His Brand of Passion

‘You can call the café where you work and give notice,’ Aaron said, his gaze still on the little luminous screen of his phone.

‘Give notice? It’s only a leave of absence.’

He shrugged. ‘Whatever. Either way I’ll cover the rent on your apartment, so you don’t have to worry about money.’

Zoe sat back against the seat, a new and different kind of nausea roiling through her. It might as well be her notice, she realised. Molly, the owner of the café, would have to hire a new barista while she was gone, and it wasn’t as if Zoe was so valuable she’d dismiss that person when she was ready to return. Besides, when would she be ready to return? The future stretched in front of her, alarmingly unknown.

‘I don’t want to just sit around all day,’ she said abruptly and Aaron glanced up from his phone.

‘Even if that’s best for the baby?’

‘Enough with the emotional blackmail,’ she snapped. ‘I work afternoons as an art therapist, sitting down, very lowenergy. I’m keeping that up.’

Aaron glanced at her in consideration before turning back to his phone. ‘Fine. I’ll arrange a car to drive you there and return you to my apartment.’

‘Thank you,’ she said stiffly, although she wasn’t even sure what she was thanking him for. This situation felt uncomfortably like a prison sentence. She’d be let out for a few hours, but then swiftly returned to her cell.

Yet she’d agreed. She’d willingly put herself in Aaron’s hands and, as the limo pulled up to the high rise she hadn’t seen since that fateful night, she wondered why she had.

They didn’t speak as they rode the lift up to the penthouse and the doors opened directly onto Aaron’s apartment. Zoe walked through the cold, modern rooms and felt a prickling of discomfort lodge between her shoulder blades.

‘This brings back memories,’ she said lightly, because not saying it felt ridiculous, like refusing to acknowledge the elephant lumbering alongside them.

‘New memories will take the place of those,’ Aaron answered without emotion. ‘Let me show you your bedroom.’

It was right across from his, and just as sumptuous, with a king-sized bed, a huge plasma-screen TV and an en suite bathroom with a sunken marble tub and walk-in shower. Zoe imagined soaking in that tub and felt some of her reservations start to crumble. It would be heavenly to relax for a little while, to have a break from all the worry and fear.

‘Thank you,’ she said, turning to Aaron. He stood in the doorway, dark and unsmiling. ‘This really is very kind of you,’ she continued awkwardly. ‘I’m sorry if I haven’t seemed gracious.’

‘It’s a difficult situation. And I haven’t exactly handled myself with aplomb either.’ He set her suitcase down. ‘Why don’t you unpack? I need to return to work but I should be back around dinner time. Order whatever you like. There are menus in the kitchen, and you can just charge it to my name.’

‘Okay. Thanks.’

Then with a nod of farewell he was gone, and Zoe was left alone in the huge, barren apartment, her mind spinning as she wondered just what she’d got herself into.

She unpacked her few things as Aaron had suggested and then, because she was so tired and the tub looked so heavenly, she ran a huge, steaming bath and sank into the decadent bubbles with a blissful sigh.

Soaking in the tub she was reminded, suddenly and piercingly, of the night she’d spent with Aaron. After that first time on the rug he’d taken her to the bed, and then to the shower, soaped her everywhere, and then driven himself inside her while she had wrapped her legs around his waist…

Zoe closed her eyes as the memories assailed her and fresh, ridiculous desire coursed through her. She didn’t want to remember the overwhelming passion of that night. It could only confuse what was between them now, which was essentially a business partnership. At least, that was how Aaron seemed determined to conduct it, and Zoe told herself it was sensible. She didn’t want to get mired in feelings she had no business having for Aaron Bryant. No matter how great a lover he was, no matter how sweet his few and surprising moments of kindness, he was still, and always would be, an arrogant and autocratic jerk.

It felt weirdly disloyal to think that now, especially considering she was soaking in his bath tub as his guest for the foreseeable future. Yet Zoe knew she had to remind herself because, knowing her track record, if she didn’t she just might start to fall in love with him—and that would be really, phenomenally stupid.

