Revenge With Benefits (Sweet Tea And Scandal 3)

“I’ll see what I can find out.” Paul paused a beat before adding, “You know not every woman has bad intentions.”

Not every woman. But he wasn’t about to drop his guards again unless he was su

re he wouldn’t get burned. If being overly suspicious kept his business, family and friends safe, then that’s just the way it had to be.

“I...feel something for this one,” he said, the confession coming from out of nowhere. “I just want to make sure she checks out.”

“I get it.” Paul’s sober response mirrored Ryan’s mood. “Give me a couple days to see what I can find out.”

Stung by impatience, Ryan got to his feet. To hell with waiting a couple days for answers. No reason he couldn’t do a little investigating of his own. He grabbed his keys and headed for his car. Too many questions swirled through his brain about Zoe Alston. There was no way he was getting any rest until he’d confronted her with what she’d not told him tonight.

Ryan noticed the uptick in his mood as he slid behind the wheel and recognized its origins. He was eager to see her again. Cursing, Ryan wondered if his sister had been right to warn him off. Obviously Zoe Alston was trouble. Perhaps not for Susannah’s campaign, but definitely for his peace of mind.

Four

In the wake of her dinner with Ryan, Zoe had a hard time concentrating on the spreadsheet she’d created to chart her cash flow. Today’s disastrous theft by Magnolia Fenton meant she had to figure out which bills she paid and which ones got pushed back a few weeks to a month. At the top of her priority list were the commission payments to the women who provided her inventory. They were counting on those dollars to feed and house their children.

Zoe rubbed her dry eyes and swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. She hated the wave of hopelessness that washed over her. Where could she possibly get more money? The obvious answer came from Ryan’s suggestion that she talk to his sister. He was right that an event at the store would both benefit Susannah and bring awareness to Second Chance Treasures. She wished she knew how to overcome her reluctance to ask for help. Sure, she’d been burned in the past when she’d reached out, but Susannah wasn’t at all like the women in her former social circle. She couldn’t see Ryan’s sister being nice to her face while stabbing her in the back.

When she picked up the cup of peppermint tea beside her laptop, Zoe noticed the black smudge of eye makeup on her hand and headed into the bathroom to wash her face. As she patted her skin dry, she scanned her features in the mirror, deciding without the dark makeup she looked younger than her twenty-nine years. At least until she met her reflected gaze and saw the weight of her experiences lingering in her eyes.

A knock sounded on the door that led from the stockroom to the parking lot, making Zoe’s heart jump. A glance at her watch showed it was nearly ten at night. Who could possibly be stopping by at this late hour?

Many of the women she worked with knew Zoe’s story and that she was living in the store’s back room to save money. Opening up about her troubles hadn’t been easy for Zoe. She’d spent nearly the whole of her marriage acting as if her life was perfect. But being authentic with these women was important for them and for her. As a result, Zoe was learning courage where she’d once feared. What she’d perceived as weakness and failure didn’t have to define her.

With these thoughts lightening her steps, Zoe crossed to the door and opened it. The person standing outside wasn’t at all whom she expected.

“What are you doing here?” Zoe asked, hoping her panic didn’t show.

“I thought we should talk.”

His gaze slid over her, rousing Zoe to the realization that her flowered loungewear and pink fuzzy slippers weren’t in keeping with her badass chick persona.

“So you just show up here?” she demanded, outrage lending her the strength to stand her ground and glare at him when her instincts urged her to retreat. “And how did you know where to find me?”

“I followed you.”

“You followed...?”

An overwhelming sense of anxiety pummeled her. Yet, even as she backed up a step and started to pull the door closed, she recognized that with his suspicions aroused, this man wouldn’t trust her unless she gave him a chance to vent his doubts. Squashing her anxiety, she fell back and let him pass.

Ryan entered the back room, glancing around as he did so. Boxes filled with inventory occupied nearly a third of the wide room. A curtain divided the rest of the space into a staff break room and Zoe’s office and living quarters. During the hours when the store was open, Zoe kept the curtain closed, but when she was alone, she tied it back. At the moment the cot she was sleeping on was visible.

“Are you sleeping here?” he asked, his hard gaze returning to her.

Shame sifted through her at her current circumstances. More than anything she’d like to be living like a normal person in a home with a proper kitchen and bathroom.

Instead of answering, she crossed her arms over her chest. “I have work to do. If you would quickly say whatever is on your mind, I can get back to it.”

“Fine,” he snapped, frowning. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

“I told you I’m—”

“Zoe Alston.” He nodded. “What you didn’t say is that you were formerly Zoe Crosby.”

Zoe froze as horror filled her. He’d investigated her. The implications ricocheted through her mind, moving too fast for her to settle on any single reason to freak out. Did he know what she, Everly and London had been up to? Could he be there to threaten her? He hadn’t hesitated to send Kelly Briggs to jail. What would he do to Zoe if he knew she’d intended to cause trouble for his sister?

“So I was married,” she murmured, hating how exposed she felt at the moment. “It didn’t work out.” It got a little easier each time she admitted the failure. There was power in that. “What’s the big deal?”