Page 53 of In Love and War

“You weregoing tostand me up.” He said it as if it were a fact.

“Maybe I just lost track of time.”

“Did you?Justlose track of time?”

“It was a busy day, I had to pack for tomorrow. Can you give it back now?” I was still holding out my palm.

“Tsk tsk. Manners, Amelia,” he drawled. “I would be less demanding and a little more apologetic if I were you. Being thirty minutes late to an invitation generally doesn’t win you a ton of favors.”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Tomato, tomato.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, annoyed, which only seemed to entertain him even more judging by his face.

“Alright, as promised, you may come in and look for them.” He turned around and walked into the suite, leaving the door open as an invitation for me to follow.

“That wasn’t the deal!” I exclaimed, still standing outside. “You said to come look for them because you didn’t know where they were!”

But he’d disappeared out of my line of sight. I stood there for a minute, waiting to see if he would respond, but nothing.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, I walked in.

He was in the open kitchen, pouring two generous glasses of wine. I recognized the bottle as one of my dad’s new favorites and wondered if one of them had recommended it to the other.

“Pinot?” he asked, offering me a glass.

“No, thanks. I’ll take my item of clothing and be on my way.”

“Suit yourself,” he said nonchalantly, making his way over to the living area.

He sat down on the white leather love seat, right beside the couch we’d… broken in yesterday, and put the second glass of wine on the table in front of him. He then took out his phone and began scrolling, while drinking out of his glass.

Unbelievable.

“Zac!”I was so close to going over there and knocking the stupid phone out of his stupid hand.

“Yes, Amelia?” he asked, still scrolling.

“Whereis it?” I snapped.

“Somewhere around here.” He waved the hand holding his wine around without looking up. “I don’t remember exactly where I put it. You know me, goingseniledue to my old age as you so kindly pointed out a few days ago.”

I’m gonna kill him.

Determined to, at the very least, walk out of there with my dignity, I started to look around. I checked the kitchen, living area, bathroom, and the two bedrooms, going as far as looking inside cupboards and drawers and under couch cushions. But nothing. Nada.

And then something occurred to me.

“You have it, don’t you?” I said, sitting down on the table in front of him.

“I can neither confirm nor den—”

I snatched the phone right out of his hand, stood up, and booked it before he knew what had happened. And I would have gotten away with it too, if my ankle hadn’t gotten caught on the leg of the table.

The setback gave Zac just enough time to grab a hold of my shirt and pull me back in one swift motion. I landed on the cushion with a thud, with one of my legs on his lap.

He had one hand on me and one hand on a wineglass that had almost fallen off the table and onto the rug.