Again (Time for Love Book 3) (9 page)

But now she was here, sharing the space with him. There was only one bathroom, so he’d have to make sure she didn’t need it before he used it. He didn’t mind sharing the place, but he hoped Sonya didn’t have any ideas of rekindling their fling. From her body language a few minutes ago, he could tell she had that intention.

Sonya was a pretty, sexy woman and if he were single—

Whoa. Of course he
was
single. What was he thinking?

He chuckled dryly. In his head he was already dating Amanda. Ah, damn. He was in lust, and he had to do something about it.

*****

I
t was six-thirty in the morning and Connor was already up, ready to head out into a cool and crisp autumn day. It was perfect for early morning exercise—a brisk stroll on the coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Tamarama Beach. And he’d planned to bump into Amanda.

She’d told him during their car ride that it was her daily routine to walk along the cliff side before she got ready for work. He hoped she wouldn’t mind if he joined her unannounced.

He headed toward her building first. If he tried to follow a route she’d most likely take, he could catch up to her if he walked fast enough. That was, if she’d already had a head start.

Or he could just call her. But that might be a bit too in her face, considering the time of day. He didn’t want her to feel stalked... although what he was doing right now could be considered stalking...

He groaned under his breath. Seriously, he was acting like a teenager! Not only that, he was feeling like it too. His gut was churning. But perhaps he was just hungry, not nervous. He hadn’t had breakfast yet.

He snickered. He could make all the excuses he wanted, but it wouldn’t change the fact that he, Connor Reid, was tied in knots over meeting a woman for an early morning stroll. What happened to cool Mr. Fuck King?

He spotted Amanda coming out of her building and his heart jumped. Good. At least he didn’t have to go looking for her. He was about to call out when he noticed that she had her earphones on and was talking animatedly. She must be on the phone.

He was almost next to her when Amanda saw him. She grinned and gave him an exuberant wave.

He smiled back, staring at her. She was devoid of makeup and her hair was hurriedly tied up in a ponytail, but he’d never been more attracted. She was just lovely.

“Okay. I’m so excited,” Amanda said to the person she was talking to. “I can’t believe we have another engagement to celebrate. Congratulations again, darling!”

His eyebrows rose. Another engagement?

Amanda hung up and looked at him, radiating excitement.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Jeff and Sarah got engaged.”

“Yes!” she said triumphantly.

He chuckled at her expression. She was so cute. “That was quick. When did it happen?” he asked.

“Yesterday. Apparently Sarah was going to tell us in person, but she said she woke up and couldn’t wait.”

They were interrupted by Connor’s ringing phone. He laughed, showing Amanda the screen before answering it.

“Congratulations, bro,” he said to Jeff.

“Hey, thanks! But how did you know?”

“Why else would you call so early in the morning?” he teased. “I must say you move fast.
Very
fast.”

Jeff chuckled. “When you know, you know. Know what I mean?”

Connor laughed.

“Sarah couldn’t wait to tell her best friends, so I thought I might as well make my own announcement. So who told you? Ash?”

“No. I’m here with Amanda and—”

“Ooh, you’re with Amanda?”

“Yes. I was going for a walk and I bumped into her—”

“Yeah, right,” Jeff said, snickering. “Trying to make amends for your past behaviour, are you?”

Connor rolled his eyes. Sarah had obviously told Jeff about him and Amanda. “Whatever you heard, it was a misunderstanding,” he said.

“I know, dude,” Jeff said. “Anyway, we should catch up again soon. I have to call Gran next. I’m leaving her till last, since I know she’ll want to keep me on the phone.”

“Okay. Catch you later.”

“What was a misunderstanding?” Amanda asked as he pushed his phone back in his pocket.

“Melbourne,” he answered. “Jeff was surprised that I’m with you this morning.”

“Oh. I see.” Amanda said, suddenly looking shy. “Where are you headed, by the way?”

“Actually, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me tagging along with you on your walk?”

Amanda smiled. “Sure.”

He grinned, glad that Amanda seemed pleased.

They stopped at the traffic lights, waiting to cross the road towards the beach. Connor realised that something was going to give him difficulty during this long walk. He wanted to hold Amanda’s hand. But who held hands while power walking?

