Will to Love (3 page)

Easy, you're here for business, not pleasure.
 
And Clarise is a no-go zone.
 
She's your friends' family.

Will sighed.
 
In any case, this was his chance to be introduced to the lovely lady.
 
Rick's Aunt Bonnie and Uncle George were his clients.
 

Taking another deep breath, Will walked to where the two women were.

"William!" Bonnie Smithson cried as she saw him approach, "how wonderful to see you here!"
 

Clarise turned her head towards the person Bonnie greeted and her eyes widened with appreciation.
 
Wow!

"Hello, Bonnie, how are you?" the very-handsome-in-a-rugged-kind-of-way man with dark brown hair and the most arresting hazel eyes greeted Bonnie back.

"Oh, I'm great, thank you, but I certainly can't wait until February when we go to that wonderful holiday in Europe that the lovely Leila in your office is organising for us.
 
She is doing a wonderful job, by the way".

"That's good to know, Bonnie.
 
So everything is to your satisfaction?"

"Oh, yes, definitely.
 
You certainly know how to give your clients a wonderful experience even before they start their actual holiday," Bonnie said sincerely.

"Thank you.
 
That's our goal," Will answered with a slight bow of his head and a genuine smile.
   

"Do you know Clarise, William?" Bonnie asked, putting her hand on Clarise's arm.

"We haven't been introduced but I've heard of her," he said to Bonnie, his gaze already settled on Clarise, a warm smile on his lips.
 

Something caught Bonnie's attention in the far corner before turning to Clarise, then, speaking rather hastily, she introduced them to each other.
 
"Clarise, this is William Matthews, his office is organising our next European holiday.
 
William, this is Clarise Carson, Megan's sister."
 
Bonnie's attention went back to the far corner.
 
"Now if you'll both excuse me, I can see my chance to play with little Lilly.
 
Oh, such an adorable, pretty, little girl."
 
She hurriedly left them with a wave of her hand to take her turn with Lilly, who, being the only child at the party and a much-loved one at that, was as much the centre of attention as the engaged couple.
 

Clarise had been staring at the man from the moment Bonnie said "William" and realised with a heart-flutter that this good-looking, eye-candy was Single Will.
 
The Single Will that was meant for her tonight.

She caught herself in time to notice the hand extended before her.
 
She shook it, trying to regain her equilibrium.
 
"Hi, William, it's good to meet you."
 

"Call me Will, please," he said with a devastatingly beautiful smile, hazel eyes sparkling.
 

Geez, if I only knew I would be meeting a devastatingly handsome Single Will tonight, I wouldn't have plotted that charade with Victor.
 
Clarise was surprised at the turn of her thoughts.
 
She composed herself and tried to look cool, calm and collected.
 

"Actually, I have been waiting to be introduced to you tonight, Clarise.
 
I've been promised an introduction but the man is too busy dancing so I thought I'd seek you out myself."
 

Clarise felt her face flush and hoped he didn't notice.
 
Oh no, did Rick tell him I'm the single girl who needs to be introduced to single guys because I can't find 'The One' ?
 
How embarrassing!
 

Will did indeed notice her flush and took this as a sign of discomfort.
 
He wondered if she didn't like talking about work on an occasion such as this party.
 
He felt a bit guilty injecting work on what should be a family celebration.

"I'm assuming Mark has already mentioned to you that I'm interested in having your magazine do a review of my travel service business.
 
We don't have to talk about it right now.
 
I just want to introduce myself so we can talk about it some other time.
 
I'm sorry, I know this isn't work time for you," he said apologetically.

He's apologising about work?
 
Oh, thank God!

"Oh no, there's nothing to apologise for."
 
Smiling brightly she added, "I'm certainly happy to talk a little bit about your business tonight."

God, she's attractive.
 
Gorgeous brown eyes, very long lashes.
 
And she's got a lovely smile - and very kissable, lush lips.
 
Whoa, Will, back to business,
he admonished himself silently.
 

"Umm, thanks, but really, let's talk about it some other time.
 
Maybe I can call you at work and discuss it?"
 

"Okay, great.
 
Yes, you can call reception and talk to Elena.
 
She can organise a meeting time for us."

Will was aware he was staring at Clarise but he couldn't take his eyes off her.
 
For her part, Clarise was gaping at him, feeling powerless to look away.

"Would you like to dance?"
 
Will suddenly found himself holding out his hand as an invitation for Clarise to go with him to the dance floor.
 
Huh?
 
Since when do you dance, William Matthews?
 
You have two left feet!
 

"Sure," Clarise answered with a smile as she put her hand on his.

Too late.
 
Damn me.

Some sappy love song that Will vaguely recognised was playing.
 
He wasn't much of a music person.
 
Hell, he wasn't much of a dancer.
 
Lucky the song was slow so maybe he could just shuffle his feet and get away with it.
 

"Umm, I think this is a good time to tell you I can't dance," Will said to Clarise, his mouth quirking into a smile, both embarrassed by and amused at himself.

Clarise chuckled, "So what are we doing here then?"

"Shuffling our feet.
 
Well, I am anyway.
 
I don't know about you."

"Well, you're not doing too badly with the feet shuffle.
 
At least you're shuffling them in time with the music.
 
I can do shuffle too, you know.
 
You're not the only one good at it," she teased.

They grinned at each other.

Will held Clarise, an arm around her waist, hand flat on her lower back as they shuffled to the music.
 
