Billionaire Bad Boy (8 page)

He swept her into her bedroom and laid her gently on
the bed. He removed her shoes then looked at her face. She watched him, a
little glassy eyed, but it was still unnerving. He wished he knew what she was
thinking. On the other hand, maybe it was best he didn't.

"Do you want me to help you get undressed?"

She wrinkled her forehead again. "I haven't
shaved my legs."

He chuckled. "If you remember anything tomorrow,
I have a feeling you're going to regret saying that. How about I just leave you
dressed."

"Whatever," she muttered, closing her eyes.

"Oh, no you don't. Not yet." He shook her
shoulders until she opened her eyes. "I'm going to get you something to
make you feel better. Just wait a minute."

Zack headed to the kitchen, Snoopy trailing behind. He
found the ingredients he was after and a tall glass and a few minutes later he
had a concoction that would scare away even the grimmest hangover.

"Come on, Snoopy, let's see what words of wisdom
your cute little owner's got now."

They returned to the bedroom and found Annie sound
asleep, lying on her back diagonally across the bed.

He sat her up and shook her gently. "Wake up. You
have to drink this."

She groaned and opened her eyes. "What is
it?" She eyed the concoction suspiciously.

"Hair of the dog."

She gasped. "Snoopy!"

The dog, sitting on his haunches, panted happily at
his mistress.

Zack laughed. "Not that dog."

"Oh. Good. Guess that's all right then." She
drank a mouthful and gagged. "That's awful."

"But it's good for you. Finish it."

"You finish it, I'm going to sleep." She
started to lie down but he grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her to
him.

"Ooh, I like it when you get all manly with
me."

"I'm not being manly, I'm just trying to get you
to drink this. Now do as you're told."

She scowled but drank until the glass was empty.

"Good. Now you can go to bed."

She raised her brows. "You coming?"

"I thought we agreed you couldn't stay
awake."

"Oh yeah." She lay down and closed her eyes.

He pulled the covers up to her chin. It was best to
leave her dressed. Who knows what trouble he'd get into if he allowed himself
to see more of her than he should?

"So what do her boobs feel like?"

He sat down abruptly on the bed and blinked at her. "Melanie's?"

"Who else? Or do you know lots of women with big,
fake boobs?"

"I know several. But I've never felt hers so I
wouldn't know."

"Yeah sure. She was all over you."

Where was this conversation heading? Wherever, he
didn't want to go there. "That doesn't mean we've, ah..."

Annie giggled then yawned. "I bet they feel like
watermelons." Her voice faded as she drifted into sleep.

He smiled then leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

He should've left it at that. He shouldn't have kissed
her on the lips.

But they looked so inviting, so rosie and sweet. And
she
was
asleep.

Was.

Annie's lips opened in response to his kiss and her
tongue flickered out to meet his. He liked the way she moaned and the way her
arms reached around his neck and pulled him closer. He liked the way her hands
trailed through his hair. And he loved the way her body strained to meet his.

God she felt good in his arms, on his lips. Then it
suddenly hit him, with all the force of a punch. He wanted her. His body was
eager for her—so eager it was painful.

But with a grunt of frustration, he pulled away. She
fell back on the bed like a stone. He hadn't even known he'd been holding her. It
wasn't right. Not just because she was drunk but because she was Annie. Perfect
little Annie who could disrupt his life and destroy his dreams.

"I have to go," he said quickly, turning
away.

"But, Zack..."

Damn. The plaintive note in her voice was so
vulnerable, so unlike her that it raked his heart raw. He stopped at the door
and turned back slowly. She looked so small, sitting up in her huge bed,
blinking at him with those big, ocean-wide eyes, her mouth turned down into a
pout. She was sexy. Dangerously sexy.

"Sorry, Annie, but you're drunk and I need to
go." He tried to smile but it felt awkward with the taste of her still on
his lips. He turned, tripping over Snoopy in his haste.

When he reached the front door, he heard her footsteps
padding behind him. He looked back to see her standing in the bedroom doorway,
arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Snoopy hovered at her feet adoringly. "Good.
Go. And by the way, if I was sober there's no way I would've kissed you. I
don't like guys like you."

Shaken, he closed the door between them.

Annie groaned and pulled the pillow over her head to
smother the incessant ringing in her ears.

It didn’t help. Her head felt like it had been smashed
into millions of tiny pieces which she expected to see scattered over her
bedroom floor when she opened her eyes.
If
she opened her eyes. So far,
her plan to lie in bed for the rest of the day with her eyes shut seemed like
the best headache remedy. The aspirin in the bathroom cabinet was half way
around the world.

"Annie, get up," shouted a deep male voice. It
sounded as far away as the aspirin.

Zack. She groaned again, rolled out of bed and thumped
across the floor like a zombie. Probably she should’ve refused to get up but
her brain cells had ceased functioning last night and it was easier not to
argue.

She opened the door and flung a hand over her eyes. "Turn
off the light."

Zack moved past her, closing the door behind him. "The
sun doesn't come with an off switch. Annie, where have you been? I've been
ringing the doorbell for ages."

"Cowering under my blanket. You made me drink
that God-awful hair of the dog and it didn't work."

He chuckled. Jerk. Maybe she should just go back to
bed. Not only could she not put up with his smartass comments right now, but
with her head under the blankets he couldn't see her. She didn't dare look in a
mirror—she didn't want to frighten herself.

"You look like Hell," he said, reading her
thoughts.

"Thanks, Einstein. Now that we've established
that, you can leave."

