Heart Robber (Lifestyle by Design Book 2) (7 page)

"Tomorrow night? Is she going?" he asked in a strangled voice.

"I don't know. You sound funny. What's wrong?"

"Fuck if I know." He exhaled harshly. "I'm so goddamn attracted to Jessa I can't think straight. I don't want her going out with other men but I also don't want to be in a relationship with her. Man, I have a serious need to get laid."

"So fucking get laid then, Rob. But don't mess with my girlfriend's best friend."

Rob looked out his office window and ran a hand over his face. "I can't seem to get off with anyone else."

"What?" The shock in Will's voice was evident. "You mean 'Sex God' Rob has performance problems?" Will started to laugh. Evidently, the thought of him not being able to perform in bed was just too funny.

"Shut up! It's not like that."

Will laughed harder.

"Matthews, shut up and listen to me. I haven't taken any woman to bed lately, that's what. I just haven't tried. I want Jessa and I'm waiting to have her first before … I move on to the next one." He shook his head at the stupidity of his logic. "Shit, that's crazy."

Will had calmed down. "So what are you going to do?"

"Go pick up tonight and get laid," he growled. "So I better finish up here and have an early start to my hunt."

"Okay, then. Good luck."

"You know I don't need luck picking up chicks."

"I mean good luck in getting it up." Will was laughing again.

"Fuck off," Rob barked good-naturedly.

*******

Will sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin. His amusement had died down and he thought about what Rob had confessed.

'I can't seem to get off with anyone else.'

He understood what that meant. He wouldn't be able to get off with anyone else either, wouldn't even be able to get his dick hard if it wasn't Clarise he was with. But the only reason that was the case was because he didn't want to be with anyone else. He was in love with Clarise.

Holy shit. Rob--in love? With Jessa?

He resolved to get to the bottom of this.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jessa stood nervously outside the speed dating venue, half-hoping she didn't have to go in. What if no one picked her tonight? There were at least fourteen other single girls there for the single guys to choose from. But her friends seemed pretty sure she would have at least one date after this.

She wasn't really keen to be matched up with anyone at the moment. It was just the thought of Rob possibly spending his sexual energy on some other woman in Melbourne that made her agree to go. She wasn't going to wallow and wait for him.

"It's not fair that you're all going to have a nice dinner together and I'll be by myself in there," she complained to Clarise and Faye.

The two women, along with Will, Victor and Evan were going out to dinner together at the restaurant directly downstairs from the venue while they waited for her to finish.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll have just as much fun in there as we will out here," Faye consoled her. "In fact, you'll have more fun than Clarise and Victor, since they won't be able to openly check out all the single guys that'll be prowling around here tonight."

"You shouldn't tease Will," Clarise said with a smile.

"Your boyfriend's just too possessive, Clarise," Faye countered. "Just because I said we'll be helping Jess check out single men doesn't mean you'll let yourself get picked up by one of them."

"Well, I kind of like it that he wants to be here and let everyone know I'm his," Clarise responded with a contented sigh. "Anyway, has Steve called to say if he will be able to join us tonight? I'm sure he'd want to keep an eye on you, too."

"No. He's definitely not coming." There was a hard edge to Faye's voice that was noticed by her friends.

"Is everything all right?" Clarise asked.

Faye shrugged. "He's just been really busy with work lately. We've hardly had any time together in the last three weeks and now he has to go back to Adelaide again for another week. Apparently their turnover there has increased by more than fifty percent since Steve has been overseeing that branch, so his boss loves sending him there."

"Oh," Jessa cried, putting a hand on Faye's arm. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. And don't you turn the tables on me. This night's about you, not me! Anyway, here come Victor and Evan."

Jessa and Clarise exchanged concerned looks before turning to their approaching buddies.

They exchanged kisses with the two men just as a lady with a clipboard came out of the room, ready to usher in the speed dating participants.

Well-dressed men and women who were milling around earlier started queuing for the entrance. Some of them were very pleasing to the eye.

