It was easy to imagine Stephen being so careful where Lexi was concerned. He loved her deeply and, of course, Lexi was madly in love with him. They made Zoe long for a relationship where she could settle down. For some reason, Zoe glanced over and found Will staring at her. Her heart fluttered.
Clearing her throat, Zoe tore her gaze from Will’s back to Stephen. “You promise she’s okay? I know she is nearing the end of her pregnancy.”
“She’s fine.” Stephen nodded. “Feel free to stop by this evening.”
“We have dinner planned for everyone tonight, don’t we, Ramon?” Kenzie leaned forward to include Stephen’s quiet cousin in on the conversation.
In an uncomfortable fashion, Ramon scratched at the back of his head. “I think I forgot to take it out of the freezer.”
“Are you serious?”
Before they had a chance to get involved in the wrath, Zoe grabbed Will’s arm and waved goodbye to Kimber and Stephen.
“I did tell you she scared me,” Will said, once they were out of earshot.
“I’m scared for Ramon,” Zoe laughed. “Maybe we shouldn’t have left him.”
Will stopped in his tracks. For a moment, Zoe wondered if he wanted to go back and rescue his new friend. He paused and looked over the hill. “Nah, I think he’ll be okay.”
They began to walk together in silence. Zoe wasn’t sure where they were going; she just knew she didn’t want to share Will with anyone right away.
“How was playing soccer again for you?” she asked when they reached the other end of the shallow lake. Their knuckles brushed against each other as she walked on the higher part of the leaf-strewn path beside the water. “Want to go back to it?”
“Not a chance.” Will sighed. “I know I may not be as experienced in the makeup world as you, but there’s something about doing this job for my grandmother that makes me feel honorable.”
“Your grandmother, huh?”
“Yes. I promise you, I am my grandmother’s favorite grandchild.”
Zoe felt her lips stretch across her face as she tried to hide her smile. What would he say if he found out she did a school project on the family and never came across him? Of course, she’d done it a long time ago. “You don’t say.”
“Why do you sound surprised?”
“Surprised that you were spoiled by your grandmother?” Zoe made a grand gesture toward her heart. “My bad. How could I ever think such a thing?”
“You sound like my cousins.”
Water rushed by an open drainage. A few birds scattered to the top of the skyscraper-tall pine trees at the sound of their footsteps. It was the perfect afternoon for a romantic stroll. If there was a romance between us.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“Have you met all of my cousins?”
Zoe ticked off the cousins she knew. She was closest to the twins. “Isn’t that enough?”
“There are more, and all of them are leery of me as the CEO.”
“Didn’t you say they nominated you for the job?”
Will nodded and hung his head. She hadn’t realized he’d picked up a blade of grass until he started picking it apart. “They did. It was more an attempt to see me fail. Christmas is great in our family.” He half chuckled as she mewed out a pity aw. “Don’t feel sorry for me. At least the other group of my cousins, the loyal ones, want me to succeed, which I plan to do half out of spite.”
“If you fail,” Zoe breathed, “Ravens Cosmetics fails.”
“Exactly.” Will stopped walking and offered Zoe a half smile. “Which is why it is imperative that I choose right for the next position. I don’t want to let my grandmother down.”
“You won’t fail if you choose me.”
CHAPTER 6
After a family-style dinner at the table, the men cleared the table and did the dishes. Their reward was another bottle of rum. Will needed it. Though his body was tired from the exercise, his mind raced after his afternoon with Zoe and their near kiss. Lips had never been so soft. Every dream he’d had last night was of the promise of how good he and Zoe would be together. But Zoe had made herself clear she wanted to be a part of Ravens Cosmetics. The more time he spent around her, the clearer it became to Will that he wanted to be a part of Zoe.