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“Oh, well…this looks like trouble,” a new, distinctly amused voice called.

Zann’s heart leapt into her throat as she turned to find Lydia smiling at them from the end of her front walk. The world blurred as she drank in the way Lydia looked in a pair of faded mid-rise jeans and a fitted quarter-zip burgundy sweatshirt with her hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She wore the same air of easy confidence that she did in her designer slacks and blouse or, even better, nothing at all, and Zann flexed her hands at her sides as her fingers itched to reach out and touch her.

Jesus, what the fuck is this?

“Eyyyy, Lyds!” Jack bellowed, grinning as he shoved Aspen away and loped over to pull Lydia into an exuberant hug.

Zann arched a brow as Lydia laughed and let him sweep her off her feet into a dramatic spin. She recalled Lydia mentioning something the night before about Kit and Jack, but the familiarity of this greeting suggested they were more than simple acquaintances. “How do you guys know each other, again?”

Kit flicked a hand at Jack and Lydia. “We formed an alliance years ago to survive Eve’s parents’ fucked up galas.”

Zann cocked her head. “Alliance?”

“Yeah.” Kit pulled a face. “None of us particularly like the fucking things, but it’s in our best interest to attend them, unfortunately. Y’know, with her being the heir to a media empire and us heading a Fortune 500 tech company, and everything. Our professional lives don’t otherwise overlap, obviously, but she’s fun, and we’ll meet up for dinner if we’re in New York, or she’s in Boston.”

Zann nodded as she took that all in. “Wow.”

“I know, right?” Kit groaned. “But it’s nice to have allies at those things. Eve’s parents are total fucking whores for influence and power.” When Aspen snorted, she turned back to her with a challenging look. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“I wish I could,” Aspen replied wearily. “I think Eve’s dad is starting to come around, but her mom is just a—”

“Stuck-up bitch,” Kit supplied.

“Who’s a stuck-up bitch?” Lydia asked as she and Jack joined them.

“Eve’s mother,” Kit said.

Jack shuddered dramatically. “That might be underselling her, honestly, but their gala is great for networking.”

Zann’s stomach fluttered at the easy, almost conspiratorial smile that bowed Lydia’s lips when she looked at her.

“It is,” Lydia drawled, sounding like she hated to admit it. “I closed a major deal with Felicity Bancroft because of it. But, alas,” she added, her expression playfully contrite as she slipped through their loose huddle to stand next to Zann, “the Morrisons weren’t happy with me being friendly with Eve and our pal Aspen, here, and my father, who wants to continue using the event to our own ends even though he doesn’t particularly like them, has assigned that particular function to Jonathan going forward.” She looked impishly delighted as she shared, “Jon sat in my office after he got back from this last one and bitched for, like, three hours nonstop.”

“Oh, it was so bad,” Kit agreed. “Though I still fail to see how their goddamn former employee being a dickwad is anyone else’s fault.”

Zann frowned as she tried to follow what wasn’t being said. “Eve’s ex?”

Kit clicked her tongue and pointed a finger gun at her. “Not just a pretty face, are ya, Silva?”

Zann’s stomach fluttered as Lydia hummed and leaned into her side as she replied, “Mm, she certainly is more than just that.”

Aspen, having no doubt witnessed the two of them practically cuddling on the sofa at the party last night, just shook her head, but Kit’s grin widened as she turned her finger gun into an accusing baton that she wagged between them. “Hold up. How do you two know each other?”

“We…” Zann licked her lips and looked at Lydia for some kind of clue as to how she’d like to handle this. “Well…”

Lydia raked her lower lip between her teeth as she held Zann’s gaze. Honestly, she should have known better than to draw Kit and Jack’s attention to them, but considering she’d wanted nothing more than to fall into Zann’s arms and kiss the awestruck smile that had curved her lips the moment their eyes locked, it was honestly a miracle she’d held off as long as she had. She still felt an almost otherworldly pull toward Zann, and though she would prefer to protect this inexplicably magical thing they’d found, she knew that Kit—and, to a lesser degree, Jack, though he wasn’t nearly as perceptive—wouldn’t allow it.

She silently cursed herself for not thinking ahead to the moment their paths crossed with the Titan execs so they could have come up with a story they both were comfortable with.

“Well,” she murmured, echoing Zann’s unfinished thought. She dragged her index finger along the side of Zann’s hand, and her heart leapt at the way Zann’s pulse visibly jumped in her throat at the furtive touch.

God, it was such a rush to know that she could affect her so profoundly.

“We…” Zann shook her head.

“Oh my god,” Kit sniggered.

Aspen cleared her throat. “I introduced them last night at the cocktail hour you two bailed on.”