Page 62 of Afternoon Delight

Meg

Mom was due for her shift at the thrift store, so she couldn’t come with me to the viewing. I didn’t mind. I had a lot to think about as I drove into downtown, then across the bridge.

Old parts of me were wondering if maybe I should stay in Toronto. I was taking Roddie away from his new half-siblings. Being close to Mom would be nice, but what did I really have here in Victoria if things didn’t work out with Zak?

I pulled into the parking lot of the condo building and nosed into the visitor stall. As I left my SUV, a man popped out of the alcove entrance to the building.

“Meg? Hi. I’m Greg. It’s nice to put a face to a name.”He offered his hand to shake and held my gaze.

I sensed I was being assessed and that he liked what he saw.

“Nice to meet you, too.” We’d only talked on the phone.

He was taller than I expected and even more of a silver fox in person than his headshot. I didn’t hate what I saw, but?—

“Meg.”

My heart leapt as I turned to see Zak striding toward us. He wore jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was tousled and shaggy, his beard scruffy and in need of cleaning up. God, he was gorgeous.

I threw myself at him. “What are you doing here? I thought you couldn’t make it?”

“Zara came into the shop with Presley and told me to go have lunch with you. I tried calling. You didn’t pick up, but your Mom sent me the address.”

He hugged me, but briefly. His attention was pinned over my head at Greg. His hands shifted to my shoulders, both holding me off and keeping me close.

“What are you doing?”

“Meeting strange men behind your back. What do you think?”

His gaze clashed into mine.

“I’m jok?—”

“Oh, fuck it,” he growled and kissed me. Hard.

His arms wrapped around me so tightly I could hardly breathe. His mouth smothered mine, and his hand came to the back of my skull. His lips scraped across mine, forcing them apart, and he hungrily dragged me into the deep end of passion.

I kissed him back with all the missing that had been consuming my soul. I slid my arms around his neck and pulled myself higher and closer, sweeping my tongue into his mouth, encouraging him to kiss the ever-loving daylights out of me—because I needed this man. Desperately.

From a distance, I heard a male voice say, “This is Greg returning your call.”

Greg. Right.

I pulled back from Zak, panting and breathless, and looked over my shoulder. Greg had walked away to make a call, pointedly giving us privacy.

“Who is he? Never mind. Get rid of him. I was planning to tell you we should cool things off,” Zak said, making my heart lurch. “But I can’t. I love you too much. And I don’t know what to do about it.”

“I do.”

I smiled, cupped his beard, and kissed him once more, this one a tender peck. I tucked myself under his arm and slid mine around his waist as I turned to face Greg.

He came back toward us with an expression somewhere between bemused and rueful, politely pretending we hadn’t been groping like oversexed teenagers.

“This is Greg. He’s showing me a condo. This is Zak. My, um, friend.”

“Friend.” Zak gave me a pithy look down his nose, but I felt him jolt at the word condo.

“Hello, Greg. I guess I don’t hate you after all.” He reached out to shake the other man’s hand.

“Nice to meet you. Shall we go in?” Greg led us to the entrance.

Zak kept his arm around me. “This is the kind of thing I’d expect friends to tell each other sooner.”

“You’re mad?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

He didn’t let go of me as we entered the bright foyer, then the elevator.

Moments later, Greg let us into an empty unit, making our footsteps seem overloud on the hardwood.

I’d studied the photos extensively and liked the floor plan. It was wedge-shaped with a small bedroom with its own bath on the right of the entryway and a den on the left. Those would be Roddie’s domain, with a pull-out sofa in the den for when Shelby visited.

The sliding doors off the den led into the galley kitchen, which connected to the dining and living room. Here, a wall of windows offered a stellar view of the inner harbor. We all halted to silently appreciate the glitter of sunshine on the water.

The covered balcony ran across the entire width of the unit, including the primary bedroom, which shared the same expansive windows and views.

The ensuite was a luxurious five-piece, with a walk-in closet behind it.

That meant that if Zak and I decided to boink ourselves silly in my bedroom, we’d be well-insulated from Roddie hearing us.

“This is really nice.” Zak went back to eye up the granite countertops and what looked like new appliances.

“The floors are heated. You also have the fitness resort, which includes a gym, sauna, pool, and hot tub. There’s an owners’ lounge with patio seating. Two parking spots.”

“Do you mind giving us a minute?” I asked him and slid my gaze to the patio.

He took the hint. “No problem. I’ll make a few calls. Take your time.”

He stepped outside and closed the doors behind him.

“I didn’t mean to spring this on you,” I said to Zak.

“I kind of think you did.”

He walked into the hall to glance at the stacked washer and dryer, then peered into the powder room opposite.

I followed him back into the primary suite, which could easily accommodate a king-size bed and a small desk.

“What are you thinking?” I asked warily.

“Is this an investment?”

“No. I’m selling my condo in Toronto. Roddie wants to live with me here. Oh my God, I have the funniest story about Joel?—”

“Fuck Joel. I don’t care about him. Are you being serious, Meg? You’re moving here?”

My mouth opened, but my voice got caught behind my breastbone.

“Yes?”

I couldn’t tell if he thought this was good news or bad. He had just told me he loved me, but he seemed angry.

“I don’t want you to feel pressured, though,” I rushed to say. “I’m doing this for me. I mean, I hope you want us to keep seeing each other.”

I had my arms clenched across each other, hugging myself.

“I love you, Zak. A lot . The whole time I’ve been thinking about this move, I’ve been thinking I should be able to live without you, but I don’t want— Oh.”

He had his arms wrapped around me before I realized he’d moved. I had to wiggle to get mine up around his neck. I expected him to kiss me, but instead, he picked me up so we were eye to eye.

“Yes,” he said, in such a strong, steady tone it made my heart quiver. “Whatever this is, I’m in.”

“But what if...” I petted his beard and searched his eyes.

He waited patiently.

“What if you want babies?” I asked in a whisper.

“What if you can’t take how bad it gets with Dad?” He let me slide down his body until my feet met the floor, then kept his arms around me. “You know it could be hereditary, right?”

“I know there are going to be hard times.” I shifted my arms to hug his waist. “I’d rather be with you through them than not.”

His arms tightened around me. “I’ve thought a lot about kids since we talked. And yeah, if I had some, I’d love ’em to death, but I don’t want them badly enough to give you up just so I could make them with someone else.”

“Really?” I pressed my face against his chest, eyes closed and stinging with emotion.

“Really,” he assured me. “And honestly, I love my sister’s kids, but they’re exhausting.

Also, she needs me to help her where I can.

That means I need you to be the independent badass that you are, Meg.

I couldn’t add the life of a goldfish to my plate of responsibility right now.

I love the idea of skipping making our own kids and pressuring Shelby and Roddie into making babies so we can be sexy grandparents. ”

“Not just grandparents. The sexy kind.” I tilted my head back.

“Very sexy. Why not?”

My eyes were filling up, which was making me laugh at myself—at us—but I was shaking, I was so happy. “I do love you, you know.”

“I had a feeling.”

“So smug.” I went up on tiptoe to kiss the whiskers on his chin. “I guess if it doesn’t work out, we’ll always have the Dogwood.”

“That was a really great afternoon,” he said throatily and nudged me out of his arms. “Go sign whatever you need to sign. Then let’s go do that again.”