Page 38 of Forget

He turned his hand over and gripped hers. ‘We drifted apart. Happens to the best of us.’

When he didn’t let go, a sliver of unease wormed its way through her sympathy, and she tugged her hand free. ‘You won’t be single for long.’

He fixed her with an intense stare. ‘What about you, Jay-Jay? Seeing anyone?’

Only two people had ever called her that, Sasha and Ky, and hearing the childhood pet name affected her more than she cared to admit. Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away, but not before she saw his stricken expression.

‘Shit, I didn’t mean to make you upset—’

‘You didn’t. It’s nothing.’

She breathed a sigh of relief as a waiter approached to fill their first wine glass, a relief short-lived when her phone buzzed with an incoming message and she saw Brock’s name pop up.

‘Sorry, I need to answer this. Do you mind?’

‘Go ahead.’

She swiped her home screen open and read Brock’s entire message.

I need to see you. It’s urgent. Possible glitch with your software.

Jayda’s heart sank. The last thing she needed when starting her charity were problems, but after last night she’d wanted to put some distance between her and Brock.

But this was important… Not wanting to give in, but needing to hear what he had to say, she fired off a response.

I’m out. Can meet in a few hours. I’ll drop you a pin where I am.

Dinner with Ky would be over by then and meeting Brock here would remove the temptation of getting physical without addressing the problems between them. Namely, that this fling was in danger of becoming more complicated than either of them imagined.

‘Problem?’

‘Nothing I can’t handle.’ She picked up her wine glass and raised it in his direction. ‘Here’s to old friendships.’

‘To us,’ Ky said, clinking her glass softly, his intent eye contact making her a tad uncomfortable.

If he was looking for a one-night stand to ease the pain of losing Anya he had the wrong girl.

But over the next few hours, Ky was nothing but a gentleman. They reminisced and laughed, and Jayda let her guard down over six exquisite courses of crab arancini, grilled octopus with fennel and saffron, five-spiced lamb fillet, sticky duck with sambal, fondantau chocolat,and imported cheeses.

When she took a sip of her dessert wine, savouring the pleasant buzz, she grinned at Ky. ‘That meal was incredible. Thank you.’

‘My pleasure.’

She couldn’t read the glint in his steady stare. ‘Fancy a nightcap in my hotel room?’

Crap. She’d let the wine and food and trip down memory lane dull her senses. Her first instinct had been right. Ky wanted to screw.

Struggling to hide her disappointment, she shook her head. ‘Sorry, I’m meeting someone here shortly.’

She shouldn’t apologise. She wasn’t sorry at all. Having one of her oldest friends trying to put the moves on her after lulling her into a false of security really irked.

‘I don’t appreciate you double dating.’ His eyebrows rose, making him look like a supercilious jerk.

‘And I don’t appreciate an old friend wanting a sympathy fuck because his relationship imploded,’ she snapped, regretting her outburst when he reeled back as if she’d slapped him. ‘Look, I’m getting a charity business off the ground and my IT specialist sent me that message earlier saying there could be a glitch so I asked him to meet me here.’

‘I understand.’ He stood and held out his hand, his hangdog expression soothing her anger. ‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. It’s just that you’ve always made me feel good about myself. You’re fun and sweet and talking to you tonight…’ He shrugged. ‘I guess I wanted to see if we had something more between us.’

‘We don’t,’ she said, her emphatic shake of the head making him laugh.

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