Again (Time for Love Book 3) (13 page)

He had fun working with them, although Amanda might have gotten too tired. She’d been markedly quieter toward the end of the night. He’d asked her a couple of times if she was okay, and all she gave were hesitant smiles.

He sighed, stepping out to his balcony. It was a cool night and the breeze was strong, but the view was fantastic. He couldn’t wait for the morning when he’d wake up to the rising sun’s rays reflecting off the water—with Amanda in his arms.

He checked the time again. It had been half an hour since the guys had left. Was Ash still with Amanda? He picked up his phone and called her anyway.

“Hi,” Amanda answered.

“Hey, babe,” he said. “Is Ash gone?”

“Yeah, he is.”

“Are you ready to come back here?”

“Um. Yeah. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“I’ll pick you up. Wait for me there.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you walking alone in the dark late at night.”

“I’ll be fine. There are plenty of people on the streets. It’s Saturday night.”

“You’ll still be by yourself. No. Wait for me there.”

He heard her sigh. “Okay.”

He hung up, smiling. Did she have no idea how much he’d started to care about her?

*****

“H
i.” Connor slid his arm around Amanda’s waist and kissed her the moment she came out of her building.

“Hi,” she responded, avoiding his eyes.

Something was wrong. Amanda was distant. She’d never been like this since they’d come back from the Hunter Valley. He didn’t like it. It made him nervous.

He took her hand as they started walking. At least she was staying the night with him. They could talk about whatever was bothering her.

“Connor?”

“Hmm?”

“You and Ash have been talking a lot, haven’t you? Does he know things about you that I don’t?”

“What makes you ask that?” he said, worry growing bigger.

“I’m pretty sure Lori has told him some things about you.”

“What did Ash tell you?”

Amanda hesitated. “Well, since you and he have become quite good friends, he said he won’t tell me, so I have to ask you.”

“Ask me what?”

“About you not being... um... suitable for someone like me.”

He stopped in his tracks and faced Amanda. “Was he warning you off me?”

“Kind of. He’s still trying to figure out why I got so pissed off at the Hunter Valley. He’s eliminating all possible suspects. He hasn’t caught on to the fact that there’s something going on between us, and you’re already off the list. So I put it to him as a hypothetical that it might be you. He actually thought I was interested in Greg.”

“He thought you were interested in Greg?” he asked with a frown. The picture of Amanda and Greg together simply
did not
agree with him. Hell, just the thought of her with any other man stirred his gut. “Let’s talk about this when we get to my place,” he said, wanting to fully discuss this without interruptions.

“Okay,” she said, folding her arms across her chest as she shivered from the cool night.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead before resuming their travel.

Up ahead was a noisy pub. Connor was glad he was with Amanda. It was generally safe, but one could never tell. He wouldn’t want her walking alone by herself in front of pisspots who might try to bother her.

His steps faltered as he recognised a woman storming out of the pub. It was Sonya. A man followed her and grabbed her arm—her stalker ex-boyfriend Bill.

Sonya yanked her arm away, shouting ‘let me go’, but Bill grabbed her again.

Acting out of pure instinct to aid a friend in distress, Connor hurried to them. “Sonya!”

Sonya saw him, and flew to his arms. “Connor!”

“What’s going on here?” he asked, scowling at the other man.

“He won’t leave me alone,” Sonya said, clutching Connor’s shirt.

“You’re fucking giving me mixed signals, Sonya! I just want to talk!”

“I’ve told you already, Bill. There’s no hope in hell that we’re getting back together,” Sonya retorted. “I’m with Connor now!”

“Oh yeah? Didn’t he just move out of your place today?” Bill said. “I saw him.”

“He moved to his apartment, which is much bigger than mine. I’ll be following him there!”

“Fine! Fine!” Bill shouted. “When you come running back to me again, don’t expect me to welcome you with open arms.” Bill marched off to his car, fuming. Then he drove off with screeching tyres.

Connor tried to push a clinging Sonya off him. He glanced nervously around for Amanda, and he found her a few paces back, staring at them in disbelief.

“Amanda,” he called out, his heart thumping in fear.

“What?” Sonya asked in confusion.

