Lured In (Dark Paradise, #1) (23 page)

Carmen refilled her glass and began telling me that she and Matt were officially back together. She was in the process of selling the house that he had bought for her and Megan.

“My God, Carmen! I am so happy for you and Matt.”

“I’m happy for us too. I really love him, Abi. He’s the only man for me.”

“And haven’t I told you that so many goddamn times?”

“Yes, you did. You were so right.”

The waitress brought us our food, and we dug in. I refilled my glass with more Dom and we carried on the conversation. The more we talked, the more we drank. I was frustrated with what had happened between me and Zach the previous weeks and Taylor’s intervention earlier that day. I ordered two Paradise drinks and one Sexual Healing, and Carmen shared a shot with me.

When the evening was winding down, we asked the waitress for our check and to put the remainder of our food in to-go containers. She did so and brought Zach and Galloway’s trays to the table. Carmen had called Matt about twenty minutes prior to tell him she was too tipsy to drive home and that he needed to come get her. I was looking for my phone to call Zach, but he showed up at 8:31 p.m., looking super sexy. He kissed me and went over and hugged Carmen.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” he asked as he sat beside me.

“I didn’t hear it ring. And why didn’t you answer the door?” I asked.

He looked at me and then at Carmen and asked us how much we’d had to drink.

“Enough that Matt is on his way to get me,” Carmen answered gleefully.

“Speak for yourself. I’m fine. Maybe a tiny bit tipsy,” I said. I brought my left index finger and thumb close together and put them in front of Zach’s face to quantify how tiny.

“I know what tiny is, baby,” he said, lowering my hand.

“You do?”

“Yes, love. I know.”

“Then you know how I felt when you didn’t open the door for me. You left me standing in the hallway, and that hurt me,” I muttered, pointing my finger back in his face.

Matt walked in, and Carmen started blushing immediately. He kissed Carmen and came over to give me a hug and kiss my cheek. He looked at Zach and pointed to me and Carmen, and they both shook their heads and laughed.

“What are you laughing about?” Carmen asked Matt.

“About you and Abi being drunk, over a
drink or two.”

Matt pulled Carmen up so they could leave and told Zach that he would have some documents sent to him tomorrow. We all hugged and said our good-byes.

Zach looked at me and asked, “Are you ready to go, baby?”

“Yes, I am,” I replied with a flirty smile.

He grabbed the bags filled with the to-go meals and asked, “What the hell is this?” His mood turned sour—he was mad.

“I ordered you and Galloway something to eat. I wasn’t sure if you—”

“No, love. Not what’s in the bags. What the hell are these receipts doing here?” He had snatched them up from the table and seen the prices.

“Where the hell is Ryan?” He banged the table with the side of his left fist.

He got up and went to the back. Ryan, who came out from the kitchen behind Zach, was pale in the face, obviously from Zach yelling at him.

“Didn’t I tell you to take care of her and make sure she and her guest got whatever they wanted on the house?”

“Zach?” I called out to him.

“Not now, Abi,” he said, still looking at Ryan.

“Yes, you did, sir. But I didn’t know she had arrived. None of the wait-staff mentioned her arrival to me,” the middle-aged man said.

“That’s no excuse Ryan. Alisha waited on them. Get her,” Zach yelled. “And bring a glass of Calm Down to go.”

“Zach, please let it go. I’m ready to leave.”

“In a minute, Abi.” He sat back down beside me. “Did you tell her who you are?”

“No. But I did tell her to put that bottle of Dom under your name, which she refused to do.”

“And you paid for it?” He held the receipt up at me between his left index finger and middle finger in anger.

“Yes.”

“Next time call me, OK?”

“I was about to call you, but I knew you were busy with the car situation, and I didn’t want to bother you further with something so petty like paying for my own drinks and meal.”

“It doesn’t matter how small you think it is, love. Call me. OK?”

“OK, baby. I’m sorry. But please don’t be mad at your staff. They did everything right, and the waitress took good care of us.”

I lied about the waitress and her horrible attitude and service. I was not going to be the reason that Zach fired or ripped that poor girl’s head from her shoulders. After all, I couldn’t blame her for not charging my drinks and meal under Zach’s name if she didn’t know for sure that it was OK to do so.

