Zach and Sabrina: Round 2 Read online

  Chapter 1

  Sabrina hated leaving Zach. She was going to California to a wedding…. a wedding that her ex-fiancée, Troy would also be attending.

  As the car pulled away, she wanted to tell the driver to stop. There was so much unsaid. There was so much to discuss.

  The relationship with Zach had exploded this weekend. Not surprising since they were drawn to each other in such a remarkable way right from the start.

  But what started as attraction and moved into casual flirting quickly blew into romance, strong feelings and hot sex.

  All of this happening at the same time that Troy walked back into her life. The Troy piece was inevitable. Their lives were too intertwined not to have re-connected. She just didn’t expect it this weekend. She also didn’t expect having to spend time with him at his sister’s birthday. But Lillie was her dear friend and she couldn’t deny her.

  She’d broken the engagement off before she’d moved back to Boston. His love for her and his commitment to her was still so evident. She felt overwhelmed by it. She loved him for sure. How could you not? He was beautiful to look at, so considerate of her, fun to be with…

  But he didn’t consume all her thoughts. He didn’t dominate her mind when he was with her or when she was not with him. She thought when you truly loved someone, when you found ‘THE ONE’, there would be fire works. She couldn’t pick anything out as to why she didn’t feel this way. She should have. Many of her friends were jealous of her relationship because he was so wonderful.

  But she didn’t see the fireworks.

  So, as much as she loved him, she thought it was the right thing to do to end their engagement. Troy was shocked. He hadn’t seen it coming and denied all of her protests. He thought she was being foolish. He knew she loved him, which she did. Making the situation that much more difficult.

  In the end, he was pissed but he assumed this was pre-wedding jitters and that she needed some space.

  Can you have pre-wedding jitters when you haven’t even set the date? She asked herself. He kept pressing for a date. Actually, to be accurate, he kept relaying the message from his mother who kept pressing him for the date.

  When she walked out of his apartment, she knew that she had done the right thing for both of them. She felt he needed someone who would be devoted and mesmerized by him. She loved him but didn’t feel she would get to that place in her love for him. She also felt like she deserved to feel that way with the person she spent her life with.

  The further she got away from that break up, the more she questioned the wisdom of it. She missed him. She missed their friends. She missed his family. She missed them as a couple. They had an identity. Sabrina and Troy were a package. It was a hard thing to walk away from that and after the initial resolution; she began to mourn the loss of all of those things.

  Her work kept her busy but also kept her lonely. She traveled so extensively that it was hard to stay plugged in and hard to generate opportunities to see people. Was what she was feeling for Troy a by-product of that? Of a new job? Of being back in Boston, feeling out–of-place? Or was it more? Had she made a big mistake?

  Her unexpected time with Troy this weekend was simultaneously annoying and enjoyable. The things he did and the way he behaved, as if they were together, was not appropriate and irritated her. But at the same time, being with him at Lillie’s birthday felt easy.

  That was all confusing enough. Her emotions were all over the board in terms of how she felt about Troy.

  And then there was Zach.

  Chapter 2

  Zach had come into her life with the ferocity of the storm that occurred when they met.

  This past weekend with Zach had taken her by complete surprise.

  When she first encountered Zach, there was a great deal of animosity between them. Actually, if she was being honest with herself, the animosity was from her. True, he really wasn’t interested in working with her but he got over that quickly.

  She still couldn’t believe she has the opportunity to train with him. Through the misfortune of a fall, the trainer she was supposed to work with at her new barn, Lewis, wasn’t able to work with her for another six to eight weeks after her arrival. Lewis had paved the way for her to work with Zach.

  Much to Zach’s chagrin.

  He was a world-renown rider. His ability on a horse was incredible. And on a horse is where he liked to spend his time. He did not take students. But, he did a favor for Lewis, his business partner, when he agreed to work with Sabrina and her four horses.

  She was blown away at how her horses improved with his help immediately. He really understood the science of how a horse worked and how to get the most from each one.

  That itself would have been enough out of a relationship with Zach but she was getting so much more. He electrified her. From their first touch, she was drawn to him. She loved his easy way. She loved his beautiful face and ridiculously great body. She loved his laugh. It was fun to be with him. He consumed her.

  He consumed her.

  Was it just because Zach had power coming out of every pore? He was stubborn and absolute. He rode these untrained horses until they understood the quiet, steely power he possessed. That was the thing about Zach…he didn’t need to yell or scream to exert his powerful will. The determination one saw in his steely eyes or the way his jaw set, it was enough.

