Chapter Twenty
Oh, the torture.
Bea’s only saving grace during the boring-ass political debate was the tequila. Years of growing up around politics with their congressman father meant she wanted nothing to do with it in her adulthood.
But best friend duties and all that.
Tonight was supposed to be about celebrating their business accomplishments. But Felicity, the devil woman, had effectively managed to kill Bea’s buzz before she’d ever had one. Didn’t mean she couldn’t drink, though. She still had to make the effort to achieve tipsiness, right?
“Finally,” Bea said with a long-suffering sigh as she clicked off the television when the debate was over. “I thought it would never end.”
She didn’t even try to listen as Gwen and Felicity discussed the debate, how Clay had done, who they thought had won. She just continued to sip her margarita and push her worries about the Zane situation out of her head.
“I want to know how it’s going with your sexy man-friend, Bea,” Gwen cheerfully said.
Ah, hell in a handbasket.
Felicity was trying to hide her smile behind her glass, but Bea saw it and glared at her. “The sex is great,” she responded. “That’s all that matters, right?”
Felicity chuckled under her breath, but Gwen’s eyes were full of questions. “But don’t you sort of have a thing going on with him?”
“Yeah, Bea,” Felicity teased in a singsong voice. “Isn’t it more of a thing?”
She ignored her sister and answered Gwen. “When have you ever known me to have a thing with anyone? We’re just hanging out and sleeping together.” She threw up her hands. “Just because we’re spending time together outside of work doesn’t mean it has to be more than that. It’s not like we’re about to go pick out china patterns.”
“Sorry,” Gwen said. “I wasn’t trying to insinuate anything. I just assumed. Because you’ve seemed so happy lately.”
Bea felt guilty for being bitchy, and in an effort to avoid addressing Gwen’s comment about her happiness, she shifted the conversation away from herself. “Why don’t you ask Gimley over there what she’s doing about her crush on Gabe Wexler.”
Felicity choked on her drink and shot daggers at Bea. She blew her sister a kiss in response. Payback’s a bitch.
“Has he finally asked you out?” Gwen asked.
Felicity’s jaw clenched and she finally looked over at Gwen. “No, and it wouldn’t matter if he did. I’ve told you before he has a complicated family situation. And there’s also the matter of him being our client. Things could get weird if we got involved.”
“Those are just excuses and you know it,” Bea said.
“What family situation?” Gwen asked.
Felicity rubbed her forehead and took another drink. “He’s divorced, and all I know about it is that it didn’t end well. He hasn’t shared much, but I’m guessing they’re having custody issues over their daughter. And he doesn’t seem too open to dating right now, which is completely fine with me because we have a ton of work to do for Paxton Designs and I need to be concentrating on that.”
Bea sent Gwen a wry look. “Translation: she’s got a major lady boner for him, but she’s too scared to ask him out.”
A pillow hit her right in the face, nearly spilling her drink.
“Bite me, Bea,” Felicity sneered. “I don’t have a lady boner for him.”
“So you don’t think he’s hot?”
Her sister pursed her lips in frustration. “Of course he’s hot. He’s gorgeous. Any woman with half an ovary could see that. But some of us have more control over our libidos than others.”
Bea raised her glass to her in salute. “Ouch.”
“So it looks like you’re not going to be picking out china patterns any time soon, either,” Gwen said.
“Tell you what,” Felicity responded after a sarcastic laugh. “The day Bea becomes a one-man woman is the day I ask out Gabe Wexler. How’s that sound?”
Bea broke out in a sweat at the mere suggestion of her being in a serious, long-term relationship. She cleared her throat to mask her growing apprehension and glanced in Gwen’s direction.
On the other hand, she did love a good bet.
She and Gwen looked back at Felicity and said in unison, “Deal.”
Bea finished the rest of her drink and reached for the full pitcher on the coffee table. “Okay. Can we please stop all of this talk of china patterns and crap? This is supposed to be a night of celebrating the fact that the Paxton sisters have made a name for themselves and are on the brink of being debt-free. So let’s toast, and get liquored up with some good drinking games.”
“I’ll drink to that!” Felicity cheered.
“Hear, hear!”
For the rest of the night, Bea told herself that she would be just fine. No matter what happened with her and Zane, she would make it. Because she was a strong, independent woman.
But the worst part was, it wasn’t the prospect of having a serious, long-term relationship with Zane that had her worried.
What she was starting to fear more than commitment was the fact that her happiness was becoming so dependent on one man. A man who drove her crazy in more ways than one. A man whose control over her emotions was bringing back painful memories from her past.
A man who would soon be leaving her.
And that was just plain terrifying.