The Baby Pact (Babies and Billions #5) - Holly Rayner Page 0,6

to any friends that this is a real privilege for us.”

“Mom!” Rhea’s embarrassment appeared to be reaching critical mass.

But Zach felt himself smile. This evening had gotten off to a strange start, it couldn’t be denied, and he still felt a bit awkward knowing that his best friend’s father was his own father’s employer. But Rhea’s parents were clearly very kind people, and even her brother, though his questions about their relationship had been off-putting, seemed like a genuinely nice person.

And Zach was glad to have had the opportunity to meet them.

As the dinner went on, the tension between the two families evaporated. Zach’s father was full of questions about the whiskey business, and Rhea’s father seemed only too happy to talk about what he did for a living. Stephen moved on from his obsession with Rhea and Zach’s relationship and, at his mother’s request, spoke about some of the traveling he had been doing lately. It transpired that he had just come back from Paris, and he was only too happy to compare his experience of real French cuisine to what they were eating tonight.

Still, Zach never quite managed to get comfortable.

Does Stephen see something I can’t see myself?

Rhea’s brother had been so sure that there was romance between them. And there had been that kiss the other night at Hill’s, that kiss he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since it had happened.

Is Rhea still thinking about it?

Maybe he had been wrong to let things end so quickly. Maybe he had wanted more from her.

He looked over at her in her beautiful blue birthday dress, and she smiled back at him, eyes sparkling.

He wondered if that window was closed, or if it was still cracked, just waiting to be opened again.

Chapter 3

Rhea

Rhea applied a final coat of lip gloss, checked her appearance in the mirror, and grabbed her coat.

“Don’t wait up,” she said to her roommate.

“Don’t turn on the lights when you come in,” Kaylie countered.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rhea mumbled under her breath. It was fine for Kaylie; she never came in late on the weekends, because if she was going to be out past midnight, she would just crash at her boyfriend’s apartment.

If only we could all be so lucky.

She glanced at her reflection one last time. In the past, she would never have gone to this much trouble before meeting up with Zach. She wouldn’t have cared what she looked like. He was just a friend.

But ever since the kiss they’d shared a month ago, and her birthday dinner shortly thereafter, everything had felt different. Now, every time she met up with Zach, the air felt heavy with potential. Every night they hung out felt like it might be the night fireworks happened.

If you want something to happen, you should just talk to him.

But she was too afraid to. Hadn’t they agreed that it wasn’t worth risking their friendship? Rhea was sure he would turn her down if she asked him flat out for something more now.

She would just have to wait and hope that it happened organically.

She left the dorm and jogged across the quad to Zach’s building. They’d planned to get together for a few episodes of their favorite reality show tonight, and Rhea was looking forward to the opportunity it would provide to get close to him. There would likely be physical contact—cuddling, if nothing else.

Zach lived in the tallest dorm on campus, and the only one equipped with an elevator. Rhea boarded and rode up alongside a couple of students she didn’t know. She got off on the ninth floor and went to Zach’s room.

The door stood open.

She stared.

Zach was emptying out his desk drawers onto his bed.

“Reorganizing?” she asked him.

He looked up at her. “Oh. Hey. You’re here.”

“Did you forget I was coming over?”

“No, I didn’t,” he said absently. “I just lost track of time. Sorry.”

She picked her way into the room, careful not to step on the mess of clothes that littered the floor.

“It looks like a hurricane went through here,” she said. “Do you need any help cleaning it up?”

“Nah,” he said, raking a hand through his hair.

“Did you lose something? What’s going on?”

He sighed. “My father just called.”

“And? Did he lose something?”

“No,” Zach said. “Rhea…”

She frowned. His tone was so serious. It wasn’t at all what she was used to from him.

“Is your dad okay?” she asked, suddenly worried. Zach’s father was the only family he had. It would be devastating for Zach if something were to happen