Secret Moves (Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance 3) (12 page)

"Great! I mean, I won't have to worry about you not being able to concentrate on the job because you're missing someone in Melbourne. If you get the job, that is."

She chuckled. "Honestly, Blake. You are the biggest tease when it comes to offering a job."

Blake chortled. "I'm sorry," he said, before touching her arm to stop her from walking. "I promise I'm working hard to sort this stuff out. If I can't, then no one can substitute for me while I'm away for the musical."

She looked at him uncertainly. "Geez, Blake. I hope you get everything sorted for your sake. Please don't worry about what I think. I know you'll have to make the decision that's best for your business."

He smiled. "I want to give the job to you. That way I'll have the opportunity to see if you'll be suitable for the Melbourne role. Just give me some time. I'll find a way. Don't worry your pretty little head about it."

As they proceeded toward their destination, a nagging feeling bothered Kris. Was Blake interested in her? She hoped he wasn't keen to hire her just because he fancied her.

"Okay. So we're all on the same page with everything?" Trey asked Dylan and Adam as they wrapped up their meeting.

"Yup," the two guys answered.

"Great. Anything else we need to talk about?"

"Yes," Dylan said. "I've been trying to hold my tongue about this for the last hour as I want to get this meeting out of the way first. Now that we're done, let me get Adam up to speed with what shocked me this morning."

"What?" Adam asked, his eager expression evident from the computer screen.

Trey took a deep breath. He knew this was coming. He was surprised Dylan hadn't grilled him straight after Kris left.

"Well," Dylan drawled, "When I rang up Trey earlier this morning to arrange this meeting, I said to him I'd be arriving in twenty minutes. Lo and behold, he told me to give him an hour.
One hour
. Adam, how much time did you need to drag yourself out of bed and have a shower so we could talk about a multi-million dollar deal?"

"I would have been ready in two minutes," Adam quipped. "Why would I even need to take a shower when only the two of you were going to see me?"

Dylan snickered. "Well, since I was coming here, I thought Trey might want to at least brush his teeth, so I thought twenty minutes was plenty of time."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Dyl. Get to the point," Trey said in resignation.

"Yeah, what is this all about?" Adam queried.

"You want to tell Adam about it?" Dylan asked Trey, arching an eyebrow.

"You started it, you finish it," Trey responded.

"Okay," Dylan said, facing the webcam so Adam could see his full facial expression. "I walked in here and discovered that not only had Trey broken his own Rule Number One again, but he also broke Rule Number Two."

Adam gasped in surprise. "He brought a woman to his apartment again? She stayed the night? Holy hell. What's happened to you, bro?" he asked Trey.

"What do you mean what's happened to me?" Trey responded with a frown. "I thought I've made it clear to the both of you that Kris and I are having a three-week fling."

"Yes, I get that. But after our discussion the other day about her, I was surprised you took it even further," Dylan said animatedly. "Trey, I sincerely hope you're not leading her on. Kris is not just anyone. She's my future wife's and my sister-in-law's best friend."

"You've proposed to Ari already?"

"Not yet. But you know what I mean," Dylan said. "And don't change the topic."

Trey raked his hands through his hair. How was he going to explain himself when he didn't fully understand what was going on either?

"Dyl, I don't think Kris is interested in me for the long-term. You know what she's like. She's very frank and open. She said she was only after a fling and I believe her."

Dylan sighed. "Okay, granted that's the case, but what's with you breaking your rules?"

"What's wrong with me breaking my rules? They're my rules to break. But since you guys are so interested, I'll have you know I did it for convenience. And don't forget, Kris will be leaving in just a little over two weeks. She's not some Sydney chick who could knock on my door at any time," he said in heated defence.

He felt a twisting in his gut at his words. Kris would be gone soon. Why did that upset him?

"I just don't know what to make of this," Dylan said, shaking his head.

Neither do I, Dyl. Neither do I,
Trey thought to himself as he took a sip of water to hide his confusion.

"So, what now?" Adam asked. "I suppose that when all of us are together with the girls, including Kris, we just don't say anything? Act like it's no big deal?"

