in his hands, shapely breasts that filled his palms, and thighs that gripped his in earnest. And that unruly mass of hair that she tried to tame with a headband or clips, and that he could never forget pulling free and letting go wild.
Her smile still lit up his mind. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Those were her last words to him over three months ago. He’d been a one-night piece of ass, and that didn’t sit well with him. How many times in his younger, stupider days had he promised to call a woman and hadn’t?
Karma was a mean old bitch.
He tapped the keyboard and paged through the e-mail file, reading why she wanted to hire Hood Investigations, Inc.
Her jewelry stores, Zoe’s Diamonds on Peachtree and Zoe’s Diamonds at the Galleria, kept getting robbed. The amounts taken weren’t large and his initial thought was that it was an inside job, but instinct told him Zoe wouldn’t have pursued their company if she hadn’t already considered that possibility.
Atlanta stores and gas stations had been plagued with smash-and-grab type robberies with thieves stealing ATM machines. But these robberies were different. These were smooth break-ins and they were affecting Zoe’s economic future.
The stores had been fit with sensors and cameras by a reputable security company, but they’d been disabled every single time. So far, only merchandise had been taken, but Zoe was worried that the thieves were becoming more brazen and striking more often, and soon, somebody might get hurt. Her biggest concern was that she was planning a multi-million-dollar expansion project and not only did she need A-1 credit, but a low-incidence crime rating.
It’s an inside job, Zoe, baby. Saying her name made him want her again in the same way he craved sweets the year he’d given them up.
Shaking images of her from his mind, Ben reviewed the remainder of the e-mail files he needed to send back to Rob, the president of Hood I.N.V., and responded about two other cases that weren’t closed yet. His sister, who owned her own cleaning company, knocked on his office door.
“Come in, Mel.”
“Ben, I’m about to head down to Rob’s house, but I found something interesting behind your nightstand.”
He swung around in his chair. “What are you doing behind my nightstand? Didn’t you just have surgery on your rotator cuff six weeks ago?”
Mel, the baby of the family of five, was a hard worker, supporting her hearing-impaired daughter and her six-year-old all on her own. “I wasn’t lifting anything.” Her compact size fooled many people, but not her brothers and sister who knew of her black belts in Aikido and Hapkido. “I found these fancy pearls when I was dusting, and I couldn’t help but think you might want to give them back, or I can take them home and consider them an early bonus.”
Ben was out of his chair in a slow movement. The fun he’d had with Zoe and these pearls brought back fond memories. “You may clean behind my nightstand anytime. Thanks, sis. Your bonus is in the mail.”
She laughed as he popped a kiss onto her forehead. “Tahitian pearls. Nice.”
Ben relieved Mel of the fancy baubles. “How do you know they’re Tahitian?”
“I have a deep appreciation for fine jewelry.” She touched his chin. “That look says that you should return them. She must be pretty special.”
“Very much so.” Ben walked his sister to her car. The sun warmed his skin and he had the feeling the day was only going to get better.
“Approach her as if she’s a case. Carefully and with a lot of passion. You’ll get her.”
Ben saw his sister off and studied the pearls before deciding what he wanted. He’d return the pearls. The same way he’d gotten them. He’d seduce Zoe, just like he had three months ago. And he’d start by finding out who was trying to ruin her business.
Chapter 2
“Why not hire a twenty-four-hour guard service, Zoe? I don’t think you need to get some expensive investigation company to charge a whole lot of money to come in and solve a petty theft problem.”
At the store, Zoe locked the safe that held loose diamonds, and other precious stones. She turned around and looked at her older sister, Faye, who’d been hovering for the better part of an hour. “I don’t want guards sitting in my stores. None of the other stores have them, and I’m afraid they’ll turn off customers.”
She straightened the clingy fuchsia dress over her curves—fuchsia being the signature color of Zoe’s Diamonds on Peachtree—and checked her makeup one last time.
The past two months had been tough with her stores having been robbed three times. She couldn’t believe she’d been targeted after all the security measures she’d taken.
When Zoe turned around, Faye held a long strand of silver pearls in one hand and a gold rope necklace in the other. Zoe chose the pearls. Similar to the ones she’d worn the evening she’d spent at Ben’s, but not nearly as expensive. That night had cost her emotionally and financially. From the moment she’d met Ben, she’d been attracted to him. She liked his talk of his big family and the crazy antics of his two brothers from when they were boys. He’d even confided, after some probing, that he’d wanted children.
Zoe had been impressed. She only had one sister, but she and Faye didn’t see eye-to-eye on much, and having another sibling might have helped them bond better as children. But his being an investigator was a turn off, despite his good looks, his ability to hold a stimulating conversation and his limitless talent in bed.
But her biggest regret of the evening was that she’d lost the ten-thousand-dollar strand of Tahitian pearls. She’d never found them, and as much as she’d thought of calling Ben to ask if she’d dropped them, she’d never completely found the nerve.
Zoe took the strand of freshwater pearls her sister offered, and wrapped her neck with them twice, making a choker. She completed the look with an amethyst cuff bracelet and a thin amethyst anklet that accented her high heels. She was ready.
“What now?” Zoe asked Faye while she pulled back her hair, wishing she’d straightened the wild curls.
“You don’t need Hood. They’re too expensive.”
“They get results and that’s all I care about. I’m ready to move on to the next phase of my life. When I stopped paying Charles spousal support two years ago, I said I wasn’t ever going to get married again. I saved all that money and it’s getting invested in my dream, Faye. Zoe’s Diamonds on Peachtree is my dream. Nobody has the right to steal that from me.”
“I know, but giving the money to Hood is the same thing as giving it to Charles.”
“How do you figure that? If you’re still arguing Charles’ side of the divorce four years after the ink dried, you may as well leave now.”
So many unsaid words hung between them. There had always been jealousy between her and Faye for years. Faye had grown up falsely believing that Zoe had somehow gotten more out of life than she had. Though Faye was five years older and had taken the lion’s share of college-fund money their parents had saved, Faye still made snide comments about Zoe getting to go to the school of her choice. She didn’t bother to mention that Zoe had gone on scholarships with little
