Read Online His Brand of Passion by Kate Hewitt - Free Book Online

legs around his waist…
    Zoe closed her eyes as the memories assailed her and fresh, ridiculous desire coursed through her. She didn’t want to remember the overwhelming passion of that night. It could only confuse what was between them now, which was essentially a business partnership. At least, that was how Aaron seemed determined to conduct it, and Zoe told herself it was sensible. She didn’t want to get mired in feelings she had no business having for Aaron Bryant. No matter how great a lover he was, no matter how sweet his few and surprising moments of kindness, he was still, and always would be, an arrogant and autocratic jerk.
    It felt weirdly disloyal to think that now, especially considering she was soaking in his bath tub as his guest for the foreseeable future. Yet Zoe knew she had to remind herself because, knowing her track record, if she didn’t she just might start to fall in love with him—and that would be really, phenomenally stupid.
    Aaron couldn’t concentrate on his work, which was an irritating first. He was used to being able to focus completely on business; nothing else in his life even came a close second. Yet now, as he scanned the latest reports on the stock market in Asia, he found his mind drifting to Zoe. Wondering what she was doing. Was she watching TV? Taking a bath?
    Instantly his body hardened as images flashed through his mind of Zoe in his tub with nothing but a few strategically placed bubbles popping slowly and revealing the soft, tantalising skin underneath—skin he’d touched, kissed, remembered the satiny feel of.
    With effort he stopped that vivid montage from reeling through his head. Unhelpful; he didn’t want to think about Zoe as anything other than…what? His brain scrambled to compartmentalise her. He liked things tidy, in his control, yet nothing about this situation—about Zoe—felt that way. It had been messy and uncontrollable from the moment he’d met her, when she’d taken his phone and he’d responded by putting his hand up her skirt.
    Sighing, Aaron raked a hand through his hair and tried to focus on the report in front of him. His mind had been spinning ever since that confrontation with Zoe in his limo. The look on her face when he’d made his cold-blooded offer. He cringed in shame at the memory, even as the aftershocks of surprise and even fear rippled through him. A baby. A father.
    He’d never wanted to be a father. Never wanted to be that important to somebody—that critical. The opportunity to make a mistake, to
fail
, was too huge. And he knew first-hand the lasting damage a father could have on his son.
    Yet over the last week he’d realised that, if Zoe was going to have this baby, if he was going to be a father whether he liked it or not, then he needed to be in that child’s life. Being completely absent was surely one way to guarantee what he didn’t want: to hurt an innocent child’s life through his own faults and weaknesses.
    Aaron glanced at the clock. It was nearly six, which was still several hours before he usually left the office, and then just to work more at home. Yet today he found himself closing his laptop, packing up his attaché case and heading outside into the still-warm September evening.
    The apartment was quiet when he entered, alarmingly so. Had she left? Decided she didn’t want to do this after all? And why did that thought alarm him so damn much?
    Taking a deep breath, Aaron set down his case andshrugged off his jacket. He hated feeling this uncertain. This…worried.
    ‘Hey.’
    He turned to see Zoe coming out of the kitchen dressed in a T-shirt and yoga pants, her hair tousled and damp around her shoulders. She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘I had the most decadent afternoon. I probably should feel guilty.’
    Decadent? His mind was leaping to possibilities and images he had no business thinking of. ‘You came here to rest,’ he said, intentionally noncommittal and even gruff. But Zoe