What if he let her down?
One more person who claimed to care for her and then never came through. He was hardly a good bet.
“Do you keep in touch?”
“With my parents? No, not really. I send Dad a card at Christmas, but I’ve never gotten one from him. Once or twice, I’ve thought about going to see him, but something always holds me back. One day, maybe. Perhaps it will be good for both of us.”
“I don’t give a fuck if it’s good for him. He let you down. They both did.” He got to his feet and held out a hand to her. He wanted to take her home, where he could hold her, kiss away the pain, tell her he would be there for her whatever happened between them. He could do that much.
She put her hand in his, and he drew her to her feet, and then nodded to Gary, who was sitting a few feet away.
“I just need to use the bathroom,” Dani said and disappeared into the café.
Gary wandered over. “She okay? You looked sort of serious over here.”
“I don’t know.”
“You like her, don’t you?”
Zach nodded absently, his gaze straying to the restaurant where Dani would appear.
“I mean more than all those other women you’ve had?”
Gary clearly had something he wanted to say and Zach turned to face him. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah. Look, maybe I was wrong. I wasn’t happy about you and her. I thought she’d get hurt.”
“You care about her, that’s all.”
“We all do. There’s something…” Gary rubbed the back of his neck and gazed after where she had disappeared. “Anyway, I wanted to say that maybe you’re good for her after all.”
“Thanks. I think.”
Gary’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket and listened for a moment. He glanced across at Zach, then held out the phone. “It’s Simon. Apparently you have guests at the gate waiting to get in.”
He didn’t want guests. “Who is it?”
“He says he’s your agent and a few friends by the look of it.”
“Shit.”
“Should I tell them to go away?”
He wished he could. But Julian was a friend as well as his agent, and he’d come a long way. Maybe he’d come to cheer Zach up. They hadn’t been in contact for a couple of weeks—since before Jake’s wedding in fact, but he’d probably sounded pissed off the last time they’d talked.
He sighed. “Let them in.”
Suddenly, he wasn’t too eager to get back to the villa. Dani appeared at that moment and glanced at the phone still in his hand. “Problems?”
“We have visitors,” Zach said. “My agent and a few hangers-on.”
“I think you mean you have visitors.”
“No. From now on, my friends are your friends. You can help me entertain them.”
She pursed her lips. “I think I’d rather entertain a gang of armed terrorists all intent on butchering you.”
“I imagine you would.” He smiled as he tucked her hand under his arm—just in case she decided to bolt. “But tough luck.”
Chapter Fourteen
Dani felt totally wrung out.
She rested her head back against the soft leather as the car sped them back to the villa. She’d never spoken of Sam to anyone before. Now she realized how much she had kept bottled up inside. She’d told Zach that she’d understood why her parents had acted as they did. That didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt.
At the time, it had been like the end of the world, and the years after Sam’s death had been as though she moved though a gray fog, splintered by sharp jabs of intense pain.
In some ways, it had been easier once her mother had left them. Being ignored by her father was like a dull ache, but her mother’s accusing glances had been agony.
What a total mess.
The army had straightened her out. Well, as straight as she was likely to get, though she was aware there were still a few kinks.
She wasn’t ready to meet Zach’s friends. She didn’t want to be faced with the evidence that she didn’t fit into his life. Right now she was living in a lovely little bubble, and she had an inkling that it was about to burst. Maybe she needed to get in there and burst it first, not wait for it to happen. She gave Zach a quick sideways peek—not yet.
She felt and, no doubt, looked like she’d been dunked in seawater and dried all crumpled. She was gritty with sand. What she needed was a long shower and then to crawl into bed with Zach and forget about everything.
Zach appeared quite content to maintain the silence, though he did search out her hand and rest it on his lap.
Dani closed her eyes, but talking about Sam had brought back all those memories she’d buried deep. She could see the past more clearly now. Sam’s death had been a tragic accident that had sent all their lives spiraling out of control, and she hadn’t stopped until she’d gotten away from the source of the poison. But it was still in there, maybe too deep to ever be lanced.
She understood the problem. She’d spent too many years believing she was a misfit, unlovable, that she didn’t fit in. More than that, the very people who might have had the power to pull her back, save her, had abandoned her instead.
Opening her eyes, she watched Zach as he stared out of the car window. In profile, he was perfect. Strong nose, passionate lips, flawless cheekbones. What did he see in her? When would he finally realize that she wasn’t…?
She shook off the thought. The whole idea of coming to care for Zach was impossible; she couldn’t let it happen, couldn’t set herself up for that sort of pain again. Perhaps if he’d been a different sort of man, more…ordinary, then she might have risked it. But if he’d been ordinary, if he’d been anyone other than Zach, would she have wanted to?
Three more days.
Gary pulled up in front of the villa and she scrambled out. Zach took her hand before she could make a run for it. She didn’t want to meet these strangers now, when she was feeling so vulnerable, but she also didn’t want to make a scene, so she allowed him to pull her inside the house.
The door into the lounge opened, and a man stepped out. Medium height, slender, with a smile on his narrow, handsome face.
“Zach.”
He came to a halt in front of them and peered at her with laughter glinting in his pale gray eyes. “So this is how you’ve been amusing yourself. Novel.”
“Fuck off, Julian.” Zach dragged her forward. “This is Dani. And she has two very big dogs, so I’d be careful what you say.”