Her Boss by Day...

by Joss Wood

  Willa felt sad as she watched Scott walk away. He was such a good guy, but the situation with Brodie and Chantal, old as it was, obviously still bugged him.

  She turned to Amy and sighed. ‘Well, didn’t you put your foot in it?’

  ‘In what?’ Amy asked, looking around, her expression pure confusion. ‘What did I say?’

  ‘I keep forgetting that you weren’t there when it all happened...’ Willa mused.

  ‘What happened?’ Amy demanded.

  Willa took a breath, leaned back in her seat and rewound. Scott and Chantal: the golden couple of the resort. Scott the head sailing instructor, and perky, talented Chantal—Head of Entertainment—had been an item, and everyone had assumed that they were perfect for each other. No one except her had seemed to notice the sexual tension between Chantal and Brodie, Scott’s fellow sailing instructor and his best friend.

  It had been a recipe for disaster and it had exploded in their faces the night after Amy had left town.

  It had taken one song, one slow dance between Scott’s girlfriend and his best friend, for Scott—and everyone else in the room—to see that they both wanted to get naked very, very soon. With each other. The sexual tension and electricity had crackled around them as they’d danced, seemingly oblivious to the fact that everyone—and Scott—was watching them. The song had ended and so had their friendship...

  Scott’s fist had connected with Brodie’s face—resulting in the second black eye in consecutive days—and wild accusations had bounced off the walls. Willa knew that nothing had happened between Scott and Chantal except for excessive heat, but Scott had felt betrayed and Brodie guilty, because he’d firmly subscribed to the notion of ‘mates before pretty much everything else’.

  Brodie had left and Chantal had walked around as a shadow of her former perky self. Her remaining weeks at the resort, sans Amy and Brodie, had been miserable—as Willa now told Amy

  When she was finished Amy shook her head. ‘But that’s stupid,’ she stated. ‘They only danced! That wasn’t a good enough reason to break up—for Brodie and Scott to fight.’

  ‘Yeah, it was,’ Rob said quietly. When both pairs of feminine eyes landed on his face he shrugged. ‘Guy dances with his best mate’s girl and looks like he wants to do her—best mate has grounds to be pissed off. Big-time.’

  Amy looked scornful. ‘But he didn’t do anything!’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. It was a metaphorical kick to Scott’s balls...’ Rob rolled his beer bottle between the palms of his hands. ‘Did Brodie hit Scott back?’

  Willa shook her head. ‘No, he just stood there, taking it. Then he walked away and just...left.’

  Rob nodded. ‘Sounds about right.’

  This all seemed very natural and normal to him... Willa pulled her eyebrows together. Were she and Amy missing something critical here? Some subtle male nuance that had completely escaped them because they lacked testosterone and masculine bits and bobs?

  ‘But they haven’t spoken for eight years!’ Willa protested.

  ‘They’ll talk when they’re ready to...or not.’ Rob stated. ‘My advice? Stay out of it.’

  Like Amy, Willa just stared at him.

  Willa eventually sighed and shook her head. ‘Boys are just weird.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  AMY, FED, WATERED and out of reminiscences, didn’t leave until after six that evening and Willa was exhausted. Her house looked as if a bomb had hit it, and she groaned at the thought of clearing up; she just wanted to climb into a shower and then into her bed.

  She stepped into her hall, looked at those steep, floating stairs, walked over to them and sat down on the bottom step. Rob hadn’t left yet, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Part of her desperately wanted to be alone, to process the fact that in the space of twenty-four hours she’d had her first one-night stand and reconnected with most of her friends from Weeping Reef. She was very used to being alone—not so much to having so many people in her space.

  ‘Willa...?’

  Willa looked up and smiled at Rob, who’d come into the hall, holding his mobile in his hand. ‘Sorry, I just sat down for a moment.’

  ‘You must be exhausted. I know I am.’ Rob sat down on the stair next to her. ‘I’ve called for a taxi. It’ll be here soon.’

  ‘You don’t need to leave...’ Willa protested, innately polite but secretly relieved.