"No way, this could be fun."

She glanced up at him. The creep was smirking. "What?"

"Taking you shopping with a hangover."

She groaned and flopped onto the sofa, flinging an arm
over her eyes. Maybe if she couldn't see him, he couldn't see her. But when the
room fell silent, she realized he was no longer there. She lowered her arm and
gently opened her crusty eyelids, just in time to see him emerge from the
bathroom and enter the kitchen.

"Snooping again?" she asked, voice rasping
in a sexy way that she thought made her sound, well, sexy.

"No, getting some aspirin." He handed her a
glass of water and two tablets. "Drink up."

"That's what you said last night with that hair
of the dog stuff. This better work."

He waited until she swallowed the tablets and took the
glass from her. When she started to lie back on the sofa, he caught her hand
and pulled her up.

"Oh no you don't. You're going to have a
shower." He led her by the hand into the bathroom and propped her against
the cool tiles. She closed her eyes, listening to the splashing water as he
turned on the taps.

"Now get undressed."

She opened one eye and found herself staring him in
the face.

"I'm not staying," he added, "but since
you're going to be trying on lots of clothes, I suggest you shave your
legs."

Oh no
. Annie winced, recalling the words spoken in drunkenness the night
before. She
really
had to learn to keep her mouth shut, and not just
when she was drunk. She heard the door close on Zack's throaty chuckle.

Half an hour later, she emerged from the bathroom
feeling slightly less ill and a great deal more presentable. She was ready for
a day of shopping, even if it killed her. She'd made a resolution to not let
Zack see how hung-over she was—she had her dignity to maintain after all.
What little of it was left after the previous night anyway. Not that she could
remember much...

"Please tell me you've got the Ferrari and not
the bike. I don't think I could handle another ride on that thing. Not this
morning."

"If you throw up on the bike at least you won’t
ruin the upholstery."

"I'm not going to throw up! I feel perfectly
fine."
Liar
.

"Good. Because we've got a lot of shopping to do
and it's already one o'clock."

First stop was Rodeo Drive. Annie cringed at the
prices in the designer shops but Zack didn't even blink. He made her try on a
pair of gorgeous Prada slides with a moderate heel and straps criss-crossing over
the toes. They were the sort of shoes she'd never dream of purchasing—neither
practical nor within her price range. Not even close. Slipping them on, she
felt decadent, obscene and totally guilty. She loved them.

"I can't afford these," she told Zack emphatically,
taking them off. "You could feed a starving family for a year at that
price."

"You're not supposed to have a social
conscience," he said from the corner where he'd been quietly watching her.
He looked so imperious, leaning against the wall with his arms and legs
crossed. A small smile played at the edge of his mouth. "You're too cool
for that remember?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I could feed
myself
for a year at that price, then. How's that?"

"Better. But you're not getting out
of it that easy. Those shoes are all the rage this year."

She frowned. How did he know that? Did the man of her
dreams have a fetish for female shoes? The sound of her crashing obsession
filled her ears.

He uncrossed his arms and frowned back at her. Then
his face cleared and he smiled that knowing, cheeky smile. He nodded towards
the male shop assistant. "So he told me."

"Well, whether they're all the rage or not, I
still can't afford them."

"You don't have to."

Her eyes narrowed and she stood, hands on hips,
glaring at him. "You are
not
buying me anything."

He ambled over to her, standing so close she could
smell the subtle woodsy fragrance of his aftershave. It was delicious and she
wanted to bury her nose in his neck.

"Why not?" he asked

"Because I've got principles." Damn those
things. "I don't let men buy me anything until I've slept with them at
least twice." She said it only half in jest.

He arched an eyebrow. "That sounds like a
challenge.”

She glared at him.

"Fine," he said still smiling. "Since
Bob's paying for them, it doesn't matter anyway."

"Bob." She nodded, breathing out slowly. Bob
could probably claim it as a tax deduction. Although she'd like to see his
accountant's face when he presented him bills for women's clothing.

"We'll take them," Zack said to the
assistant as he skittered past. "And a pair in red."

"Red? That's a little extravagant isn't it?"
Annie said.

He shrugged. "Red shoes look sexy on a woman. I
think you should have a pair."

Annie frowned but said nothing as she slipped on her
own pair of scuffed black mules.

The assistant looked down his long nose at her and
sniffed. "Perhaps you would like to wear your new pair and I could pack
those away for you. Or burn them."

She was about to shake her head when Zack answered
"Yes." She agreed, but only because the new shoes looked really cute.

Outside, the heat sucked away their breath. No one in
their right mind would go traipsing up and down a shopping strip on such a hot
day. Annie watched all the mini-skirted girls giggling and pointing at Zack as
they passed and decided none of them counted—they definitely weren't in
their right minds.

"Zack!" cried a passing woman. She stopped
and placed a hand on his arm. Her fingernails had small palm trees painted on
them and she wore at least one ring on every finger. She tipped her blonde head
and accepted his kiss on her cheek with grace. "Darling, what are you
doing here?"

"Shopping."

"I can see that, Darling, but what's come over
you? I thought you hated shopping."

"I do. But I've made an exception today." He
held up the bag with Annie's new black pair of shoes and her boring old ones. "Annie
needed shoes."

If her face glowed, Annie decided that was okay with
her. She deserved to bask in the glory of Zack's familiarity, especially in
front of yet another blonde with breasts the size of satellite dishes. It
seemed Zack had a thing for surgically enhanced women who resembled their
poodles.