Page 26 of Three's a Crowd
As they stumbled into the house, Lola let out a loud yawn and announced she was going straight to bed. ‘Jet lag,’ she said, as if it was an affliction to be pitied.
‘I’ll show you where you are,’ Adam offered.
‘That’s my bag there,’ she said to Adam, pointing at it. Turning back, she looked pointedly at Zach. ‘Are you coming, darling?’ From her tone, it was clearly more an order than a question.
‘I’ll be there in a bit. I’m going to have a nightcap first,’ he replied firmly.
This was obviously not the answer Lola wanted to hear and she turned in a huff and followed Adam, who had picked up her bag as instructed and was leading the way to her room.
Zach just ignored her and walked into the living room.
‘You don’t mind fetching me a drink, do you, Diz? I feel like getting totally blasted tonight,’ he said with a sigh, landing heavily on the sofa.
Daisy frowned at him, curious about his sudden change in mood. He’d seemed fine in the restaurant.
‘Are you okay?’ She sat down tentatively on the sofa, next to him, but not too close.
He snorted. ‘What do you think?’ Raising his eyebrows, he jerked his head in the direction Lola had disappeared. ‘I’m sorry about her,’ he said with a sigh. ‘She’s being an absolute fucking nightmare, but I just don’t seem to be able to shake her off. She won’t take no for an answer. I thought if I moved back to England, she’d finally get the message and leave me alone, but she’s even prepared to follow me over here. I’m just hoping she’ll miss California so much, she’ll decide to go home.’ He sighed again, looking suddenly very tired.
Daisy couldn’t suppress her grin of relief.
Zach looked up at her, frowning at this show of mirth.
‘All right, Miss Perfect, there’s no need to gloat,’ he said in annoyance.
‘I’m sorry, I know it’s not funny but it’s really tickled me,’ Daisy said, breaking into laughter.
After a moment, Zach started to laugh too, staring down at the floor in front of him.
‘I know, what a fucking loser. I can’t even get my girlfriend to leave me.’
‘So, you’re not going to ask her to marry you then?’ she asked him hesitantly.
‘What?’ he said sharply, jerking his head round to look at her. ‘Is that what she said to you? Oh shit.’
Daisy laughed again at his pained expression. She’d never been so relieved about something in her life.
‘Dizzy, if you don’t stop laughing at me, I’m going to have to resort to drastic measures to wipe that grin off your face.’
He was looking at her steadily now with his dark, penetrating gaze, and she experienced a sudden rush of desire, her body heating in the most intimate of places as her pulse began to race.
She stared back at him, her alcohol-fuddled brain slow to catch up with exactly what was going on here.
What was he going to do?
Out of nowhere, she had a sudden, desperate need for him to kiss her.
‘Diz, about what happened last time I saw you—’ he began, shifting closer to her, but was interrupted by Adam returning, stumbling a little as he came into the room. He’d polished off the rest of the wine in the bottle just before they’d left the restaurant and it seemed to be taking its toll on him now.
‘Anyone fancy a drink? I think we’ve got shhume whisky in the kitchen,’ he slurred, looking between them both.
‘Sure, that would be great,’ Zach said, casually moving away from Daisy.
‘Okay. Jussht going for a pisshh first, then I’ll get them.’
Adam walked away, leaving them both looking anywhere but at each other.
‘So, you and Adam are happy then?’ Zach asked suddenly, breaking the tense atmosphere that had descended on them.