*****

T
hey were on their way back to Bondi Beach, and Connor was nowhere near tired or bored. In fact, if he could stretch the time, he would. But Amanda had to go to work soon.

There was something magical about walking by the cliff side, inhaling the fresh sea air. It had been years since he’d done this particular coastal walk and he was hit with the feeling of gratitude that he was home. A couple of times they’d stopped and just stared at the vast ocean in front of them. It was pretty special.

He could see why Amanda did this every day. He wouldn’t mind doing it with her again—and again—if she’d let him.

“Are you in a hurry to go back home?” Amanda asked.

“No. Not at all,” he answered.

“I usually stop for a hot chocolate and raisin toast at this place after my walks. Would you like to join me?”

“I’d love to.”

Amanda led him to a quaint little café off the main road called Yoly’s, which was already bustling with early morning patrons. “Hi, Yoly,” she said to a middle-aged lady sporting very short, bleached hair behind the counter.

“Hello, Amanda. Your usual’s coming up,” Yoly said with a bright grin, moving about with practised efficiency.

“I brought a friend with me today. This is Connor. Connor, Yoly.”

“Hi, Connor. Good to meet you. What would you like?” Yoly asked with a friendly smile.

Connor put in his order, then followed Amanda to a table for two near the window.

“I always sit here,” Amanda said. “In another ten to fifteen minutes, the place will be packed and it will be impossible to get a table.”

“So you come here every morning?” he asked.

“Most weekday mornings. The only time I don’t is when I miss my morning walks. Usually that’s when it’s raining or when I have to get to work early.”

“So you still walk on a winter morning?”

“Yeah. I just rug up. It’s easy to get warm once you start walking.”

“That’s true. Do you ever go for a swim instead of your usual walk?” he asked.

“When the water’s warm enough I sometimes do.”

“I’ve always wondered how some people can handle getting in the water during winter mornings,” he commented. “They must freeze their butts off.”

Amanda chuckled. “I know a few people who do. They’ve even encouraged me to try it. Said I’ll get used to it. But no, thanks. I’m not that adventurous.”

Their orders arrived, brought by Yoly.

“So Connor, I haven’t seen you around before. You must be visiting Amanda?”

He smiled. Yoly must have assumed he’d stayed the night with Amanda. He wished.

“I just moved here a few days ago, Yoly.”

“Oh really? You staying with Amanda?”

He chuckled while Amanda blushed.

“No. Actually at the moment I’m staying with a friend. I’m waiting until my place gets vacated by the current tenants, then I’ll be moving there.”

“Oh right. Well, I hope to see more of you, Connor. It’s nice to see this table occupied by not one but two people,” Yoly said, giving Amanda a big, exaggerated wink before leaving.

Connor grinned at Amanda, enjoying her flushed look.

“Yoly’s a character,” she murmured.

“I gathered. It sounds like she’d be disappointed if I don’t turn up here again.”

“She’ll probably quiz me every day about you from now on,” Amanda said, rolling her eyes. “What have I done?” she added wryly.

“Well, I could always join you again,” he said. “I’d love to do that if you don’t mind the company. That walk was fun.”

Amanda smiled, her shy but happy expression making his heart skip a beat.

“That’ll be nice,” she said.

He leaned on his chair, satisfied. Well, semi-satisfied. While seeing Amanda in the mornings would be great, they still wouldn’t be proper dates.

“You know, you still owe me that dinner, too,” Amanda said, peering at him from behind her lashes.

He grinned. This was turning out better than he’d expected. “Yes, I do. How about tonight?”

“Oh. I can’t. I’ve been away from work for two weeks and I’m sure I have stacks to catch up on. Maybe Friday night?”

“Friday night it is.”

It wasn’t soon enough, but he was a patient man.

*****

C
onnor was whistling to himself when he got home. It had been a perfect start to the morning—one of the best he’d had. A great walk in the great outdoors, a wonderful breakfast with a beautiful woman, and a confirmed dinner date. Funny how things had done a complete turnaround. When he saw Amanda two nights ago, she’d looked like she’d wanted to bite his head off.

“Connor! I’m so glad you’re back,” Sonya cried, looking relieved. “Where did you go?”

“I went for a walk,” he answered. “What’s wrong?”

