CHAPTER NINE
Sitting next to Sean in the close confines of his sporty black Camaro Coupe was agonizing for Zoe. Despite every valid reason she had to remain pissed off at him, her reaction to Sean as a totally hot and sexy man was chipping away at her resolve, bit by bit. Every breath she took was filled with the arousing scent of him, and with his arm resting on the console between them, if she so much as relaxed, her body brushed against his and the sensation and heat within her intensified.
God, even watching him shift gears with those long, strong fingers of his that had touched her so intimately and feeling the growl of the car’s engine reverberating through her entire body made her feel antsy.
Squirming restlessly in her seat and annoyed with herself for allowing him to affect her so profoundly, she glanced out the passenger window as they drove past various casinos lining the Las Vegas Strip. In the afternoon sunshine, the hotels lacked the glitz and glamour that they had at night, and during the day the town didn’t look quite as dazzling and exciting.
Since she and Sean had left the security offices at the Onyx, the only conversation they had engaged in had been out of necessity. He’d asked for her father’s address, and she’d given it to Sean to punch into his GPS system. Other than the mechanical female voice occasionally instructing him where to turn, the inside of the car had been uncomfortably quiet.
Finally, Sean spoke, his deep voice cutting through the silence and adding to the awareness swirling through Zoe.
“Zoe…can we talk?”
No. His tone was so gentle and caring that she was certain any kind of interaction with him would be dangerous to the emotions she was desperately trying to keep out of this new business relationship of theirs.
Releasing a deep sigh, along with a good amount of tension gathering in her neck and shoulders, she glanced at Sean. He’d stopped at a red light, and he was watching her intently, his eyes a dark, sensual shade of blue that made her pulse kick up a notch.
Steeling herself against his irresistible charisma, she shrugged as if it didn’t matter what they did. “Sure. We can talk.”
The car started forward again, and he made a left-hand turn onto a street leading to the outskirts of Vegas.
“I owe you an apology.”
She closed her eyes and turned her head away. Damn him. She didn’t want Sean to be a nice guy. Didn’t want to soften toward him when he should stay at the very top of her shit list, right where he belonged.
But here he was, apologizing, which was something she never expected him to do. She would have thought he’d chalk up the fact that he’d deceived her to just doing his job and had done so without an ounce of regret or remorse. At least, that was her experience when it came to men and their egos.
Either that or she really did have gullible stamped across her forehead.
“I really am sorry for everything that happened last night, Zoe. And for misleading you.”
Her eyes shot back open when she felt his hand on her knee, his touch like a shock of heat to her entire system.
“The last thing I meant to do was hurt you.” Sincerity laced his voice, along with hope, too—that she’d accept his peace offering.
She completely melted. Zoe wasn’t the kind of person who held grudges, and she knew it was going to be impossible to stay mad at Sean. So, why even try?
Fine—she could forgive him so they could start fresh and work together toward a common goal without issues or animosity standing between them, but she wasn’t about to let her guard down with him again. As the saying went, “once burned, twice shy,” and this time around Zoe knew what to expect.
“Okay,” she said, and very deliberately she removed the heavy weight of his hand from her thigh, letting him know with that single action where things stood between them.
“Okay…what?” he asked cautiously, and cast her a quick, sidelong glance.
“Okay, I accept your apology.” She folded her hands in her lap, still feeling the burn of where his fingers had been on her thigh. “And thank you.”
He frowned in confusion. “For?”
“For being man enough to admit you were wrong.”
His brows rose in surprise, and the corner of his mouth twitched with humor. “Is that what I just did?”
She wanted to smile, too, but didn’t dare. “You absolutely did.”
“Okay, then.” Male amusement deepened his voice. “You’re very welcome.”
With those words, a truce was born. Zoe was relieved, because it was too hard to maintain her anger toward him and she honestly didn’t want to. There needed to be as much open communication between them as possible in order for this new alliance to work.
The car stopped at the guard shack in front of the gated community of Siena, where her father lived, and Sean rolled down the driver’s side window as a uniformed man approached the vehicle. The older man bent low to look at Sean, then saw her sitting in the passenger seat and grinned.
“Hi, Martin,” she said, knowing the guard by name since he’d been working the same day shift since her father moved into the area over six years ago.
“Hey, Zoe,” Martin greeted her in that jovial way of his. “Good to see you. Your father must be on a business trip, because I haven’t seen him in over a week now.”
“He is,” she verified. Martin knew everyone who lived in the community, and their extended family, and he took his job as a security guard very seriously. There was no way he would have let Sean past the gates without her. “My father asked me to take care of a few things for him at the house while he’s gone.”
“Sure thing.” Martin tipped his hat at them. “You two have a good day.”
