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When Cas strolled through the door, he didn’t spot them immediately, had almost finished circling the downstairs bar, when he caught sight of Beatriz’s tiger jacket. They were sitting at a corner table, half-hidden by another group. The man spotted Cas before Beatriz did, rising to his feet.

“Mo. This is a surprise.” Cas wrapped his college friend in a one-armed hug.

“A good one, I hope.” Mo gave his slow, serious smile, the one that reached his eyes.

“Very. How are you?” Cas had understood Mo’s decision to withdraw from their fledgling business partnership three years ago. When Mo fell in love with Evie, Mo’s father had offered his only son the assistant manager’s role in their fabric printing business. “This is your future now, son.”

“Better than I’ve been in a while.”

Cas turned to Beatriz. “I like your idea of a surprise.”

“Good.” She smiled and rose to her feet. “Now, you’re here, I’ll make a move.” She walked toward him, then patted his chest.

Cas inhaled the citrusy scent he’d come to associate only with her—fresh and tart. Or out of the ordinary and honest.

“It’s my turn to cook dinner.” She turned to Mo. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Can I get you a drink?” Mo asked when they were alone.

“Bitters and soda with fresh lemon if they’ve got it.”

Mo returned to the table with the drink and raised his. “Here’s to chance meetings.”

“To chance meetings,” Cas agreed. Finding Beatriz in Anna’s apartment had been a chance meeting.

“I like your new girlfriend.”

“Beatriz isn’t my girlfriend.” Denial was automatic, but the idea held increasing appeal.

“It’s just her turn to cook dinner. Right!” Mo’s right eyebrow shot up.

“Short-term flatmates. And you didn’t hear that.”

“Hear what?”

“Strictly platonic.”

“Coming from anyone else, I’d say bullshit. You, I believe. Heard you and Monique broke up. Monique shared your perfidy—I love that word, although I had to look it up—with the world. She called you deceitful and untrustworthy. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so outrageously wrong.”

“It was messy.” Messy was an understatement that still gave Cas the occasional sleepless night.

“Then I can say what I think. Monique was poisonous. You must know that.”

Cas didn’t know how much Mo knew. Cas had withdrawn for a while, needing time to get his head around what had happened. “My family’s rumoured wealth still turns a lot of women on. And to be fair to her, I was distracted, not paying enough attention to her.”

“Crap. You and she were never going to last. She knew it and tried to blackmail you into marriage.”

“I should have broken it off with her sooner.”

“I don’t think that would have made a blind bit of difference once she’d made up her mind. She left town when word got around about what she tried to do.” Mo held his gaze.

“Great. The world knows I’m an idiot. I had casual sex with a woman. I didn’t take sufficient precautions against pregnancy, and I didn’t break it off sooner because I enjoyed the convenient sex.” Those were the failures that had upset his dad.

“You might have started out thinking with your dick, but ultimately you were a victim. You would have accepted full responsibility for Monique, and for a child who wasn’t yours. She’d have bled you dry.” Mo’s voice was matter-of-fact. “I outed her in our old circle.”

“Al’ama. Why?” Cas absorbed the shock. Monique’s bad-mouthing of him had died away quickly. At the time, he’d wanted to forget everything.

“Bea’s nice.”