TWO WEEKS LATER the entire office was seated around the huge conference table. Steele was standing at the head. “The Weller project has been awarded,” he said.
Everyone straightened and waited.
Zoe glanced across the table and met Jason’s eyes. After their stay at the Tahoe cabin, Zoe had finally gotten up to visit her family for a few days. The following Friday night, when they’d both been back in the city, Jason had taken her out. They’d ended up at his place and she hadn’t gone home until Sunday night.
The week had been busy—too busy to get together—but the following weekend they’d changed things up and spent it at her place.
Now it was Monday and she was still glowing from the two orgasms she’d had that morning, courtesy of the sexiest man she’d ever been with.
A week ago Jason had submitted their design, and she knew they’d given it their best shot. Steele hadn’t said one word about the two of them collaborating, or what it would mean for the promotion. She’d taken another call from the L.A. firm, but she’d put them off, suddenly not in a huge hurry to go anywhere.
“The design picked was one of ours,” Steele said.
All eyes swiveled first to Jason, and then to Zoe. Zoe was good under pressure. She smiled evenly, even as her heart kicked hard. No one knew about them. Yet.
They’d agreed they wanted to keep their relationship to themselves until they knew exactly what they were doing. But she now knew what she was doing—she was falling in love. In fact, she’d fallen, hard.
Jason’s mouth was serious, his eyes lit with the same emotion that had been making her life heaven on earth for two weeks now.
“The winning design was done by…” Steele paused for dramatic effect. Then he smiled. “Zoe Anders. The Weller people called it—and I quote—‘groundbreaking, amazing, perfect.’ So let me also announce our newest principal architect, Zoe Anders.”
Her jaw dropped. Her heart stopped, too, and she stared at Jason.
He was still looking at her, something new in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before.
Steele hit a button on the remote in his hand and the design came up on the large flat screen behind him, the design that had been created only thanks to Jason.
It was Jason’s and hers, merged together, but he’d taken his name off the project. For her. That’s what was in his eyes. Before she could fully process this, she was surrounded by her coworkers. Someone popped a bottle of champagne, and everyone wanted to shake her hand. She scanned the crowd for Jason, but he was gone. She headed for Steele. “Can I have a moment?”
“After what you’ve done, you can have five,” he quipped.
“That project was both mine and Jason’s. Together.”
Steele’s brows went up. “Is that right?”
“That’s right. He deserves the credit, too.”
“You want to share the spotlight?”
“We’re a team,” she said, and meant that in every sense of the word.
A few minutes later she finally found Jason outside on the balcony overlooking the lights of San Francisco far below. “What was that?” she asked.
He turned and faced her, pulling her into him. His mouth sought hers, his tongue tracing her bottom lip, seeking entrance, which she gave. With a groan, his hand came up to cradle her head, tilting her face so he could deepen the kiss, apparently not caring who saw them. His tongue plundered her mouth, taking possession, demanding a response, which she freely gave. Finally, she tore free and smacked his chest. “You took your name off the design.”
“We both know it was mostly your design. Your work. I wanted you to get the credit.”
“So you just gave away your shot at the promotion?” she asked, afraid of what that meant for him. Would he resent her? Pull away? Pretend what they’d shared hadn’t happened? “Why?”
“Why?”
“Yes, why did you do it? To make sure I kept sleeping with you on the weekends? Because you should know, I plan to keep doing that anyway. I don’t need you to feel sorry for me, or humor me.”
“First of all,” he said, eyes flashing, “this wasn’t about sympathy, or humoring you, or ensuring a booty call on the weekends. You’re good, Zoe. So damn good. Too good for Steele, to be honest.” A muscle jumped in his jaw and he reached for her. “I admire your work, I always have. You deserve this. You deserve a hell of a lot more. You deserve L.A. if you want to go.”
Her breath caught. “You said first of all. What was the second of all?”
He stared into her eyes. “Second of all, I want to be with you. And I don’t give a shit who knows it. This is far more than weekend fun. I love you.”
“You…love me?”
“Yes. And I’ll love you from six hundred miles away in L.A. if I have to—I just hope not to have to.”
“I love you, too, Jason.”
With a smile, he bent his head toward her, but she put her hand on his chest. “So…you got me the promotion to keep me here?” she asked.
“No, you got the promotion.”
She laughed. “I just spilled your beans to Steele.”
He didn’t look all that surprised, which made her heart beat even harder for him. He knew her. He got her.
“What now, Zoe?”
“Do we need a new deal?” she asked, her throat tight with emotion. Good emotion. Heart-deep emotion.
“Yes,” he said. “The terms are that there are no terms. No competition, no race. You give me all you can of yourself, always, and I will do the same.”
“Always?”
“Always,” he said firmly.
“For how long?”
“As long as you’ll have me.”
Her breath caught. “That might be a damn long time.”
“Counting on it,” he said, and pulled her in hard and kissed her to seal the deal.
* * * * *