Ready to Love Again (Sweet Romance #2) (9 page)

His gaze pinned me to the spot. I couldn’t fight the instinct to squirm.

“I’ll let you get to work.” Chase seemed to let up on the stare and turned on his heel to walk in the opposite direction.

I walked into my office and kicked the door shut behind me. I really was happy he’d got the promotion and with everyone from work going for drinks, I would look rude by not at least showing my face and having one drink before calling it a night.

I sat at my desk and pulled out my Kindle. I logged onto my computer and downloaded a new book I had noticed in my email yesterday. This one had been submitted, rather than me trying to acquire it.

As I sat reading
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
by Michaela Andrews, there was a knock at the door.

Chase opened my door and walked in with a coffee in hand.

“I thought you might be in need of one of these,” he said as he placed the steaming mug on my desk.

“Thanks.” I didn’t know what else to say to him. Things were getting more awkward the longer I left it before talking to him.

We really needed to clear the air but I couldn’t bring myself to broach the subject. Thankfully he didn’t seem to know how to talk about it either, so I was free to bury my head ostrich style a little longer.

“You free for lunch?”

Did I detect a note of hope in his voice?

“Sorry but no. I’m going to the bank. I’m going to purchase a car after work.”

“Oh!” was his only reply.

“I found a great little car for sale online and I went to see it yesterday. I promised I’d swing by tonight to pick it up.”

Why did I feel the need to explain myself? Why did that look on Chase’s face hit me where it hurt?

“That’s great. What car?”

“It’s a midnight blue Peugeot RCZ. It has silver trim around the top. I love it.”

I pulled up a picture on my phone and showed it to him.

“That’s a nice car. How many miles has it done? How old is it? How much are they asking for it?”

“Umm…”

To be honest, I hadn’t noticed the mileage. But how did I tell Chase that without sounding like a moron? Of course I should have checked that out.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to answer. Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude!”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…well…I made a bit of a cock-up, I guess. I didn’t look at the mileage.”

“That’s okay, if you found it on the internet, it should say on the site.”

I loaded up the page I had been looking at the day before and showed Chase.

“Well it says 12,010 miles and only a year old, which sounds about right to me. Why is she selling it if it’s so new?”

“She said it was a gift from her ex-husband. Turns out he was screwing his secretary and the car was a guilt purchase.”

“Oh, right.”

“Yeah, I’m lucky she’s not asking much for it. She said it’s not about the money, she just wants rid of the car and might treat herself and her sister to a girl’s only holiday.”

“I agree, ten thousand is a great price for a car so new with so few miles on the clock.”

“I took it for a test drive and it drives beautifully. It will actually be the nicest car I’ve ever owned. Next on my list of things to do was to buy a house, but I was sick of getting cabs everywhere.”

At that moment, someone knocked on my door.

“Come in,” I called to the welcome intruder.

“Hi, Alyssa.” Lexi walked in. “Oh, hi, Chase,” she practically purred as she noticed him sat on the edge of my desk.

“Hi, Lexi,” he replied.

I looked at the two of them and noticed something in the air. It could be called lust, at least from where Lexi was standing. Chase didn’t exactly seem unenthused to see her too.

I watched Lexi smooth down non-existent wrinkles in her dress, then noticed exactly how short that dress was. I wasn’t sure it was appropriate for work, but by the look on Chase’s face, he didn’t mind.

“Was there something you needed?” I asked, my throat constricting, feeling as though the air was in short supply.

Why did I feel sick at the thought of the two of them together? What did it matter to me? They’d make a nice looking couple. But the thought of that had my hands sweating and my pulse racing.

“Just wondered if you fancied a drink after work?” Lexi asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry, I’m picking my car up tonight!” Was I ever glad I had an excuse!

“Oh, okay, never mind. Some other time maybe?” she asked, but eyed Chase instead of looking at me.

“Yeah, maybe.”

I needed her out of my office. I couldn’t handle feeling jealous. I had no right to feel that way, Chase wasn’t mine and I didn’t want him to be. Did I? Ethan had talked about me finding love after he had gone, but was I ready for dating and all the things that led to? No, I couldn’t be. Ethan hadn’t been gone long. Two years next month, to be precise. I couldn’t possibly move on so soon, if at all.

“Okay,” Lexi said as she turned to leave.

Was it my imagination or did she walk with a little more sway, knowing Chase was in the room? It could be those skyscraper high-heels, I guess, but I thought there was more to it than that.

The air seemed to clear with Lexi’s departure and with that, Chase seemed to come back to himself, as though her mere presence had transported him somewhere else. Who knew, maybe it had! Maybe he’d been thinking about what it would be like to have those long legs of hers wrapped around him.

