Casual Affair

Felicity collapsed onto her bed. “I’m exhausted. Go call lover boy and let me take a nap.”

Right. She was Bea Paxton, and Bea Paxton went after the things she wanted.

She was a strong, independent woman who had lost her heart to a man who was her equal in every way. And admitting it only made her stronger, not weaker.

It was time to put on her big girl pants and claim the man she loved.

Chapter Twenty-Five

He’d missed her call.

Bugger.

Zane had been building up the courage to call Bea himself. He couldn’t believe she had beaten him to it. And he’d missed it.

The anger he’d felt when he saw her name pop up on his phone, showing she had called over three hours ago, was still coursing through his system. He’d been thrown into an immediate frenzy, panicking that if he didn’t call her back right away, she might really be lost to him forever.

But when he went to return her call, his finger had paused over the send button.

He wasn’t sure where the uncertainty had come from. He had been so sure of things with her that time in the stockroom. But her comments were still swirling around in his head, and he couldn’t seem to organize his thoughts.

What was he actually going to say to her when she answered?

Yes, he had run off to London. But he was giving her the space she’d asked for. He wasn’t sure he could stay away from her much longer, though. The only problem was, some of the things she’d said had struck an uncomfortable chord with him, causing seeds of doubt to cloud his decision now.

To avoid agonizing, he had thrown himself into work after arriving in London. Peter hadn’t questioned his early return, but Zane knew he could sense something was amiss.

Today, in a moment of weakness—or desperation—he caved and finally decided to ask his annoyingly astute mate for relationship advice.

God help me.

So he was now sitting with Peter in his front room. He and Sara had invited him over for dinner, and she had taken their daughter Annabelle off to bed, leaving them to catch up.

“So, yeah…um,” Zane began, deciding to just lay it all out.

Peter looked over at him. “Yes?”

“Bea and I…”

Peter’s eyes widened and he pointed at Zane’s face. “I bloody knew it!” He immediately lowered his voice when he remembered his daughter was sleeping. “I knew there was something going on between you two. You talk about that woman like the sun shines out of her arse.”

Zane glared at him. “Don’t talk about her arse.”

Peter at least had the decency to look apologetic. “Sorry. But blimey, why am I just now hearing about this? This is vital information for a best mate. Have you replaced me with some American plonker? I might be a bit jealous.”

Zane scoffed, but half of it was a laugh. “Shut it. I don’t know. I didn’t want you to think less of her. That she wasn’t acting professionally.”

“Well, I definitely do think less of her for sleeping with you, but that’s more of a judgment issue.” Peter grunted when Zane punched his arm, though it didn’t diminish his grin. “So tell me about it. Was she good?”

When Zane shot him another murderous glare, he put his hands up in surrender.

“I’m not going to answer that,” Zane told him sharply. “I’ll just say the woman is fucking gorgeous.”

Peter nodded knowingly. “So you had a fun romp in the sack with a coworker. See, now what did I tell you? Isn’t your life more fun when you listen to me? Made the States a bit more interesting, didn’t it?”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“Speaking of Bea, have they given you an answer about the design contract yet?”

He had lied to Peter when he’d first arrived in London, claiming that Bea and Felicity had to assess their project schedule before giving them an answer about extending the contract. None of that was true, of course. He had just been trying to avoid this exact conversation.

“No, not yet,” Zane answered, his voice coming out curt. Apparently, he was still more frustrated with Bea than he’d thought. He missed her like crazy, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to strangle her for being so damn contrary. “I swear that woman can drive me up the wall. She’s all soft and agreeable one minute, then she’s spitting fire at you the next. And it doesn’t help that my cock seems to find both of those sides equally appealing. It’s maddening.”