And he wasn’t complaining.
In the last decade, he’d spent more time hitting on her than recognizing she was a human being with feelings. While he was proud of reinventing himself into a better man, the turning point would forever live in the back of his mind as the worst thing he’d ever done.
And somehow.
She’d forgiven him.
“Stop,” she barked in hushed volume. “Whatever you were going to say back . . . stop. Be better. You are better, remember?”
Zac dipped his chin in agreement, and Frankie dropped her hand. “Thanks.”
She bit into a maple bar. “What has you so agitated?”
“Didn’t sleep well.”
“Why ever not?” Her lips curled into a slight smirk before she neutralized her features.
“None of your business.” He finished his coffee and washed the mug in the kitchenette sink. “What did you get up to last night? Do anything interesting?”
“Sure did.” She finished the last bite of her donut and brushed the crumbs from her hands into the trash bin.
“Oh?” He turned after replacing the coffee cup on the shelf and leaned against the counter. “Spill.”
“None of your business,” she groused, tossing back the recycled line.
Zac held up his middle finger, and Frankie stuck out her tongue as the bells over the lobby door jingled.
A laugh—the most beautiful, throaty laugh—drifted through the lobby. Zac’s belly clenched as a wave of memories doused him from head to toe. Smells, textures, tastes all converged, stunning him as though frozen by a spell.
Tabby cat.
“Where’s that hefty guide of ours?” blondie hollered, knocking Zac out of his trance.
“Hefty?” he gasped with mock offense.
Frankie chuckled from behind her hand and moseyed over to the counter.
“What?” Lark asked. “We don’t like hefty? What about husky? Ginormous? Hulking?”
“I’ll allow hulking,” Zac cut in so she’d stop. “How are you this morning? Lark? Tabby cat?”
“I’d be better if you stopped calling me that,” Tabitha snapped so quietly, Zac wondered if she’d meant for him to hear it.
“Tab-tab it is, then.” He clapped his hands together once. “Who’s ready to boulder?”
“Not me. But I am ready to give my index finger a workout. Are you joining us, Frankie?” Lark asked in that cheery way she always seemed to.
“Sadly, no. I have a couple river runs today. I tried to convince Zac to swap, but he wouldn’t budge.”
“That’s because your brother asked me—personally—to cover for him while these fine ladies are here,” Zac stated primly.
The office manager snorted into her mug.
“Something wrong, Janet?” Zac asked.
She rolled her eyes and dabbed a napkin to her lips. “I was here during that very conversation and I’m certain that Jon didn’t—”
“Janet, can I refill your coffee?” Frankie cut in, successfully quieting the older woman. “Half and half and two sugars, right?”
