‘OKAY, OUT WITH IT,’ Zach said, shutting the front door to the apartment and turning to face Farah.
She paused on the first step of the stairs. ‘Out with what?’
He came towards her and shoved his hands in his pockets so that he didn’t put them on her. Once they were there, her clothing was coming off, but he could tell there was something weighing on her mind that needed to be dealt with first. ‘Whatever’s bothering you.’
‘There’s nothing bothering me.’
She continued up the stairs and he followed, trying to keep his eyes off the sway of her bottom in those jeans. ‘Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it.’
‘Sorry?’
Seeing her pained look, he sighed. ‘It’s just an expression.’ He stopped her at the top of the stairs, his eyes searching hers. ‘Talk to me,’ he said softly. She smiled brightly as she had on the yacht and he wondered if she truly expected him to fall for it. ‘Please,’ he added.
‘Okay...’ Her throat worked as she swallowed. ‘What’s a threesome?’
‘A what?’ Zach nearly choked at the question. Now, that he hadn’t been expecting. ‘How— Who—’ He shook his head. ‘Why are you asking about threesomes?’
‘One of the women said that you like them.’
‘Ah, I see you’ve been listening to gossip.’ His eyes searched hers but she kept her gaze averted, so he guessed that wasn’t the real question on her mind, but damn...
He ran a hand through his hair before moving into the kitchen to pull a bottle of water from the fridge, pouring them both a glass. Really he should have just ditched the party when he’d first thought to. Ironic when the whole purpose of coming to Ibiza had been to see his friends and immerse himself in his old lifestyle, to get his spark back. Now all he wanted was to immerse himself in Farah. In fact it was all he could think about. Even when flying over the water in Damian’s jet boat, at speeds that usually wiped all thought from his mind, he’d compared it to the joy of waking with her in his arms.
Not wanting to dwell on what that meant, he focused on explaining a threesome to her. ‘Okay, well, first a threesome is sex with three people.’ When she stared at him blankly, he continued. ‘At the same time.’
‘Oh.’ She blinked. ‘I figured it was something sexual but I thought perhaps it was three different positions or something.’ She leaned her elbows on the counter top and absently ran a hand up and down the glass of water. ‘Is it two men and a woman or two women and a man?’
Zach coughed into his hand. ‘It can be either. Why? Are you interested?’
She raised limpid brown eyes to his and her nose wrinkled. ‘I’ve never thought about it before, but...not particularly.’
He blew out a breath. ‘Good because I don’t share. Which should answer your question as to whether I’m into them or not. But, as interesting as that little diversion was, it wasn’t the reason behind your quiet state.’
Surprise flickered in her eyes before she lowered them. ‘How do you know that?’
‘I have good instincts.’
‘You mean you’re cocky.’
‘That, too.’ He smiled to try and lighten the mood. ‘Tell me I’m wrong.’
‘You’re wrong.’
‘Farah!’
‘Okay, fine. Did you see that woman Amy last week?’
Zach blinked. Hell he hadn’t been expecting that one, either. ‘No. I haven’t seen Amy for five years. Why do you ask?’
‘No reason.’
She moved into the living area and he followed. ‘Farah, don’t fob me off. Why did you ask?’
‘She implied that you had...’ She shrugged. ‘But it was probably my mistake.’
Possibly. Or possibly Amy had wanted to cause trouble between them because she was upset that he hadn’t shown any interest in catching up with her. She had definitely been put out to find him married and maybe that was his fault. ‘Amy emailed me last week asking to catch up tonight,’ he admitted.
Something he’d completely forgotten about until just now. In fact it had been a shock to see her at the party and even more of a shock to realise that he felt nothing for her. Maybe she’d picked up on that and also that he was completely enamoured with his new wife.
Was that how he felt about Farah? Enamoured?
Looking at her now, her bedroom eyes large in her face, her hair tumbling around her stiff shoulders, her curvy figure outlined to perfection... A sense of destiny whispered across the surface of his mind. The fact was he couldn’t remember ever making outrageously arrogant statements to Amy or any other woman just to make her laugh because it lit something up inside him, nor had he wanted to watch her do the simple act of rubbing the sleep from her eyes in the morning, and he certainly hadn’t wasted time on a TV program other than sports just because he’d wanted to hold her in his arms for a little longer.