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Fortune's Prince Charming
Fortune's Prince Charming
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Fortune's Prince Charming

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“Zoe, would you please start us off again by pulling the name of your partner for the race?”

“You know what, Steffi-Anne? Since Jill and Homer won the last round, it’s only fair that we let her draw first. Since they’re such a power team, we need to make sure they don’t get paired up again. Right?”

Steffi-Anne clapped her hands. “May I please have everyone’s attention? We have just a few more teamwork exercises before we break for lunch and then we will have some free time in the park. Since it takes so long to draw names, why don’t we make this round of pairings permanent partners for the duration of our drills? That will make things easier and give us more free time in the park.”

As the bag made its way clockwise around the circle, Zoe drifted over to a picnic table a few paces behind the action. Keeping her back to the group and her ears open for the names each person announced as they drew, she took a pen out of her wristlet and retrieved the scrap of paper she’d drawn from the previous scavenger hunt round. Since she hadn’t been near a trash can, she’d tucked it into the pocket of her shorts. Now, she was happy she’d done that.

Quickly and discreetly, she folded the paper, creased it and tore off the part with Sissy’s name. She wrote Joaquin Mendoza on the small scrap.

If perchance he was called by one of the last few remaining people, Zoe would admit to herself that she’d been barking up the wrong tree and draw a new name from the bag. But her gut instinct told her this was rigged. She intended to draw right before Steffi-Anne and if her hunch was right, there would only be one slip of paper in that bag—and it wouldn’t have Joaquin’s name on it.

So she stayed back at the picnic table until the bag had made it all the way around the circle—and, oh, how interesting, no one had called Joaquin’s name yet.

Zoe knew she was taking a chance by calling Steffi-Anne’s bluff. But what were the odds that out of fifty names his name was among the last two twice in a row?

Nah, something was definitely rotten in Cowboy Country.

Zoe held the brown bag with her left hand and, careful to hold the doctored slip of paper tight with her thumb against the palm of her right hand, she reached in and pretended to pull a name.

“Joaquin Mendoza,” she said, reading the paper she’d forged. “Come on down.”

“What?” Steffi-Anne pierced her with the look of death, confirming Zoe’s hunch. She hadn’t included Joaquin’s name with the others. Since she’d gone last, she had pretended to pull his name. Did she really believe that no one would think it was odd that she drew Joaquin as a partner every single time? Worse yet, did she not think Joaquin might find it a little creepy that she’d rigged the pairings to throw them together?

It didn’t matter now because Zoe would be the one getting up close and personal with Joaquin in the three-legged race and the remaining team-building exercises.

Now, he was walking toward her.

As Zoe turned to meet him halfway, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Well played, Zoe.” Steffi-Anne’s voice was low and venomous, completely at odds with that sickening smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Well played.”

“What do you mean?” Zoe asked, all sugar with just enough spice mixed in to warn Steffi-Anne that she wasn’t playing.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. I know what you did.”

“Oh, are you talking about how the pairings were rigged?”

Before she could answer, Joaquin walked up to them.

“Is everything all right?”

He looked back and forth between them, obviously sensing that something was off. But Steffi-Anne sprang into action.

“Everything is great. Are you having fun, Joaquin?” She reached out and touched his arm. “Aren’t you glad you came?”

Zoe could tell by his expression that he wasn’t buying her nicey-nicey act.

“Yeah. Sure. It’s nice to spend a day outside. I don’t get to do that often enough.”

“Right. You know I was just telling Zoe that Cowboy Country’s Main Street Shootouts are so realistic.” She locked eyes with Zoe. “Almost makes you want to watch your back.”

She laughed. “And, Joaquin, be sure to save me a ride on the roller coaster, okay?”

“Roller coasters?” He shook his head. “Sorry, I’m not a fan.” He smiled at Zoe. “But I am looking forward to the three-legged race.”

Chapter Four (#ulink_17aa2743-4b84-5105-b091-a850265cd676)

“What was that about?” Joaquin asked Zoe as soon as Steffi-Anne was out of earshot.

Zoe looked as if she wanted to say something but instead opted for the high road.

“Nothing. She was just telling me about Cowboy Country. This is the first time I’ve been here. How about you? Did you spend any time here when you lived in Horseback Hollow?”

