lived it.
Following Sloan back into the cool air-conditioning of the hotel suite, Ziara noticed the sweat coating her neck and scalp as she took her purchases to her room. A pounding headache—whether from the building tension or lingering emotions—throbbed in her temples and down along her jaw. A few minutes alone, that’s all she needed. Time away from Sloan’s probing gaze and questioning looks.
He’d watched her closely as she returned to him on the promenade, his eyes flicking between her face and the bag in her hands. That’s when the arousal had hit her, this time piercing and sharp. Almost painful. It would be a long time before she forgot that particular sensation.
In the bathroom she pulled the pins from her hair, allowing the heavy weight to fall below her shoulders. She ran a quick brush through the mass. Sometimes just letting it down was enough to ease her tension headaches.
Walking into her bedroom, she moved to close her door so she could rest for a while, but the phone rang. Not hearing any sound in the suite outside, she crossed to the extension beside her bed, stretching her neck from side to side as she went. Taking a deep breath, she answered.
“Hello?”
“Ziara?” Vivian’s voice rang in her ear, stealing her breath for a moment. A wealth of suspicion and condemnation resided in that one word.
“Yes, Vivian?”
“Would you like to explain to me what you are doing in Sloan’s hotel room?”
For a moment, Ziara’s head swirled. Her own concerns mixed with remembered insults and insinuations from the past. She forced herself to breathe, remembering Vivian knew nothing about her past. And never would if she had anything to say about it.
“Actually,” Ziara said, grateful her voice came out calm and even, “I’m in my own room. Sloan booked us into a suite so we’d have a common area for working.”
Vivian didn’t answer immediately, as if pondering Ziara’s explanation. This time her voice was a little less tight. “Good. I’d hate to see your reputation compromised by Sloan’s charm.”
Words rushed to Ziara’s lips in her own defense, but she held them back. They would sound like token protests. Besides, hadn’t she been tempted? Like Eve by the snake.
“Thank you for your concern,” she murmured.
“Ziara, why didn’t you contact me about this trip? Why didn’t you keep me informed as I instructed?”
Because my phone was resting a little too close to your stepson’s privates for me to comfortably make a phone call.
She could have made the phone call after getting to the hotel, but by that time she’d convinced herself that Monday was soon enough to let Vivian know.
Oh, wouldn’t that go over well? She decided on a half-truth. “By the time I realized we were going, it was too late to call. I mistakenly thought I could inform you of everything when I returned.”
Maybe her growing attraction for Sloan was corroding the responsible part of her brain, but she just hadn’t been able to call without his consent. Her mind had justified the need for more information, more...something.
Now she had more of the facts, and she was starting to see Sloan’s point of view. Scary, but holding back seemed to be the right plan. For now. Besides, Vivian would faint dead away if she knew who Sloan was here to see.
“I’m truly sorry, Vivian.” She used her most placating tone, the one reserved for unhappy clients. “I had to rush to be ready for an early flight Saturday morning.”
There wasn’t any need to tell her Sloan had come to her house. Vivian would find that move totally unprofessional.
“I see. That does sound like a stunt he would pull. We all know he wants me kept in the dark as long as possible.”
Thankfully, that statement was totally true.
“Well, on a personal level, let me warn you, if I may.” Vivian’s tone didn’t sound like a gentle warning. More like a harsh command. “Be careful. You don’t want to end up like all the rest of Sloan’s assistants, now do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“He has a history of going through them like Kleenex. Oh, he says the feelings, the misconceptions are all their faults. But I know that they are drawn in by his charm, and when he’s used them, he discards them with little thought.”
Aren’t you glad that attitude didn’t run in the family? Ziara knew the thought was petty, but Vivian’s comments disturbed her on many levels. She didn’t want to believe, but then again, what if Vivian spoke the truth? Didn’t Sloan flirt and tease her? Hadn’t he just taken her to a lingerie store?
Ziara’s goal for her entire adult life had been an honorable career. She wanted an employer who respected her for who she was, what she was capable of, not a series of dirty, no-meaning encounters that would put her back in the ugliness of her childhood. Especially if she did it with her boss.
“I promise to keep that in mind.”
“Good. I’m only trying to look out for you,” Vivian said in an overly sweet tone. “As your mentor, and someone who knows Sloan very well, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I understand, Vivian.”
Even as she spoke, Ziara could feel guilt creeping in. Vivian had done so much for her. Her loyalties toward the woman who had nurtured her career and Eternity Designs were being ripped apart, piece by piece, by her growing attraction to Sloan, reinforcing the doubt Vivian planted in her mind.
“Now,” Vivian’s voice intruded, “I assume you’ve gone to Las Vegas to court a designer, though why he’d be there I have no clue. And why we need one is lost on me.”
Yet another topic fraught with minefields. “Yes, Sloan is looking into a designer here, but I don’t think anything definitive has been decided.”
“Hmm, does he look any good? What do you think of his work?”
Well, if you are into tassels and sequins... “Actually I haven’t had the chance to see any of his work yet,” she said, hiding behind another little lie. Because if Vivian knew Sloan wanted a costume designer, she’d be on the first plane headed anywhere near Las Vegas. Ziara wasn’t ready for that—yet. “I’ve only briefly met him. I think Sloan is hoping for a more formal meeting tonight.”
She could hear the tap, tap, tap of Vivian’s gold pen against her desk. That habit always indicated she was thinking hard.
“Well, I guess it wouldn’t do any good to tell him I called. Is there anything else you think I need to know?”
Ziara’s stomach tightened. Her legs went shaky. This was a big step, putting her own career on the line. But some small niggle in the pit of her stomach said Sloan might be on to something with this lingerie idea. He certainly wasn’t going to get a lot of cooperation from Robert. She had to know
