Heart Robber (Lifestyle by Design Book 2) (13 page)

"What tips?" she asked curiously, pleased that Rob made it clear to the crestfallen woman he wasn't available.

Rob shrugged. "I don't know. She just started telling me how adding that cheese to some chicken dish can make it taste a lot nicer. I wasn't really listening."

She laughed with relief. She was feeling much better.

As they waited their turn at the checkout, Rob pulled her close and whispered in her ear. "I'm glad we're going home. I'm hungry again."

She gazed at Rob's smoking gray eyes. "Me, too."

His eyes smouldered at her response. He gave her a quick kiss before looking around and asking, "Is this the fastest lane?"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Faye slumped on her seat as she joined her friends for their Monday lunch date. "Sorry I'm late."

"Been busy this morning?" Victor asked.

"No," Faye said with a heavy sigh. "I was late getting to work this morning. Steve and I broke up last night."

"What?!" her friends chimed.

"What happened?"

"He is moving to Adelaide and I'm not going with him."

There was silence at the table as all attention was on Faye. They waited until she was ready to continue.

"He said he wouldn't even think about asking me to move with him to Adelaide. He said it wouldn't be fair to me to give up my life here in Sydney for him. And I agree." Tears pooled in Faye's eyes but she was surprisingly composed.

"So you didn't consider the option of moving with him to Adelaide?" Clarise asked softly.

"You know, I've been thinking about that since he told me he got offered the position. And to be honest, I really don't want to. The job requires him to travel extensively all around South Australia and Western Australia. He would be away more than he would be home so even if I moved to Adelaide with him, he wouldn't be there most of the time anyway, so what's the point? The only way it could possibly work is if I travel with him but that would mean giving up my career and independence."

Faye sniffed softly and continued. "I guess that's why Steve said it wasn't fair to even ask me to move to Adelaide. I can see his point. In fact, I'm actually grateful that he didn't give me the option to go with him. I would have been left with the difficult task of saying 'no'."

Clarise stroked Faye's back consolingly while Jessa, who was sitting on her other side, patted her arm. Victor looked on sympathetically.

"When is he moving?" Jessa asked.

"He's leaving for Adelaide in two months. Of course, that's too long for us to be under the same roof together after we've broken up, so he's staying with his parents in the meantime. He's moving his stuff out of the apartment next week. And I'll have to look for a new place soon. I won't be able to afford the rent by myself."

"So that's really it for you guys?" Clarise's eyes were moist, too.

Faye gave her best friend a tight smile and nodded. "Yes, that's really it for us. I saw a hint of relief on his face when we called it a day. I think he was scared I would insist on following him to Adelaide, and he didn't want me to. I think he just wants to concentrate on his new role. That's good for me to know. It gives me some closure. Besides, I was already getting increasingly frustrated that he's not home more than half the time. Technically, we've been going out for a year but we've really only spent about four or five months of that together because of all his travelling. It's not easy but it's a good time to end it."

They were quiet as they ruminated about Faye's news.

"Hey," Victor piped in after long minutes, "we're only giving you a couple of weeks to mope, okay? Then we'll get you to go to one of those speed dating things, too. Or just go with you to a nice, trendy bar where you won't have problems picking up or getting picked up," he added with a big wink.