Sean put the window back up while the big metal gates slid open, allowing them entry into the wealthy neighborhood. Secluded beyond a six-foot-high masonry perimeter was an exclusive community with a health-and-fitness facility and a wellness center, along with a club house and a pristine golf course landscaped with a lake, elegant gardens, and waterfalls.
“It must take a helluva lot of money to live in a place like this,” Sean said as he drove into the residential area and followed the GPS to her father’s street.
Zoe wasn’t sure what kind of point Sean was trying to make with his comment, nor did she understand the slight hint of resentment she detected in his tone. “My father is a developer and he makes a lot of money,” she pointed out, even though Sean and the organization he worked for had to be well aware of Grant Russo’s net worth.
“He knows how to spend it lavishly, too,” Sean muttered as he parked the Camaro in her father’s driveway, then cut the engine. “Let’s do this and get it done.”
Sean got out of the car, and she sighed in annoyance. After retrieving the key to her father’s house, Zoe tucked her purse beneath the passenger seat so she didn’t have to carry it with her, then met up with Sean at the paved walkway leading to the front of the house. Whatever his problem was with her father’s wealth, Zoe decided to take the high road and not call Sean on it. Besides, it was his issue to deal with, not hers.
She unlocked the main door, then stepped inside and quickly disengaged the alarm. Sean walked in behind her, his gaze sweeping the area, taking in the open Mediterranean architecture, the imported Italian flooring, and the rich décor embellishing the sprawling one-story house.
His jaw clenched ever so slightly as he glanced back at her. “Let’s start in your father’s bedroom and go from there,” Sean suggested.
She nodded in agreement. “It’s this way.”
Setting her key ring on a table near the door, she led the way down a wide hallway and into the spacious master bedroom. Everything was neat and tidy, including the comforter on the bed, which was smooth and undisturbed. The adjoining bathroom was also spotless, most likely due to her father’s housekeeper, who came by once a week to clean the house.
Sean started with the nightstand drawers and worked his way around the room from there while Zoe glanced through the bathroom drawers and medicine cabinet but couldn’t tell what toiletries were missing, if any. The clothes in her father’s walk-in closet were hung up in a neat and orderly manner. There was nothing to indicate he’d packed in a rush, nor could she find anything out of the ordinary to give her cause for concern.
Back in the bedroom, she watched as Sean continued searching through her father’s dresser drawers, then looked behind all the artwork hanging on the wall, his movements efficient and methodical. It felt wrong and invasive rummaging through her father’s personal things, but she knew it was necessary to find him and prove his innocence.
From there, she and Sean moved on, going from room to room and doing a thorough check of each, including the kitchen, and came up empty-handed. Zoe was both relieved that they didn’t find anything incriminating against her father yet disappointed there wasn’t anything tangible to confirm his business trip to Chicago.
But she and Sean still had one last place to search—her father’s spacious home office. If there was any information to be found, that would most likely be the spot where he’d keep his business-related paperwork.
As soon as she and Sean walked into the room the scent of leather, mingled with the rich, woodsy fragrance of her father’s cologne, wrapped around her like a warm, familiar embrace. The kind that reminded her of being a little girl and sneaking into her father’s office while he was working, and how he’d stop whatever he was doing to give her his attention and a piece of the candy he kept in one of his desk drawers just for her. It was a comforting childhood recollection she didn’t want tainted by something unpleasant, like the possibility that her father was capable of the things Sean had accused him of last night.
“Zoe?” Sean asked from beside her. “You okay?”
Realizing she’d gotten lost in her thoughts, she shook her head of the past and met Sean’s gaze. “I’m fine,” she said evenly, certain he wasn’t interested in hearing about those warm, fuzzy memories about her father. Not when Sean believed the worst about Grant Russo.
“Why don’t you check the bookshelves and I’ll go through the file cabinets and desk?” he suggested, obviously giving her the easier task.
Not that she minded, considering how just stepping into her father’s office had triggered her emotions. “Sure.”
Sean headed toward the desk and she veered to the right, where a wet bar and built-in bookcase lined the wall. She wasn’t sure what, exactly, she was looking for that might be stored in a bookcase, but she went ahead and scanned the hardback novels and expensive-looking trinkets sitting on the shelves. There was also a collection of bronze sculptures that had undoubtedly cost a small fortune, along with the Waterford crystal decanters of alcohol and glasses monogrammed with his initials that were situated above the wet bar.
Her father had always enjoyed the finer things in life—from the artwork he bought to the cars he drove and even the beautiful women he was attracted to, Collette Russo included. Zoe’s mother might not have come from money, but she sure knew how to spend it and even now, after the divorce, depended on it.
“Damn it,” Sean muttered from behind Zoe.
Curious to know what had set Sean off, Zoe turned around and found him tugging the handle on a drawer, which didn’t budge. “What’s wrong?”
Frowning, he checked the next drawer down and again met with resistance. “All the filing cabinets are locked.”