“My ex. He’s bothering me. He wanted to come here this morning to talk. I told him not to come but he won’t listen, so he’s on his way. Could you please, please, please do me a favour and stay with me until after he’s left?”

“Why?” he asked.

“If he thought I was with someone else, then maybe he’d finally leave me alone. Please, Connor? The guy’s obsessive. And he scares me sometimes.”

“Has he hurt you before?” he asked with a frown.

“No, nothing like that. But he just can’t seem to understand we’re over. He calls me all the freaking time and it’s driving me nuts. I don’t know what else to do.
Please
?”

Connor sighed. “Okay. Just this once, Sonya.”

“Thank you,” Sonya said. “All we need to do is look sweet when he gets here. We should know how to do that. We’ve done it before.”

The security buzzer sounded, and it was too late for Connor to change his mind.

A
manda sat down to eat the chicken burger she’d bought from the shop down the road on her way home. Just as she’d anticipated, it had been an incredibly busy day in the office. Sometimes she wondered what the point was of taking some time off when she always ended up with double the amount of stress when she returned to work.

She flicked the channels on her TV, and settled for a rerun of one of her favourite shows. Not that it mattered what program was on. She was too busy watching the movie playing in her head—with who else but Connor as the star.

She took a deep, long sigh. All she could think about was seeing him again tomorrow for their walk.

Her phone rang. Grinning, she turned off the TV and put Sarah on speaker so she could finish her dinner.

“Hey, soon-to-be Mrs. Carmichael!”

“Isn’t that Bec too?” Sarah said with a laugh.

“I know! Isn’t that cool?”

“It is,” Sarah agreed.

“So where’s your engagement party gonna be held?”

“We’re still deciding. Jeff and I were thinking that maybe we won’t hold one until August or September. We just had Zach and Bec’s last weekend.”

“Right. So I take it you haven’t set a wedding date yet either?”

“No. Not yet. Sometime next year, maybe. Since this all happened so fast, we’ve agreed to have a longish engagement.”

“Yeah, I was shocked—pleasantly, of course—by how fast you guys got engaged,” Amanda said before pausing to take another bite of her food.

“Are you having dinner, Amanda?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Sorry. Do you want me to call back?”

“No. I’m almost done.”

“Okay, good. Anyway, I called because I want to know what happened with you and Connor. Jeff said Connor bumped into you this morning? And I can’t believe you thought his car was Ash’s car! I bet you that was an unconscious thing. You really wanted Connor to take you home last night.”

Amanda chuckled. “Yeah. Maybe I did.” Then she brought Sarah up to speed with her Connor news.

“Wow! Talk about fast,” Sarah said. “From absolutely hating the man’s guts to taking him on a romantic walk by the sea.”

“It was not romantic,” she said with a laugh. “But it was very nice. I enjoyed his company.”

“So is Connor a candidate to be your New Year’s Resolution Guy?”

“Well, now that I know that my anger was misplaced, I’m finding that I still have a huge crush on him.”

“That’s great! Then you know what you have to do.”

“What?”

“Seduce him again,” Sarah said in a sultry tone.

“Again? Hey, I didn’t instigate the first time. He kissed me first.”

“Oh, darling. Sometimes I wonder why your brain works in funny ways when it comes to men.
You
told him you were staying in the hotel, which led him to ask you if you wanted to be escorted to your room, to which you said yes. What does that tell a man?”

“I guess,” she said, still doubtful that it had been Connor who had been seduced, instead of the other way around. “Hey, at least you girls can’t accuse me of not making the first move. To add to that, I was the one who invited him to breakfast this morning. And I reminded him of the dinner he promised me.”

“Yay!” Sarah cheered. “Three down, two to go. Brenna and Gemma better get going with finding their resolution guy.”

“Hey, please don’t jinx it. I don’t even know if Connor means for the dinner to be a date or a friendly get together.”

“Okay, sorry. I’m just excited for you.”

Amanda sighed. She was excited too. But experience had taught her not to read too much into a situation. She didn’t want to fall down to earth with a mega-thud if her hopes were just those—plain, empty hopes.

*****

F
or the umpteenth time, Amanda pulled out a blue dress from her wardrobe. If she really wanted to change, she had to do it now. Connor would be arriving soon.