Looks like Trouble to Me (Bad Boys Need Love, Too #1) Read online

  “Where?” she said.

  “Next to that concrete column. Pants off.”

  She did as he bid, standing in the dim light, wearing tennis shoes and socks, leopard print panties and her black work shirt. His breath caught as he regarded her. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Zoé.” He held up his hands, making a frame with his thumbs and fingers. “Wait right there. Hold that pose.”

  “Come on, Jace, you’re too far away. I miss you.”

  “Hold on, baby, this will only take a sec.” He grabbed his satchel off the ground where he’d dropped it, dug around for his camera and pulled it free.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m taking pictures of you, that’s what.”

  “I’m shy.”

  “Perfect.”

  “No, Jace, I’m really shy about having my picture taken.”

  “Come on, baby, let me love you with my eyes.”

  A curious look flashed across her face, followed with a small smile. “Love me with your eyes?”

  “Yes,” he said, suddenly aware of what he’d said. Shit. His pulse raced.

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Allow it.” He made a few adjustments on the camera, held it up and looked through the viewfinder. “Fucking beautiful.” He pressed the Nikon’s shutter. Click.

  “Jace,” she said, leaning against the concrete.

  Click, click.

  “I miss you.”

  “Just a sec, baby.” Click. Click. Click.

  “You’re hanging out of your pants, you know,” she said, laughing.

  “That’s for inspiration. You’ll get some.”

  “When?” She pouted.

  “Perfect! Hold that.” Click. Click. He moved in closer. “Arms up high.”

  She lifted her arms along the column, her hand brushing against a big bolt protruding from the pillar. Her fingers curled around it. “I want to kiss you.”

  Click. Click. Click. “Unbutton your shirt.”

  She complied. “I’m about to pounce on you.”

  He grinned. Click. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. I’m so wet for you, Jace Savage.”

  Click. Click. Click. “I’ll take care of that juiciness in a minute.” Click.

  “You’re all talk.” She moved her hands behind her ass and pushed her hips out.

  “Fuck, baby. Gorgeous.” Click. Click.

  “You’re a big tease. You’re a…a…a pussy tease, that’s what you are.”

  He laughed. “Never heard that one before.”

  “You’re torturing me.”

  “I’m caressing you with my eyes.” Click.

  She whimpered. “Skin. I need skin.”

  His cock jerked.

  “I saw that, you know. Give it to me.”

  “This is the art of seduction, baby.”

  “Fuck the art of seduction.”

  “Dirty mouth.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  “It’s getting dirtier.”

  “Don’t you want to silence me?”

  Click. Click. “I want to seduce you, that’s what.” Click. “How am I doing?”

  “Jace, please,” she pleaded.

  He gently placed the camera on top of the backpack and made his way over to her. “Now I’ve got something to look at when I’m away from you.”

  “Quit talking and start touching,” she said, reaching for his lapel. “Let’s get back to that amazing kissing.”

  “Someone’s being bossy.” He smiled, as she unbuttoned his shirt. When his phone jangled, he cursed. The ring tone may have well have been a baby cry. “Fuck!”

  Her head jerked up. “Do you have to answer that?”

  “‘Fraid so.” He looked at the screen, his forehead creased and tapped the connect button. “What?” he snapped. “Okay, I’m on my way.” He disconnected and dropped it on the ground. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! Sorry, baby.”

  “What’s going on? You get me to surrender like that, you get me all hot and horny and you have to leave? Come on, Jace! Where do you have to keep going?” Zoé huffed. She grabbed her pants and yanked them on.

  “I’m sorry, baby. You have no idea how sorry I am.”

  “What’s going on?”

  He picked up his backpack, reaching for her hand. “I can’t tell you,” he said. “I have to catch the fucking ferry.” He sighed. “My life is dictated by someone else’s schedule, it seems.”

  “Sounds like what mothers have to do,” she said, yanking on her pants.

  He stiffened. “What’s that mean?”

  “Mothers have no life until their kid is, like, what? Twelve? Ten? Sixteen?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” he said quickly, groaning inside.