Zoe wasn’t surprised. Most filing cabinets held personal, private, and business-related items, and if her father was out of town for an unspecified amount of time, why wouldn’t he secure confidential paperwork until he returned? Still, Sean was clearly annoyed that he didn’t have access to the files.
“You mean to tell me you don’t know how to pick the lock open?” she asked, the teasing note in her voice overriding what should have been sarcasm.
“Sure I do,” he said, flashing her a sexy dimpled grin. “Except I left my lock-picking kit at home.”
She didn’t know if he was serious or not but was more inclined to believe a man like Sean knew his way around something as simple as a lock. “You could always do like MacGyver and try using a paper clip to toggle it open.”
Sean smirked at her attempt at humor. “You’re very funny.”
“You strike me as an innovative type of guy,” she said with a shrug. “Seriously, I think you’ll find whatever you need on the computer’s hard drive.” At least she hoped he did. She didn’t relish the thought of Sean, or anyone else for that matter, rifling through her father’s personal bills and business transactions, and unless speculation turned into guilt, she was going to do her best to dissuade anyone from that particular invasion of privacy. It was bad enough that they were pillaging information from his computer, but even she was hoping Lucas would find something that would explain where her father was.
“You’re probably right,” Sean said as he stepped back to the large desk and set his sights on the computer sitting on the surface. “But it would have been interesting to see if there was anything worthwhile in the filing cabinets.”
Worthwhile, meaning evidence of her father cheating people out of millions of dollars. The thought made her stomach churn.
Exhaling a deep breath, she returned her attention back to the bookcase. She glanced at the last section of shelves, and the first thing that caught her attention was the handcrafted humidor she’d given to her father for Christmas a few years ago to store his favorite cigars. Absently she ran her fingers over the smooth lacquer finish and her father’s initials, carved into the mahogany wood, ridiculously happy to see that he actually used the box and had it on display.
Below that, on a separate shelf, was a framed picture of her and her father—a photograph she easily recognized as the one Jessica had taken of the two of them the day she’d graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, magna cum laude. Her father had driven the four hours from Las Vegas to attend her ceremony and awards reception and to hand her the keys to a brand-new Lexus as a graduation gift.
Smiling, she picked up the snapshot, remembering that exciting day oh so well. Her father had been so proud of her accomplishment, the pride and joy shining in his eyes evidence of just how much he supported her dreams, no matter what they entailed. Unlike her cool, detached mother, who felt her daughter’s aspirations were frivolous and unnecessary, her warm, loving father had always believed in her abilities, and she had him to thank for encouraging her and building her confidence from a very early age.
“When was that picture with your father taken?” Sean asked from behind her.
His conversational tone prompted her to answer, “The day I graduated from the Fashion Institute.” She set the frame back on the shelf and glanced at Sean as he quickly and easily removed the side panel of her father’s desktop computer, as if he’d done the same thing a dozen times before.
He cast her a quick, curious look before reaching inside the open computer and tinkering with something she couldn’t see. “How come your mother isn’t in the picture?”
Zoe crossed her arms loosely over her chest, content for the moment to watch Sean as he worked. “Because she wasn’t there,” Zoe said, her tone matter-of-fact.
His hands stilled, and he glanced up at her, his expression incredulous. “She didn’t attend your college graduation? Was she sick or something?”
“Or something.” At the time, Zoe had been hurt that her mother hadn’t made the effort to be there but ultimately not surprised with the reason why she hadn’t attended such a monumental event in her only child’s life. “She was in Italy with some guy she was dating at the time, and to her, that was far more important.”
“Wow.”
Sean sounded as stunned as he looked, but Zoe had had years to get used to her mother’s selfish choices and skewed expectations. “I wasn’t exactly a priority to my mother, unless it was for something that benefited her,” Zoe explained as she strolled to the desk and propped her hip on the corner. “Even when I was growing up, she missed a lot of milestones, but my father always tried to be there for me, no matter how busy he was.”
“Ahhh, you were a daddy’s girl,” Sean drawled.
His comment triggered her defenses. Sure, her father had doted on her and lavished her with affection and even bought her nice things, but he’d never spoiled her to the extreme and she’d always been grateful for the nice things she’d had. She knew her father just wanted her to have every advantage to succeed in life, and while she’d appreciated his support throughout the years, she’d been so relieved when he’d understood her need to make it all on her own with ZR Designs and her first boutique.
Most daddy’s girls would have taken the substantial amount of money he’d offered to fund her business venture, knowing he never expected her to pay the money back, but she’d turned down the cash because she wanted, and needed, to be independent and self-sufficient. For herself and because unlike her mother, Zoe didn’t ever want to rely on a man to support her financially.
“He was a good father,” Zoe said of her dad. Despite whatever faults he might possess, she wanted Sean to know that Grant Russo had been a decent and caring parent, a father who’d loved her unconditionally.