Faye laughed through her misty eyes. "You're on!"

~~~~~~~

"And how was your weekend, Clarise?" Victor asked between bites of his beef burger with the lot.

Clarise nodded as she swallowed her mouthful of smoked salmon salad. "Good, thanks. As you know, mum and I went with Megan for the first fitting of her wedding dress. She looked so beautiful in it." She was about the pop another forkful in her mouth when she remembered something. "Oh, by the way, guys, my sister so subtly reminded me not to forget to organise her hen's party. And you're all invited."

A cheer went around the table.

"Wait," Victor cried. "Am I invited, too? I'm not female."

"Of course, darling," Clarise asserted. "You're one of the girls. Unless you want to join the boys at Rick's buck's night instead," she teased.

"Oh, I would love to join the boys if I was allowed to ogle
them
instead of whatever strippers they'll be watching. But since that would make them uncomfortable, I think I better stick with you girls."

Clarise's eyes grew wide then turned to slits. "Strippers. I don't think I like the idea of some stripper gyrating in front of my Will," she said possessively. "I wonder if Mark would tell me what his plans are for his brother's buck's night."

"Wouldn't you be staring at some stripper pumping his body on Megan's night, Clarise?"

"No. Megan said she doesn't want them."

"What?! No strippers at Megan's hen's night?" Faye cried out. "Don't I deserve to look forward to at least one since I just got dumped?"

Clarise laughed, delighted that Faye could joke about her recent break-up. "Megan already told me what she wants for her hen's party. She said she wants all of us to go to a day spa and have a massage, then go to lingerie and sex toys shops so she can stock up on sexy and naughty things. Then we stay overnight in one room, wear our daggiest pyjamas, watch chick flicks, order room service and eat whatever we want. She was very specific."

"Hmm. That does sound nice," Jessa agreed.

"Okay, then. It does sound good. But no male bodies to eyeball at all?" Faye persisted.

"Well, we do have one option. Megan doesn't know about this but we can go to this art studio that hosts hen's parties and we can draw a male model with a live one posing for us. He's not a stripper in that sense but he'll still be nude," Clarise said with a mischievous smile.

"Will he be completely nude?"

"I'm not sure if he'll be covering his manhood with a cloth - or a leaf - but as I understand it, it will be a nude male model."

"All right! Let's do that," Faye exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Okay, I'll organise it. You know, I don't mind the boys going to a strip club as long as they don't go into one of those private rooms."

"What'll Will say if you show him your drawing of the nude male model?" Victor asked.

Clarise laughed. "I think he'll go berserk. He is the jealous type."

"So better not tell the boys what we'll be doing and better not ask what they'll be doing. Let's just all enjoy ourselves and keep the peace," Victor declared.

"There'll be nothing for you to hide from Evan anyway, because he'll also be with us, won't he?" Jessa asked Victor.

"Yes, that's true." Victor chuckled.

There was a lull in the conversation as they ate their lunch, until Faye turned to Jessa.

"So how was your weekend, Jess?"

"Oh, you were late so you didn't hear about it. Go ahead and tell her, Jess," Victor nudged.

Jessa's face beamed. "It was good. I spent the whole weekend with Rob. On Saturday, I went grocery shopping with him and cooked dinner for us. Turns out it's not often he has home-cooked meals so he really seemed to enjoy the dinner."

"Wow!" Faye arched her eyebrows up at Jessa. "Hey, you know what they say: the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"If that's really true then I'll cook for him every night," Jessa grinned.

"So you spent the whole weekend with him, huh? What did you do on Sunday?"

Jessa's whole face heated up. "We were just in his apartment, talking and stuff."

"Stuff!" Faye shouted with glee. "I bet there was a lot of
stuff
that went on. A few rounds of it, I imagine. So what's his signature move?"

"Faye!"

"How many times did he make you scream?"

"Faye!" Jessa's eyes were alight with laughter and fondness. She was glad to see that Faye hadn't lost her spunk, even with a broken heart.

"Okay, so just tell me, how good was it? Actually, let me rephrase that. How good was all of it?"

Jessa sighed with pure contentment. "More than great."

The attention of the people from the nearby tables was drawn to the laughter and clapping at theirs.

*******

Rob opened the door to his apartment all sweaty and ready for a shower. After his one hour of intense cardio and weights session at the gym downstairs, he was raring to start his working day. It was his routine to work out every weekday morning and he was pleased to get the same 'zoned in for work' response after the session even in a new environment - especially after he woke up that morning and reached for Jessa.

Of course, she wasn't there. It was a weekday. He'd never let himself wake up next to a woman on a weekday. It was too intimate.

He turned on his shower and ducked under it when the water temperature adjusted to what he wanted. He closed his eyes to shampoo his hair and his thoughts strayed to the day before, a Sunday morning, when he did wake up with Jessa. She went to have a shower when he finally allowed her to leave the bed. She had her eyes closed, with warm water streaming over her alluring body, and didn't notice when he opened the door. Her squeal was delightful, and so was the way her expression changed from surprise to desire when she saw he was naked in there with her.

He felt his cock swell at the memory and groaned in dismay. He didn't want to get aroused. He wanted to get ready for work and start being busy. The better he was at organising his time, the more opportunities he would have at following up his other Sydney leads. He wasn't there to just service two contracts. The whole purpose was to grow his Sydney client base.

He turned the cold water up and the hot water down and shivered.
He had to stop thinking of Jessa, especially while in the bathroom, or he'd make himself ill from his too-cold showers.

Rob made himself coffee and raisin toast and set up his laptop and client folders on the dining table. The apartment only had one bedroom and that was all the space he needed, so the dining table would also serve as his work desk for the duration of his stay. He would be out visiting clients and prospects for more than half the time anyway.

He sat on a chair and opened his laptop. As he waited for his emails to download, he looked up and stretched. His gaze went to the front door - the same door he braced himself against while Jessa had him in her mouth.

Fuck! Rob, you've got to stop this now. You won't see her for another five days.

He shook his head, unable to comprehend what was happening to him. He thought spending the whole weekend with Jessa would be enough to tide him over for a week. To the contrary, it made him want her more. God, she was hot and she made him burn. How the hell was he going to concentrate?

He got up and sat on the opposite side of the table so the door wasn't in his line of sight, then buried his head in work.

