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“Oh—when I was coming back from the restroom, I ran into Zac in the hallway and we talked about comparing our ancestry records. We both think it’d be a lot of fun.”
I’d just lied to Brooke but had to say something to reroute her focus.
“No doubt it would be, and I’m serious about you and Zac using the conference room at my office. Just let me know when.”
“I appreciate it.”
Brooke rejoined the conversation that she’d been part of when I first returned to the table. I just sat back and listened while sipping my drink and waiting for Zac to return.
I saw him the second that he rounded the corner of the hallway and he smiled at me, then pointed up at the ceiling. Mystic Bar had music playing—some SiriusXM station was my guess—and coincidentally, the current song was “One of TheseNights” by the Eagles. A decades-old classic rock song that was still so good and also fit the situation that I was caught up in with Zac. It matched his belief and also what I knew to be true: that on one of these nights, he was going to fuck me.
He sat back down at the table, still watching me as much as I was him. The song had just reached its midpoint when Don Henley sings, “In between the dark and the light. Coming right behind you. Swear I’m gonna find you. Get you, baby, one of these nights,” and Zac quietly sang that last line in his sexy, deep voice but I was the only one who apparently heard him do it because no one sitting around us turned their attention to him.
Afterward, he kept his eyes on me as much as I was keeping mine on him while everyone else remained wrapped up in the group chat. Zac and I needed to reel in how much we were looking at each other, but there was something alluring about pushing the limit that made me want to do it even more. After another long and lustful moment of staring into Zac’s eyes, I turned my attention to Brooke and the others. Not for long, though. I used Bash as an excuse to give all my attention to Zac again.
“Is your best buddy gonna be joining us this evening?” I asked him.
“No, he had other plans, but I’ll try him again if we all come back here later this week.”
“It’d be good to see him again. He’s so funny.”
“Bash has always been a comical guy and a lot of fun to hang out with.”
I smiled and then looked away from Zac at Brooke and the others who were still chatting away. When I felt one of my feet being nudged underneath the table, I looked straight across it at Zac and he was grinning. He was messing with me and enjoying pushing the limits as much as I still was.
Our waitress returned and asked everyone about ordering another drink. My glass of Hendricks and tonic was empty now just like Zac’s was and I waited to see if he was going to order another one, but he asked me about getting one first.
“I’ll have another round if you are,” I told him.
“Yeah, I’m having another one.”
For the next half hour, Zac and I sipped on our Hendricks and tonic while talking to each other on and off. Whenever we had our attention on Brooke and the others, I still stole glances at Zac and he did the same thing to me. He kept randomly nudging my foot with his underneath the table, too. True to what he’d told me in the hallway—all he wanted to do was touch me and that was evident. I understood how he felt, because I wanted to touch him just as much.
The last time he nudged my foot, he kept the side of his pressed against mine. I looked across the table at him when he did it and saw the slight shrug of his shoulders, as well as the curled-up corners of his mouth. And here we were pushing the limit once again.
We finished our drinks at the same time that Brooke finished her one glass of Chardonnay. Then she leaned over and asked me, “Are you about ready to go?
I wasn’t ready, because I didn’t want to leave Zac’s company yet, but went ahead and told Brooke, “Whenever you are.”
“I’m ready now. I wanna go home and get out of these clothes and just walk around naked so I can cool off all the way.”
I gave her a sympathetic smile. “Then let’s go.”
We both reached for our purses hanging on the backs of our chairs and then pulled out our wallets.
“I’ve got this, ladies,” Zac said to us.
“Well, I appreciate it, Buchanan. It’ll be my treat the next time,” Brooke said.
“And it’ll be my treat after that,” I added.
Zac smiled at the two of us, waved down our waitress, and then paid Brooke’s tab and mine. Brooke had already told our team that we were leaving, but they were staying for a while longer. I thought Zac was too but when Brooke and I stood up from the table, so did he. Then he told Jason, Ellie, Jennifer, and David goodbye.
My menopausal boss, my kinsman and I left Mystic Bar together—Zac walking Brooke and me back out to her car. He opened my door for me again and after thanking him, I took a moment to just look at him before sitting down in the passenger seat. His blue eyes were still sparkling like the sun was in them and I knew what it was time for me to do. There was no point in fighting it any longer, so right or wrong and no matter the risk or consequences, I gave in to Zac.
“Yes,” I whispered, and he immediately side-eyed me like he wasn’t sure about what my “Yes” was referring to, so I quickly clarified it for him while Brooke was getting into the car. “I’ll be your lover.”
Zac swallowed hard then quietly asked, “When can I see you again?”
