Casual Affair

Bea’s anger evaporated in an instant.

He’d come back!

She quickly tried to straighten her hair and clothes. Of course the first time he saw her in almost two months had to be when she was having a Fatal Attraction moment. Minus the whole boiling bunny scene because, shit, she wasn’t that crazy.

“Hi,” Zane said softly.

Her heart melted at hearing his voice again after so long, her insides fluttering around like butterflies on crack.

She tried to keep the shock from showing on her face. “Prince Charming returns at last. What did you do, swim back?”

“Very funny,” he answered. “Can I come in?” His eyes were pleading as he waited for her reaction.

A woman would have to have a will of sheer iron to turn away a man when he looked at her like that.

Not that she intended to.

But suddenly she was burning up and needed the cool afternoon air to calm her down. She stepped forward onto the top step, forcing him to move back, and closed the door behind her. “We can talk out here.”

Okay, now she was too cold. She crossed her arms over her chest, wishing she had grabbed her jacket, and waited for him to speak first. She knew what she wanted to say to him but wanted to go second. Just in case.

He looked into her eyes and extended the lily to her.

“I came to apologize for what happened that night at the store.”

She accepted the flower with a small smile, and a big inner whoosh of relief. “I’m sorry, too.”

The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I wasn’t trying to push you into the contract, but I know I approached the conversation all wrong. I was just eager to talk to you about it. I didn’t mean to act controlling. The whole thing was bad timing on my part. And wrong of me to throw all of that on you at once.”

She remained silent, the pain in her heart growing bigger and bigger the longer he spoke. He’d come about the contract? She had almost forgotten about the damn thing. Her misery had been focused on everything said before and after he’d brought up the contract that night.

“Okay. And?” she prompted when he didn’t continue.

His smile slowly faded. “And what?”

“Is there anything else you’d like to apologize for?”

His forehead creased, his body tensing. “Such as?”

Was he really going to make her say it? Because she had no problem with that.

“You left!”

His face froze in astonishment, and she went on before he could say anything.

“You ran off to merry ol’ London without a word, and didn’t contact me for almost two freaking months, Zane! Maybe you should apologize for that ill-conceived plan instead.”

He looked completely baffled. “Have you forgotten you wouldn’t answer any of my calls or texts? And there were a lot, by the way. You told me you wanted space, so I gave you space to work through whatever the hell it was you had to work through. I gave you what you wanted.”

She rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. “I didn’t ask you to move across a damned ocean! Once I finished dealing with my issues, how were we supposed to fix things with you thousands of miles away?”

“You knew I was leaving,” he said. “You knew from the beginning, but it never seemed to bother you.”

“Well, it did! I thought you were gone for good.”

He backed down the stoop a couple of steps, closing his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t understand you. You say one thing, and I do it, giving you what you asked for, and then you bite my head off. How am I supposed to know what you really want?”

She wanted to shake him. “I was just asking for a break, a little distance. But not that much distance for two freaking months.”

He looked back up at her, fire filling his eyes. Damn, he looked good like that, all passion and strength.

“How was I supposed to know that?” he demanded. “To my ears it sounded like you were done with us. You wouldn’t talk to me, so I assumed you didn’t care either way.”

God, she hated it when her sister was right.

But she still didn’t feel he was being completely fair. “And you didn’t think I’d want to know when—or if—you were coming back?” she asked. “I mean, I may have wanted to take a breather, but I’m not the one who just up and left without a word.”