Jaimie: Fire and Ice (The Wilde Sisters 2)

There were a thousand reasons to say no. Practical, logical, sensible reasons.

There was one reason to say yes.

That reason was Zacharias.

Jaimie smiled. The smile became a soft laugh. Then she rose on her toes, wrapped her arms around her lover’s neck, and kissed him.

“Yes,” she said, and because the sun was setting the sea on fire, Zach led her back to the patio, undressed her, and they made love with a sweetness that was beyond anything either of them had ever known before.

* * * *

The change of jobs, cities and living spaces turned out to be easy.

Jaimie’s old firm had an opening in their New York office. They offered it to her with an increase in pay. Even her landlord, normally the worst sort of grump, said she could end her lease without penalty because, it turned out, he wanted her flat for his mother.

Who knew that even grumpy landlords had mothers?

She put her furniture, dishes, all her stuff in storage. All she needed were her computer and a couple of suitcases, and she was ready.

Zach phoned his driver, quietly arranged to have John fly to Washington, pick up his Porsche and drive it back to Manhattan. He couldn’t let Jaimie know he’d had the car with him; she’d have asked why he’d rented the Prius.

It was sleight of hand, and it reminded him that she still didn’t know the truth, but he assured himself that he would tell it to her, and soon.

She moved into Zach’s amazing penthouse on a Thursday. And, the next evening, she finally faced the one thing she had yet to do.

Call her sisters. Her brothers, too, but Emily and Lissa first. None of them knew what she’d done, that she’d left Washington, quit her job, gone back to accounting, moved to New York…

Moved in with a man she’d never told them about.

It was a lot to have done without ever saying anything to any of them.

She knew that her brothers would want all the details. She was a grown woman, but they still thought of her, of all their sisters, as girls. There were times it drove the three of them nuts, but they loved their big brothers and they knew that being protective was how Jacob, Caleb and Travis showed that they loved them in return.

The timing was perfect, because Zacharias phoned to say he’d be late.

“Put a bottle of champagne in the fridge,” he said. “We’re going to celebrate.”

“Have you forgotten? We celebrated last night.”

His laughter came through the phone, low and sexy enough to make her wish he were there with her.

“I haven’t forgotten a thing, babe. In fact, I’m planning an instant replay.”

She smiled. “How late will you be?”

“I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

“You’d better.”

He laughed. “Hold that thought.”

Zach ended the call.

He was the luckiest man on the planet. And tonight, they’d have a lot to celebrate.

Steven Young was about to be history.

His guys had found him. They’d tailed him for days. His man, Jerry, had just called with the details.