Victor turned to Evan. "So would you have been jealous if I didn't invite you to join us for dinner?

"Last time I looked this wasn't a gay speed dating event. But I would have been mad if I missed out on having dinner with the hunky Will Matthews."

Victor gave him a mock pout.

Evan chuckled. "Where's Will, anyway?"

"He's on his way. You can ogle him, but no touching, okay?" Clarise teased Evan then turned to Jessa. "Time to go in, Jess. Remember to have fun. Just enjoy the experience."

"Okay. Wish me luck!"

As Jessa entered the venue, she couldn't help but hope that tonight would be a good night for meeting a potential boyfriend. She resolutely pushed away the picture of Rob that flashed in her mind, reminding herself he was not in the market for relationships.

~~~~~~~

"Hmm, I don't know. I'm not sure about him either," Jessa said indecisively and chuckled as Clarise and Victor rolled their eyes. They were having lunch in her office, going over her match results from last night's speed date, which were emailed to her not too long ago. To her surprise, four out of the five men she selected also chose her, so she ended up with four potential dates.

"If you're not sure about any one of these men, why did you choose them?" Clarise asked.

She shrugged. "I knew you guys were going to hassle me if I didn't pick anyone so I chose five guys I thought were nice enough."

"So if they were good enough last night, what makes them not good enough today?" Victor queried as he bit into his sandwich with gusto.

"I don't know. I just can't remember what they look like, I guess."

"Well, you really only talked to them for about six minutes or so. It's no wonder you don't remember what they look like. Why don't you just date all of them and do your culling process after you've been out with each of them at least once? You said they were all nice enough," Clarise suggested.

Jessa thought for a second. "Yeah, I guess I can do that."

"Woohoo!" Victor raised a fist in the air in triumph. "Our Jess is gonna have fun dating four different men!"

Their laughter rang in the room just as Jessa's phone did.

"Hi" she greeted the caller.

Clarise and Victor ate their lunch quietly as they listened to her side of the conversation.

"I'm good, thanks. You? … Oh, really? … Um, yeah, that would be great … Tonight? Victor invited me to have dinner at his mum's place. His mum loves cooking for other people … Are you sure? … Okay, then … Bye."

A small smile she failed to hide played on her lips as she looked back at the expectant faces of her friends. "Make that five."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm seeing Rob again. Tomorrow night."

*******

Rob went through the rest of his day in high spirits. When Jessa agreed to see him tomorrow night and said she would be with Victor and his mum tonight, his mood lifted considerably. That meant she hadn't planned on going out with someone she met on her speed date - for the next two nights, at least.

He would have flown to Sydney today if he could, and he would have seen her as soon as he landed, but he had so much to do that he wasn't able to clear his schedule. Last night, as he lay in bed chasing sleep that kept eluding him, he decided he wanted to double-check the serviced apartment he was going to stay at in Sydney. He'd seen the place already, but just to make sure it was what he really wanted, he thought it was important enough to make a special trip to Sydney to check it out again.

Now, that wasn't a crazy reason to fly to Sydney for the weekend, was it? After all, he would be living there for four months. He was entitled to make sure he was happy with the place, wasn't he? No, seeing Jessa wasn't the primary reason he was going to Sydney for the weekend.

He picked up the phone to call Will. He needed to make sure Andrea would no longer be in Sydney when he got there. If she was he would have to take precautions so she didn't end up meddling in his plans with Jessa.

Will answered his phone on the first ring. "Hey, Rob. It's good you called. I've been meaning to call you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I've been wanting to know how things went with your get-laid mission the other night."

He groaned silently. "Well," he drawled, "I was with a blonde for most of the other night."

"And last night?"

"Give me a break!" he laughed.

"So did Blondie have a good time?"

"Oh, Blondie appreciated it big time. Couldn't thank me enough." That was true. He spent that night with Scott, a client-turned-friend. He gave him two hours of complimentary consulting time over dinner. But he'd let Will misinterpret his words. He didn't want to give his unsympathetic friend further cause to laugh at his expense. Plus, he wouldn't be able to explain why he didn't go out on a hunt because he didn't know why, either.