“No. It’s my first time, too.”

Zoe arched a brow. “Well, I’m glad we can share each other’s first time. You know, make it special.”

Phew! Did she realize the double entendre she was bandying about?

Of course she did. She could be a first-class flirt sometimes. When she was, it caught him off guard. He didn’t quite know what to say. He didn’t want to encourage her. But on the other hand, encouraging her—adding fuel to the fire—was exactly what he wanted to do.

And that latter won out handily.

“Please be gentle with me,” he quipped. “I don’t ride roller coasters. I’m not that kind of guy.”

She locked gazes with him, her eyes sparkling.

“So, you don’t like it rough and fast, huh?”

Damn, how far was she going to take this? She was killing him.

“No, I’m more of a smooth and easy kind of a guy.”

“Really? Do tell.”

A rush of awareness coursed through him.

Her smile was nothing short of wicked. Obviously she knew she was getting to him, but that seemed only to fuel her fire. And his, for that matter. For a moment he fought the urge to close the distance between them and show her exactly how easy things between them could be, but somewhere in the fog of his lust-hazy brain, he knew that would only muddy the waters between them.

Especially since he was already keeping a secret from her. If things became intimate between them—and God knew it was taking every ounce of restraint he could muster to not cross that line—he would have to tell her about what he’d witnessed as he’d arrived.

Or would he?

Hell, his brain was so fried with want right now, he didn’t even know. The only way around it was to get out now.

He took a symbolic step back from her.

“I have a feeling Steffi-Anne is not going to go very easy on us if we hold up her race,” he said. “She seems to have us on a tight schedule. Why don’t we get over there now?”

Just as he’d predicted, Steffi-Anne was in a mood and she looked disheveled and frazzled, as if she was just about at her wit’s end. She’d pulled her straight blond hair back into a haphazard ponytail and her yellow blouse had a dirty smudge on it. From this angle, the harsh daylight and the scowl on her face aged her about ten years.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

Zoe moved closer to him and pressed her pretty, tanned leg flush against his so that they were hip to hip. Well, they were in a sense. She was so petite that her hip hit his body in the upper thigh region. He loved how utterly un-self-conscious she was about invading his personal space. But the other good thing that came out of it was that he now knew for a fact that she seemed to fit perfectly under his arm. Just as if she belonged there.

And what her nicely tanned legs lacked in length they more than made up for in supple shapeliness. They looked strong and quite lovely, he thought as he bound the two of them together.

Being this close to her brought back the rush of awareness he’d felt earlier. He could smell her shampoo, something light and floral, and he could smell her soap—or maybe it was her perfume? Whatever it was, it was intoxicating and he wanted to lean down and bury his face in that sweet, delicate spot where her neck curved into her shoulder.

Being here with her like this, feeling how well she fit in his arms, was an unexpected surprise. Suddenly this team-building nonsense seemed a little more palatable.

Even though he knew getting involved with the boss’s daughter was not a wise idea, it didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy every single thing about being all tied up with Zoe Robinson. Win or lose.

* * *

It had been said the way a person danced revealed a lot about what kind of lover they would be. Zoe couldn’t help but wonder if the same rule applied to the way a couple’s bodies moved together and adapted to tests like the three-legged race and the water balloon toss. Because, if so, she and Joaquin were destined for greatness between the sheets.

They’d been beasts at the challenges that required them working together physically. Of course, it didn’t hurt at all that they had permission—no, they were required—to get into each other’s personal spaces and violate boundaries that were usually off-limits.

Could they please do team-building exercises every day?

Then again, if they did, Steffi-Anne would surely find some way to ensure she ended up paired with Joaquin.

Now that they were breaking for the barbecue lunch Cowboy Country was providing, Steffi-Anne was already weaseling her way back in to Joaquin’s company.

It had only been natural for Zoe and Joaquin to fall into the buffet line together since they’d been partners. After they got their food—pulled chicken and barbecued brisket with baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad and ice-cold glasses of sweet tea—they’d found two spots at a table.

Steffi-Anne filled her plate and brought her lunch over to the full table where Joaquin and Zoe were sitting with six other coworkers. Zoe was sitting next to Joaquin, who was on the end.

“Scooch, please,” she said, gently nudging Tracy from accounts receivable, on the opposite side of the table.