  Is that why she was attracted to him? She was an incredibly strong willed woman. She dominated her world. Was she drawn to him because she could let go with him? Because she knew his strength matched or exceeded hers? She couldn’t recall a time in which she was with Troy, her ex-fiancée, and felt that Troy was in control. It felt like they were equals most of the time. The remainder of the time, she took the lead. She was the ultimate decision maker in their relationship. He was happy to go along with what she wanted. Was she drawn to Zach because he would only let her push him so far?

  The funny thing was that Zach seemed as kind and loving and gentle as he was powerful.

  She smiled as she thought about their time sitting on the deck at lunch. It was so relaxing sitting with him as the sun set in one of her favorite spots. The conversation was easy. She enjoyed the casual back-and-forth they had engaged in. He was very sharp. He was very attuned to her mood, what she was thinking and how she was feeling.

  Maybe it was because he rode and he had to do a good job assessing and reading his horses constantly. Whatever it was, she felt like he had invaded her senses.

  All of her senses.

  Especially the ones connected to her feminine side. She loved his smell. She loved the feel of her hands in his hair. She loved to listen to him as he spoke or as he made intimate murmurs to her. And goodness help her but she loved the way he felt inside her.

  She was still outraged at how fast they moved. It was so unlike her! First to get involved in a relationship with a professional such as her trainer… and then to go from hello to orgasm in a flash…she didn’t know who she was right now. She wasn’t a prude and had been with a number of men but nothing on this scale.

  Each time she felt remorseful or embarrassed, Zach softly guided her to a better place.

  But, she knew the last time she saw him that she had left him feeling very undone.

  Chapter 3

  Sabrina took the short flight from Saratoga, landed in New York and headed to her hotel. It was going to be a busy three days. She wasn’t looking forward to her trip at the end of the week to Hawaii. While she loved her friend Lacey, she wasn’t eager to go to this wedding where she was the maid of honor and Troy was the best man.

  She saw the jealousy and then the anxiety in Zach’s eyes when he found this out. As much as she reminded him that Troy was her ex-fianc�
�e, he clearly wasn’t buying that it was over. And she had given Zach several reasons to think that over this past weekend. Troy had behaved like a Neanderthal: grabbing her off her horse at the end of one of her competitions, and then followed that by putting her in his bed without her knowledge or consent after she fell asleep, completely exhausted at his sister’s birthday.

  The over-riding issue was that there wasn’t really a defined relationship with Zach. It literally was just born. They hadn’t talked about anything or explored anything in that regard. She thought this was going to be “something that just happened” but the depth of her feelings and the strength of Zach’s reactions were challenging that.

  Focus, focus! Sabrina told herself sharply. It’s work time. Nothing gets in the way of work.

  Sabrina loved what she did. She had worked hard through several organizations to hone her craft. She was one of the best people in the corporate world at what she did. Developing talent to reach their potential, helping business grow aggressively through sound strategies, building systems and processes to accelerate success through people: that was what she knew. What she did was change lives.

  The people who worked with her around the world appreciated her for her straightforward, candid approach. She was always well informed. She knew the businesses she worked with backwards and frontwards. She was brilliant. She didn’t feel that way, but people often described her as such. She just felt like things were obvious. That, as she looked at a situation, she could quickly assess what was going on, what was interfering and where to put her efforts.

  She did the same when working with people. She was one of the top executive coaches in the world. She was sought after for her advice but only the brave engaged her.

  She was no shrinking violet. She ate nails for breakfast. If you wanted to go move from here to there, she could help you do it. But if you wanted someone to blow smoke up your ass, it wasn’t her. She wasn’t nasty or over-the-top aggressive. She was just…right. And unafraid. Her courage was a distinguishing factor. She had been told that one set of executives she’d worked with at one major financial firm referred to her as “The Dragon Slayer”. Not that they would tell her that to her face!

  She was really good at what she did. She had deep knowledge and she cared about people’s progress. She called you on your bullshit but inspired you to be better. She loved big challenges and having too much to do. She defined her life by other people’s success and worked hard to help them get there. She had a natural ability to think in the bigger picture but then look out! No one drove harder, faster or better to execution than she did.

  She was in New York to run a three-day strategic planning meeting. This emerging business was looking to triple revenue in the next three years. They wanted to grow organically and through acquisition both in developed markets and emerging markets. It was just the kind of hunt she loved.

  She prepared the meeting room that night and had everything so it was set to go first thing in the morning. The group had a lot of work to do and she didn’t want to waste a minute. She went back to her room too tired to eat and fell into bed.

  Chapter 4

  She woke to the sound of a text message on her phone. She grabbed it from the table next to the bed and pulled it into bed with her. She was not a morning person in any conceivable way.