I had to stop thinking that way. It was none of my business and I really didn’t want to keep envisioning the two of them together. It was mildly disturbing, at best.

“So, the car…If you need anyone to give you a second opinion, my friend is a mechanic. I’m sure I could get him to come and take a look, he owes me a favour or two.” Chase smiled at me.

My breathing hitched at the sight of those dimples of his.

“That would be good, thanks.”

“I’ll give him a call at lunchtime. For now, I’d best get back to work. Julieanne may demote me again if I don’t work for a living.” He laughed and stood from my desk.

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it,” I said as I watched him stride across my office.

“What are friends for? Right?”

Friends? Why did that word hurt more than a sucker punch?

***

Chase came by my office as I was getting ready to leave for the day. He introduced me to his friend, the mechanic—the
n
Daniel offered to drive me to fetch the car and give it a once over.

Kat made me a coffee while he looked over the car.

I’d apologised for bringing him with me, but she didn’t mind at all.

While Daniel checked the car over, we chatted in her lounge. She asked what I did for a living and it turned out she worked for another publisher. We had a lot in common and even exchanged phone numbers. Funny how you can make new friends in any kind of circumstance.

When Daniel had finished, he told me it was in perfect condition and agreed that it was a great car and too good a price to let it go.

I paid Kat and she handed me the keys. The smile on my face was a mile wide as I got behind the wheel of my new car. I finally had my own transport and could stop paying out for cabs everywhere. I won’t lie, it felt great.

I waved to Kat as I backed out of her drive. I plugged in my iPod and selected
Morrissey’s Greatest Hits
to listen to as I drove home.

Clark was waiting at my door for me. He was almost as excited about the car as I was.

“This car is so sweet. I love the colour, the interior is perfect. It’s a bonus to have an iPod connection fitted too,” Clark’s words came rushing out.

“Yeah, it was a great price too. I’m in love with it. Now just to find a house that’s as much of a perfect fit.”

“Have you had any joy searching online?”

“I’ve found a couple of possibilities. One is over in Wentworth, and one is not far from work.”

“You know I’m coming with you right?”

“You are?”

“Of course. How do you go house-hunting without your best friend?” He laughed.

“Hey, I didn’t make a bad choice of car!” I tried to defend myself and my decisions.

“Yeah, but I was there the day you took it for a spin. I should be there when you take the house for a spin too!”

“Yeah, okay,” I caved at the big smile on his face.

“So, what’s next on the ‘to-do list’ after a car and a house?”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe the white picket fence and rose bushes and a yappy little dog.” I couldn’t help the fits of giggles that overtook me.

“I can help you find the perfect yappy little dog. My sister breeds dogs.”

We fell about giggling like two teenagers. I didn’t know what was next on my list. Once I found a house, I had it all really, didn’t I? I mean, I have a good job, a nice car, and when I find a house, my ‘to-do list’ is complete. Isn’t it?

Chapter Twelve

Friday came and I spent all day trying to focus on anything except going for a drink after work. I knew plenty of people from the office would be there to congratulate Chase, but I didn’t know if I could be in such close proximity to him. I needed to get a handle on the jealousy I had no right feeling.

Of course, I didn’t get my own way of not going, because Clark nagged me into submission.

I reluctantly got ready and told Clark I’d pick him up. I wouldn’t be drinking, so I decided to drive us to The Mermaid.

I knocked on Clark’s door and was greeted with a wolf-whistle. I didn’t think I’d made that much of an effort. I’d applied light, natural looking makeup to enhance my eyes and lips and I had put on my favourite blue off-the-shoulder sheath dress and a pair of silver stilettos, though I couldn’t drive in them, so I had flat shoes on at that moment.

I wasn’t one for gaudy, chunky, bright, costume jewellery so I was wearing an elegant white gold chain with a tanzanite pendant around my neck. I also wore matching earrings and a delicate white gold and tanzanite bracelet that didn’t match but looked good. Ethan had bought them for me for my twenty-first birthday and I cherished them dearly.

“Looking good tonight,” Clark said as he stepped aside for me to enter the house.

“Thank you. You look good yourself. Are you hoping to meet a girl?” I teased.

Clark was happy being single. He’d been single for a year since a serious relationship had ended. She had given him no reason for leaving and even now, a year on, he still hurts.

I’ve hinted he should join a dating website, but he rejected that idea outright. “Internet dating is for liars and cheats,” I remembered him saying. I had laughed but he was deadly serious. He said that people are never what they seem. I told him he’d watched too many episodes of
Catfis
h
—
a show where people meet people on the internet, but most lie about who they really are.

Tonight Clark was wearing dark blue jeans, a black button down shirt and his customised Batman Converse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wear any other style of shoe. He has so many pairs of Converse, you’d think he was a woman with the size of his collection.