“There are plenty of places at the other tables,” said Tracy.

“Yes, but this is the only table in the shade.” Steffi-Anne had given the entire table the big, poor-me eyes and it had worked. Well, it had sent Tracy grumbling to another table where she could have more elbow room.

After Tracy left, Steffi-Anne zeroed in on Joaquin like a homing device.

“Aren’t you glad you came today?” Steffi-Anne said.

Joaquin smiled at Zoe. “Actually, I am. I’m having a lot of fun.”

The way he looked at her made Zoe’s heart perform a quickstep.

“I’ve been dying to go ride the Twin Rattlers Roller Coaster,” Steffi-Anne said. “I’ve been waiting for that all day.”

“I’ve been looking forward to the funnel cakes,” Zoe said. “I love them so much.”

Steffi-Anne looked at her as if she’d just said she was going to go eat a bucket of fish heads.

“God, Zoe, funnel cakes are pure fat. Fat, carbs and sugar,” she said. “You’re young now, sweetheart, but if you keep eating things like that, you’ll regret it sooner than you think.”

Since when had eating a funnel cake become a capital offense?

“I enjoy the occasional one,” she said. “One every five years won’t hurt anything.”

“Suit yourself.” Steffi-Anne shrugged, her gaze scanning the picnic area. “Oh, Zoe, look. There’s Ron Lowell. Didn’t the two of you used to date? He’s kind of cute in a bookish sort of way.”

“We went out a couple of times,” Zoe said, thrown by the non sequitur. “He’s a nice guy, but it was nothing serious.”

“Who are you dating now?” Steffi-Anne pressed.

“No one.”

“I thought you had a boyfriend,” she said.

“No, I’m completely free.”

The way Steffi-Anne was moving the food around on her plate instead of eating it made Zoe think of a witch at her cauldron. At any moment she might pull out a poison apple and lob it at her because it was much healthier than a funnel cake.

“I’m surprised you don’t have someone special by now,” she continued. “You’ve dated a lot of really nice guys. Like Jake over there and George Simpson from marketing.”

She pointed with her fork.

“And why didn’t things work out with Frank? I thought you two looked especially cute together.” Steffi-Anne turned her attention back to Joaquin. “I’m not saying this girl gets around. She’s just very popular in the office. Joaquin, if you’re interested, you’d better take a number.”

Okay, so that was her game. Zoe had always known that Steffi-Anne was the queen of the backhanded compliments, but she’d never pegged her as a mean girl. Then again, she’d never gone head-to-head with her over a man.

“That’s what dating is for,” Zoe said, “trying out potential relationships, seeing how they fit. If they don’t, there’s no use in prolonging them.”

Since the day Zoe had started working for her father at Robinson Tech, she’d made a point of not playing the daddy’s-girl card. She realized, by virtue of birth, she’d been born with some privileges. She was deeply grateful for her blessings, and she didn’t want to get the reputation that the only reason she’d gotten ahead at work was because she was the founder’s daughter. It was important that she got her jobs and any promotions on the merit of her knowledge and expertise, because she was the best person for the job. Not through nepotism. She never wanted to come across as entitled. That’s why she worked hard and went out of her way to be extra nice to people.

But sometimes when people like Steffi-Anne knew she wouldn’t fight back, they tended to push her more than they would someone who would put them in their place.

Today, Steffi-Anne was hitting extra hard and low. Zoe wasn’t about to get into a catfight with her, and she seemed to be spoiling for exactly that. Zoe really thought the woman was more professional than that. But she was dishing it out, and the others at the table looked eager to feast on a huge helping of juicy drama.

Zoe hadn’t finished her lunch, but she’d lost her appetite. Maybe the best thing she could do would be to go get that funnel cake and enjoy every fat-laden bite. Part of her hated to leave Joaquin in Steffi-Anne’s clutches, but if he sat back and allowed himself to be clutched, then maybe he wasn’t the guy for her, after all. Better to find out now. Her heart sank at the thought.

Zoe tossed her napkin on her plate, stood and gathered the rest of her garbage. “I think I’m going to go get that funnel cake now.”

To her surprise Joaquin stood, too. “I’m not surprised Zoe’s popular. She’s got a lot going for her. A guy would be lucky to get a date with her.”


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