When she suddenly felt his hand on hers, she whipped her head in his direction, her eyes colliding with his. In the dim light of the restaurant his blue eyes looked like stars in the night sky. How could a woman think clearly when a handsome man looked at her like that? It wasn’t fair.
Zach tenderly stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. “Rochelle, please…”
Behind her she heard a waiter usher new guests to a table. “This way, gentlemen.”
Involuntarily she turned her head and saw the waiter and two elegantly dressed men head for an empty table. Her heart stopped for an instant only to drum more rapidly when it restarted.
She recognized the younger of the two men. It was Todd Yochum, her boss.
Panic gripped her. Quickly she turned her head away. Zach seemed to notice her frantic movement.
“Something wrong?”
She bent over the table and whispered to him, “My boss. He’s taking a seat at the table over there.”
Zach turned his head.
“No, don’t look!” she warned. “I have to leave. Now, before he sees me with you and suspends me.”
Zach squeezed her hand. “I’ll take care of it.” He waved to the waiter, who instantly came to the table.
“Is the salad not to your liking?” he asked.
“No, the salad is perfect,” Zach answered and motioned the waiter to bend closer. “But my companion and I need to leave. Urgently. And discreetly, if you know what I mean.”
The waiter tossed her a sideways glance, before he nodded to Zach. “Of course, sir. Through the kitchen?”
“Excellent.” He pulled his wallet from his pocket and pressed his credit card into the waiter’s hand. “Please charge me for the full meal.”
“Very well, sir.”
Zach instructed the waiter to stand at the other side of the table, to shield her from the other guests’ view, then helped her get up, offered his arm and led her in the direction of the kitchen. The waiter followed them.
Zach pushed the door to the kitchen open and Rochelle entered instantly.
“Wait here for me, Rochelle.”
She nodded and looked around. The kitchen staff graced her with curious looks, but they didn’t interrupt their work. She was probably not the first guest, who tried to hide in the kitchen. The waiter’s quick reaction suggested as much.
Her heart still beat erratically. The very thing she’d feared most, had happened. Her boss had shown up in the same restaurant as Zach and she. She could only hope that she’d reacted swiftly enough to avoid detection.
When a few minutes later the door opened again, it was Zach who entered followed by the waiter.
“This way,” the employee said and walked ahead.
Zach took her hand and paved a way through the busy kitchen. The waiter was already holding a door open.
“Have a nice evening.”
Zach nodded. “Many thanks again.”
“Anytime, Mr. Ivers.”
Rochelle exited into the warm night air and found herself in a dark alley. A black limousine waited there, its motor running.
Zach led her to the waiting car, and the driver jumped out. “Mr. Ivers, where to?”
“Please drive Miss Wright home, Henderson.”
While the driver opened the passenger door, Zach turned to her. “We’re not done talking. You and I still have lots to discuss. But not tonight.”
“Zach, I think everything has been s—”
He lowered his head and pressed a chaste kiss on her cheek. He lingered there for a moment longer and she felt him inhale her scent.
When he stepped back, she saw passion light up his eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Without a word, she got into the limousine. The driver closed the door behind her and entered, while Zach stood there at the side of the road, until the driver set the car in motion.
“Where to, Miss Wright?”
She gave him her address, then leaned back in the comfortable leather seats, but she couldn’t truly relax, because all kinds of thoughts were running through her mind.
Why hadn’t Zach used this opportunity to accompany her, when she couldn’t really have denied him after he’d extricated her from such a precarious situation with swiftness and grace? Especially since this was his car and his chauffeur.
10
To get the Eternal Bachelors Club together for an impromptu crisis meeting had only taken half an hour. All except two members of the club arrived shortly after Zach at his Manhattan penthouse. Jay was still on his yacht with his fiancée Tara, and Daniel, who as a married man, wasn’t technically a member anymore, couldn’t leave his wife Sabrina on her own, because she was due to give birth to their first child any day now.