Her eyes were soft. The look was strangely like the one she’d used on her right after Cora had kissed her, when she’d been pressed between Frazer and her glorious table and hesitated.

It was full of understanding.

“Yeah.” Cora nodded in case that wasn’t convincing enough. “Yeah, yeah. I’m great.”

Except Frazer hadn’t answered her message. Not that there was a lot to be said to a single word. Well, really, there was a lot that could be said to that single word. And she was worrying about Frazer not replying to her message, not the fact that Cora had cheated on her husband and her marriage was crumbling and she was on her way to couples therapy in a few days.

But yet, here she was, acting like a teenager and worrying about an unanswered message.

A silence settled over them, awkward like it hadn’t been since they first started becoming more than workmates who mildly grated on each other. There were other staff members in the room, someone chewing loud enough to set Cora’s nerves on edge. The sound of pages turning in a magazine sounded like a cannon going off over and over.

“So… I’ll see you soon?” Frazer asked.

“You will?” Cora was anything but smooth, anything but able to hold it together. She needed to be staying away from Frazer.

“Yeah, we should have a meeting soon, once I’ve received the documentation and budget outline.”

Oh, the project. “Yeah.” Cora nodded again. She should probably stop that. “Great, just send me a message.”

Or it would be really nice if Frazer answered the original one.

The jumper Frazer had on showed a smooth expanse of chest, and Cora made herself stare at her eyes instead. Cora didn’t look down women’s shirts, or men’s. She was married. Very married. With a husband. A manly husband. Who she owed it to to at least try, at least a little.

“Okay. I’ll see you, then. Less than I did on the weekend, though.” Frazer winked.

And Frazer left.

She’d made a stupid joke and left.

Couldn’t they still get a coffee?

Cora was used to their coffees. To actually thinking of Frazer as a friend.

Were they still friends?

Did friends make jokes about the time they’d had confusingly good sex on a dining table?

As long as Cora never had to repeat that morning, blinking between Frazer and Alec and feeling hot guilt sitting on her shoulders, she wanted to. It happened once; an accident, a distraction. Did that excuse it? No. She had cheated. But her marriage wasn’t over.

She would fix this with Alec, because that’s what he needed. And she could be friends with Frazer, because that’s what she was meant to be.

Friends.

* * *

“Go dance with her.”