, Zoe was exhausted, starving and completely overwhelmed. When the next team arrived to give her a briefing on future store sites, Marco called a halt, asking the three newest people to leave the information and he’d go over it.

“Come on,” he said as he took her hand and pulled her up out of the chair that had previously been comfortable, but now seemed like a giant leather marshmallow trying to suck her into its depths. “You need a break. How about Chinese?” he suggested.

He picked up the briefing and led her back to his office. Dialing a number, he asked the person at the other end to send up his usual, but double.

“Okay, what did you think?” he asked.

Zoe put her hands on her forehead and shook her head. “I’m not really sure what to think anymore. All those terms seemed so off that I wasn’t sure what they were talking about.” She turned to look at him, her eyes wide with anxiety. “Am I really that stupid? I didn’t understand half the stuff they were telling me.”

Marco looked at the bright, intelligent woman with her sad eyes and felt disgusted. He was irritated with his marketing team for trying to impress him with their skill and know-how instead of playing to Zoe who obviously needed to be guided through the presentations differently. A marketing team should have known better, he mused.

“How about if I walk you through them?” he suggested, and took a seat next to her. He picked up the first briefing of the afternoon and started discussing the information in terms she understood, explaining the strategy and giving her insight into why a company would do something. With Marco explaining, she was more than able to understand, even offered feedback and counter arguments to go in a different direction, or tweak the marketing idea to better cater to her current client base as well as expand it.

The food came and they ate, continuing to discuss the ideas and tweak it. Marco no longer only explained, but he asked her opinion and encouraged her own ideas. She made notes in the margins and argued with him on the direction she should go. Marco agreed with some of her ideas, but wouldn’t let her shy away from the more aggressive ones. He pushed her, she pulled back, they argued and she had to laugh at how tenacious he could be.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, sitting back in the leather sofa.

She picked up the broccoli and chicken. “You ate the rest!”

“Of course I did. Snooze, you lose, Gorgeous. Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to tell you for the past five hours?”

Zoe glanced at her watch and gasped. “Goodness!” she exclaimed, standing up and looking around. “I had no idea it was so late. I’m sorry to have taken over your evening.”

He stood up as well, and Zoe didn’t realize how close she’d been sitting. But as he stood, their feet were almost touching, making them less than an inch away from each other.

Looking up at him, she started to take a step backwards but he stopped her by putting an arm around her waist. “Marco, I…”

“Shhh,” he interrupted her.

She couldn’t hold his gaze, letting her eyes fall to the middle of his chest. “We can’t do this again,” she said softly but didn’t move.

“Do what again?”

“Become involved.”

“We’re already involved.”

“Personally. We have to keep it professional.”

He sighed and let his hands move up and down her back, enjoying the shivers that movement caused. “We can keep it professional,” he said, his hands moving to her waist. “For now.”

He stepped back and looked down at her. “I’ll drive you home,” he said.

Zoe started to clean up the boxes of Chinese food but he took her hand. “The office cleaning crew will be in later to clean that up. Just grab the papers so you can look at them tonight or tomorrow. Call me if you have any questions.”

She nodded quietly and tensed when he took her coat, draping it over her shoulders. At this late hour, the trip to her loft took only about ten minutes and Zoe sat in the soft leather, her body tense and humming from his touch.

When he parked, she quickly jumped out, then bent down to thank him.

Before she could close the passenger side door, he held up her hand to stall her. “There’s a party tomorrow night for a fundraising event. Can you have one of your dresses from your new line ready to wear by then?”

Zoe’s breath caught in her throat but she nodded.

“Good. I’ll pick you up at seven. Sleep well, Beautiful.”

He waited again until she was safely inside and her lights were on. Zoe watched as his sleek, powerful car drove away and sighed, leaning her forehead against the darkened window. The fundraiser tomorrow night loomed heavily, and Zoe wondered how she was going to deal with that kind of event. A night standing next to Marco? Without business to distract her? She was just begging for trouble, wasn’t she?

Debbie had been right. She’d gotten herself into a mess but not for the reasons she’d thought.

Chapter 4

Zoe’s fingers shook as she zipped the dress up. Her worried eyes looked at her reflection in the mirror and wondered what Marco might think of the design. It was sapphire blue silk with a very low square neckline that hugged all the way down the rest of her figure. Adding a bit of pizzazz, there was an additional flared overskirt that came out from each side of her waist in iridescent blue sapphire tissue.

It had been one of her favorite designs for the fall line, but seeing it on her now, she felt that it showed a bit too much cleavage and cinched in her waist, making her bust look bigger.

The doorbell rang just as her fingers reached for the zipper to change into something else. She considered ignoring it for a moment while she changed into something safer, but she didn’t have any other dress that would be appropriate for the weather tonight and that was in her current line.

Taking a deep breath, she carefully walked down the stairs, stepping gently in her three inch sapphire blue heels. Answering the door, she tried to smile, but she was too nervous to pull it off.

As soon as she opened the door, Marco’s eyes took it all in, starting from her hair that was piled on top of her head in curls draping down the back, over her cleavage and lingering before moving father down. He whistled as he stepped into her loft, but the masculine appreciation in his eyes made her feel very pretty.

