Free Casual Affair (Timid Souls Book 2) by Melanie Munton Page A

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?
     
    ##

Chapter Eight
     
    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