Free One Night With the Billionaire (Men of the Zodiac) by Sarah Ballance Page B

like music, small twinkling lights overhead indistinguishable from the starry night sky. Even though it was just a small gathering of staff, the scene looked like it belonged in a movie. Despite her crippling desire for a drink, second thoughts turned into thirds. She wasn’t ready for this. More pretending. Hers was the smallest of untruths, but she just wanted to be herself, and the self with which she most readily identified was the one achingly familiar with Ryder, who had increasingly taken over her thoughts. It had been one thing when she associated him with nothing but the promise of sex, but after snorkeling, she found she craved his friendship as much as she did his body.
    He was off limits, though, and it was as much his assertion as hers. So why did he have to be so gorgeous in a pair of board shorts, touristy hibiscus print and all? He sat on the edge, feet dangling in the water and a beer in his hand. And when he looked up and snagged her with his gaze, he smiled and wrecked her.
    Zoe looked away, praying the heat that tainted her blood at the sight of him didn’t give her away. When she did, she found Aggie walking toward her with a drink, which Zoe took gratefully. “You’re an angel.”
    “Don’t think nothing of it, honey.” Aggie said.
    At first, Zoe thought she was talking about the beverage, but Aggie was looking at Ryder. “What do you mean?”
    “Any woman would look at him that way. No one will realize it’s because you have a past.”
    Aggie knew of their past? Denial crept up her throat, but she drowned it with alcohol. Good alcohol. “What is this?”
    “It’s a cocktail called Absolut Stress. You looked like you could use it.”
    Zoe forced a laugh. “I looked like I could use stress?”
    Aggie waved her hand. “Heavens, child. Something to relieve it. You just might prove to be as difficult as that…as Mr. Nash.”
    “Something tells me you don’t normally refer to him as Mr. Nash.”
    She shook her head, which seemed to neither confirm nor deny Zoe’s suspicion. With her gaze directed toward Ryder, she said, “I’ve been his housekeeper for years, but before that he was a new hire at a security agency where I was on cleaning staff. I enjoyed riling that one up, I did. He was a little uptight, but I might not have ridden him so hard if I’d known why.”
    Zoe took another sip of her drink. “The orange juice in this tastes fresh.”
    “Fresh squeezed just for tonight.”
    Zoe swished the drink and watched Ryder throw his head back in laughter. Two of the men with him followed suit, while the third scowled. She suspected the indignity feigned, and her feelings were more or less confirmed when the straight-faced man cracked a smile.
    She glanced at Aggie, then back at the pool. She didn’t feel she should ask, but how could she not? “Why was he uptight?”
    “Honey, I have a feeling you know.”
    Zoe swirled her straw in her drink. Did she? The number of hours she’d spent staring at him didn’t add up to knowing anything beyond what he left on the surface, and for most people, that was only what they wanted you to see. Ryder didn’t strike her as manipulative—if anything, the way he turned her inside out with the sex talk suggested he was blunt—but who had he been back then? Besides devastatingly sexy, she didn’t know.
    “I don’t think anyone knew,” she said softly.
    Aggie waved a dismissive hand before settling both on her hips and giving Zoe a look she swore went right through her. “Hmph. I reckon it was all for the best, but sometimes I think he lost something he can’t get back. He can’t want for a thing money can buy, but there’s something he hasn’t found yet, and I don’t think it’ll be for sale when he does.”
    Aggie’s tone saddened Zoe. It also perplexed her. “You know I’m just the decorator, right?”
    “Do you really think I’d be saying any of this if you were just the decorator?” She punctuated the sentiment with a pointed