  “What did I say?” she asked. “Are you a mother?”

  “No, not that I’m aware of. I saw Billy today doing something suspicious,” he said, swiftly changing the subject.

  “Oh?” she said, taking his hand for assistance as she climbed onto the road.

  “Yeah. He was in front of me on the freeway. He drove into that abandoned cruise port downtown. Fought with his girlfriend. The guy’s a total dick when it comes to women. You’re lucky you got out unscathed.”

  “I wouldn’t say completely unscathed, but anyway - go on.” She glared at him.

  “So he went into this warehouse and came out with one of those rolly bag suitcases. Very odd. You’d think if it were drugs or weapons he’d come out with a duffle bag or a big box or something CSI. It’s a bit too obvious for travel, don’t you think? ‘Say, officer, don’t mind me wheeling this suitcase full of drugs and guns onto the plane. I won’t need them until I get to my destination, promise.’” He let out a snort.

  “I don’t know anything about drug runners. Do you?” She slid her helmet on her head and fumbled with the chin strap.

  “Not really,” he said quickly. “Anyway, I’m going to keep an eye on him.”

  “Maybe he’s up to something you can use against him?”

  “Maybe. I can only watch from the sidelines. I’d love to mash his pretty face but his lawyers would have a cow.” He slung his leg over his ride. “Climb on, baby. I’ll drop you off at your car and then head home.”

  “Back to your…”

  “Don’t say it,” he snapped.

  “I was going to say back to your home where you’ll miss me like crazy,” she said, dropping the visor or her helmet. “Jeez,” she said in a muffled voice.

  He pivoted around, lifted her visor and said, “I will miss you like crazy. I already do.” He kissed her nose. “Give me a chance, baby, please. I’ll get things sorted soon.”

  Chapter 15

  Zoé drove the Jeep to the Arboretum near the bridge where Jace had photographed her. Her core throbbed and sizzled as she thought of him. “I feel so damn needy and horny,” she mumbled, flipping on the turn signal. “Where does he have to keep going?” She shook her head. “Boy and his mysteries. Damn!”

  Her phone chirped. She glanced down, fiddling with the phone to view the text. Want to be inside you, she read. Fuck all night. “The feeling’s more than mutual, stud,” she muttered. She thumbed, when? She sent the text and stepped on the gas. When the answering blip came, she picked up the phone, thumbed it awake and read, Tomorrow. Get ready. She pulled into the parking lot, and typed, Lucky you. No work. Time? The response came immediately. 9am. All day. All night. Exclusive rights. “Possessive boy,” she said. All day? All night? She liked the thought of that. She tossed the phone on the seat and scrambled out of the Jeep.

  “Hey, Tanya,” she said in greeting, as she spied her friend in the huge greenhouse the Arboretum kept to grow starter plants for the many gardens.

  “Hey.” Tanya studied her. “You look happy. Mr. Lover Boy responsible?”

  “More like sexually frustrated. And yes. We keep getting interrupted.”

  “Huh,” Tanya said, non-committedly. “I want to show you these. Come over here.”

  Zoé sauntered to whe
re Tanya stood between the rows and rows of wooden tables filled with plants. She studied the stunning dark purple flowers Tanya held out to her. “What are these? Hellebores?”

  “Yes. The staff here said I could purchase some of these for the garden I’m designing. Give me your professional opinion. Good fit or no?”

  “How big do they get?”

  “About twenty inches. These will bloom almost black. I thought they’d prove a marked contrast to the other plants.”

  “Plus, they’ll provide color when the others will be tucking in for the winter. I say yes.” She paused, looking around. “Have you thought about using Alaska Cranberry or Arctic Fire Dogwood? I love the color those plants provide.”

  “Good call.” Tanya lifted a tray of starters. “We’ll take these six.” She pointed toward the table holding the plants.

  Zoé picked up a tray and followed Tanya.

  “You’re really good at this, you know.”

  “Good at what?” Zoé asked.

  “Landscape design. You’ve got an eye for it. And a mind for the sustainability. I could hire you, you know.”