“No they didn’t, baby. If they had, you would not have paid for a damn thing, especially eight thousand dollars for a bottle of champagne plus twelve hundred in gratuity.” Zach kissed me on my lips.

“Can we go now?” I asked him again, smiling coquettishly, trying to get him to drop it.

Though it wasn’t persuasive enough, he smiled widely and kissed me softly and approvingly. “Let me talk to the staff to see where the communication failed. If you want, I’ll have Galloway drop you off, and I’ll come see you later. What time do you need to be home before Gabi comes home from her dad’s?”

“He has her for the rest of the week and weekend.”

He looked at me questioningly, but before I could explain, Alisha arrived with Ryan.

Zach looked at her furiously as she walked timidly toward us with Ryan.

“How are you doing today, Alisha?” Zach asked her in a calm tone, taking the cup of Calm Down from Ryan. “Thanks, Ryan,” he said, still looking at Alisha.

“I’m fine, sir.”

“Why didn’t you add these expenses on the house as you were instructed?”

“I…I …” She stuttered, so I decided to bail her ass out.

“Baby, she didn’t know if I was telling the truth or just someone trying to use your name to get freebies.”

Zach looked at me furiously with knitted brows, turned back to Alisha, and said, “Next time check with Ryan before you say no and force someone to make payment. Here, void these damn charges. And I’ll make sure you get the gratuity and tip. Abi told me you took very good care of her and her guest. Thank you, Alisha.”

She looked at me, surprised that I hadn’t told Zach how horrible she was to me and Carmen, and lowered her eyes as she walked away with the receipts in hand. Zach told Ryan to make sure all of the staff knew who I was and that I should get whatever I asked for at no expense to me. Ryan agreed and turned to apologize to me, telling me it would not happen again. He turned and left.

Wrapping my arms around Zach’s neck, I asked, “Can we go home now?”

He smiled and said, “Yes, love.” He helped me to my feet and handed me my purse while he held on to the bags of to-go trays and the drink.

Galloway was outside waiting for us and opened the door to the backseat promptly. Zach helped me in and got in behind me. Galloway closed the door, and I grabbed the bags from Zach.

“When was the last time you ate something?” I asked Zach.

“Breakfast. Why?”

I opened the first tray, handed it to him, and demanded him to eat.

“Baby, I can wait until I get home.”

“Eat. Please,” I demanded. “Mr. Galloway?”

“Yes, Ms. Winterfield.”

“Here. Eat. You can drive after you’ve eaten something.”

He and Zach exchanged glances, and they both smiled and shook their heads.

“It’s because of me that you two didn’t have anything to eat since breakfast. So eat. Please. And Mr. Galloway, I hope you’re not a vegetarian.”

“I’m not. But I can …”

I looked at him with narrowed eyebrows, and he rephrased his words.

“Thank you, Ms. Winterfield. It smells great.”

“No problem, Mr. G. Is it ok that I call you Mr. G?”

“That’s no problem at all, Ms. Winterfield. Or Daniel would be fine also.”

“Abi or Abigail is fine.”

Zach kissed and thanked me and told me to drink the Calm Down.

“What is this, baby?”

“It’s something Ryan created to lessen the effect of the alcohol,” he said, putting the cup in my hands.

I drank some of the delicious concoction and handed the cup back to Zach. He forced me to finish it. I did so. I knew it was getting late, and I needed to talk to Gabi before she went to bed, so I reached for my purse to get my phone. I stuck my hand inside my purse but didn’t feel it. I started taking things out of my purse one by one.

“What are you looking for?” Zach asked with a mouthful of food.

“My cell phone. I can’t find it in my purse. I don’t know where it is.”

“It’s in my pocket. You left it here on the seat when Galloway dropped you off earlier.”

Taking my phone, I asked, “Why did you question me about not answering my phone when you knew I didn’t have it?”

“I was just trying to figure out if you left it here intentionally or not. I thought that maybe you left it here to avoid talking to me.”

I looked at him and shook my head. I put everything back in my purse and called Gabi.

“Hi, baby. How was your day today?” I asked her.

“It was fine. How about your day, Mom?”

“I had a beautiful day today. I miss you!”

