Casual Affair

Zane grunted. “He sounds like an arsehole.”

She smiled at his description. He didn’t know how accurate he was.

“So, what happened?” he asked.

“I turned it down and went to school here in DC.” This was the embarrassing part, but she lifted her chin and took ownership of her misguided decisions. “I was still in my first semester when I found out he had ulterior motives for dating me. He just wanted to get close to my father the congressman and use his political connections for his own gain.”

She finally braved a peek up at Zane’s face and was surprised to see an intense look of censure firmly stamped there. But she somehow knew it wasn’t targeted at her. There was no judgment in his eyes.

“I stand by what I said,” he murmured in a lethally low voice. “He’s an arsehole.”

She released a relieved laugh. It felt good getting the story off her chest. Better than she would have expected. “I can’t argue with you there. I won’t say I don’t wonder about what would have happened if I had taken the scholarship, but I don’t have any regrets.”

She noted a spark of admiration in his eyes that made her smile. But that admiration quickly turned to something that looked like…sadness? No, regret. There was regret in his eyes. Suddenly, she was desperate to know the reason behind the look.

But she didn’t get the question out fast enough.

“Good,” he said, nodding in approval. “You’ve made quite a name for yourself in DC, so everything worked out for the best.” He chuckled. “I have to wonder, though, is there anything you’re not good at? Because if I’ve learned one thing about you, it’s that you approach almost everything with an ‘anything you can do, I can do better’ attitude.”

She narrowed her eyes, not sure how he meant that. “It’s called being ambitious and setting goals.”

He threw his hands up. “I wasn’t saying that’s a bad thing. On the contrary. I think it’s an admirable quality.”

She relaxed a little and thought about his question. “Now that you mention it, I’m terrible at learning new languages.” The look he sent her made her laugh. “It’s true. I barely passed high school French.”

He tilted his head, studying her. “What else? What else are you less than proficient at?” Once again, his voice held genuine curiosity.

She inhaled deeply when a light breeze sent the smell of nearby cherry blossoms wafting through the air. “Well, let me think about it. I mean, the options are so limited.”

He rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything, just waited for her to go on.

“Um. I definitely wasn’t born with a green thumb.” When his forehead creased in confusion, she explained, “Zero gardening skills. I’ve killed every plant I’ve ever owned, including some fake ones.” She pursed her lips. “And according to Felicity, I’m also terrible at doing the dishes.”

A laugh rumbled from deep within his chest, making her want to wrap herself up in his arms and listen to it all day. Stupid.

“And you?” she asked him, ignoring the stroke she was clearly having. “What are you not good at? Besides darts and shuffleboard and—”

“Okay, that will do,” he interrupted, raising his hand to silence her. He glared at her when she failed to suppress her giggle. “Scrapbooking.”

“Scrapbooking?” Not what she was expecting.

He nodded once. “Yes. I’m a bloody menace at scrapbooking. My mum loved it, though.” He grinned with a far-off look in his eyes, as though thousands of miles away. That regretful look was back, which she really hated to see. She missed his smile.

“I tried to make her a scrapbook once when I was in secondary school. I put pictures of our family holidays and all sorts of memories in it.” He laughed to himself. “It was a bloody mess, nothing like the ones she used to make. But when I gave it to her, I had never seen her look so happy. She must have known how hideous it was, but she said she loved it and that it was the best gift anyone had ever given her.”

She realized he only ever spoke of his mother in the past tense. Three months ago she would never have asked him about it in a million years. But something was different now, and she felt she needed to ask.