  Zoé felt a surge of pride. “Are you kidding?”

  “Not at all. Tony and I have talked this over quite a bit. We get big jobs, honey. The wealthiest of the wealthy.”

  Zoé thought of her comment to Jace the other day about being a “fucking landscape designer.” Her mouth worked back and forth as she thought of working for some privileged fuck like Billy. “It’s an amazing offer, Tanya. Really. Let me think about it.”

  “Have you given any thought to what I said the other day?” Tanya asked over her shoulder.

  “Which part?”

  “The playing it safe part.”

  Zoé said nothing.

  “I take that as a no.”

  Zoé sighed. “I like him. He makes me laugh. He makes me feel happy. Why are you being such a killjoy about this? Be happy for me.”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt like you did with Billy.”

  “That was stupid.”

  “And this isn’t?” Tanya dropped the tray of plants in the bed of the truck.

  “Jeez, you’re acting like you’re my mother, Tanya,” Zoé hissed. “Stop it. I like him. He likes me. End of story.”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll let you live your life the way you see fit.”

  “Thank you,” Zoé said, as she plunked her tray next to the other one.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  “But…”

  “Don’t, Tanya. It’s my business.”

  “Okay,” Tanya said, turning to walk back to the greenhouse.

  “Okay,” Zoé said, following her. “Listen to this, though.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Jace thinks Billy is up to something.”

  “How’s he know Billy?” Tanya’s face wound tight.

  “They were at the bar together. That’s how I met him. They work together.”

  “And that wasn’t a clue? Girlfriend, you’re doing nothing to reassure me, that’s for certain.”

  “Just because you work together doesn’t mean you’re from the same stupid gene pool,” said Zoé, growing hot under the collar.

  “Maybe, but you said they were hanging out together. That’s different than showing up at the same place of employment.”

  Zoé grew silenced by these words. They worked their way into her mind like a virus before she had a chance to refute them. “He’s…he’s different, Tanya. He can’t stand Billy.” The words sounded lame, even to her.

  “Then why hang out with him? Why not say, at the end of the day, no thanks, I’ve got better things to do? Use your brain, Zoé. Your kitty cat’s in the driver’s seat here.”

  “My kitty cat?” Zoé spluttered.

  “Well?” Tanya said, lifting another tray.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zoé said, following suit.

  “Uh huh.”

  They exited the greenhouse, Hellebores in hand.

  After depositing them beside the others in the truck bed, Tanya turned and leaned against the pickup. “Look, girl. I know how good a sexual connection can be. You get convinced the energy running through your system is the end all, be all and everything your lover says makes sense….blah, blah, blah. When you come off the high, though, and look at the world through sober eyes, you usually find you might have missed something along the way. That’s all I’m saying. Check him out, that’s all. Maybe he’s going to be a big deal in your life. But maybe he’s going to be nothing but trouble. It looks like trouble to me but I could be wrong.”

  Zoé clasped her arms tightly around her chest. “That’s what I’m afraid of. That all my good sense is being vanquished by his…” She clamped her mouth shut. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone - ever! The connection we have is amazing! Stop being such a downer!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, honey. I can be too direct sometimes.” Tanya walked toward the greenhouse for the last load of plants. “Have fun. I’m being a spoilsport.”

  “I’ll say,” Zoé said, conceding. “But you’re bringing out these niggling thoughts I keep having in the back of my mind. Maybe he isn’t real. Maybe when I really get to know him I’ll find out I’ve been lied to the whole time, like Billy did. How do I know what to trust inside? Billy was such a big mistake! But the last time I listened to you I ended up turning into the Frost Queen when I saw him next. He doesn’t get a lot of time with me. I’d rather not deep freeze him again when he shows up tomorrow.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. That’s not the way to winnow information out of a man. Kill him with kindness, I say.” Tanya winked.

  “Yeah, I’ll try that approach.” She dropped the last tray into the truck. “Now what else do we have to do? I’ve got about an hour before I have to head to work.”