~~~~~~~

Rob spotted Will already seated at a corner table when he arrived at the coffee shop. When Will texted him for a coffee in the afternoon, he was more than glad to go. He'd been working non-stop for six hours, since eight-thirty in the morning, only stopping to heat up his lunch in the microwave.

Glancing at his watch, he checked if he was late. He was, but only by five minutes. Will was on time, as usual.

"Hey," he greeted his friend who stood up to give him a man-hug.

"Good to have you back in Sydney, Granger."

"Thanks. It's good to be back. Thanks for coming out in the middle of the afternoon. I know you're busy."

"Hey, this is your first day in Sydney. I want to make sure you're settling in all right. Have you got everything you need?"

"Yeah, thanks. Everything's fine at the moment. I'll let you know if there's something you can help me with. And this isn't my first day, you know. I arrived here Saturday."

"I know that. But since your weekend wasn't open to anyone else but Jessa, those days don't really count," Will smirked.

Rob snickered. "Well, I'm glad you didn't even try to call. You would have been an unwelcome interruption," he joked.

"
I
wouldn't have interrupted
my
weekend with Clarise to call you."

A server approached and they gave him their orders. When he left, Will prompted him. "So, had a good weekend?"

Rob inhaled deeply and folded his arms across his chest. "I want to ask you something. This will sound like a crazy-ass question coming from me, and I can already imagine you roaring with laughter. But it's driving me nuts, so I'll risk being teased mercilessly by you."

Will looked very intrigued. "Okay. I'll try not to laugh."

"Do you remember when you were a teenager and you were horny all the time?"

"Yeah," Will responded warily, an eyebrow lifting at the question.

"Have you ever felt like that in your thirties?"

A slow smile spread on Will's face. "Yes," he answered with certainty.

"What do you do to manage it when you can't be having sex with the woman you want every single hour?"

Will chuckled. "Do you know how bizarre your question is coming from you?"

He smiled. "Yup. I warned you."

"Man, you must be desperate for an answer."

"Yup."

"So you've never had this kind of reaction to a woman before? Just with Jessa?"

Rob felt his heart leap at the mention of Jessa's name and leaned back in his chair. He considered Will's question before answering. "I guess not. When I was a teenager, any girl would have done. This is different."

"It has to be Jessa," Will said in a factual tone.

"Well, yes. She's the one who arouses me, so it would have to be her."

Will leaned forward and looked intently at him. "You do know you could be in love with her."

"What? No, no, no. No way. No. No. This is a purely physical thing. It's intense but it's still just lust. I expect it to die down in a couple of months or so," he blurted out with more conviction than he felt.