Zara squared her shoulders. Her instincts were correct. She just had to give him time to realize that what was between them was real. Though how much time she could wait, she didn’t know.
“I, uh—” he began.
“Have you—” she said at the same time. Both of them stopped. “You go first.”
“No, you go,” he insisted.
“I was just wondering if you had coffee yet?” She jerked her thumb back at the break room. “There’s a fresh pot.”
“I have already had my coffee.”
“You have?”
“Yes. There is a new cafe across the street from my accommodations.”
“I see. Are they any good?”
An awkward beat passed before he answered. “They are adequate. The, uh, meeting will be starting soon.” Hektor brushed past her and stomped off in the direction of the conference room.
Zara could only stare at his retreating back.
What did you expect?
It had been awkward the last couple of days, especially during that long, silent ride back to Alindale. They were all exhausted, so no one wanted to make conversation. She had to sit in the back of the van, inches from Hektor, the air between them so thick with tension that she wanted to jump out of the window and walk home.
The following days hadn’t been any better. Today had been the best actually, her fall at least had broken some of the unease between them.
“Are you gonna do anything about this?”
Zara nearly jumped out of her skin as her sister’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “What are you talking about?”
Liora rolled her eyes. “We shared a womb, I know what’s going on.”
“No, you don’t.” She had fallen for Liora’s bluffs before, but she wasn’t going to this time.
“I don’t know the details”—she leaned in and narrowed her eyes at Zara—”but I know something happened back in Orunai between you two.”
“Zara! Liora!” Medusa called as she stuck her head out of the conference room door. “Meeting’s about to start. Grab your brother and come in here.”
“Will do,” Zara called. “C’mon, you heard what she said. Go get Elian.” Not bothering to wait for her siblings, she scampered down the hallway and into the conference room. Perseus and Medusa were already seated at the head and the right, respectively, while Hektor sat across from the gorgon.
She sat next to him, then shot him a small smile. His gaze dropped down to his folded hands on the table.
Zara sighed inwardly.
Thankfully, her brother and sister scrambled inside and took their seats before things got any more awkward.
“Good morning,” Perseus began. “I have some good news. We found our next lead. But first, Medusa wanted to share some other developments.”
Medusa opened the folder in front of her. “Our research has….”
Zara let out another sigh. Though her gaze remained on Medusa, her thoughts drifted off.
I need to fix this.
She thought she’d been doing so well, exploiting those cracks in Hektor’s resolve, getting into those crevices to worm her way under his skin.
He had kissed her—and other things—but hadn’t yet admitted he liked her.