Sean concentrated on pulling a small, square metal box out of a slot inside the computer and disconnected the attached cables. “I never said he wasn’t.”
Maybe not directly, but there was no doubt in her mind that Sean questioned her father’s integrity. “Considering what you think you know about my father based on investigative reports you’ve read, he was always there for me.”
Sean lifted his head and met her gaze, the barest hint of emotion flickering in his blue eyes. “Then you were very lucky.”
His comment led her to believe that his childhood had been less than ideal and made her curious to know more. “What about your parents? Where do they live? Here in Vegas?”
“My mother died when I was twelve,” he said, his tone taking on a curt edge. “And my father has been out of the picture for years.”
Sean’s answer was cut-and-dried and didn’t welcome further prodding about what, exactly, had happened to each of his parents, and Zoe didn’t push further to find out. “Any brothers or sisters?”
Shaking his head, he set the hard drive aside and snapped the side panel back in place. “Nope. I’m an only child.”
“Well, what do you know,” she said, deliberately injecting a light, humorous note into her voice in an attempt to lighten the mood in the office. “We actually have something in common.”
The atmosphere between them definitely shifted and changed, and the slow, sensual smile curving the corners of Sean’s lips made her heart race just a bit faster. “Sweetheart, we have a whole lot more than that in common, and you know it.”
Like their mutual attraction and her sexual awareness of him that she couldn’t suppress, no matter how hard she tried. But feeling that hot rush of need for Sean and acting on those desires were two different things, and she was determined not to cross that line with him again.
Sean picked up the slim metal box he’d left on the desk. “I’ve got the hard drive, so we’re ready to go.”
Grateful for the change in subject, Zoe nodded and led the way back to the front door. She set the alarm, locked up the house, and followed Sean back to his car. Once she was in the vehicle, she reached beneath her seat for her purse just as a beep chirped from her cell phone, indicating she had a voicemail message. Praying her father had finally called, she dug her cell phone out of her handbag and punched in the code to listen to the message.
Her hopes plummeted the moment she heard her mother’s voice. Zoe listened to what Collette had to say, then with a resigned sigh erased the message, since it was nothing she needed to save.
“Was that message anything important?” Sean asked as he pulled onto the main road just outside of her father’s gated community.
Obviously, he, too, was hoping that Zoe’s father had finally gotten in touch with her. “No,” she said, and even though she was certain Sean wouldn’t demand to know who’d called, she told him anyway. “It was my mother calling to tell me that she still hasn’t received her alimony check from my father, and that she’s leaving tonight for a weeklong trip to New York. So, when I do hear from my dad, she wants to make sure I tell him that she needs her money.” It really was unbelievable just how superficial she was.
“Is he usually late on his payments?”
“No, as far as I know, he’s normally very prompt.” Zoe dropped her cell phone back into her purse, trying not to think of all the reasons why he’d be late on his alimony payment, which included the possibility that he was on the run. “By the way, I’m going to stop by my father’s office on Monday afternoon and talk to Sheila face-to-face and see what kind of information I can get out of her about where my father is, like a hotel name or a copy of his itinerary, and find out how she’s been contacting him. She takes care of all that stuff, and being his daughter, I have a right to know where my father is.”
“Good idea.” Sean turned onto Las Vegas Boulevard and headed toward the Oynx. “If your father’s secretary doesn’t have anything to hide, I’m sure she’ll cooperate.”
And if Sheila didn’t give Zoe what she asked for…well, she’d deal with that issue when and if she met with resistance.
A few minutes later she and Sean arrived back at the Onyx Hotel, and he drove Zoe to where she’d parked her car earlier, before her meeting with Caleb and The Reliance Group. Sean came to a stop behind her Lexus and pushed the switch to unlock the passenger door.
“I guess we’ll be in touch if either of us has any news?” she asked.
He nodded as he casually draped his wrist over the steering wheel. “It might take Lucas a few days to decode what’s on your father’s hard drive, but if anything comes up, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay.” With nothing left to say, she slid out of the Camaro and shut the door, feeling Sean’s eyes on her backside as she walked to her car. Like a gentleman, he waited until she was securely inside her vehicle before taking off, leaving her wishing they had a legitimate excuse to spend more time together that didn’t include investigating her father’s whereabouts.
She exhaled a heavy sigh and turned on the car’s engine, knowing that going their separate ways was the smartest thing to do. She had a ton of work to get done over the next few days for ZR Designs, including spending all day Sunday reviewing and modifying orders and conducting the half-dozen interviews she’d set up for Monday morning to find a manager for the boutique.
She really didn’t have time for anything non–business related, and she most certainly didn’t have the extra time to spend with a sexy, charming man who would leave her with nothing more than a broken heart.