  She didn’t want to waste time sleeping, but she ran herself so hard that her body demanded sleep of her. She found it to be a personal failure every time she closed her eyes. People thought she was crazy. She just didn’t want to miss out on life. It was the same reason she didn’t watch much TV. She would rather live it rather than watch made up characters, or worse, real people with major issues struggle through their lives.

  She opened her phone to reveal a picture of Ben and Max nuzzling each other over the fence. It looked like they had been turned out early and were enjoying the morning. Zach must have called their names because they were looking straight at the camera.

  Now, this was her salvation! This was where she would spend countless hours… with her horses. They gave her so much. They helped her disappear from her hectic world. They loved her, especially when she had a peppermint. She laughed how Indy would work her over, checking all of her pockets until he found a mint she had hidden for him. Spoiled babies are what they are.

  It was so sweet of Zach to send her this picture. She was happy to know he was thinking of her. He knows how much these horses mean to her. They looked like they had been rolling in the paddocks. She was happy to see they had boot protection on their legs. They looked great. Even the relationship stuff with Zach, she had made the right choice of facilities when she moved the horses to this new barn.

  “Love this picture. Thanks for sending. Great way to start the day,” she sent in a reply to him.

  He quickly shot back, “It’s one great way to start the day. I’ve got a list of ideas for others if you want them. “

  Ha! I bet he did, she laughed.

  “Why don’t you create that list and prioritize your recommendations and we will review it some time?” She teased back. She had no conviction he would do this, but she wanted to deflect the early morning arousal that was beginning in her body. Just texting him was making her start to feel a low pulse in her stomach.

  “Yes, ma’am,” was the reply. She didn’t believe his easy reply.

  “One more to share…” came in the next text. Sabrina waited.

  Then with the ding of another text arriving, she saw her two Great Danes sitting together like two statues. Were these two her two brats? Couldn’t be, she thought. They are actually listening and sitting still!

  “Where did you get this? Actually, more like… how did you get this?” Sabrina shot the text back, giggling to herself that she was caught up in a texting session with her hot trainer first thing in the morning. Sometimes life was yummy.

  “When I dropped them back to your house from Saratoga, I told them to pose for mom.” Zach replied in his text.

  She thought back to when she arrived at Saratoga. She was shocked to find Zach had been kind enough to get her dogs and bring them with him so they could stay at the house with Sabrina. He was like that. Just took the authority and made decisions and made things happen while being considerate.

  “To be honest, it took a few shots to get that picture. Here how they started out…” he said in a follow up text.

  The picture he sent next was hysterical. Legs were all over the place, one biting the other’s ear, the other getting ready to leap. Mayhem in motion. Yep, that’s more like she expected. Wild boys. They treated her like she was part of their pack and routinely bowled her over. She needed to bring the dog trainer back in to work with them but she hadn’t had the time. Plus, the trainer would just scold her again because she wasn’t firm enough. She wasn’t sure how that was going to change. She adored them.

  “Hahaha, that’s more like it. Both impress me. Thanks again for bringing them to Saratoga and getting them home again. It really was such a sweet surprise” she texted back.

  “I like when you are happy. Don’t roll your eyes. It’s a surprise to me too. Ok, gotta go. Have a horse waiting to be ridden. Just wanted to let you know your boys were thinking of you this morning. And maybe someone else was too,” Zach texted back.

  She read this and smiled. He was getting to know her very quickly. Even with him telling her not to roll her eyes, it was hard not to. What did he expect? Old habits die-hard.

  She didn’t know how to answer this one so she sent a smiley face back to him.

  Enough lounging around for one morning! She had a big day ahead of her and she needed to get going. She also needed to snap herself into business mode. You can’t run a strategic planning meeting with your head in the clouds thinking about hot men, Great Danes and amazing horses. She headed to the shower.

  She used the shower to force her mind to keep coming back to the work ahead and the people coming to the meeting. It was extremely hard because her mind kept
drifting back to Zach. He was so very interesting. What did that mean for her? What was next? The relief was between the trip to New York and the one to Hawaii at the end of the week, she didn’t need to keep thinking about it for a little bit of time. Back to work.

  Chapter 5

  As was often the case with Sabrina, time flew by as she worked. The days were productive and the meetings were robust. She facilitated a great deal of decisions and at the end of the three days felt that this business had a big runway ahead of it for success in the long term. She was pleased and proud of the work the team did together and she let them know it.

  Back at her hotel room, she packed up her things and grabbed a cab to the airport. There were a number of items to follow up on from the meeting, but she would sort through that on the plane. Her flight was nearly eleven hours long, so she had a stack of work she planned on plowing through while at the airport and on the plane.