Casual Affair

Naturally, she hadn’t run that by him.

He stomped off in search of her and found her rearranging the display of smartwatches. “Why did you move the sleeves off the checkout display?”

She didn’t look at him when she answered, which only annoyed him more. “It looked too busy.”

He swallowed back his impatience. “We discussed that display for an entire week and agreed to push them as last-look items at the register. You know how much money stores can make off impulse buys, and those are perfect for gift-giving. Why did you change it without checking with me?”

“Sorry, I thought we already covered this,” she said flatly. “That you trusted me to do my job.”

His blood pressure was rising fast. This conversation was becoming less about the store and more about what had caused her sudden mood shift. “It’s my store, Bea, and the opening is tomorrow. It would have been nice if you’d at least asked what I thought.”

She walked away from the display, brushing by him and still avoiding his eyes. “I apologize. I’ll put them back.”

“Enough!” he growled. Grabbing her arm, he hauled her through the door marked Employees Only and into the stockroom. Away from the rest of his staff, they were completely alone. “Okay, what’s your problem?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been off in your own little world all day. And the rare times you’ve spoken to me, you’ve been practically monosyllabic. Did I do or say something to upset you?”

She finally looked at him, and what he saw there worried him. A lot. Her eyes held uncertainty, and even what looked like…regret, perhaps?

Alarm bells started going off in his head.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Nothing. I’m fine,” she said, unconvincingly. “We’ve seen each other pretty much day and night for the past month. A little distance is probably a good thing.”

That hurt a lot more than he’d expected, her wanting to spend time away from him. “So you want space. You want some time apart?”

“It’s not as if we’re dating, so it shouldn’t be a big deal,” she said evenly.

It was to him.

This was all wrong. They shouldn’t be moving in this direction. They should be moving forward, into something lasting and meaningful. Instead, she was reverting back to that whole “this is just sex” bullshit she’d tried to play at in the beginning.

“Where is this coming from?” he asked. “You’ve acted completely fine with our situation this past month. Even yesterday, nothing seemed to be bothering you. What’s changed?”

She hesitated, shifting around on her feet as though unsure of herself. “I just thought we both needed reminding of what this is. And what it isn’t.”

Such bollocks.

It sounded as if she was trying the words on herself, seeing how they fit. “You’re really going to try to pretend this thing between us is something to just shrug off? Really, Bea? You’re going to stand there and say you only see me as a friend? A casual fuck? Is that all this has ever meant to you?”

Hurt swirled with disbelief in his stomach when she didn’t deny it.

Something angry flared in her eyes, and she took a step toward him. “I told you from the beginning,” she said, her voice rising. “Feelings don’t enter into sex. We said that’s all it would ever be between us. Sex and nothing more.”

His hurt turned to anger. “And now you’re wigging out because you feel more than that, don’t you?”

She remained silent. Just continued to stare at him.

“Talk to me,” he grated out. “Tell me something real. Not what you think you should say.”

She turned away and slowly walked to the other side of the room. “I just…need some time apart. I’m not used to…all this. I think it would be good if we had some separation.”

He fisted his hands at his sides. He wanted to slam one of them straight into the wall. He knew she wasn’t saying what was truly on her mind, and he was about to go mad.

“I’m guessing that means you don’t want to take the job in London.”