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She nodded eagerly.“Please.”She followed him into the dressing room and watched him tug a silk lounge bottoms over his delectable ass.
She’d thought him insatiable minutes ago.And yet, here she was ogling him, ready to jump him again.He straightened, raked a hand through his damp hair, and her insides turned over with desire.
God…
She looked up and caught his grin.“When you’ve talked yourself out of giving in to your dirty, dirty thoughts, come and find me in the kitchen.”
His deep laugh as she punched his arm resonated within her, and she found herself grinning as she hunted through his side of the dressing room for a T-shirt.
She tugged it on, breathing the mingled scent of Zach’s masculinity, aftershave and cleanliness.With a smile tugging her lips at her stupid, swooning emotions, she was about to leave the room when the beep stopped her.
Turning in the doorway, she tried to locate the source of the familiar text alert.She recalled that Zach had hung on to her phone earlier when she’d asked him for it.
She picked up his discarded jacket and hunted within the pockets until she found her phone.
The text was from Keely, but it was only to alert her that she had mail.She closed the text box and activated her email.Sure enough, Keely had sent her a message.Bethany touched on the little envelope next to her friend’s name and the box expanded.
The message was short and succinct.
* * *
Zach walked into the bedroom ten minutes later, his frown deepening when he didn’t immediately see Bethany.He was about to head back out when he saw movement from the corner of his eye.
He altered his course toward the dressing room and sucked in a stunned breath when he saw her crumpled on the floor, her features ashen as she stared at her phone screen.
Rushing the last few steps, he dropped to his knees in front of her.“Bethany, what’s wrong?”
She looked up, and the pain in her eyes sliced through his soul.“Keely sent me this.”
Tilting the phone, she showed him the message.
A beautiful life cut short.Are you not afraid you’ll be next?
31
Bethany walked into Zach’s San Francisco Palisades home just after midday the next day, expecting another architectural masterpiece that bore very little signs of who Zach Savage was.She was immediately proven wrong.
Well-used surf boards lined the wide grey hallway that led to a vast open-plan living room, which gave floor-to-ceiling views of Bay Bridge from the exclusive corner of the world Zach truly called home.
The furnishings were big and comfortable and lived-in.A signed baseball glove sat on the large cedar wood coffee table hewn from a whole tree trunk, and swim trophies covered the large fireplace that dominated one side of the room.
The surprising insight into his life, however, didn’t distract her from the man himself.His face was set in harsh lines of fury, much the same as they had been when he’d picked her up off the floor in their Bangkok suite and carried her to the living room.
He’d poured a brandy and stood over her as she’d sipped the strong liquor.
Then, just like he’d done with her iPad, he’d taken her phone and handed it to a summoned Philip.It had been returned less than ten minutes later.
“Keely didn’t send you that text.Your phone was hacked.”Zach’s voice, blade thin and lethal, had frozen her relief that her best friend hadn’t been responsible for the pain clawing through her.
“Who did?”
“The same person who sent the message to your iPad.”
Frowning, she’d stared at him.“But why send it from Keely?”
His look of guilt had sent alarm bells clanging wildly.“Because I blocked all non-essential calls on your phone the day we left Italy.”
“What?What gave you the right?And who were the essential people you chose?”