Seducing Zeb (Tarnished Saints Series) (14 page)

“Why didn’t you?” Nate asked.

“That’s right,” said Zeb. “After all, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve been married more times than Za Za Gabor.”

“Not as many, but close,” said Cappy. “And you boys want to know the truth? I’m not able to have children, and most my marriages broke up because of it. There are a lot of good men out there who want a wife and family and would give anything at all to get it. So if you don’t want Cat, Zeb, than maybe you’re right. You should just forget this whole contest and let her go. Let her find a man who will take care of her and treat her the way she deserves. Because after what she’s been through in the past, she doesn’t deserve your shit.”

“Cappy, that’s not like you to swear,” said Zeb
, surprised at his aunt’s language.

“Oh, I swear more than you think, I just never did it around your father cuz I didn’t want him forcing me to go to confession. Now make up your mind, Zeb. Either sign the contract and go through with the contest and see where it ends up with the two of you, or call it quits right now and
let someone else have that wonderful woman.”

Zeb knew his aun
t was more conniving than both him and Cat put together when she wanted something. He also knew that he wasn’t quite ready to give up Cat yet. Because the thought of her making love to anyone else but him – especially if it was Nate or James, made him crazy.

He put down the paper and signed it, then pushed it over to his aunt. “There,” he said. “It’s signed.”

“Great, now just give Cat your contract and she’ll sign it too,” said Cappy.

Zeb opened his briefcase
and pulled out the contract, thinking of how much he was going to miss Cat wearing makeup or seeing her cleavage or her cute little butt in her tight pants. Just the thought had him wanting to go to her right now.

“I don’t think it’s necessary that she sign this,” he said. But bef
ore he could put it back, it was pulled away from him and he looked up to see Cat standing next to him with the contract in her hand.

“Give me the pen,” she said in a low, steady voice.

“Cat, you really don’t have to –”

“I said, give me the damned pen.”

“Alright already,” he said, handing her the pen and watching her kneel down and start signing it atop the coffee table.

“Don’t you want to read it first? It’s always a good idea to read anything that you’re signing.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said scribbling her signature across it and dotting her I and crossing her T with more force than was necessary. “Whatever you throw at me, I can handle.” She handed him back the contract, signed, and pointed to the bag next to him on the couch. “Now, change out of those clothes already, because if I’m going to look like a hillbilly than so are you.”

He reached over and peered inside the bag realizing it was a bunch of old clothes from the second-hand store th
at he wouldn’t be caught dead wearing. He closed his eyes and let out a breath, wondering how the hell he was going to win any case in court dressed like nothing more than a clown.

He opened his eyes an
d saw Cat smiling at him. It was part happy and part vengeful, but it excited him either way. He loved when she smiled because she looked so sexy even without makeup or dressed only in old clothes. He felt his lower body responding to her again and he cursed himself.

Why the hell hadn’t she read the contract before she signed it? Because he knew she’d never have agreed to one of the clauses. And it was one he was totally regretting
putting in right now. Because that contract said there would be no sexual interactions of any type between them for the next week. Not even a hug or a kiss.

Damn, he thought wondering how
the hell he was going to go a whole week living with her without even touching her – and only he was to blame.

Chapter 11

Cat had shared the king-sized bed in Zeb’s apartment with Aunt Cappy that night, and Zeb slept on the couch while Nate crashed on the floor. She knew this would be the last night they spent in this luxurious apartment, and she was really going to miss it. Because even though she’d lived with nothing and even on the streets at one time in her life, she’d learned to enjoy the finer things after being taken in by the Gianopoulos’s.

She heard Zeb in
the other room moving around so she quickly got up and pulled on her second-hand clothes and opened the door to see him standing in the living room in just his skimpy briefs. He was digging through the paper bag looking for something to wear. His eyes shot up and interlocked with hers and she could see the frustration on his face.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Don’t the clothes fit?”

“Not unless you’re getting ready for a flood.” He held up a pair of pants that were two inches too short, then threw them down in disgust, pulling out a short-sleeved blue-jean shirt and just curling his nose at it. “Were these things even washed?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Probably,” she said, not having really thought about
it, nor did she care. “When I lived on the streets I wore the same clothes for a month without washing them, so just suck it up and put them on already.”

He just looked at her and she could see the sadness in his grayish-blue eyes. She knew this whole contest was hurting him more than her, but she’d never had pity for anyone in her life and she wasn’t going to start now.

“Do you have court today?” she asked.

“T
hankfully, no. I was able to juggle some things around so I don’t have to go in looking like the court fool,” he said, finally choosing a pair of khaki shorts with big, wrinkled pockets on the sides. The shorts fit, but were old and very short, ending above his knees. He pulled out a white diego-tee next and put it on. It was tight and she noticed how his six-pack chest showed through the cotton.

“See, that’s not so bad now,” s
he said, holding back her laugh, as she watched him put the blue jean over it next.

“I’ll die if any new clients show up in my office. Thank goodness I have a light load this week. I’m basically still getting organized after the move.
I’ve got a ton of papers I need to file.”

“Well, let me come with. I’ll help.”

“No. There’s nothing you can do. Just go with Laney to the antique shop. That’s more your speed.”

“More my speed?” She couldn’t believe he actually just said that. “And what do you mean by that?”

“I just meant – that I know you never even finished high school. Because of what happened to your mother and all. But it’s understandable that you don’t have any schooling, I’m not holding it against you. Maybe if the job with Laney doesn’t work out you can go over to the restaurant. I’m sure Candace could use another waitress.”

