The statement sent a rush of images through Zach’s head made his cock perk to life: Rae’s unique combination of bold seduction and hesitation, the way she slid against him, her soft curves yielding to his attentions. He shifted in his seat, trying to be subtle about adjusting himself. “I assume.” He didn’t want to be talking about Selina. Someone else was on his mind. “Speaking of last night, you could have said something.”
Scott studied him for a moment, eyes hard, before turning back to his computer. “You didn’t call that yourself? Besides, you didn’t go home with her, what do you care?”
Scott had to know Zach was talking about his brining Rae to dinner with no warning, not about Selina. Zach pinched the bridge of his nose. His entire week was going to be filled with political games; he didn’t want to play them with Scott. “Not about that.”
Scott shook his head, clicking on something, generating a series of beeps. “I told you I was bringing a friend.”
He needed a fix. Stupid indoor anti-smoking laws. Zach sighed. “Really? And it slipped your mind to mention your friend was…” He trailed off, mentally restructuring his sentence so it sounded less emotional. “Her?”
“You could have asked for a name. Are the two of you on speaking terms or not? Because really, a decade of listening to you not talk about each other has worn on me.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed.” Zach couldn’t keep the sarcasm from his voice.
“So no issues, then.” Scott’s tone shifted to something less casual, and his attention was fully on the conversation now. “You can be in the same room together, and no one has to plan around your childish spat.”
Why was there so much aggravation there? Zach rolled the words over in his head, examining the delivery as much as the meaning. Was that a hint of possession in Scott’s voice? “No issues.”
Scott shook his head. “Glad to hear something that happened in high school hasn’t left you permanently scarred.”
That was definitely a sneer in his words. Zach needed to watch his step on this one, though he still wasn’t sure why. He forced his smile to look casual and kept a teasing tone in his voice. “Like you’re one to talk.”
Scott glared at Zach. “You know I’m not stupid, right?”
That had come out of nowhere. “I wonder sometimes, but for the most part, yes.”
“You go out of your way to avoid each other for the majority of a decade.” Scott spoke through clenched teeth. “The only girl besides Kelly to ever dump you. Suddenly she’s giving you googly eyes at breakfast, she’s in your office with the door locked, and she’s texting you in the middle of a fucking business dinner.”
Zach couldn’t hide his surprise. So that hadn’t gone unnoticed after all, and still he couldn’t bring himself to own up to it. “I was talking to—”
“Your broker. Yeah, I get it. That short little guy who lives at the end of the rainbow. Because, really? You’ve got a broker?”
“Your point?”
“She’s not a game. This isn’t the woman you tag at a trade show because you’re bored.”
That settled it. Zach wasn’t mentioning last night at all. Since it had only been a one-time deal, there was no reason. Scott was one enemy he never wanted to make. “I get that. You can pretend she’s your little sister all you want. I don’t have any plans to go after her.”
He really didn’t. He and Rae were done. The past was tied off. Even if he was still thinking about the night before. He certainly wasn’t wondering what would have happened if he’d been able to stick around that morning. Talk, learn more about what she’d been up to in her own words, find out what other buttons she had that made her moan. That was what memories were for.
“Whatever.” Scott shook his head. “I don’t want to do this with you.”
That made two of them. Maybe a change of subject was the best idea. “At least she’s not the HR director, right?”
“Good call. You get any good intel?”
Zach felt the tension leak away and gladly slid into the new topic. “Jordan says he's quitting if they start making the rules. Chloe says they'd better give her a pay raise if she has to put up with their bullshit. Marketing is drooling over DM’s media budget.”
Scott chuckled. “So, typical day at the office?”
“Pretty much.” Zach made a mental note not to mention Rae again and to change the topic if she came up. Nothing new there, except his reasons. “I talked to Jim this morning.”
Jim was the attorney reviewing their buy-out offers.
Scott's posture shifted. His hands fell away from the keyboard, and he sat straight up. “And?”
“They've finished looking everything over. Not really any surprises, just a couple of things they want clarified before we sign.” Zach knew that wasn't the news Scott wanted, but it was all he had.
Scott folded his arms on his desk and dropped his head into them. The desk muffled his response. “What if I don't want to be bought out?”
Like talking to a five-year-old. Zach cringed inwardly at the thought. This was hard on both of them. “Still waiting on that other option we don’t have?”
“For as long as I can.”
Zach should argue. This was getting out of hand, and they didn’t have a lot of time left to make their decision. He didn’t want to give this up any more than Scott did, though.