But Connor ignored her. He went to Amanda, who seemed in shock. “Hey,” he said, running his hands on her arms.

“Connor?” Sonya interjected.

“Sonya, this is Amanda. Amanda, this is Sonya—a
friend
of mine.” He hoped Amanda caught his emphasis on the word friend.

“Hi, Sonya,” Amanda said weakly.

“Hi,” Sonya responded, eyes narrowed.

“Amanda and I are on a date, Sonya. Lucky for you we were passing by,” Connor said lightly, hoping the atmosphere would follow suit. “That ex of yours hopefully won’t bother you again.”

He turned to Amanda. “Sonya has asked me to pretend I’m her boyfriend so her stalker ex would leave her alone.”

“Right,” Amanda replied quietly.

“I didn’t know you were seeing someone, Connor,” Sonya said with a too-cheerful tone. “There you were, living with me, and you didn’t breathe a word about Amanda here. Naughty man,” she said with a laugh that sounded forced.

“We better get going,” he said, desperate for him and Amanda to get to his place. Hell, he had a lot of explaining to do.

*****

C
onnor opened his door, glad to have finally arrived. Amanda had been way too quiet during their walk back, and had kept her arms folded across her chest, not giving him the opportunity to hold her hand.

He reached for her. “Baby...”

“Why do you call me that, Connor?” she asked softly.

“Why not? We’re dating, aren’t we?”

“Are we?” she asked, her face a picture of uncertainty.

“What do you call what we’re doing then?”

She shrugged and walked to the sofa. He followed her, trying to read her every movement. Her shoulders drooped and her head bowed as she took a seat.

He sat beside her and tilted her head up to him with a finger under her chin. “Sonya’s just a friend, Amanda. Everything you heard back there was for Bill’s benefit. I was just doing a friend a favour.”

“You were living with her before you moved here?”

“I was renting a room at her apartment before I moved here,” he clarified. “She was supposed to be in Queensland while I stayed at her place. But she had a change of plans. I didn’t have sex with her or anything.”

“So you’ve never slept with her?”

“While I was staying with her, no.”

Amanda frowned at his answer.

“We had a fling two years ago. There’s nothing between us now.”

Amanda appeared dismayed by his answer, but she remained silent.

“There really is nothing going on between me and Sonya, Amanda,” he said pleadingly.

“What about us, Connor?”

He gave her a perplexed smile. “What do you mean? We’re dating.”

“So you consider me as your girlfriend?”

“Yes. I know we haven’t really discussed this yet, but yes, I consider you my girlfriend. Don’t you consider me your boyfriend?” He felt a sharp pinch in his heart for having to ask that question.

She smiled. “I wasn’t sure.”

He took a deep breath, disappointed by her answer. He thought Amanda had made similar assumptions about the status of their relationship.

He’d never been as sweet or as touchy-feely, in public or in private, with any woman before. With most of his previous affairs being casual, he’d hardly even held a girl’s hand in public. But with Amanda, he simply had to touch her or kiss her whenever she was around. It had been damned difficult holding himself back earlier today when Ash and Greg were around.

“Why would Ash think you’re not boyfriend material, Connor?”

He ran his fingers through his hair, considering his answer carefully. He didn’t want to bring up his Mr. Fuck King title if he didn’t have to. Everyone who’d heard of it had jumped to conclusions that he was the world’s biggest playboy. He didn’t want Amanda creating a similarly exaggerated picture in her head.

“Maybe Lori had assumed that I was like Frank, or my other buddies she might have slept with. But I’m not. I admit I’ve had my share of casual relationships, but I don’t play around like some of those guys do. And if Lori’s told Ash about the behaviour of the group at my farewell party, I’m not surprised that Ash would think I’m not boyfriend material. He already knows I’d slept with someone in Lori’s group. He just didn’t know it was with you.”

Amanda sighed raggedly, staring at him. He could still see some doubt in those beautiful eyes of hers. But he also saw something else. Hope? Tenderness? Vulnerability? Whatever it was, it tugged at his heart strings.

He cupped her face, running his thumbs against her smooth cheeks. Then he kissed her gently, his lips revelling in the soft feel of hers.