“That’s an awesome dress,” he said heartily. “I completely approve. And you’ll get lots of free advertising tonight since I’ve heard that the paparazzi is out in full tonight.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I asked my sister to stop by first so they’d all be waiting for you when you arrive,” he said, smiling confidently.

She smiled back, but was confused. “I thought your sister had been in hiding lately.”

“Nope. She married some Russian guy and they’re too busy being in love to stop and go out in public. It’s nauseating,” he said with a grimace.

Zoe couldn’t help but laugh as she watched his “Big Brother” expression come over his features. “You don’t like her new husband?”

“He’s a descent enough guy.”

“But it’s your baby sister, huh?” she suggested and pulled the blue wrap out of her closet and grabbed her silver purse, making sure she had her keys, wallet and lipstick before pulling the door closed behind her.

“Exactly,” he replied. “She didn’t have an easy childhood so I want her to be happy now.”

“And is she?”

Marco shrugged. “She says she is. She looks happy.”

“And what if she becomes unhappy?”

“Then I’ll have to fix that, won’t I?” He held her hand as she stepped into the Maserati.

Marco closed the door before she could ask what he meant by that and moments later, they were zipping through the streets of New York. When they arrived at the museum where the benefit was taking place, Zoe noticed that there was a huge crowd outside, all of them flashing pictures at the people as they entered the building. Marco pulled up to the covered entrance and touched her arm. “Hold off on getting out of the car until I come around to get you,” he instructed.

Zoe considered ignoring him, but the truth was, she was going to need help getting through that throng of photographers so she sat there in the seat as Marco jumped out, handed his keys to the valet and came around to her door.

He stepped back, but offered her a firm hand to help her out of the car. If he hadn’t been there, holding her hand and guiding her the first few steps, Zoe knew she would have fallen on her face. People were yelling questions at the two of them but Zoe didn’t hear any of them because Marco pulled her close against his side and bent low to whisper in her ear. “Just stay with me, okay?”

Zoe nodded and smiled up at him, pretending like she did this all the time. He walked slowly, allowing the photographers to capture her dress to the fullest, with him as her backdrop to ensure that the color came out crisp and clear.

She leaned against him, her hand safely tucked into his arm and she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other carefully and not falling on the sidewalk. That would be extremely painful, she thought, and humiliating.

Once through the door, she pulled away slightly, but Marco wouldn’t let her go too far. He held her closer than she wanted to be held, her heart racing but for a completely different reason now.

The fundraiser was in full swing but the event coordinator spotted Marco and separated herself from the crowd, coming over to greet him. “Marco DiAngelo! I can’t believe you’re really here!” she gushed and air kissed both his cheeks. “When I saw your name come up on the guest list I couldn’t believe my luck.” She looked at him slyly, “Are you here because of your sister?”

“Of course. It’s one of her favorite charities so naturally I’d come to support her.”

Zoe already knew he was lying but didn’t understand the reason behind it. The fundraiser was for the Humane Society and there were many prominent people in attendance, even New York City’s own mayor who also separated himself and came over to greet Marco.

It was almost nauseating the way people fawned over Marco but he seemed to take it all in stride, even joking with some of the people about how they shouldn’t interrupt their conversations for him. Marco introduced everyone to Zoe, explaining she was the next up and coming designer, and several of the women were interested in her designs.

“Isn’t that your sister over there?” she asked, pointing to a group of people talking animatedly in the center of the ballroom.

Marco looked over and, at that moment, Darcy DiAngelo looked up as well. They were too far apart to speak, but the two of them raised their glasses in a salute to one another, and then turned back to their respective groups. “So it is,” he chuckled. “She’s playing it up pretty heavily,” he commented.

Zoe looked at the stunningly gorgeous woman with long, beautiful hair and soft eyes, but the rest of her was all glamour, complete with a shocking amount of leg showing and a glitzy cocktail dress that flattered her figure like only Darcy could do.

The music started after the dinner and speeches but it still took Marco more than fifteen minutes to make his way to the dance floor with her. So many people wanted to speak with him and many of the women asked Zoe where she got her dress. She loved being able to tell them that she had designed it herself and when they would be able to get one for themselves. She smiled at several of the irritated faces when she mentioned it wouldn’t be available for several more months.

When Marco finally got her into his arms, Zoe smiled up at him, blissfully happy to have received so much attention for her dress.

“I know you’re smiling because you’re in my arms and loving the way we move together,” he said with a sly smile.

Zoe had to laugh because she could tell that he understood exactly what she was thinking by the cynical tone of his voice. “Thank you for tonight. It’s been very fun getting so much attention for this dress.”

“You deserve it. The design is creative and innovative without being too whacky that people will shy away from it. And you look incredible in it, which makes it all the better.”

He spun her around and pulled her closer, Zoe gasped as she felt his arm circle her body, pressing her against his hard frame. “We’re too close,” she whispered, looking up at him shyly, but she didn’t pull away.

“I think we’re not close enough,” he replied back, his voice husky and his eyes slumberous as he took in the heightened color on her cheeks. “You feel good.”

Zoe cleared her throat and looked down, staring at the buttons on his silk shirt. “So do you.”

Her voice was so soft, he’d barely heard the words. But her admission, so in tune with what he was thinking and feeling, made his body harden with lust for this gorgeous woman. His hand moved against her back, releasing the pressure somewhat and was relieved when she didn’t move away. In fact, he thought he felt her press closer.