Casual Affair (Timid Souls Book 2) (7 page)

Seeing that look on her face made my heart squeeze. “What’s wrong?”

At that question, she immediately wiped the look from her face and replaced it with her signature smile of seduction. “Nothing. You’re just
really
good at that.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed that nothing was on her mind, but I smirked in spite of myself.

“Oh, luv. That was just the beginning.”

##

Bea

Another week passed of not seeing Zane, but the difference this week was that we had texted almost every day since Soccer and Shower Sex Saturday. Shower sex that, by the way, tied for the hottest experience of my life. The other experience was the first time I slept with Zane. I swear he knew every button to push with me. If I didn’t know better, I would say that he could read my mind because he did everything I wanted him to do only seconds after I thought about it.

That had
never
happened to me before…with anyone.

But my mind had been preoccupied with something other than those sexy texts from Zane, telling me how much he missed feeling my hands on him. The night I met Zane, our friend Gwen had told us about the affair she was having with Clay Masterson, one of the candidates for this year’s D.C. mayoral election. And Gwen was engaged to Clay’s opponent in the election, William Callahan.

I should clarify that Gwen was not a cheater by nature and certainly not a whore. She’s just never been happy with William and was only engaged to him because her parents were both psychotic and pushed her into a relationship with him in the first place. William was certainly no prince, either. He was extremely controlling over Gwen and, in my opinion, was just a very shady character. I’ve had a bad feeling about him ever since I first met him, and I’ve always been really uneasy about his relationship and overall treatment of my friend.

It was something that had worried Felicity and I for the three years Gwen and William had been together.

And for some reason, she’d been on my mind all week. She’d really opened up to us about her affair with Clay and she actually seemed genuinely happy with him. She’d shared with us how he made her feel, how sweet he was with her, and her hopes for the future when she’d eventually be able to leave William so she could be with Clay and no longer have to keep their relationship a secret.

The thing that had me freaked out?

The feelings she had been describing were eerily similar to how I’d started to feel toward Zane.

Gwen called this love. She’d said that she was in love with Clay and
that
had me panicking. I thought I was in love once but learned I was wrong. And that in no way compared to this. This was a whole different ballgame with Zane.

My phone rang.

Speak of the devil.

My insides practically liquefied at hearing that smooth accent of his reach my ears. “Hey, luv. Hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time.”

It’s never a bad time if you’re calling
I wanted to say but thought that might have been a little much.

“Not at all. Just finishin’ up my lunch break.” The lunch break that consisted of a protein bar and sparkling water. It was so unlike me to not have an appetite but that’s what I’d been dealing with the past couple of weeks. “What can I do for you, Mr. Price?”

There was at least five whole seconds of silence before he responded. “You should definitely call me that more often.”

With the way his voice had changed, taking on a huskier tone, I knew exactly what he meant by that. I had to stop myself from imagining what the next time we had sex would be like. With him, I never knew what was coming next. Pun intended.

I laughed. “With pleasure,
Mr. Price
.”

He groaned and I could picture him having to adjust his suit pants. “Believe it or not, I didn’t call to have phone sex, although that is sounding more appealing by the second.” He cleared his throat and seemed hesitant, which had all of my senses on alert. “I was actually calling to ask if you’d like to go bowling with me and some of my co-workers tonight. We’re in a league and one of our team members is out of town, and the back-up we normally use is sick. We just found that out this morning or else I would have asked you sooner.”

Hmm. Bowling. Sounded harmless enough. And other people were going to be there so it wouldn’t be considered a date, right?

Why that thought suddenly depressed me I had no reasonable explanation for.

And I really liked being around Zane. A lot. Regardless of what my head was trying to tell me, I was going to say yes no matter what.

“Yeah. That sounds fun.”

“I hope you’re not too sore over the last time I beat you. I’ll try to take it easy on you this time.”

He laughed into the line and I tried not to smile but lost the battle. I wanted to be indignant but I really couldn’t be. He could be just as arrogant as me. For some reason, I liked that.

“Won’t we be on the same team?”

“Yes, but I guarantee I’ll bowl a higher score than you.”

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re goin’ to be eatin’ your words.”

A few beats of silence passed and then, “I’d rather eat something else.”

My body was instantly on fire and for once in my life, I was too flustered to throw out a comeback, some sassy retort. This man was turning my world upside down and I could never steady my footing.

“Text me the details,” was my curt response before I hung up the phone, cutting off Zane’s infuriating chuckle.

##

“You’ve got to be joking me,” Zane grumbled when I knocked down all ten pins, getting my fourth strike of the game.

I turned around, beaming a huge smile at him as the rest of his team broke out into applause. “I tried to tell you.”