  An hour and half later, she stood in the bar bathroom dabbing at her arm pits. She’d arrived a bit sweaty from moving pots, trays, and five gallon containers of trees into Tanya’s truck. Load after load after load. She sidled from the bathroom, grabbed her bar apron and her order pad, and made her way onto the floor. She stopped, stunned, staring at her section. Her legs, obviously missing the message her brain broadcast, propelled her across the room. “Get out of my section, Billy. I don’t want to serve you.”

  He flashed a charming smile - the same one he used to seduce her in the first place. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I want to eat?”

  “What do you want to eat, Billy?” she said, her jaw tight. She held her order form up and tapped it with the pen.

  Billy’s eyelids lowered slightly. “I was thinking I’d start with your cunt. I’d make you scream.”

  Zoé’s mouth fell open and she glanced around the room to see if anyone was listening. Satisfied that all were absorbed in their own conversations, she said, “In horror, maybe.” She leaned closer to his nasty mouth. “I don’t have a cunt, you asshole. What I do have is off-limits.”

  Billy laughed. “That’s not what you told me the night I ate you. You said it was the best you’d ever had. You were so grateful you put me in your mouth to re-pay me.”

  “Yeah, but I remember spitting you out. You tasted foul.”

  Billy’s fingernails dug into the wooden table. “I’d watch what you say to me, bitch.”

  Sharon zipped by, tray in hand. “Everything all right here?” she asked.

  “Yes, Sharon. He’s debating what he wants.”

  Sharon’s lips pressed together as she eyed Billy. “Okay, then. I’ll leave you to it.”

  “Actually, I don’t want any of this swill you serve. Or you. I only came here to warn you. You don’t know who you’re screwing.”

  “He’s a hell of a lot better than the likes of you,” Zoé spit out.

  “I’ll ignore that. Ask him the kinds of things he did on my yacht. Ask him what he was involved in. I think you might be surprised. He’s not as squeaky clean as he makes himself out to be.�
�

  Jace didn’t represent himself as a squeaky clean individual by any means but Billy seemed to indicate something far more menacing. Zoé’s face creased, her mind racing to think of a retort. Coming up empty, she said, “Are you finished? There are people waiting for this table.”

  He glanced up at her, his shark’s gray-blue eyes scrutinizing her. “Yeah, I can see I’ve made my point. Serve some other chump. I’ve got two babes to take care of.” He gave her a pointed look. “And you can bet they’ll be screaming for more. The same way you did.” A horrid grin split his face. He slid out of the booth and rapped on the table with his knuckle. “Later, baby.”

  “I’m not your baby,” Zoé said, as he sauntered toward the door.

  He spun around and blew her a kiss.

  She dodged as if it were a bullet.

  He laughed, and sauntered leisurely outside.

  Sharon came up behind her, leaning over her shoulder. “Is everything all right, Zoé? What did he do to you? You look white as a ghost.”

  “Nothing. He’s nothing but a prick.”

  “I’ll say. He brings in women by the handful. Didn’t you say you dated him for a while?”

  “We dated briefly, yeah. He’s a total dick. And now he’s trying to mess with a new relationship I’m in.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “A few weeks ago, I lived a relatively predictable life. Suddenly, it’s turned upside down.”

  “Maybe you craved something different.”

  “Not this,” Zoé said dejectedly. “But now, I’ve got orders to take.”

  Chapter 16

  Jace felt bone tired when he arrived at Zoé’s. Marni had kept him up nearly all last night. She cried. She fussed. He picked her up. He rocked her. He gave her bottles. He sang to her. Finally, at four in the morning, she’d fallen asleep. When he dropped her off at Aunt Molly’s, she threw a tantrum, making him feel like a total schmuck. His aunt told him that she probably had separation anxiety. She probably missed her mother, and needed consistency.

  Great, he thought for the millionth time. I’ve got no business starting a new relationship. But I can’t stay away from Zoé.

  As he stood on the concrete step leading to Zoé’s front stoop, he looked at the brooding sky. Clouds hung heavy and dark, bloated with condensation. He’d hoped for another pretty day but hey - it’s Seattle. And anyway, they mirrored his mood. He took another step and rapped on the door.