Chapter 28
Chapter twenty-eight
Zac
Way to play it cool, numb nuts.
Zac was supposed to be proving to his friends that he could be professional—especially when working with a beautiful client. Jon wasn’t convinced Zac could keep his hands to himself, and gently stroking Tabitha’s back as she choked on her drink wouldn’t exactly sway his friend’s opinion.
Lately it had been easier and easier to keep his hands to himself at work.
Until tabby cat showed up.
If he wasn’t near her, he’d fantasize about being near her.
He thought about their interlude the night before incessantly.
Sleep had eluded him and even when he did catch a wink, his dreams were hazy, lust-filled watercolors drenched in the pure essence of her.
Her smell, her taste. The way she’d clamped around his fingers as she succumbed to an orgasm in that alley.
Zac respected his ex. He wanted her to succeed where this article was concerned—which meant keeping his hands off and letting her do her job, but fuck if those same hands didn’t keep finding ways to touch her. Like they did as she choked on her Americano.
What was he supposed to do? Sit back and wait until she gathered herself?
Probably.
But that reaction felt impossible.
And so, yeah. He patted her back. Anyone would have done that. Though not everyone would have leaned in to whisper a tease, but he’d done that too.
In front of Jonathan and Lucy.
Fuck.
Zac was about to come clean and confess. To everything. Until Tabitha beat him to it. Kind of.
“We’re old friends,” she produced in a startlingly calm cadence.
“Friends?” Jonathan asked, keeping his skeptical, all-seeing eyes all over Zac.
“Yes. We met many years ago in Seattle. He spent a month or so following my brother, Angus, and me around the city.”
“Is this true?” Jonathan asked.
To which Zac nodded.
“And he’s behaving himself?”
Zac flinched, ready to confess his sins, but Tabitha jumped in again. “He has been a remarkably professional guide. I’ve been safe with him on every excursion. He takes his role with your company very seriously. You’re lucky to have him.”
Jonathan assessed them both for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Should we get back to the interview?”
She’d left out a few key points, but Zac wasn’t going to correct her and bring about his own unemployment.
Her words burrowed deep inside him and he wondered if it was all true.
Because while he had the freaking hots for her, he also wanted to ensure her safety on the excursions she booked.
And not only because she was writing a massive magazine spread on Off the Beaten Adventures. He did take his job seriously.
Deeper than that, he couldn’t let anything bad happen to her.
“I’ll field the how-we-met question,” Lucy interjected, likely trying to cut the tension with distraction. The woman was an angel. “I’d just been dumped by my boyfriend in Seattle.”
She launched into the retelling Zac had heard at least a dozen times about how Jon was Lucy’s guide, and a landslide stranded them in the woods for a few days.
Basically, they came out of it in love but there was a whole denial thing and it took a few months before they actually became a couple.
Not until after Lucy’s best friend, Todd, helped him win her back with a special lip-sync performance at a Seattle drag bar called The Tackle Boxx.
Zac pretended to tune out the recount, but it secretly pulled at his heartstrings whenever he heard it.
Especially Lucy’s version; the little woman had a way with a story.
“I still have glitter in . . . places,” Lucy finished with the apples of her cheeks reddening in a naughty blush.
“But maybe leave that part out of the interview,” Jonathan chuckled, beaming at his wife like he would dress in drag and perform every day if that’s what it took to be with her.
The group spent another hour with the back and forth of the interview. Jonathan even let Zac field a few of the questions and mentioned that he might be taking over while Jon and Lucy were on leave with the babies.
Pumped by the end of it, Zac strode out of the café with a skip in his step and Tabitha at his side.
Knowing that Jonathan was seeing Zac in a new light—one where he trusted him with the business—gave Zac the proverbial warm and fuzzies.
That feeling amplified as he replayed Tabitha sticking up for him.
The leggy redhead glided beside him, hair and dress fluttering behind her as she mentally processed the interview. If he read her correctly, she felt optimistic about how it went too. Though she was so smart and talented that she could probably craft something masterful out of mud.
To distract himself last night—after jerking it to the memory of the alley incident of course—he’d pulled up old copies of Rock ‘n’ Ropes to read some of her articles.
He couldn’t help the curiosity to know what she’d been up to all these years.
Her early pieces shouted her hopes and ambitions from the rooftops.
They felt quintessentially tabby cat. Joyful, determined, laser-focused.
But as he jumped to newer stories, the vibe changed.
Her words dulled some, as though typed with worn, jaded fingers.
What had caused the shift? A big life change? Romantic split? He had to know.
But when he looked over at her again, it pained him to pop her out of her buzz. Maybe he’d ask her tomorrow at the final excursion.
Maybe not.
It wasn’t his business after all. And she’d be gone the day after that. Best to come to grips with that sooner rather than later.
“Can we finally go bowling?” Tabitha asked with a grin so wide that Zac knew he could deny her nothing.
Ok, so he would come to grips with it later, then.