Trey shrugged. "Yeah. Why should it be any different?"

Dylan smirked and stared at him with watchful eyes. "It's different because I didn't know where to look when you kissed each other goodbye this morning. You say you're not together, but you acted like you were."

"Wait, wait," Adam piped in. "They kissed each other goodbye? How?"

"Lovey-dovey, mushy, tender kiss goodbye," Dylan replied.

Trey gasped. "Hey, it wasn't like that," he protested.

"Wasn't it?" Dylan asked, his eyes narrowed in challenge. "That was what it looked like to me."

Adam laughed out loud. "The great Trey Andrews falling for a chick. I've been waiting for the day you eat each and every single word you've said about how you've become immune to love."

Trey sagged in his chair and groaned. "You guys are just annoying the shit out of me."

Dylan chuckled. "We're obviously pushing a big button here, dude. Come on, it's us. Out with it!"

Trey sighed, rubbing his hands on his face. "Look, I'm seriously attracted to Kris. I'm not denying that. But how do I know this is not just a passing fancy? There had been women in the past that I've been really attracted to, and you both know that after a couple of weeks or so my interest went downhill fast. I just don't want to take this any further than a casual fling if I'm just going to disappoint her afterwards."
Or if she's just going to disappoint me.

"So what do you plan to do?" Dylan asked.

"Just enjoy her company. If it leads to something more serious down the track, then so be it. But I don't want to
purposely
get us to a serious stage. Besides, at this point in time, it's just my dick dictating my actions.
It
wants Kris bad."

"So all that lovey-dovey kiss goodbye didn't mean anything?" Dylan pressed.

"I blame the afterglow of a great night of sex."

"What if in the next few days you realise that—shock, horror—you want something more than casual? What would you do then?"

Trey fell silent as he thought about Dylan's question. Was he ready to become vulnerable again with a woman? Was he now open to a relationship, or at least the
possibility
of it?

He allowed himself to look back at the short time he'd had with Kris and the reality surprised him. There was a great deal of passion between them, but there was also just as much tenderness. Could he fall in love without being aware that he was in the process of it?

Whoa. That was a scary thought. But it dawned on him that he might not have any choice but to go with the flow. He'd gone this far with Kris without even noticing it.

"How do you fight it if you don't want to fall for someone?" he asked out loud.

"In my experience, I don't think you can," Dylan answered quietly.

"Well, then, that's the answer. If I can't fight it then I won't. Mind you, it remains to be seen where exactly Kris and I are heading," he said with an unconcerned lift of his shoulders, wanting to make light of the situation. "Anyway, let's put the spotlight back on you, Dyl. Since today is your last day of living alone in bliss, how about we go out tonight and do a pub crawl?"

Dylan laughed. "You better save that for my buck's night, bro. I'm going to Ari's to help her move some important stuff that she wanted to transport herself; so, unfortunately, I'll be busy tonight."

"Oh, you guys need any help?"

"I'm not sure. The girls said it's all under control."

"I'll go help, anyway," Trey offered.

"Me too," Adam said.

"Hey, that would be great, guys. Thanks," Dylan said with a grateful grin.

Trey smiled at Dylan's expression. His best friend of over fifteen years seemed really excited about living with Ari. Just a few months ago, Dylan was the type of guy who'd run the other way if he saw a relationship coming. Funny how things could change just like that.

If Dylan had experienced a transformation, could it happen to him too? Would he want it to happen?

*******

Trey was about to press the buzzer to Ari's apartment when he spotted a woman busily stuffing items into the apartment block's recycling bins. Even though the person had her back turned, he could tell it was Kris. He'd know her anywhere.

Quietly, he approached, not wanting to alert her to his presence. When he was close enough he poked her lower back with his forefingers.

She yelped in surprise, dropping some loose papers she was holding and turning around with eyes wide as saucers. "Trey! What are you doing here? You scared me half to death!"

"I've come to help out," he said with a wide grin, happy to see her.