  Rob briefly touched her hand with his. ‘Yeah, I think I do. Neither of us got much sleep last night and it’s been a long day.’

  Willa picked at the frayed cotton on the hem of her denim shorts. ‘I had fun.’

  ‘I imagine that reconnecting with your friends has brought back a truckload of memories,’ Rob commented.

  Willa smiled. ‘Some good, some that make me cringe, or laugh, and others that make me want to cry.’

  ‘Where are the...?’ Rob snapped his fingers. ‘I can’t remember the name of the place you met them.’

  ‘The Whitsundays? It’s a group of islands in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef.’

  ‘Tell me about them,’ Rob commanded gently.

  Willa placed her chin in the palm of her hand and her eyes went soft and dreamy. ‘Jeez, where do I start? Brilliant sunsets, white sands, fantastic shades of clear water. I dived and snorkelled whenever I could—I was absolutely fascinated by the fish and corals. There’s a coral called the weeping coral—that’s where the resort we all worked at got its name.’

  ‘And you looked after kids?’

  ‘Yeah, I loved running the kids’ activity programme. It filled the days—and at night we partied. Amy taught me to flirt—well, she tried to—and to party. I fell well short of her legendary standards. But I learnt to hold my drink and—as much as I could—to cut loose. I...blossomed.’

  ‘You met your husband there?’

  Willa nodded a little forlornly. ‘He was older, wiser, and to me—being from a small town where everyone knew, loved and protected me—he seemed so refined. Charisma, confidence and charm. Being noticed by Wayne was a huge ego boost, and after I realised that he was actually interested in me I felt sophisticated and special.’

  ‘As you would.’

  She’d tumbled into love with him. In hindsight, she’d probably been more in love with the way he’d made her feel—strong, sexy and stylish. Amy had thought Wayne was too flash, too demanding, and Luke had questioned what a thirty-three-year-old man saw in his country bumpkin teenage sister, but she’d brushed their concerns away... She’d been in love and she’d felt marvellous.

  ‘I was eighteen years old and I thought I knew what I was doing and nobody was going to spoil it for me.’ Yeah, right.

  ‘I have a theory that there should be a law against anyone making life-changing decisions before they’re twenty five.’

  Willa picked up the sour note in his voice and tipped her head. ‘Did you make some bad choices too?’

  ‘You have no idea.’ Rob gestured for her to continue her story. ‘Carry on.’

  ‘Something bad happened to Amy that made her leave the resort, and then there was the blow-up between Chantal, Scott and Brodie. I shoved my head into the sand and started spending more and more time with Wayne.’

  The dissent at the resort had shoved her further into Wayne’s arms... She’d felt safe there, and protected. When she’d been with him she’d had a break from worrying about Amy, and she’d been able to escape the tension between Chantal and Scott.

  ‘At the end of the season he proposed and I accepted. I was marrying a gorgeous, romantic older guy, who would love and take care of me for the rest of my life. What could possibly go wrong?’

  ‘Things obviously did?’

  ‘Yeah—big-time.’

  Rob didn’t push for more and she appreciated his tact. She’d said
more than she’d meant to and she couldn’t explain that while there had been love, it had been a distorted version of the emotion. Love on his terms. He’d taken care of her financially, not emotionally, and cheated on her constantly.

  His had been a love that was rude, conditional, disparaging. Controlling. That was why she was embarking on this short-term fling with Rob—it was healthy, a positive step in the rehabilitation of Willa. It was honest, it was temporary, it was...straightforward. Direct, undemanding, clear-cut. It was everything she’d never had with Wayne...

  And the sex—well, that was nothing like she’d had with her ex. Just the thought of Rob’s hot, muscled body made her mouth dry up; she felt tingly and dizzy, feminine and free.

  This was the way she’d felt that summer at Weeping Reef—before all the drama. Strong, healthy, sexy...free. Her freedom had been taken away for eight years, but she was not going to waste a second of it now.

  Rob spun his mobile around on the palm of his hand with his finger. ‘So, you’re still okay with the no-strings sex decision we made earlier?’