Aaron couldn’t concentrate on his work, which was an irritating first. He was used to being able to focus completely on business; nothing else in his life even came a close second. Yet now, as he scanned the latest reports on the stock market in Asia, he found his mind drifting to Zoe. Wondering what she was doing. Was she watching TV? Taking a bath?

Instantly his body hardened as images flashed through his mind of Zoe in his tub with nothing but a few strategically placed bubbles popping slowly and revealing the soft, tantalising skin underneath—skin he’d touched, kissed, remembered the satiny feel of.

With effort he stopped that vivid montage from reeling through his head. Unhelpful; he didn’t want to think about Zoe as anything other than…what? His brain scrambled to compartmentalise her. He liked things tidy, in his control, yet nothing about this situation—about Zoe—felt that way. It had been messy and uncontrollable from the moment he’d met her, when she’d taken his phone and he’d responded by putting his hand up her skirt.

Sighing, Aaron raked a hand through his hair and tried to focus on the report in front of him. His mind had been spinning ever since that confrontation with Zoe in his limo. The look on her face when he’d made his cold-blooded offer. He cringed in shame at the memory, even as the aftershocks of surprise and even fear rippled through him. A baby. A father.

He’d never wanted to be a father. Never wanted to be that important to somebody—that critical. The opportunity to make a mistake, to fail, was too huge. And he knew first-hand the lasting damage a father could have on his son.

Yet over the last week he’d realised that, if Zoe was going to have this baby, if he was going to be a father whether he liked it or not, then he needed to be in that child’s life. Being completely absent was surely one way to guarantee what he didn’t want: to hurt an innocent child’s life through his own faults and weaknesses.

Aaron glanced at the clock. It was nearly six, which was still several hours before he usually left the office, and then just to work more at home. Yet today he found himself closing his laptop, packing up his attaché case and heading outside into the still-warm September evening.

The apartment was quiet when he entered, alarmingly so. Had she left? Decided she didn’t want to do this after all? And why did that thought alarm him so damn much?

Taking a deep breath, Aaron set down his case and shrugged off his jacket. He hated feeling this uncertain. This…worried.

‘Hey.’

He turned to see Zoe coming out of the kitchen dressed in a T-shirt and yoga pants, her hair tousled and damp around her shoulders. She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘I had the most decadent afternoon. I probably should feel guilty.’

Decadent? His mind was leaping to possibilities and images he had no business thinking of. ‘You came here to rest,’ he said, intentionally noncommittal and even gruff. But Zoe didn’t seem to notice and walked closer to him instead, so he caught the vanilla scent of her hair as she waggled her fingers in front of him.

‘I spent two hours in the tub. My fingers still look like prunes.’

Aaron took a step away. ‘I’m sure you’ll recover.’

‘I ordered Chinese for dinner. I know it’s completely stereotypical for a pregnancy craving, but I really wanted some pork lo mein.’

‘Your body must be craving MSG.’

She raised her eyebrows, a teasing smile curling her lush mouth. ‘Wait a minute, did you actually make a joke?’

‘A poor one, since the local Chinese place I order from doesn’t even use MSG.’ He took another step away from her, needing the distance. ‘I think I’ll go shower and change.’ Wrong thing to say, he realised immediately. It made it sound as if they were going to have a cosy night in, eating Chinese food and watching TV. How ridiculous. How impossible.

This whole situation was incredibly awkward, Aaron thought as he escaped to the shower. He’d offered his apartment to Zoe on impulse, because when he saw a problem and he wanted to deal with it immediately. He hadn’t considered how uncomfortably intimate it would be, sharing his living space, seeing her freshly showered and talking about Chinese food…

The whole thing was absurd. And messy. The sooner Zoe had a clean bill of health and could go back to her own life…

Except when would that be? he thought suddenly, his hands stilling in the process of scrubbing his hair. If the pregnancy continued to term, his life would always intersect with Zoe’s in a most critical way. He needed to develop a plan. A strategy for the future. Except he had no idea what that could be.

First things first, he decided as he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He’d get through the next few weeks of uncertainty—Hell, first he had to get through this evening. Then he could think about what the long-term future for this unexpected family of theirs would be.