Amanda’s arms curved around his neck as their kiss deepened. When she pulled him down with her to lie on the couch together, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He kissed her passionately... reverently... everywhere. He was hard in no time—it was his body’s natural reaction to her proximity.

“Connor?” Amanda said softly as he kissed her neck.

“Yes, sweetheart?” He pushed himself up to gaze at her.

“You’ll have to explain yourself well to Ash,” she murmured. “I don’t think your bromance is strong enough to counter his overprotective brotherly love. When he learns about us, he might worry about your intentions towards me. I don’t want your friendship to suffer.”

“Yeah. I know.”

He caressed a strand of hair off her face, deeply contented to simply stare at her, yet also dying to make love to her. He shook his head mentally. He was falling hard and fast.

Hell, who was he kidding? He’d already fallen. Big time.

At the edge of his consciousness, he sensed the nagging of certain things that could jeopardise his relationship with Amanda. But when she spread her legs to cradle his hips between her thighs, he let go of all thoughts. Surely he had plenty of time to figure things out?

A
manda kissed Connor goodbye, searching for the will to take her arms from around his neck. So she wouldn’t see him again until the next weekend. Surely she could survive that?

Connor had said he was going to be extremely busy in the next couple of weeks. He wanted to be hands-on with the refurbishment of his shop, and since his tradesmen were able to start early in the mornings, he preferred to be onsite to make sure everything went smoothly.

It would be strange taking her morning coastal walks without Connor. She’d miss him. She’d gotten used to him being around.

“Do you want me to come over on Saturday night, or do you want to stay here again?” Connor asked, running his hands on her back as he continued to kiss her face.

“Stay here again.” Much as she loved her place, Connor’s apartment was something special. “Don’t overwork yourself. And don’t stress too much,” she said, reluctantly prying herself from him.

“No, ma’am,” Connor said with a grin. “I’ll call you when I can.”

“Okay. I’ll see you next weekend.”

“Bye, babe. Enjoy your dinner with your family tonight.”

“I will.” She gave him a final kiss, got in the elevator and waved goodbye as the doors closed.

She took a deep breath as the lift took her down to the ground floor. Oh, how she was bursting to say those three little words! But she didn’t want to be the first to say them. When it came to affairs of the heart, she was still quite cowardly.

*****

A
manda played with her food as she listened to Ash ask questions about their mother’s upcoming overseas trip.

“How many people are on this tour?”

“I don’t know. The maximum is fifty, I believe,” their mother Tracy answered.

“Sounds good. I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself. Just make sure you set your phone to global roaming so you can contact us—and we can contact you—at any time. And always send us emails letting us know where you are exactly.  Actually, calling us would be better, that way we know you’re okay. Don’t walk around by yourself, especially in places you haven’t been before. You just never know—”

“Oh, Ash, I know,” Tracy interrupted, laughing. “I believe I warned the two of you of the same thing when you went overseas. Don’t forget I’m your mother, not your teenaged kid.”

Amanda chuckled. “You know Ash, Mum. He’s a born worrywart.”

“You know you’ll make an excellent father, Ash?” Tracy said. “Have you thought about settling down and having kids?”

“Oh, Mum,” Ash said in a complaining tone.

Amanda hid her snicker. Their mother had asked the same question many times in many different ways.

“How come I’m always the one who gets this pressure?” Ash asked. “I don’t hear you prodding Amanda to find herself a husband and get pregnant.”

“That’s true,” Tracy said. “So, Amanda, are you seeing someone?”

Amanda glared at Ash, who gave her a Cheshire cat grin. Well, she could toy with her brother.

“As a matter of fact, I am,” she answered.

“Really?” Tracy and Ash said in unison.

“That’s wonderful, darling,” her mum gushed. “What’s his name?”

“Um, if you don’t mind, Mum, I’ll tell you some other time? I don’t want to jinx it. It’s all too new,” she said, knowing her mother would buy that.

“Oh, sure, darling. Maybe next time you can tell us about him.”

“Someone I know?” Ash asked casually.

Amanda shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.

“So it
is
someone I know,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her.

She looked at him blankly, then shrugged again.