getting out a covered dish. “I’ll get our margaritas, build a fire and we’ll eat when we’re ready.”
In minutes he had drinks mixed and logs stacked to get a fire blazing. He turned out the lights, leaving just firelight and the snowy view outside.
She walked to the window. “Zach, it looks even more beautiful than earlier today. Tomorrow morning we have to build a snowman if it’s wet snow.”
“Don’t count on it. This is a cold night outside. It couldn’t be hotter in here,” he added in a husky voice.
She smiled at him. “When did you last build a snowman?”
“Probably when I was five. I don’t remember exactly, but we did when we were little. A bunch of little boys—of course, we did.”
She smiled and he walked to her, carrying their drinks.
“Here’s to the very best night ever.”
Surprised, she touched his glass with hers. “I’ll drink to that and I agree,” she said. She sipped the margarita and looked at the snow. “It’s beautiful out there, but I’m ready to sit by the fire.”
“In front of the fire is much cozier than here by cold windows.”
Tossing a bunch of pillows from the sofa to the floor in front of the fire, he held out his arm. “Come here and enjoy the warmth.”
She sat on the floor and he drew her back against him. “This is great, Zach.”
He curled a lock of her hair in his fingers. “When do you plan to go back to college?”
“I’m saving money and this job helps. I hope to start again next September. I’ll take night or Saturday classes or on the computer.”
“You can’t just take a year off to go back to college?”
“I like my job at your office. I hate to leave it.”
“I can promise you it’ll be there if you want to come back.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks, but I probably need the income, too. I don’t think I can save that much.”
“Do you have to get presents for that enormous family of yours?”
“The adults draw names. We all give to Mom and Dad. Right now we don’t draw names for the kids because there aren’t that many and they’re little, so they’re easy, but I expect the year to come when they do draw kids’ names. Our family is growing and two of us are still single.”
He took her drink and placed it on the table. One look in his eyes and her pulse jumped while he drew her to him.
“Zach,” she said with longing. Sliding her hands over his muscled shoulders, she wrapped her arms around him to kiss him as he pulled her down on the pillows.
Hours later Zach emerged from his bathroom and went to the kitchen. Emma wasn’t there and the fire was dying embers. The longer he had been with her, the more he had wanted her. Now he felt insatiable. Lovemaking should have cooled him. He had broken his own rules to avoid emotional and physical entanglements with employees. With Emma, he couldn’t turn back time and now he didn’t want to. Last night had been fantastic, red-hot and unforgettable, making him want her more than ever. He grew hot just thinking about her. She excited him beyond measure and was unbearably sexy. He hoped she didn’t expect more than he could give because she was sentimental, someone he never expected to become involved with.
She was totally the type of woman he had always avoided going out with. Always, until now. They were captives of circumstances that placed them in the same room, close proximity day and night. There were too many sparks between them to avoid fire. When had he been unable to use more control or maintain his cool resistance and good judgment?
“Here I am,” she said, coming through the door.
“You changed,” he said, looking at her jeans and thick blue sweater. “You look great.”
“I was just going to tell you that. And you also changed. I like your black sweater. And your tight jeans,” she said, wriggling her hips.
“You’ll never get dinner if you keep that up,” he said, a husky note creeping into his voice as his temperature jumped just watching her twist her hips.
She held up a hand. “No, no. I get to eat.”
“I know what I want.”
“Let’s try chili right now. If it isn’t cooked beyond the point of being edible.”
“Not at all. Cooker on low, remember? Rosie left us salads in the fridge. I’ll get them before I serve the chili. Want a glass of wine or margarita first?”
She laughed. “I think we’ve done that before. We can’t seem to get past it to dinner.”
“It wasn’t the drinks that interrupted. We’ll try again. Do you want wine?”
“I’ll take the margarita. Maybe this time, I’ll actually drink one.”
He left to mix her drink and she followed him to the bar.
“Before I forget,” he said, “let me go get something that came in the mail earlier.” He set down his bottle of beer and left to return with a large envelope. “Since you like family so much, here are pictures of our half sister’s wedding to Garrett, our CFO and a longtime family friend. Bring your drink and we’ll look at the pictures together.”
She sat down on the sofa, and Zach sat beside her, removing a book of bound pictures from the envelope.
“Garrett has married Sophia, our half sister. We didn’t know we had a half sister until the reading of Dad’s will. You can imagine the shock, particularly to my mother. I thought we might have to call an ambulance and I’m not joking about it. She had no clue. No one could understand my dad. Not any of us, definitely not my mother. I don’t think she even tried. Maybe Sophia’s mother. He never married her, but he kept her in his life until the end.”
“Sounds sad, Zach.”
“Don’t start feeling sorry for me over my dad. All of us wanted Sophia in the family. First, we really wanted her—that should please you. Second—Sophia, as well as all of us, stood to inherit a fortune from Dad if she became involved with the Delaney company. It was his way of forcing us to get her into the family. And forcing her to join us. Sophia was incredibly bitter over Dad and wanted no part of this family.”
“Even though you were her half brothers?”
“That’s where Garrett came in and you can see the results. We all like her and Garrett loves her.”
Emma looked over the photographs. “She’s beautiful and they both look radiantly happy.”
“You’re enough of a romantic to think that no matter what the picture shows.”
Emma stuck her tongue out at him, making him grin.
He looked at her profile while she studied the pictures. Her skin was flawless, her lashes thick and had a slight curl. Locks of red hair spilled onto her shoulders. He set down his beer, took her drink from her hand and then placed it and the book of pictures on the table. He pulled her into his arms to kiss her.
Her mouth was soft, opening like the petals of a rose. Heat spilled in him, centering in his manhood. He couldn’t get enough of her, relishing every luscious curve, her softness sending his temperature soaring. She wrapped her arms around him, kissing him in return, and he forgot dinner again.
By Monday morning a bright sun made snow sparkle and icicles had a steady drip as ice and snow melted. When Emma went to the office she glanced out to see the snowman they had built Sunday afternoon.