"Oh, really? Good! There's actually not much to pack anymore. We were just about to start cleaning up inside so there wouldn't be much to do after the place gets emptied tomorrow, but Dylan insisted on getting cleaners in instead. But it's good you're here. We're having pizza delivered to celebrate Ari's last night in this place. She's invited some of her neighbours."

"Sounds good," he replied, helping her finish her task.

As they walked back into the building, he casually draped his arm around Kris' shoulders. Just that morning he'd seen her and made love to her, yet he still had missed her—a lot. He felt a tightening in his groin and was sorry they wouldn't be alone tonight. She just turned him on all the freaking time.

He stopped her in the middle of the stairs and placed a lingering kiss on her lips. He just couldn't help himself.

"I missed you," he breathed after he was done kissing her. He didn't mean to say it out loud, but what the heck, it was already out of his mouth.

"I missed you, too," she responded with that happy smile he loved seeing on her face.

They resumed walking up the stairs and he slinked his arm around Kris' waist, squeezing her tight against him. He sighed contentedly as she copied his gesture.

He was aware that something was shifting in his world. He didn't know what, why, or how, but the truth was, he didn't want to look deeper. He had a feeling it would scare the hell out of him if he did.

*******

"Happy birthday, Linda," Trey said, cordially greeting Dylan's mother with a kiss as he handed her a present.

"Wow, thank you, Trey. It's so nice of you to come and join us. It's been a long time since I've last seen you," Linda replied, hugging him hard and sounding pleasantly surprised to see him at the door.

It was Dylan who had invited him and Adam to come and help celebrate his mother's sixtieth birthday. He now wondered if he was even on Linda's guest list.

A grinning Dylan appeared. "Hey, Trey. Glad you could make it."

"Of course," he replied as Linda motioned for them to follow her to the vast backyard.

He pulled Dylan aside. "Did your mum actually ask you to invite me and Adam?" he whispered. "It didn't look like she was expecting me."

Dylan chuckled. "Part of our surprise for Mum is to invite more people. We couldn't give her a surprise birthday party because she was already fully expecting she would have one. But she thought it was only going to be family and her close friends only."

"That's nice. Is Kris here already?"

"No. I don't think she's coming," Dylan said.

"Really?" Trey asked in complete shock. "She told me last night she was. She said she and Ari were going to help Sam and your sister with the food for the party. Apparently, Sam had been grinning from ear to ear in excitement about it."

Dylan chortled. "Well, well. For two people only having a fling, you sure know a lot about what the other is doing on a daily basis."

Trey flushed. Yes, he went red, and the fact that he did made him even redder.
Argh!

He and Kris had indeed been sharing a lot with each other. It wasn't a conscious decision on his part to suddenly open up to her with things he only normally shared with his best friends, but it just happened. With Kris, it just seemed right and natural.

"Well," Dylan drawled. "Kris told me your mother's having an engagement party on Monday night. Strange time to hold a party."

"I know. Don't ask me why. I don't even bother asking."

"Right. Kris also said you're taking her. For two people only having a casual affair…"

"I didn't want to be stuck having to chat with someone I didn't want to talk to, so I thought it would be a good idea to bring a date with me," he justified.

"So, you two are dating now, huh?" Dylan said with a Cheshire cat grin.

"Uh, we haven't discussed anything of the sort. We're just going with the flow."

Dylan patted his shoulder. "Well, you have just over a week to figure out where you want to take this, bro. You'll need to talk about it before she goes home."

He sighed. "Yes, I know. But hopefully, she gets that three-month teaching contract. That'll be good."

"Ooh, now you don't want her to go yet."

"It's not that," he tried to deny. "She just really, really wants it. When her idiot of an ex mismanaged their studio, a number of their supporters and clients got angry at them for broken promises and delays in returning pre-paid fees. Working in Blake's studio will go a long way toward re-establishing her reputation in the industry. It's really important to her."

Dylan looked at him pointedly. "If you're having this kind of conversation with her, and you care about what happens to her career, and you still think the two of you are just having a fling, you need to have your head examined."