“For the record, I think you’re brilliant with Holly. I’m glad we did it together. And I’m glad they had that time alone.” She hesitated. “Did Christy and Seb seem okay to you?” It felt sad that she had to ask him. There had been a time when she would have known exactly how Christy felt.

“You’re sitting next to me, contemplating sex, and you’re worrying about Christy and Seb? I’m going to try not to be offended.”

“What makes you think I’m contemplating sex?”

“Probably wishful thinking.”

She smiled. “I love Christy. She’s my family. I can’t stop worrying.”

“If I assure you that you have no reason to worry, can we get back to the sex question?”

“How can you assure me? You don’t know any more than I do.” But something in his tone made her pause. An uneasy feeling flickered to life inside her. “Wait. Do you know something? Do you know something I don’t?”

“Alix—”

“You do.” She pulled her hand from his and sat up. “What am I missing? Are you about to tell me it wasn’t a work meeting.”

“It was an interview.” He spoke quietly, and she frowned, not understanding.

“An interview?”

“For a job.”

“What’s wrong with the job he has now? I thought he loved it.”

Zac stood up. “Forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Where are you going?”

“To make us something to eat.”

“I don’t want anything to eat. I want to finish this conversation. What shouldn’t you have said? That he’s job-hunting? Why not? Why the big secret?” She wrapped her arms around herself. The charged, intimate atmosphere had been replaced by a different kind of tension. “What do you know that I don’t?”

Zac looked at her, weighing it up. “He lost his job, Alix.” His tone was flat. “The interview was for a new job.”

He lost his job. He lost his job.

She stared at him and went through what she knew in her head. “No. That can’t be right. Seb loves his job. Losing it would have been a huge deal. Christy would have told me.” But she could see from his expression that it was right. And Christy hadn’t told her. Pain shot through her chest. “But you knew. How long have you known?”

“A while.”

She felt shivery and cold. “All this time we’ve been together you knew exactly what the problem was, and you didn’t tell me?” She thought about the car journey. All the opportunities he’d had to tell her the truth. The hurt was more intense than she could have imagined. “You would have slept with me, knowing that you were keeping this big secret.”

“It wasn’t a big secret, Alix—”

“Really? So why don’t I know about it? This isn’t a piece of mindless gossip, Zac. This is my friend we’re talking about! I’ve been out of my mind with worry since she called me that night in New York and asked me to take Holly. You knew I was worried.” Her hair slid over her face, and she pushed it back. “All this time you could have put my mind at rest, and you didn’t.”