"Okay, then. That clears things up a bit," Will said.

"Sure," he replied dismissively, wanting to get to the real reason for his call. "I do want to ask you something, Will."

"Yeah?"

"Did Andrea say she was coming back to Melbourne tomorrow?"

"Yeah, she did. Actually, she asked me yesterday if I wanted to have dinner with her tonight, but I told her Clarise and I already had other plans."

"Good. I'll be in Sydney for the weekend and I really didn't want to deal with her there."

"Yes, I know."

"You know I'll be there? How do you know?"

"Clarise mentioned you're seeing Jessa tomorrow night."

He scrunched his face.
Do they tell each other everything?

"So is that the reason why you're coming to Sydney, Rob? To see Jessa?"

"No," he denied. "I'm checking the apartment I'll be staying at for four months. I got those Sydney contracts I was after."

"Wow, congrats! That's great news," Will said sincerely, then continued his interrogation. "So, this thing you have with Jessa … it's just physical, right?"

"Yes. She seriously turns me on and I just want us to have some fun together."

"Okay, good. Both of you are clear on where you stand with each other."

"Were you worried I hadn't been upfront with her? I told her in no uncertain terms I'm not after a serious relationship. She seems okay with it."

"It wasn't Jessa I was worried about. I was worried about you!" Will said with a laugh.

"Me? Why on earth would you be worried about me?"

"When you said you couldn't get off with anyone else, impossible as it seemed, I thought you might have caught the love bug. Now that wouldn't have been good, as Jessa all of a sudden has all these men lined up for dates. But it's just lust for each other you have to satisfy and that's it, right?"

"Right," he answered with a conviction he didn't feel.

"Good. So, we'll see you when you get here."

"Yup. See ya."

Rob sat unmoving on his chair for many minutes after his conversation with Will ended. It bothered him that Jessa was seeing other men. It bothered him a hell of a lot.

He hated feeling like that. He gave himself until the end of the weekend to burn out his desire for Jessa and then quickly move on.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jessa checked herself again on the full-length mirror.
She still couldn't believe what she was seeing. She finally caved in to Faye and Clarise's cajoling to have a make-over. Earlier that day, they took her to Faye's hair stylist, where she had a hair treatment and a style cut. She was astounded by the difference her new hairstyle made. Her crowning glory, still dead straight but now layered, framed her face in a flattering manner. Then they took her to a beauty salon, where she had a facial that made her skin glow. She even had a bonus private make-up application class. She was so taken aback by her new look that she also agreed to go shopping for new outfits. She came back home with five new dresses - one for each of her upcoming dates - and a new pair of heels. She had never spent so much on herself before in one day. But when she looked at the pretty - yes, she had to admit, pretty - woman staring back at her from the mirror, she had to agree it was worth it.

A slow smile curved her lips.
Yes, I'm worth it. The JAB - the Jessa Allen Booster that my friends so tirelessly gave me - is finally working.

She checked her watch and her nervousness increased. In five minutes or so, Rob would arrive at her place and they would use her car to go to dinner. She'd been ready for more than half an hour, considering she'd been preparing since that morning.

Deep breaths, Jess. You wouldn't want to ruin your fresh new look by getting all jittery and sweaty in your new, expensive, strapless red dress.
Before she could stop her thoughts, she added,
You'd want to be sweaty out of it - with Rob.

She blushed even as she smiled at her naughty thoughts.

Her security intercom rang loudly, making her heart race. She took one very deep inhale and slowly exhaled before she moved to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jess. It's Rob."

"Hi, Rob. I'm ready. Do you need to come up first?"

"Yes. May I?"

"Sure. I'm on level three. Turn left as you exit the lifts." She buzzed him in.

A minute later, she heard him knocking. Anticipation filled her as the butterflies in her stomach went crazy.
Calm down, this isn't your first date with Rob.
She went to answer the door.

Rob looked sinfully handsome as he stood before her by the threshold, carrying a white box and a small overnight bag.