  There was that in-your-face honesty again. God, she loved it. ‘Yes.’

  Rob placed his hand on her slim thigh and squeezed. ‘Good. I’ll call you.’

  ‘You don’t have my number,’ Willa pointed out, leaning her elbows on the step behind her.

  ‘I found your phone and dialled my number—saved my number to your contacts,’ Rob explained on an easy grin. ‘You don’t have that many contacts on your phone, so I should be easy enough to find.’

  ‘I figured that if I didn’t have to talk to my ex then I sure didn’t have to talk to his snooty friends either. Another of the many benefits of getting divorced. Can I ask you a favour?’ she asked, looking at his strong profile.

  ‘Mmm? What?’

  ‘On the day the divorce becomes final, if you are still around, will you help me celebrate by doing something completely wild with me?’

  Rob tipped his head. ‘Like...?’

  ‘Like a motorbike ride, or bungee-jumping, or sky-diving... Flying to the Whitsundays for a couple of days and doing a wreck dive—I’ll pay. I want do something that makes me feel crazily alive and free, and I think you might be the type of guy who would be up for doing that with me.’

  ‘What do I get out of it?’ Rob asked, his mouth twitching in amusement.

  ‘Um...crazy sex?’ Willa suggested.

  ‘Oh, I intend having crazy sex with you anyway.’

  Rob picked up her hand and kissed her open palm, his fabulous eyes hot and heated as they connected with hers.

  ‘Sure, I’ll help you celebrate your freedom, Willa. Let me know the day and we’ll do something to mark the occasion.’

  Rob leaned forward and brushed her lips with his and Willa’s heart sighed. His kiss was gentle and sexy—a nibble here, a lick there. It was as if he knew he couldn’t take it deeper or further, that they were out of time...for now.

  And they were. They had barely started when they heard the toot of a taxi horn.

  Rob pulled away and stood up, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jeans. ‘I’m going to go...get some sleep. And, Willa?’

  ‘Mmm?’

  ‘The phone works both ways.’ Rob waggled his eyebrows. ‘You need me for a booty call—don’t be shy.’

  Willa grinned. ‘I might take you up on that.’

  ‘Feel free.’

  * * *

  After kissing Willa’s cheek, Amy slid into a chair on the other side of the small table in the outside shaded seating area of Saints, which morphed into a trendy bistro during the day. Amy pushed her designer sunglasses up into her hair and scanned the specials board, quickly ordering a frappe and a goat’s cheese salad from the hovering waiter—whose knees, Willa was sure, buckled under the force of her smile.

  ‘Sorry, I’m late. I was in a meeting with Rob.’

  Willa, who hadn’t heard from Rob since he’d left her house on Sunday, tried not to sound too eager. ‘Oh...?’

  ‘Poor guy is looking a bit frazzled. I told him we were meeting for lunch.’

  And did he have anything to say to that? Willa growled her frustration as Amy picked up her phone, checked her messages and smiled at a cute guy who was walking past. Ah, this was vintage Amy, who could be annoying as all hell.

  Willa picked up her fork and not so gently poked the back of Amy’s hand with the tines.

  Amy attempted to look innocent, but since the last time she’d been innocent had been when she was in utero, she didn’t quite pull it off. ‘Oh, you want to know if he gave any reaction...?’

  Willa growled again, and lifted the fork in a threatening movement.

  ‘How old did you say you are again?’ Amy asked. ‘Fifteen?’

  Willa sighed and drew patterns on the colourful tablecloth with the fork. ‘I know. I’m such a dork.’

  Amy laughed and held up her hands in surrender. ‘He said that if you asked I was to remind him of your last conversation... Which means what?’

  The phone works both ways...booty call.

  Willa explained.

  ‘He’s right,’ Amy said. ‘But he doesn’t know that you would rather chop off your own head than risk being rejected...’

  Willa glared at her. ‘I am not eighteen any more!’

  ‘Then call him—tell him you’re horny and you want him bad,’ Amy challenged her, one eyebrow raised.

  Willa felt her neck and cheeks heat up. Hell, she couldn’t do that—could she?

