Page 98 of Here & Now

She attempted to wipe some of the chocolate off her dress but quickly gave up. At that point, she didn’t even care about the dress. She abruptly stood, and Scott reluctantly did the same.

“Why don’t we finish the meeting at my office?”

She gaped at him. “Absolutely not. I’m going home.”

“I’m sorry about your dress. Allow me to pay for the dry cleaning.”

“That’s not necessary,” she snapped.

He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and looked aggrieved. “Call me when you’re ready to reschedule our meeting.”

Scowling, she stated loudly and clearly, “I won’t be working with you.”

He nervously glanced around, obviously concerned about who might have overheard. She didn’t feel the least bit sorry for him, but she hadn’t completely forgotten her manners. “Thank you for dinner, and goodbye.” With that, she turned and stalked out of the restaurant, trying to ignore the patrons staring at her stained dress as she went by.

When she’d reached the parking lot, she’d seen the back of Zane’s Jeep as he’d sped off.

What a colossal waste of time. If she’d taken his advice, she wouldn’t have spent the evening listening to Scott drone on and on about everything but selling the house. She’d lashed out at Zane when the true source of her frustration was Scott, the worst best-selling real estate agent she’d ever met.

Suddenly a car door slammed, bringing her back to the present. Zane.

She rushed to the front door, but then she remembered she was wearing pajamas and no bra. What if Marco was with him?

She peered out the front window and saw him entering his house alone. Relieved, she went outside as is and closed the door behind her. When she stepped onto his porch, it struck her that he might be mad at her for how she’d treated him at the restaurant. Otherwise, he probably would have come straight to her house. Regardless, she needed to talk to him.

She knocked on the door and waited, listening for his footsteps. Met with dead silence, she knocked again. Instead of footsteps, she heard a loud splash.

She stepped off the porch and went around to the back of the house. Peering through the screen door into the lanai, she saw him swimming across the pool with harsh strokes, almost like he was hitting the water.

The outside lights were off, so even if he looked up, he might not have seen her standing there. She tried the screen door and, finding it unlocked, went inside and stood by the edge of the pool.

Suddenly, as if he sensed her presence, he stopped swimming. He stood in the middle of the pool and peered at her like she was an apparition. “Bree?”

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened.”

“I was there, remember?”

Now she knew he was mad at her. “Can you please come out of the pool so we can talk?”

“Just say what you have to say.”

It was too dark to see his expression, but his exasperation was clear.

Changing gears, she said, “Who picked the restaurant, you or Marco?”

“I did.”

“Why?”

He sighed. “I had a bad feeling about your meeting, and I wanted to be there in case you needed me. Obviously, I was wrong.”

“No, you weren’t.”

He went silent.