Casual Affair

Which meant her days would once again be consumed by Zane.

As much as it worried her, she was still counting down the hours.

About five minutes after she started Drop Dead Gorgeous—one of their all-time favorite movies—Felicity slammed through the front door of the townhouse, dropped her purse on the living room floor, and plopped down beside Bea on the couch.

Uh-oh.

She wordlessly extended her wineglass to her sister, who threw the entire contents back in two gulps. For a girl who didn’t drink very much, the action spoke volumes.

“Had a meeting with Gabe today, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Felicity mumbled, sounding frustrated. “Nothing but polite handshakes and friendly smiles, as always.”

Millionaire Gabe Wexler was another client of theirs—a financial genius, apparently. And Felicity was crushing on him…bad. In her defense, the man was downright beautiful, so Bea understood the attraction. But it seemed to be one-sided, since he hadn’t asked Felicity out yet. Unfortunately, her sister was one of the shiest people on the planet, so Bea didn’t see her taking the initiative there.

“Remind me again why it would be okay for you to date Gabe, yet I can’t do the same with Zane?”

Felicity looked at her in disbelief. “One, I never said I would date Gabe. Two, because if a guy so much as learns your bra size, you freak out, thinking he’s getting too personal.”

“Excuse me?” Bea scowled at her sister.

“You don’t open yourself up to people. It’s either sex-only with you or nothing at all. And Zane doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would be okay with that.”

“Meaning…?”

“Meaning he doesn’t seem like the type who would be willing to share. And if he wanted to, say, gee, I don’t know, have an actual relationship, with dates and flowers and the whole deal, you would drop him like a hot potato. And then he would drop us like a hot potato. It’s too risky. Best you keep it in your pants, Don Juanita.”

Bea wanted to be offended by all that, but she couldn’t take umbrage if it was the truth. Or at least, it used to be the truth.

But lately, trying an “actual relationship” with Zane didn’t sound that bad. Jeez. She didn’t even cringe at the R-word anymore.

God, she was losing her mind.

“And you, of course, couldn’t possibly screw it up with Gabe if he asked you out? His account is a pretty big one, too, you know.”

Felicity scoffed and poured more wine into Bea’s glass. “Yes, I could and would definitely screw it up. But there’s no point in even discussing it, because it’s never going to happen. Might as well start buying my cats now so I’ll have company when I die alone.” She offered Bea an air toast and drank.

“Okay, Mopey Dopey,” Bea said, throwing an arm around her sister’s shoulders. “One, that made no sense. Two, let’s just watch some beauty queens kill each other so we can laugh and forget about stupid men. No more serious talk.”

There was a pregnant pause before Felicity turned toward her. “Not going out tonight?”

Bea reached for the remote. “Nope. Not in the mood.”

Normally, yes, she would be at some bar or club right now having fun. Maybe getting to know a new guy. It wasn’t typical for her to spend her Friday nights at home. But the whole idea had lost its luster for the past few months.

There had only been one man on her mind.

And definitely only one bed she wanted to be in.

She felt her sister studying her for a few more seconds before her focus drifted back to the television. She didn’t ask any more questions, which was a good thing.

Because Bea wouldn’t have had any answers for her.

Hell, she didn’t even have answers for herself.

The man was messing with her life.

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Bea awoke from a dream where Zane had been licking ice cream off her naked body, slowly warming her goose bump–covered flesh. Ironically, she had woken up drenched in sweat.

She needed to clear her head of him in a bad way. Exercise all of the lust out of her body…before she did something desperate and stupid.

It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning as she started running along her normal path through the city. She pushed herself hard, working up a pretty good sweat within the first half mile. But no matter how fast she went or how heavily she breathed, only one face appeared in front of her. Only one voice reverberated in her ears.