‘To alcohol,’ she had time to answer him before she was ill once again.
Not that this could last for too long; there was really nothing in her stomach for her to be ill with except that slice of toast and liquid!
Although it was unpleasant enough while it lasted, Tyler acknowledged half an hour later, equally exhausted and devastated that she had been sick in front of Zak Prince of all people. The fact that he was the one responsible for giving her the alcohol in the first place didn’t lessen that feeling in the slightest!
‘Damn it, you only had a couple of sips of the stuff!’ he protested as he helped her to the bathroom to wash her face and clean her teeth, before easing her back onto the sofa.
‘The amount doesn’t seem to matter,’ she explained. She was already feeling the start of the headache that usually followed one of these bouts. Not that there were any now that she simply avoided drinking alcohol.
Unless it was literally forced down her throat!
Sleep was the best thing for her now, although there wasn’t too much chance of that until she had got herself back to her apartment…
* * *
It was dark when she woke up. Very dark. And very silent. Apart from the sound of steady breathing.
Tyler held her breath.
The sound of breathing continued.
Where was she?
More to the point, who was that breathing beside her?
She sat up with a start, groaning as she felt the pounding pain in her head.
‘Are you okay?’
There was a movement beside her, and Tyler quickly closed her eyes as a light was switched on, its brightness only increasing the pounding in her head. As did the easy recognition of that voice!
‘Tyler?’ Zak repeated with concern.
What was she doing lying in bed beside Zak Prince? How had she got here? More to the point, what was she still doing here?
The last thing she remembered was being violently ill, knowing she had to sleep, and then—nothing.
‘Tyler, open your eyes and talk to me,’ Zak Prince instructed forcefully, at the same time grasping her arms and shaking her slightly.
‘If you don’t stop doing that my head is going to fall off!’ She gently lowered herself back onto the pillow.
Zak instantly stopped shaking her. ‘Sounds like you have a hangover to me.’ He sounded amused. ‘Are you sure you hadn’t been drinking before you met me last night?’
Her eyes shot open as she ignored the pain in her head to glare at him indignantly. ‘I told you, I’m allergic to alcohol! One mouthful and I’m violently ill.’
‘You sure are!’ He grinned, leaning on his elbow to look down at her. ‘In fact, I’ve never seen anyone as ill as you were last night. Before you blacked out, of course,’ he added.
‘I fell asleep,’ she defended, and then winced at the loudness of her own voice. ‘I fell asleep,’ she repeated huskily, suddenly very aware of where they were, and of how close Zak Prince actually was. ‘What time is it?’ She turned her head slightly, having trouble trying to focus on the luminous clock on the bedside table.
The bedside table! She really was lying in bed with Zak. Both of them were fully dressed, she was relieved to see, but it was still a huge double bed the two of them lay in.
Zak peered past her at the clock. ‘A few minutes after eleven o’clock,’ he supplied.
‘Oh, that’s not so bad!’ She sighed her relief. ‘I’ve only been asleep for an hour or so—’
‘A few minutes after eleven o’clock in the morning,’ Zak enlightened her with a teasing smile.
‘It can’t be!’ she protested, half struggling to sit up, and then falling back down again as she realized how close she was to Zak. ‘If it’s morning, then why is it still so dark?’
He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘I always stay in this particular suite when I’m in London. If I’m working I never know when I’m going to get to bed and the curtains in here are so thick they cut out all the daylight.’
Tyler stared up at him now, her mouth open, her eyes wide with shock. Eleven o’clock in the morning! Did that mean she had been here all night?
Zak chuckled softly. ‘Well, this isn’t the usual reaction I get from a woman after we’ve spent a night in bed together!’
Tyler felt her face pale even more, her lips feeling slightly numb too. ‘We—we haven’t spent a night in bed together,’ she finally managed to stutter.
‘No?’ He looked pointedly at their surroundings.
There was no denying that they were in a bedroom, nor that the two of them shared the same bed, but they certainly hadn’t—they hadn’t—had they…?
Her eyes were wide with anxiety as she looked up into Zak’s face for some sign of exactly what had happened here last night, but his expression was unreadable as he looked at her beneath mockingly raised brows.
‘You know, Tyler—’ Zak reached up and pushed the short hair back from her brow, his fingers leaving a trail of fire where they touched ‘—I actually consider it extremely insulting that you could imagine I might take advantage of a woman who had just been violently ill all over my hotel suite!’ His blue eyes looked as hard and gleaming as sapphires.
It did sound a little insulting, Tyler realized. In fact, a lot insulting. Although, considering his much-publicized reputation with women—No, she had better not even go there. Not if the now-dangerous glint in his eyes was anything to go by!
‘Although the same certainly can’t be said about twelve hours later!’ he rasped just before his head swooped down and his lips claimed hers.
Tyler melted. Just melted. Her lips softened and clung to his, and her body responded avidly as he half lay across her, her hands moving up to thread her fingers in the silky softness of his corn-coloured hair.
Zak’s mouth gentled, sipping, tasting, tenderly biting, causing first her lips to tingle, before the sensation spread to the rest of her body.
Then she felt as if she had been engulfed in flames as he suddenly deepened the kiss, her mouth opening wider to allow the hot, passionate intrusion of his tongue.
Her breasts, the nipples firm and inviting, pressed against the muscled hardness of his chest, a chest she longed to touch. Her hands thrust eagerly under his tee shirt, first stroking then lightly dragging her nails down—
‘Housekeeping!’ A sharp rap on the door accompanied the bright announcement.
Zak, whose fingers had just started to caress Tyler’s generous, unfettered breasts beneath her top, shot away from her as if he had been stung. ‘Damn, damn, damn!’ he muttered. ‘I forgot to put the “Do Not Disturb” notice on the door last night before we went to bed!’ He was scowling darkly as he swung his long legs off the bed and got up to walk over to the door.
Tyler lay back on the bed in total shock. Zak Prince, the golden boy of the big screen, had just very thoroughly kissed her. She had always wondered what was meant by that phrase, and now she knew. She had just been so ‘thoroughly’ kissed she still tingled all over and her legs felt shaky!
* * *
Not the best move he had ever made in his life, Zak rebuked himself even as he dealt with the cleaning lady standing out in the hallway. First and foremost, Tyler was a reporter, and reporters, in his experience, were after only one thing: a story.
Something he had just given her in spades!
Somehow, and he wasn’t quite sure how, he was