  ‘As you said...you are such a dork,’ Amy said, with absolutely no malice in her voice. ‘Newsflash, honey: girls are allowed to ask boys out.’

  ‘Asking someone out on a date is a bit different from asking someone to come over and take you to bed,’ Willa protested.

  ‘Why? It’s the twenty-first century.’ Amy took the fork from her hand and set it on the table, waited for Willa to meet her eyes. ‘That being said, you are playing it cool with him, aren’t you, Willa?’

  ‘Of course I’m playing it cool, Amy—not that I have much choice. Rob is unfailingly honest—haven’t you noticed? I know exactly where I stand and I’m very comfortable being his sex-with-no-strings girl.’

  ‘Okay, as long as you know what you’re doing.’ Amy grinned. ‘He is honest, isn’t he? Today he told the director of marketing—my boss—that his ideas were crap and that he was paying them for my expertise not his. Since the director has the marketing smarts of a moose, and is only there because he married the owner’s daughter, I was cheering. But the sensible part of me remembered that he’s my boss, so it was only on the inside! Anyway, are you going to call him?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Cluck-cluck.’

  Willa rolled her eyes. ‘You’re not going to dare me into making a booty call, Amy.’

  Amy said nothing and lounged in her chair, her eyes laughing.

  ‘I’m okay with being a dork, a wuss, a chicken,’ Willa protested.

  Amy used the same look she’d used to get her to do all those things they shouldn’t have as staff members at the Weeping Reef Resort. Skinny-dipping and raiding the kitchen for late-night snacks had been minor transgressions. Doing golf cart doughnuts on the greens of the golf course had been a major misdemeanour—amongst others.

  Amy would just wait her out until Willa did what she wanted her to do... Hell, when Willa did what she herself wanted to do. She wanted Rob back in her bed, back inside her, making her eyes cross with pleasure.

  Huffing a frustrated sigh, she dug in her bag for her mobile and found the number she now knew by heart.

  ‘Gorgeous,’ Rob said, after answering on the second ring.

  And that one word and his amused voice gave her courage.

  ‘Booty call,’ she whispered softly, ignoring Amy’s tri
umphant grin.

  ‘Tied up until late tonight,’ Rob answered, just as briefly. ‘I can be there around eleven.’

  ‘I’ll be up.’

  Willa disconnected and held up a finger. ‘Not one word!’

  ‘Not one word except that I am mega impressed. Short, succinct, direct,’ Amy said cheerfully. ‘Okay, that was a whole bunch of words. Changing the subject.... I love your shoes.’

  Willa looked down at her strappy high-heeled sandals. ‘I’d like them more if I’d paid for them... I need a job, Amy. I need to do something.’

  ‘You’ve got your degree, Wills, and you’ve got a Masters! Surely there must openings somewhere?’ Amy sat back as the waiter placed her iced coffee in front of her.

  Willa sighed. ‘I was offered a job about two months ago—a really nice position with a new clothing brand—but Kate didn’t want me to take it in case it jeopardised my divorce claim. I kept telling her that I’d rather have the job than the money, but she advised me to sit tight.’

  ‘I’d like to meet her,’ Amy said. ‘She sounds nice.’

  ‘She really is—and she’s a damn good lawyer. I want to be her when I grow up. She’s a high-achieving, competent and highly confident woman—she definitely doesn’t need a man. That being said, she does get very protective over her clients... You should have seen her wipe the floor with Wayne’s smug attitude. She had him tied up in knots—his lawyer too.’

  Amy smiled in appreciation. ‘Just for that she has my unending appreciation. Anyway, getting back to you and a job...have you applied anywhere else?’

  ‘I haven’t seen any openings and I’ve been looking. I think the type of accounting job I’m aiming for needs experience, or contacts, or a network—or something else that I don’t have. I’m good, Ames—or at least I could be good if someone gave me a damn chance,’ Willa replied bitterly. ‘I just feel so...useless. I sneaked around for years, getting that cursed degree, and nobody seems to want to see me put it to use!’