“I miss you too!”

“Are you having fun at your dad’s?” I asked.

“Yes. And I beat Dad twice in Guitar Hero,” she replied with complete joy.

“That’s great, baby. You sound really happy. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow. OK?

“Good night, Mom.”

“Good night, Gabi. Love you.”

Zach pulled me to his chest, kissed my forehead, and asked me if I was better. I told him I was a little better and laid the back of my head in his lap.

“You forgot to tell me about May 16, 2010. Or did you intentionally neglect to tell me that little fact?”

I looked up and watched him as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He closed the food container, wiped his hands, took a drink of water, and took another deep breath. Galloway started the engine and pulled off.

“Baby, that marriage was annulled.”

“I’m sure it was consummated, so you can’t call it an annulment.”

“I had met up with Taylor in Vegas after I hadn’t seen or talked to her in years. Galloway called my brother, and Xander came to Vegas to get me away from her, but I was already in the chapel and officially married. It was apparently too late. He dragged me out of the chapel and threw me in the back of the car and told Taylor to stay the fuck away from me. The next morning we were in front of a judge who granted the annulment.”

“I still think she put something in his drinks,” Galloway added. “But, nonetheless, it was an annulment.”

“Did you love her?” I asked.

“No. I had deep feelings for her. But it was not love or anything remotely related to love. I was young when I met her. I was eighteen and drank heavily; she was twenty-five and scandalous.”

“But you married her two years ago when you were twenty-seven, so you had a long-term relationship with her.”

“Abi, that was not a relationship. Not at all. We were fucking on and off up until I stopped seeing her for good when I was twenty-three.”

We pulled up in front of the elevator in the garage of our building, and Galloway let us out. I thanked Galloway, and he thanked me again for the meal. Zach pressed the up button on the elevator and latched his right hand onto my right hip. I wrapped my left arm around him and leaned my head against him. We got on the elevator, and as I was saying goodnight to Galloway, I reached to press P4. Zach smacked my hand away and pressed P3.

I looked at him, and he said, “Stay the night with me, please.”

I kissed him, nodded, and rested my face against his chest. The elevator stopped on P3, and we got off. He unlocked the door to his penthouse, disarmed the alarm system, and turned on the lights.

“This is my kingdom,” he said to me as he pulled me close to him for a kiss.

I looked around while my arms were still wrapped securely around him. He pulled free only to grab my right hand and walk me around. He put the remains of our to-go trays in the fridge and continued to give me a tour. His penthouse was three levels and had four bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, and a three-level terrace.

We entered his beautifully sexy, masculine bedroom. The walls were painted a soft metallic creamy brown. He had mahogany furniture and a huge chocolate leather sleigh bed with maroon bedding.

“So this is where all the seduction and hairpulling takes place, huh?”

“No. But I hope it will be tonight.”

“No? So is it one of the other rooms then?”

“No, Abigail. I’ve never invited any woman into my home, other than my family. And now you. I’ve never had sex in my home. And I am hoping that tonight will be the first time.”

I looked at him puzzled and said, “Surely there was one person.”

“No. Abi. No one. You are going to be the first and only woman I make love to, fuck, have sex with, have quickies, and even make out with in my home.”

“But you were on and off with Cray-Cray since you were eighteen and bought this building when you were twenty-two. So where did you two…um…you know?”

“You are so funny,” he laughed. “Cray-Cray? I guess it’s a fitting name for her. Anyway, to answer your question, it was at my Pennsylvania Avenue condo. I took them all there.”

“Why two residences?”

Zach looked at me and smiled. It was the same question he had asked when I’d told him I had a condo on Massachusetts Avenue. He kissed me and walked me over to the bed. We sat down, and he looked at me and continued, “I had two residences because this is my home, the place where only my family and very close friends are welcome. The condo on Penn Avenue was nothing more than a hotel. The place I went to fuck random girls. Even then, they were not allowed to stay the night there, except Taylor.”

“Did you two live there together?”

“No. She never lived with me, although she wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the Penn Avenue condo?”

“Because I was too embarrassed to tell you that you were right about me being a philanderer. And I didn’t want you thinking that I saw you only as another piece of ass like those other girls. Now, can I ask you a question, baby?”