“You never cease to amaze me with the way you can be so insensitive. You know nothing about me, Zeb, so don’t pretend you do.”

“Well, I’d love to stay and chit-chat but I’ve got to get to the office.” He went to grab his Rolex from the table, but Cat cleared her throat and he gingerly put it back down.

“Oh, that’s right.” He flashed her one of his million-dollar smiles.
“Well, have a great day and I’ll see you tonight.” He went for the keys for his Mercedes next, but Cat cleared her throat again.

“Your new keys are in the ignition of the car,” she said. “It’s not locked.”

“Of course not. Because no one in their right mind would think of stealing that hunk of junk,” he grumbled, grabbing his briefcase and heading out the door.

“What’s all the noise?” came Nate’s voice from the floor. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“Nate, can you give me and Aunt Cappy a ride to town?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said slowly, then his eyes focused on the keys to Zeb’s Mercedes. “Oh, right! No problem.” He jumped up and grabbed his clothes and headed for the bathroom. “Just give me a minute.”

“Cat?” came Aunt Cappy’s voice as she walked out from the bedroom. “Where’s Zeb?”

“He went to work,” she told her.

“I should have been up to make sure he didn’t wear any of his designer clothes.”

“Oh, bel
ieve me,” she said with a smile, “I made sure he didn’t. But Cappy, I didn’t like the way he insinuated I could only hold on to mindless jobs since I never finished high school.”

“Oh, don’t listen to him, sweetie. He always thought he was better than the rest of the boys since he’s had the most schooling.”

“He doesn’t know me, though he thinks he does. And I’m smarter than he gives me credit for. The part he doesn’t know is that before I had to drop out of high school, I was not only a straight A student, but there was talk I may someday be slated to be valedictorian of our senior class. I even went to state finals and helped our school win second place in their math competition.”

“Really?” asked Cappy,
“well, then I think we’ll just have to take a pass on that job with Laney for now, and get you something that will impress even the most judgmental of men like Zeb.”

“Well what? What could I possibly do?”

“You might want to come with me to Burley’s Bar later,” said Nate walking out of the bathroom having overheard their conversation. “Burley is in a big mess with the books. He’s been looking for an accountant to help him straighten out the whole thing.”

“Well, I’ve never done anything like that before,” said Cat, looking over to Cappy.

“This is perfect,” said Cappy, clapping her hands together and smiling a wide smile. “We’ll show Zeb that you can match him in anything he does.”

“I can’t go in there for a job looking like this,” s
aid Cat, pointing to her tee-shirt and sweats.

“No, you’re right. That’ll never do
. I think there was a dress in that bag of clothes we bought, wasn’t there?”

“There was,” said Cat. “But it is
the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” She dug it out and held it up. It was orange with loud, large flowers on it and ended just above the knee.

“W
e’ll just make a few changes to it, shall we? After all, we wouldn’t want Zeb to accuse you of being too sexy since it’s so short.”

“Believe me, this is not sexy,” Cat said with a sigh.

Cappy walked over to the coffee table to get her carpetbag and dug inside. She kept talking as she looked for whatever it was she needed, and her head went down into the big bag and Cat could barely hear her.

“Ah, here it is!” She held up a small box. “I brought my sewing kit.”

“You know how to sew?” asked Cat, impressed since she couldn’t even sew on a button, nor did she want to.

“I’ll have you know when the boys were little, I sewed most of their clothes since their father was a minister and didn’t have a lot of money for things like that. Don’t you remember, Nate?”

“I remember,” Nate grumbled. “Home-made hand-me-downs. And after ten brothers wearing them first, I can’t say they were anything exciting by the time they got down the line to me and Thad.”

“Come on, missy, I’ll work my magic,” said Cappy pulling her across the roo
m. “And then Nate can take us over there and we’ll see if we can get you a job as an accountant at Burley’s.”

* * *

Zeb closed up his office early to head back to Thunder Lake. He was starving and wanted to go out to one of his favorite restaurants for some bruschetta and maybe a filet mignon, but didn’t want to be caught out in public wearing these clothes. Besides, spending money in fancy restaurants wasn’t allowed for the next week.

It was already bad enough that he’d made quite an entrance parking in front of his office with the car he was driving smoking from the hood and rattling like crazy. He only hoped to hell he’d make it back to Thunder Lake so he could have Thomas take a look at it. Maybe he’d borrow a few clothes fr
om him too since they wore the same size. And while Thomas didn’t wear anything that Zeb would say was close to being respectable, at least he’d have clothes that looked like they weren’t from the 1970’s. He hoped.

He hurried to the car, trying to hide behind his brief case, hoping no one would notice who he was. He walked quickly with his head down and not making eye contact with anyone. He was just starting to think he’d made it, and had his hand on the door handle when a voice behind him made him freeze.

“Zeb, is that you?”

He turned around to see Melinda Jenkens
standing there with one of her friends who he remembered was called Jenny or Ginny, or something like that. These were two of the hottest girls in the Benton Harbor area, and he’d dated both of them at least once or twice. He turned around and smiled and instantly went into one of his bachelor modes.

“Melinda, Ginny,
wow, you’re both looking good as usual. It’s such a surprise to see you.”

“It’s Jenny,” her friend corrected him.

“What’s this?” asked Melinda, looking perplexed when she saw what he was wearing. “You said you were taking us both to lunch today. That’s why we’re here.”

“I did?” Oh, crap, now he remembered. He’d made these plans weeks ago and was going to take them both to lunch and had hoped to get lucky by havi
ng a threesome afterwards. He’d never done anything like that before, but it was the girls who suggested it, and he had been elated they came up with the idea.