Two-Faced Read Free Page B

anything more.
    She looked around, then walked over to the taxi stand an d opened the door of a waiting yellow cab.
    "Jess."
    She turned around and found herself looking into Zach's pale eyes as they searched her face. "Where're you rushing off to?"
    "I...I just..." She shrugged, not knowing what to say.
    "Wanted to get outta there, huh?" He said with a more confident smile now. "I'm with you there. Pretty dull."
    Jess tried to smile but couldn't quite manage it. She needed to get away from him. The last thing she wanted was his pity.
    "Look, Jess, I was hoping, I mean, I know you might have other plans," he moved so close to her that she could smell his familiar musky scent. “I was hoping we could go out again tonight."
    Jess looked up in shock. "But your friend, Tracy ––I thought..."
    "I told her I had other plans tonight. I mean… I hope I have other plans." He looked at her with a combination of such boyish shyness and brash charm that she involuntarily pushed her hair back behind her ear in girlish manner. "Yeah. Yes, absolutely,” she said. “I'd love to see you tonight."
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Dinner was delicious. Zach seemed know the best eating places in El Paso —the ones frequented by locals that the tourists hadn’t discovered. As they walked from the restaurant back to their hotel, Zach stopped and tilted her face toward his. "You’re smiling, Jess.”
    "Was I?" she teased.
    "Jess, you know, I wasn't going to come to this conference. Since Bonnie died,” he paused, “I haven’t wanted to get involved with anyone. At the last minute something made me come here. I think the reason was to meet you." He brushed a lock of hair off her cheek, then leaned over her and kissed her softly on the mouth. “I don't want it to end tomorrow.”
    A s much as she wanted to linger in his embrace, she couldn't let him labor under any illusions, and pulled away. "Zach, I'm sorry, I thought I explained to you that I can't get involved now. I have this custody battle to think about. I'm not even divorced."
    "I know what you told me. But it doesn ’t have to be that way.”
    "Not now. I can't get involved in anything serious. My life is just too complicated." They walked back to the hotel in silence. Then took the elevator up the second floor. When they reached Z ach's doorway, he turned to look at her.
    "All right Jess. We'll do it your way.” Frowning, he studied her. “I want to make this a night that you’ll remember. That we'll both remember." He opened his door and led her into the room.
    He was looking at her wit h an intensity that made her shiver. "Do you trust me, Jessica?”
    She looked up at him, searching his eyes. His eyes never wavered from hers. She turned her back to him and waited. His lips grazed the back of her neck as he slowly unzipped her dress.
    “What is it you want, Jessica? What is it you really want?”
     
    ****************************************************
     
    Jess couldn’t remember getting on the plane. Last night felt like a dream from which she hadn’t quite awakened. Zach's presence flooded her being. She could smell his scent on her skin. Taste him in her mouth. Feel the touch of his strong hands on her body.
    Perhaps she'd gone too far, telling Zach her deepest fantasies. But there was something about him that made it okay. She would never see him a gain. That made it easier. It made it possible for her to be so open with him. To not only share her fantasies. But to live them out.
    Even now, thinking back on their last night together, Jess could feel the pressure of Zach's lips exploring her body.
    "Miss, would you like something to drink?" The stewardess interrupted her reverie.
    "Tomato juice please." She took the drink the stewardess handed her. “ What time do we land?" 
    "12:20," the stewardess said.
    Only an hour left to relive last night. She put her drink down on the tray, lay back and closed her