“Yeah, be happy, Mr. Price,” his receptionist Denise said. “She’s picking up our slack,” she added, gesturing to her girlfriend.

“I think we may have to permanently replace Lyle with her,” said another one of his co-workers, a man named Randall who seemed to be the unofficial captain of the team, despite the fact that Zane was the boss. I took Lyle to be the one who was out of town tonight.

I smiled at Randall and turned back to Zane to find his gaze locked onto me, his eyes narrowed in thought. “What?” I asked warily.

He slowly shook his head, a small smile spreading across his face. “Nothing. You just constantly amaze me. Is there anything you’re
not
good at?”

I laughed, very much aware of our legs rubbing up against each other. “Now that you mention it, I’m a terrible linguist. I was never able to learn another language and barely passed high school French.”

He leaned in closer, looking interested in learning more about me. “What else? What else are you less than proficient at?”

I squinted my eyes up at the ceiling. “Well, I have to think about it. I mean, the options are so limited.” He rolled his eyes at that but didn’t say anything, just waited. “Um. Well, I definitely wasn’t born with a green thumb.” When his brow furrowed in confusion I explained, “I have zero gardening skills. I’ve killed every plant I’ve ever owned. And accordin’ to Felicity, I’m also terrible at doin’ the dishes.”

A laugh rumbled from deep within his chest, making me want to wrap myself up in his arms for some idiotic reason. I had to distract myself from thoughts of that nature, and it had been a struggle all evening.

“What about you? What are not good at? Besides bowling and darts and shuffleboard and—”

“Okay, that will do,” he interrupted, raising his hand to silence me. I tried not to smile, I really did. He glared at me but acted like he was thinking about my question. “Scrapbooking.”

“Scrapbooking?”

He nodded once. “Scrapbooking. I’m a God awful scrapbooker. My mum loved it, though.” He smiled as he said it and had a far-off look in his eyes, like he was somewhere thousands of miles away. But it also looked sad, too, which made my chest tighten.

“I tried to make her a scrapbook once when I was in secondary school.” He laughed to himself and continued. “It was a mess. It looked terrible, 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.”

I smiled, imagining a younger Zane trying to make his mama happy. “Do you get to see her often back in England?”

His expression hardened and he dropped his gaze to the floor. “No. She died just a few months after I gave her that scrapbook. Breast cancer.”

My entire face fell, my heart suddenly aching for this man. I had no idea. I suddenly remembered the night we met and him telling me that it was just him and his father now, but I hadn’t considered why his mother wasn’t around. And I also didn’t realize until that very moment that anytime he had referred to his mother, it was always in the past tense.

“I’m so sorry, Zane.”

He looked back up and smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s okay. We had a lot of good years with her. I’m just glad she’s no longer suffering. And it was ages ago, anyway.”

But it still hurts.

You could see that in his eyes.

“What about your father? Do you get to see him a lot?”

His face softened, making me exhale in relief. I was hoping he at least had some family around since I knew he was an only child. “Yeah. My father lives just outside of London in the house I grew up in. He had an accident a couple of years ago at the factory he worked in and had to go on government assistance. I’ve been helping him with his finances so he can stay in the house he lived in with my mum.”

Just when I thought that I couldn’t be more enamored of this man, he goes and tells me something like that.

“Wow. That’s amazing of you, Zane. It sounds like you’ve been a wonderful son.”

His head snapped up, his eyes searing mine with piercing heat. I wasn’t sure where that came from. The casual shrug he gave was at total odds with his expression. “It’s nothing. I’d do anything for family and he’s the only one I’ve got left.”

You have me.

Whoa. Pull on the reins a little there, girl.

Where in San José had that thought come from?

He didn’t have me and I didn’t have him. Right? We were just friends who were having a casual, brief affair. There were no claims being made. We had no rights over each other. Right?

Then, why did it sort of feel like we did?

“Zane, you’re up!” said a voice from somewhere behind us.

He winked at me before he stood up to take his turn.

What in the hell was Zane Price doing to me?

##

Bea

It was three days before I saw Zane again after our night of bowling. His score had ended up being higher than mine by two points. But I hadn’t minded losing. Not when he had looked immensely proud of himself, grinning like a five-year-old with his chin stuck in the air. Especially not after he’d told me the story about his mama and then I hadn’t seen that smile for a good half hour.

All I’d wanted was to see it again and if it took me losing to accomplish that, so be it.

Because I was quickly learning that when Zane was happy, so was I.

He was a constant fixture in my head these days and I still hadn’t figured out what to do about it. We had just sort of been taking it day-by-day, floating from one encounter to the next without defining anything between us. It felt good to not have to worry about categorizing our relationship, but at the same time, I knew it couldn’t last. There was a feeling of impending tension between us that was causing a sinking feeling in my stomach and I didn’t like it.

