for Zara, every single one of his hopes and dreams, into it.
Hitting his stride, he worked with pure focus past sundown, stopping only to order pizza to be delivered for dinner and telling them to bring a second, fully loaded pizza to Zara’s office, along with a chocolate chip cookie pie for dessert and enough soda to fuel a major league sports team. Having prepaid for the pizza and tip on the phone, he barely looked up when the teenager delivered it. He ate a couple of slices while he waited for the individual inlay pieces on the chest’s lid to dry.
By the time he’d cut, sanded, and glued each piece, it was pitch black outside. A sliver of moon was high in the sky, and there were only two cars left in the parking lot—Zara’s and his.
Rory uttered a low groan as he stretched his back. He knew better than to hold one position for so long without moving away from his workbench and walking around to keep limber. But he’d been totally in the zone.
He not only hoped the chest would be one more way for Zara to see how much she meant to him—he also hoped that it would be another way for him to help her heal from losing her mother.
He put the sheet over the chest, then headed for Zara’s office. If she was still racing against the clock to put her ads together, he would pitch in to help her in any way he could.
From the doorway, he smiled as he took in the scene. She was asleep at her desk, her hand clasping the computer mouse. The pizza box was open and empty, save for half a piece, and she’d demolished both her huge drink and dessert.
He squatted beside her office chair and put his hand on her arm, saying her name several times before she stirred. When her hand holding the mouse shifted, the computer screen came to life on one of the photos from this morning’s shoot.
It was a picture of the two of them staring into each other’s eyes. Not like a man and woman did when they were just friends. Not like temporary lovers either.
When he looked at that picture, all he saw was pure love.
“Rory? What time is it?” Her voice was slurred with sleep.
He looked at his watch. “Five past one in the morning.” He brushed the hair away from her face. “Did you get your ads done?”
She nodded, and her eyes closed again.
“Let’s get you home.”
Taking her hands in his, he helped her out to his car, where she dozed off again until he guided her from the car to the bedroom in her cottage. With great care, he stripped away her clothes. And though it was tempting to kiss every inch of skin that he bared, he knew she needed sleep more than anything else.
It felt so right to climb into bed with her and wrap his arms around her. Especially when she whispered, “I love you,” to him right before she fell asleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“You’re looking particularly smug this morning,” Zara noted as they drove to work together on Wednesday.
He grinned at her. “So are you.”
It had been the perfect morning. Not only had they had hot morning sex—they’d had it twice, first in bed and then in the shower.
Even better, he hadn’t yet seen any storm clouds appear in Zara’s eyes. He hoped like hell that they never returned. After battling them for half her life, Zara deserved to know only joy from here on out.
Joy that he was determined to give her in any way he possibly could, both in and out of bed.
“What’s on tap for you today?” she asked. “Still working on that secret project?”
He nodded, then deliberately diverted her attention by saying, “I don’t need to ask what you’ll be doing. I already know you’re going be filling orders all day for your new glasses line.”
“Pretty confident about the effectiveness of my new model, aren’t you?”
“I hear he’s pretty special.”
He expected her to come back with good-natured snark. Instead, she reached for his hand. “He really is.”
Rory turned into the warehouse parking lot, planning to kiss her breathless as soon as he turned off the car. That was when he saw them.
Both Brittany and Chelsea were standing outside the building. And they were talking. Though he had no idea why Chelsea was here, he had a bad feeling about it.
As soon as Zara saw her stepsister, she said, “Oh no.