keep from just glaring at Marin. A way to keep from fanning a hand in front of her face when she thought about how she’d . . . gone and did it.
With Zach. Wow.
Feeling the weight of Marin’s watchful eyes, she looked up. She pasted a patently false smile on her face and said, “Went and did what?”
“You’re having an affair with Zach.”
Affair . . .
Frowning, she pushed away from the mirror and turned to look at Marin. “We’re seeing each other, yeah.”
Marin’s blonde brows arched over her eyes. Her eyes were pale blue and they matched the fragile silk tank top she wore. And just then, those eyes were sharp with questions and so very watchful.
“Seeing each other,” Marin said slowly. “For some reason, I get the impression that’s different from having a torrid affair.”
Abigale leaned her hips against the long marble counter and stared down at the floor while she tried to figure out the right way to answer. Oddly enough, she didn’t find the answer on the rose-streaked black tile or the red polish she’d slicked on her toenails, and she certainly didn’t find the answer in the peep-toe black Jimmy Choos she’d chosen to wear with her dress that day.
“Abby.”
Swallowing the knot in her throat, she looked up at her friend. There weren’t any answers in Marin’s gaze, either, but she did find more questions. A lot of them. Swallowing the knot in her throat, she asked, “Yeah?”
“Is there a difference?” Marin asked.
“I . . .” She licked her lips and shrugged. “Yeah. There’s a difference. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
“Okay . . . well, let’s try this. When you planned to have a torrid affair, just how did you see it ending?”
Abigale rubbed her fingers against her temple. Now that question she could answer easily enough. “I imagined a guy, a hot guy, that I’d have a few hot and easy flings with, and then it would be over. No fuss, no muss, and no regrets when it ended. I’d have a wonderful memory, something I could look back on and smile about, but I wouldn’t regret that it had ended.”
“That sounds like a good description of a torrid affair,” Marin mused. She settled into place beside Abigale. She went to say something, but the door opened. As a lovely, sleek little blonde came bustling in, Marin and Abigale lapsed into a light, easy conversation that touched on anything and everything except the things that mattered.
Once they were alone again, Marin bumped her shoulder against Abigale’s. “So how are you imagining things with Zach?”
“That’s not so easy to answer.” She pressed a hand to her belly. Shoving away from the counter, she started to pace. Damn it, they didn’t have time for this. They’d already been in here five minutes. “You know . . . I was thinking about what I was looking for, back when I was having to deal with cancelling the wedding plans. Started thinking about what I needed. Did I need a guy to make me happy? I mean, I wanted kids, but did I need a guy? Not technically . . . I just wanted one. But I realized, even then, I’d been settling. I really wanted somebody who’d make me laugh. Make me think. Who’d be there for me for always . . .”
“That’s Zach,” Marin said quietly. “That’s always been him.”
Abigale lifted her head to stare at her friend. “I know. I even thought that very same thing. But Zach was a friend. Just a friend. That’s all he’d ever been. My friend. Now . . . hell, it’s like he touches me and my brain shuts down. And that’s wonderful. Lately, when he’s around, I can’t think about anything but him and it’s not just because the sex is so amazing.”
“Is it amazing?”
Abigale stopped in her tracks and just stared at Marin. Her heart skipped a little around in her chest and then banged a few hard beats against her ribs while her lungs worked to accommodate the sudden lack of oxygen. “Ahhh . . .”
A wicked grin lit her friend’s face. “Okay. I just had to know. I used to . . . well. You know. Hell, the guy is hot. But I’m over it. Really.”
“You better be,” she muttered, reaching up to toy with a loose lock of hair. “But it’s not just the sex. He’s—” Her belly jumped again and she pressed a hand to it, swearing as the butterflies there