She made a frustrated sound and turned her chair so she faced him. “This isn’t about the news. This is about my father. My family. Why would Ray do this?”
“Zoe,” he said. “Ray told me I could explain this to you, not your father. I had to get his permission because of the client-attorney privilege. But I also need you to know, I am only relaying what I’ve been told. I have no clue what is true and you can’t repeat any of this. Not to the public and certainly not your father. What you know as far as he’s concerned should be what your family tells you.”
“Just tell me,” Zoe spat, feeling on edge. “Tell me.”
“He claims your father had an affair with his wife.”
“With Clara?” Zoe felt sick. Would her father do that? No. No. She didn’t want to believe it. “Why would Ray confess if that’s true?”
“Clara convinced him to.”
She sank back in her chair. “I can’t believe this.” Her eyes lifted to Declan’s. “Do my brothers know?”
“I don’t know. I’ve talked to your father’s attorney but no one else.” He hesitated. “Zoe.” Another pause. “When I met you, I wasn’t even handling this case.”
Zoe held up a hand. “Stop. I don’t want to hear this.”
He leaned forward, both hands on her chair, rolling his closer so their knees touched. “You have to hear it. I didn’t know who you were. How could I? You never told me your last name.”
His nearness made her insides tremble. She wanted him, but she didn’t want to get hurt any more than she already had. And this thing with Ray blew her away. Did everyone burn each other? She thought he was like a brother to her father. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. Everything about what happened between us matters.”
“It was sex, Declan. Sex. You can have it with anyone. Please do.” But she didn’t want him to. The words fell from her mouth with a bite of bitterness.
“Is that all it was to you?” he demanded, anger creeping into his tone. “Just sex?” Pause. “Because it didn’t seem like just sex, Zoe.”
“Some out-of-character guilt has you delusional.” She reached up and shoved at his arms, reeling from the charge of electricity it sent through her body. “Move, damn it.”
But he didn’t. In fact, he seemed to solidify to stone. And his eyes…they were hard. Even cold. “The sex was good,” he said. “You’re right about that. If it’s nothing more than that…why stop?” He let the question hang in the air. “I want you, Zoe.”
His hand found its way to her thigh just below her hemline. Zoe sucked in a breath as the touch radiated up her legs to her core. She wanted him. Why could she not control her feelings with this man? His fingers inched their way beneath her hem and her hand went to the top of his. “Stop, Declan.” But even to her own ears, the words sounded lame. Lord help her, she didn’t want him to stop.
He slid his other hand into her hair. “You want me,” he said. “I see it in your eyes.”
Zoe felt her nipples tighten, the heat of awareness burning her inside and out. She could barely think. Somehow, his fingers managed to make their way to her panties and he brushed the silk. The smoldering heat from moments before rocketed into a burning flame. Her eyes fluttered with the potency of the moment and her chest tightened. He eased her legs apart. Or maybe she did. She wasn’t sure. He inched the material of her skirt as high as it would go and then his eyes dropped to the vee of her body. Knowing he was looking at her served as an aphrodisiac of sorts. It turned her on and the throb between her thighs intensified, roaring with demand to be fed. Touched. Stroked. And when he pushed aside her panties and slid a finger along her sensitive flesh all reason fled. She wanted Declan. Everything prior to this moment didn’t matter.
“I can feel how much you want me,” he said, sliding a finger along her now wet, sensitized body.
Her hand went to his shirt, curling around it as she pulled him close. But need and the position of the chairs forced her to abandon that strategy quickly. She cradled his face in her palms, pulling his lips to hers and kissing him. Savoring him. Completely forgetting she was in the middle of a newsroom where scandal was made if not delivered. And here she was handing it over on a silver platter. Not even caring.
Chapter Sixteen
This wasn’t how Declan had planned his meeting with Zoe. But Zoe had tried to hide behind sex and he couldn’t let her. Hell, it pissed him off the way she tried to downplay what was between them. He knew she was scared, but damn it, so was he. He knew the situation was strange. Meeting the way they had and then finding out they had a link they didn’t know about. None of this changed the fact that there was something between them beyond the physical. Something he wasn’t ready to let go of. And he was willing to bet she wasn’t either. So, he’d decided if sex was her defense, he’d make it his offense.