“Nearly ready,” he said as he retrieved his aftershave bottle from the table and began to apply it.

“It doesn’t start for another twenty minutes,” I said, looking at my watch.

“We don’t want to be the first to arrive,” Clark said as he put the aftershave away.

“No, I guess not.”

“So, should we have a drink here before we go?” he asked, making his way to the kitchen.

“Can do, but I’m only drinking pop,” I said as I followed.

***

When we got to the pub, the party was in full swing. There was laughter ringing out before we even entered the room. I should’ve been prepared for what I saw, but it made my jaw hit the floor all the same.

Lexi was stood at the bar next to Chase and her finely manicured hands were all over him. She had one hand on his bicep and the other was twirling her hair the way all girls do when they’re flirting. She was laughing raucously at something he was saying. Her head flew back as musical laughter floated from her beautiful—if fake tanned—throat.

An instant pang of jealousy hit me like a brick and I stumbled back slightly, wanting to go back out before entering the room fully. Chase hadn’t seen me yet, I could make good my escape. I could feign illness and tell Clark I didn’t feel up to it after all.

But I turned to say something to Clark and heard my name being called. Too late. I’d been spotted.

I looked in Chase’s direction and saw him striding towards us. Fortunately, Lexi had stayed put.

I watched the graceful way Chase’s lithe body moved. He looked good in a pair of dark jeans and a black sweater. The way his sweater clung to his body, you could see the definition of his biceps, and boy, did it look like he worked out.

His long legs looked good in jeans. Who was I kidding, he looked good in anything. But these jeans in particular looked like they had been made specifically for the contours of his body.

“Glad you could make it,” Chase said as he shook hands with Clark. “Alyssa, you look beautiful, as always,” he said as he came close and kissed my cheek.

I inhaled and could smell his familiar cologne. I recognised it as Jean-Paul Gaultier’s
Le Male
.

The feel of his soft lips against my cheek made me shudder involuntarily. It was only slight, but enough for him to notice.

“Are you cold?” he asked and rubbed his hand up and down my arm.

The fine hairs on my arm stood on end as goose bumps broke out across my skin.

“A little.” I laughed as I moved further from the door to cover up for my traitorous body.

“Let me get you a drink,” he said as he led us to the bar.

Clark had a pint of lager while I remained on Coke due to driving.

We mingled with people from my office, doing our rounds, saying hello to everyone. I couldn’t help but notice that Lexi had reattached herself to Chase.

I mentally chastised myself for caring. Lexi and Chase would make a good looking couple. It just made me wonder why he had kissed me if he was interested in her. She was obviously single and interested…I would never be able to figure men out.

I had only ever been in a relationship with Ethan and he had been very direct in making it known that he was interested in me. He had never used me to get the attention of someone else. But then, thinking about it a little more, Chase couldn’t have used me in any way, because neither of us—to my knowledge—had told Lexi of our kiss.

I would do best just to forget about that kiss and go back to a purely platonic friendship and working relationship.

But how to forget what those full, soft lips had tasted like, felt like pressed against mine. I couldn’t forget the way he had softly urged my lips to open and allow his tongue entry to my mouth. Had I imagined the urgency with which he had moved his mouth against mine? The subtle hint of peppermint that lingered on his warm breath? The way that for a moment, everything else around me had blurred into non-existence as the kiss became the only thing I could think about…I had to lock those memories away. They would only interfere with me trying to get on with my life.

Clark and I sat at a vacant table and I breathed a sigh of relief as I took the weight off my feet. The price women paid for vanity, wearing stilettos that pinched their feet and made the balls of the feet so sore that only a soak in hot water would relieve them.

“Are you okay?” Clark asked quietly.

“Yes, of course. I’m just a little tired.” I gave him what I thought was a weary smile.

“We can go whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m good, we can at least stay for another drink. It’s a celebration after all, I wouldn’t want to be a party pooper,” I replied as I looked over at Chase.

He was still at the bar and Lexi was all over him like a rash. Internally I debated the pros and cons of telling her how pathetic she looked offering it up on a silver platter. I wanted to tell her that if he wanted her, he should have to work for it. But it wasn’t my place to say any of these things, at least not out loud.

In my honest opinion, Lexi looked like she had had one drink too many already. She was swaying a little where she stood. Maybe I should offer her a lift home, but if she was likely to be sick, I didn’t want it to be in my new car. Selfish of me, I know.

One of the girls from work came over to chat and I introduced her to Clark. I saw her eyes light up as she took in the sight of this good looking man in his button down shirt. He smiled at her as he drank in the sight of this gorgeous woman with seemingly never ending legs.

Jenny really was pretty and I could imagine setting her up with Clark. She was sweet, genuine, and very down to Earth. Nothing airheaded about her.