I knew we were going to have to talk things out soon.

I was just doing everything in power to prolong that conversation as long as possible.

I wasn’t sure how it would go once we did finally discuss it. And if it went poorly and I lost Zane forever, I wanted to enjoy our time together as long as I could.

But today, I had to focus on something other than Zane for a change.

Felicity and I had a huge presentation we were giving to several potential clients. Big, successful potential clients who could bring in some major business for us. We had developed these contacts at a recent trade show and just decided to bring them all in at once for one presentation which was also serving as a business proposal. We had done this type of thing before, many times, but these were some of the biggest names in the area and there was a lot riding on how we did today and what kind of impression we made.

Because of this, we had pulled out all the stops. Today was the first day we would be using a new software that allowed us to offer a virtual portfolio of our work to clients. The software provided a 3D tour of all of our various projects, giving them the best imagery of each location without them actually having to be there. Every house we decorated, every office space we refurbished, it was all available for their viewing pleasure.

We had been integrating it at client meetings over the past few weeks, introducing it little by little and familiarizing ourselves with the program. But today was the first day we would bring all of the applications together to really grab the attention of our audience. It had been an expensive investment but one we knew would pay off in time. It was an innovative program and I had no doubt that it was going to impress potential clients.

But when I walked into the office, Felicity was in an utter panic.

She was pacing the main floor, frantically moving back and forth, taking jerky short steps until she heard the door open and looked up at me with eyes the size of dinner plates.

“It’s not working!” she shrieked, waving her arms wildly up in the air.

I calmly walked toward her with my arms out, attempting to subdue her. “Whoa, whoa. What’s not working?”

“The tour program!” she screamed, the sound sharp in my ears.

My body froze.

“What do you mean it’s not working?” I asked carefully. I could feel my breakfast threatening to rise up my throat.

“I mean the entire 3D tour part of the software isn’t working. The data and all the other information is in there, but the tour application won’t run. I’ve tried everything.”

Her face was red and her hands were shaking. We both knew how important this program was to this presentation, to this big-time potential business. Basically, this technology
was
our presentation and if it didn’t work, we were screwed.

She followed behind me as I walked back to our conference room where the main presentation was going to take place. I entered the room and saw the laptop she had hooked up to the big flat-screen television hanging on the wall, but the television was just a giant blue screen.

This was not good.

“Did you try just re-starting the program?” I asked.

It was probably a stupid question but neither one of us knew a great deal about technology. We typically knew the basics and were still learning about our new software.

She huffed impatiently. “Yes. I tried that and did all of those other troubleshooting steps the help guide suggests but nothing is working.”

“Did you call the IT guy?”

The company that owned the software outsourced another company for all of their maintenance and other IT work. We’d had to call them a couple of times since the software was installed, but we’d been able to handle everything over the phone in the past.

Felicity started pacing again. “Yes, and nothing he suggested worked either. He said he wasn’t sure what it could be without getting on the actual computer, but that he couldn’t get here until tomorrow because he has a lot of jobs today. I have no clue what to do. What should we do?”

I typed a few commands out on the keyboard but nothing happened. I checked the settings on the computer and did everything else I could think of—I even checked to make sure everything was plugged in properly—but there was no change.

Since Felicity was already freaking out, I was trying to be the calm sister but it was difficult. My mind was spinning like crazy, considering all of the possible scenarios and moving onto the next. There really was no way to have this presentation without the program.

And through my swirling haze of panic, one person came to mind, his name flashing in bright neon lights in my head.

Zane.

He owned a technology company. He dealt with software and databases on a daily basis, right? Would he know how to fix it? I looked down at my watch. The clients would be here in two hours.

I had to at least try.

I walked into the other room, my phone at my ear, as I listened to the dial tone.

“Well, I didn’t expect to hear from you this morning. Miss me, did you?” he asked, his voice soothing some of my nerves.

I wasted no time with pleasantries. “Zane, I need your help.” I quickly explained the situation and basically begged him to come take a look. “I’m on my way,” was his response before he hung up. The fact that he didn’t question anything, that he didn’t even hesitate to come to my aid, sent a lightning bolt of emotion straight to my heart.

But Felicity was still freaking out. I needed to get her out of here for just a little while so I could gather my own wits. Her constant pacing and mumbling to herself was not helping my thought process. I wasn’t really worried about her meeting Zane, but I also didn’t want to deal with one more tension-fueled situation like introducing my sister to the man I was pretty sure I was developing strong feelings for.

I grabbed Felicity by the shoulders and made her look me in the eye. “Hey. Chill, okay? I called someone I think might be able to help and he’s on his way over. You said you were goin’ to buy refreshments to lay out for when they get here, so why don’t you go get all of that now. I’ll handle everything here.”