Her hair smelled like flowers and he caught a whiff of her delicate perfume.
 
She smelled lovely.
 
She felt lovely.
 

Will's arm around Clarise tightened involuntarily and he held her closer, very much aware of an electric current in the air around them. He wondered if she felt it too.
 
It seemed to him it was enveloping them with a power he couldn't explain - or resist.

Clarise felt it.
 
The electricity seemed to just have suddenly built around them.
 
She felt him hold her closer and it felt wonderful.
 
She took a deep breath and inhaled his aftershave.
 
He smelled good.
 
She felt heady.
 
She felt like she was melting into his shuffle-dance-embrace.
 

They shuffled, hardly moving to the music, their bodies close like they've always belonged together.
   

 
Does she have a boyfriend or a husband perhaps?
 
If so, why is she dancing like this with me?
 

His thoughts went to the matchmaking plan by Rick and Megan and wondered if there was a chance that it could be Clarise they were trying to set him up with.
 
The idea greatly interested him, forgetting for a moment his determination not to get involved with anyone Rick might introduce to him tonight.

Clarise felt herself sinking deeper into their shuffle-dance-embrace.
 
She tried to distract herself by looking around.
 
Then she saw Megan staring at them from across the dance floor.
 
Shit!

"Now, how about you twirl me?" Clarise said suddenly, pulling away, putting some distance between Will and herself.
 
Geez, they'd think I came here with Victor and now I'm melting into another man's arms!

"Sorry?"
 
Will felt confused.
 
And bereft without holding Clarise close.

"Twirl.
 
You know, like this."
 
Clarise proceeded to hold up their hands that were clasped together and twirled around.

"Oh, ok."
 
Will twirled her, still not understanding why all of a sudden she wanted to twirl.
 

The sappy love song ended just then and a fast, dance music started playing.

"Sorry, Twirly, my shuffling feet could only do slow, not this," Will said with a shy smile.
 

Oh, he looks so cute.

"Ok, well thanks for the dance, Shuffles."
 
They smiled at each other and stood there, looking into each others' eyes for a long couple of seconds while the other partygoers danced around them, before Clarise turned and headed away from the dance floor.
 
Will followed her, not caring where she was going, only knowing that he wanted to follow.
 

Victor walked towards them.
 

"Darling, there you are."
 
Victor put his left arm around Clarise's shoulders in a possessive manner and raised an eyebrow at her before looking at Will.

"Hi, I'm Victor Michaels," extending a hand to Will while still holding Clarise close to him.

"William Matthews."
 
Will shook Victor's hand, his eyes narrowing imperceptively at Victor, then turned his eyes to Clarise with an unreadable expression on his face.

Mark approached them at that moment.
 
"Oh, good, Will.
 
You've obviously met Clarise," Mark said, clasping Will on the shoulder.
 
"And Victor, too.
 
Just the two people you want to meet.
 
Have you mentioned the review you want from them?"

"Victor, too?"
 
Will wasn't sure why he'd also want to meet Victor.
 
At that moment, he felt antagonistic towards the man.
 
Especially when he had his arm around Clarise like that.
 
Especially when he looked like the possessive boyfriend.
 
Will tried to mentally shake his irrational feelings and looked at Mark quizzically.

"Yeah, he works for the magazine too."
 

"Yup, I'm the head graphic designer there," Victor confirmed.
 
"Clarise is the one that does the reviews, along with Jessa Allen, if a review for your business is what you're looking for."

"Yes, Clarise and I discussed that briefly," then looking back at Clarise he said, "so I'll be meeting with you sometime this week then?"

"Yes, just talk to Elena.
 
You'll find our phone number on our website."

Will nodded, thinking he'd accomplished what he came here to do - to meet Clarise Carson for business purposes - and now he can leave.
 
He said his goodbyes to the three people and went to look for Rick and Megan.

~~

Victor took Clarise to a quiet corner.
 
"So what was that about?" he asked, excitement obvious in his tone and expression.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Clarise.
 
For a while there, you two looked like you were in your own bubble.
 
I could see the sparks flying from where I was sitting."

"Well, if I'd known beforehand that he was the single guy Megan and Rick wanted to introduce to me tonight, I would have gladly gone to this party as a single girl and you would have been free to be with Evan all night."
 
She said it jokingly but deep inside, she didn't think she was joking.
 

"Oooh, so he's single and available."

"Apparently so."

Clarise looked at Victor with a mock frown.
 
"But what's with the possessive embrace, Victor?
 
Now Will will think I'm not single and available."

"My, my, you're obviously attracted, darling," he grinned.
 
"But I also saw Megan staring at the two of you and I thought you'd still want your family to believe our little charade, at least for this party?
 
I didn't think you'd want any embarrassing questions from them tonight about you or me, or some other love interest for that matter."

Clarise gasped, remembering Megan's stare.
 
"You're right, Victor.
 
Thank you so much for being such a wonderful friend," and gave Victor a big, long hug.

~~

Will approached Rick and Megan on the dance floor so he could say his thanks and goodbyes.
 

He tapped them both on their shoulders.
 
"May I interrupt your marathon dancing session," he said with a grin.
 
"I just want to say thank you for inviting me tonight.
 
I've really enjoyed myself but I'm afraid I've got to go.
 
There's still some urgent work I need to finish this weekend."

Megan pulled both of them out of the dance floor, in a more quiet area.