Casual Affair

A pillow hit her right in the face, nearly spilling her drink.

“Bite me, Bea,” Felicity sneered. “I don’t have a lady boner for him.”

“So you don’t think he’s hot?”

Her sister pursed her lips in frustration. “Of course he’s hot. He’s gorgeous. Any woman with half an ovary could see that. But some of us have more control over our libidos than others.”

Bea raised her glass to her in salute. “Ouch.”

“So it looks like you’re not going to be picking out china patterns any time soon, either,” Gwen said.

“Tell you what,” Felicity responded after a sarcastic laugh. “The day Bea becomes a one-man woman is the day I ask out Gabe Wexler. How’s that sound?”

Bea broke out in a sweat at the mere suggestion of her being in a serious, long-term relationship. She cleared her throat to mask her growing apprehension and glanced in Gwen’s direction.

On the other hand, she did love a good bet.

She and Gwen looked back at Felicity and said in unison, “Deal.”

Bea finished the rest of her drink and reached for the full pitcher on the coffee table. “Okay. Can we please stop all of this talk of china patterns and crap? This is supposed to be a night of celebrating the fact that the Paxton sisters have made a name for themselves and are on the brink of being debt-free. So let’s toast, and get liquored up with some good drinking games.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Felicity cheered.

“Hear, hear!”

For the rest of the night, Bea told herself that she would be just fine. No matter what happened with her and Zane, she would make it. Because she was a strong, independent woman.

But the worst part was, it wasn’t the prospect of having a serious, long-term relationship with Zane that had her worried.

What she was starting to fear more than commitment was the fact that her happiness was becoming so dependent on one man. A man who drove her crazy in more ways than one. A man whose control over her emotions was bringing back painful memories from her past.

A man who would soon be leaving her.

And that was just plain terrifying.

Chapter Twenty-One

Their flagship store was officially opening its doors tomorrow. That was a wonderful, groundbreaking step for Envision Tech Industries and everyone involved.

So why did Zane feel like the world was about to fall out from under his feet?

The closer he got to the launch, the more he felt an inevitable sense of doom looming toward him. Something that would threaten his recently found happiness.

The fact that Bea was acting strange didn’t help matters.

They had been working at the store all day, making sure everything was ready for tomorrow, and she had just been…distant. Her eyes weren’t warm when she looked at him, but rather skeptical. She didn’t melt against him when he got close, easing away from him instead. And the smiles she threw his way were merely polite, not her usual sly ones that held sensual promises.

What the hell was that all about?

He intended to find out.

The store itself looked great, thanks to the Paxton sisters. The decor was current but not too modern. The lighting pulled you in without overwhelming. And the red accent pieces around the store drew one’s attention to certain displays. Envision’s mainstream items, such as tablets, laptops, and ereaders were placed in prominent spots at the front of the store. Though Bea and Felicity had still managed to feature ETI’s signature technology, such as digital antennas, routers, and various software packages.

There was an article about the store opening being featured in every major news outlet within a hundred-mile radius, so they were expecting a lot of business over the weekend. Which meant that he wasn’t going to be able to relax for a single second. His obsessive need to triple-check everything was stressing him to the max.

Again, Bea’s emotional distance wasn’t helping.

He was scanning the store for her when a display near the register caught his attention. “Denise, why aren’t the laptop and ereader sleeves in the checkout display?”

She looked up from whatever she was doing and shrugged. “Bea said it looked too cluttered, so she put them back with the products.”