She was so anxious, she didn’t even think to ask who the man was. She just nodded quickly several times and grabbed her purse. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll do that. Call me if anything changes. I won’t be long.”

When Zane showed up, it felt like I had been rescued. He hadn’t even done anything and I wasn’t sure that he could even help. But just seeing him in that moment when my sanity was hanging on by a thread was, unknowingly, the exact thing I needed.

His presence alone was soothing.

And when he saw me after he walked through the doors, he came straight to me, taking my face in his hands and laying a deep, comforting kiss on my lips.

I was gone.

My knees turned weak and I swear it felt like this man was my Superman, like he was there to save me.

And for the first time in my life, I actually wanted a savior.

When he pulled his mouth away, he grinned down at me like he hadn’t just tilted my world on its axis. “Show me what we’ve got.” He kissed my nose and stepped back so he could follow me back to the conference room.

I don’t even know how I made it through that next hour. My body was a puddle of mush and my heart was pounding out of control. Standing there watching him work furiously on the laptop, squinting at the screen, his dexterous fingers flying over the keys, was the moment I knew.

I was falling for this man.

I had probably already fallen farther than I was willing to admit, but there it was.

There was no doubt that I had already become attached to Zane. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, I was always watching my phone for his calls or texts, and I didn’t feel like I was ever breathing unless he was next to me, holding me.

But this had developed into more than mere attachment. There were emotions in there. When he smiled, when he laughed, when he looked at me like he couldn’t get enough of me. But also when he was serious, when he was sad, when he got a distant look in his eyes that communicated much more than he ever said aloud.

I wanted all of that.

I wanted to be the only one he looked at that way. I wanted to have the right to hold him, comfort him when he needed it. I wanted to be the only person who could keep him together, the one he couldn’t live without.

Because that’s how I was feeling about him.

Today was the first time that I’d ever really asked for help from a man. When I’d desperately needed him to fix something. And he’d come willingly, without thought. Like there had been no other option. His behavior suggested that he would always come, like he would do anything for me.

That spoke of more than just attachment from his end, too.

And I was suddenly dying for him to say everything that I had once been afraid of hearing.

The question was, would he?

##

“I told you,” Zane said as we crossed the parking lot, “you didn’t have to do that.”

I waved him off as we left the diner and walked over to our cars. “And
I
told
you
that you saved our asses today and we’re both extremely grateful. Buyin’ you dinner was the least I could do.”

He definitely had saved our asses. It had taken him almost an hour but Zane had solved our software issues, and we had been able to continue with the presentation without further complications. He had explained whatever the problem was and how he would send one of his guys to permanently fix the issues, but I hadn’t listened to a word of it. I’d just stared at him with a goofy smile, in awe of his superhero-ness.

He turned to me and leaned against my car. “You didn’t have to do anything to re-pay me, though. I was just glad that I could help.”

I smiled and stepped between his legs, making him spread them further to accommodate me. I was quite conscious of how close our lower bodies were and I was pretty sure he did, too. Then, I felt movement beneath his suit pants.

Yep, he was definitely aware of our proximity.

Zane wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in until our mouths were only inches apart. “So, would you like to accompany me back to my place?”

I laughed and ran my hands down his chest. “How do you make such a formal question sound so dirty?”

“One of my many talents, luv,” he answered before crushing my lips under his in a heated kiss that made every muscle below my belly contract in need. Especially when his tongue licked across the seam of my lips.

Because I knew exactly how talented that tongue was.

“
Yes
,” I breathed against his mouth and dove back in for another possessive kiss.

That’s what it was, too. Every time he took my mouth, it felt like he was taking possession of my entire being. Like he was making a statement, letting anyone who came too close know that only he was allowed to touch me like that, claim me in such a way.

He began to kiss across my jawline and down my neck. His aftershave overwhelmed my senses and somehow added to my arousal. Probably because that scent was all over me whenever we had sex and remained on my body afterwards. So, now I attributed the smell of Zane’s aftershave to sex.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I’ll
accompany
you back to your place.” I could feel his mouth form a smile against my skin. I wanted to smile but the sensations coursing through my body courtesy of his tongue were too distracting to expend the energy needed to smile.

“Mmm…maybe I’ll never let you leave it again,” his deep voice murmured against my collarbone.

I might have panicked at hearing that statement if Zane hadn’t grabbed my hand in the same instant and placed it over his hard shaft, guiding my movements as I began to stroke it through his pants.

“That’s what you do to me,” he said, panting harshly. “All of that’s for you, Bea.”

I hummed and smiled at his lust-fueled state. His head was thrown back, his eyes tightly shut, his hips starting to thrust into my hand. “Well, in that case. Let’s get out of here so I can play with it.”