My Sister's Shoes (Little Black Box, Book 1) by Cherrie Mack

watched Zach walk around touching the plants and admiring her beautiful design. Angelo’s design. Why do I miss him? She had spent the night in Zach Brady’s apartment and found it cold, unappealing and … empty. She didn’t like his taste or his dog. But she had to make Adrienne suffer, and Zach was the key to pulling it off. Determined to shake Angelo from her thoughts, she put on the charm for Zach. “So if you like it so much, I think a bonus is in order.”
    He spun around and looked her up and down. He was paying attention to her physical appearance. Could it be possible that he was looking at her that way? He sauntered closer. “What do you have in mind?”
    Allie’s mind filled with kinky thoughts. Zach was into all sorts of fetishes. She pictured the blindfold and—Angelo kissing her whole body. She blinked it away. “Lunch maybe?”
    Zach narrowed his eyes and leaned in. His lips softly caressed her cheek. “Lunch it is. And thank you for a job well-done. I’ll go change and we can go.”
    Allie put her fingers to her cheek. She felt nothing. No heat. No yearning. No nothing. She scrubbed her face with her hands and sighed in frustration. Next time, if he got close, she would kiss him on the mouth.
    * * * *
    Zach chose a quaint café a few blocks from his apartment. On the way, he talked the usual chatter. All about him. And it was boring dribble that made her ears burn. Trying to find a redeeming quality about him was proving difficult, and she didn’t understand why.
    When they were seated at a corner table in Café Amore, the red and white checkered tablecloth and smells of tomato sauce wafted in her direction. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, but she stuck to ordering a salad. She didn’t like to eat a lot of food in front of a date. If this can be called a date. On the wall to her left was a picture of Little Italy in its heyday, and it sent Allie scrambling for some alone time.
    Once inside the one-stall bathroom, she sat on the toilet and took a deep, cleansing breath. You can do this. Focus! But Angelo was in her head and she couldn’t get him out. Damn him! Allie stood up and took a gander at her reflection in the mirror. For the first time in a long while, she looked deeper. With Angelo’s words still hanging in the air, Allie really considered his observations. She began to question everything about herself. Was she a phony who masked her pain under a martyr act? Angelo had her figured out, and she offered him anger in return. She hung her head when she realized she was very much like Adrienne in some ways. Allie took a deep breath and slowly let out months of pent-up hostility.
    With a determined stride in her step, Allie walked out of the bathroom with a new attitude. She stopped her waiter. “Excuse me. Did you put my order in yet?”
    “Yes, miss, is there a problem?”
    “No—actually, yes. Can I change my salad to pizza?”
    The waiter leaned in and whispered, “Good choice. We do have the best pizza. Deep dish or thin crust?”
    “Deep dish. Extra cheese.”
    “Ooh. Right away, miss.” He winked.
    Back at the table, Zach had been thumbing through his iPhone. She sat down and patiently waited for him to acknowledge her. It must be important. Allie looked around and fiddled with her napkin. There were exactly sixteen patrons in the café. Two older women sitting across from them stared at her and whispered to one another, obviously in the midst of some good gossip. She sipped her water and was gently placing the glass on the table when Zach looked up.
    “And he’s back,” she said.
    “Huh?”
    Her eyes traveled to his phone. “Your work, I assume?”
    “Oh. Yes. I’m sorry that was rude, just some final arrangements that needed some tweaking.”
    “Oh.” Did he just use the word tweaking? Mr. Zach Brady, with his Greek-god good looks and drab personality was becoming more and more unappealing as the minutes ticked by. Or was it because Angelo was becoming more