by Joss Wood
Rob boosted Kiley out of the pool and climbed out himself, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around his hips. Pulling on a T-shirt, he walked towards the veranda and took the beer Sid held out to him.
It was a stunning day, and the people he cared most about, the ones he loved and trusted, were all here. All but one...
How weird that he felt that his group, his family, was missing an important element... Willa wasn’t here and his family didn’t feel complete.
Rob pulled out a chair and tried to ignore his feeling of discontent. It was what it was, he told himself. Nothing had changed...
He smiled as Kiley climbed up onto his lap, blithely ignoring the booster chair her father was urging her into.
‘Hey, I’m your dad,’ Patrick complained good-naturedly.
‘But I’m her favourite person,’ Rob replied as she wound her arms around his neck.
‘Only because you bring her presents and sneak her ice cream when we’re not looking.’
‘Godparent privilege.’
‘Bribery,’ Patrick shot back, sitting down next to him. ‘Now I understand your success rate with women.’
Rob’s smile was a bit forced. ‘Heather’s looking a lot better,’ he said, changing the subject.
Rob pushed his hair back from his face as Kiley pretended his thigh was a horse, waiting impatiently for Heather to dish her up some food. God, he missed Willa—wanted her here. He’d never missed any of his short-term flings before; normally he wished them well and seldom thought of them again. Not the case with Willa, who was the first thing he thought of in the morning and the last thought he had at night. Then he dreamed about her—hot, hot, sensual dreams that woke him up with a hard-on from hell.
Such fun. Not.
‘I deserve a man who will love me and trust me, who wants to be with me, who wants to complicate the hell out of his life because of me.’
He wanted to be that man. It was that simple and that complicated. Yet he couldn’t be that man...
Gail and Tattoo sat opposite him and immediately leaned towards each other for another kiss.
‘Give it a rest, for God’s sake,’ he muttered, and Gail, the witch, just laughed.
When they all had plates piled high in front of them, Gail leaned back in her chair and pushed her hair off her forehead. ‘I have an announcement to make.’
Rob, his fork halfway to his mouth, gave her a hard stare. A sentence starting with those words could never be good. He lowered his fork and took a sip of his beer, his eyes not leaving his sister’s face. Whatever she was thinking about doing, she could just forget it. She was not moving in with or marrying Tattoo, and if she said she was pregnant or that she was quitting uni he’d freak.
‘As you all know, I’ll be receiving my degree in three months.’
No, that wasn’t possible. She hadn’t been at university that long, Rob thought. Mentally rewinding, he realised that she had and wondered where the time had gone.
‘I’ve decided to take a gap year,’ Gail said, her voice serious. ‘I’m going to London for a couple of months and then I’m going to travel.’
Oh, hell, no. How could he look after her if she was bouncing all over the world?
Rob shook his head. ‘No, you’re not.’
His mum leaned across Patrick to place a hand on his forearm. ‘Yeah, honey, she is.’ Her voice was soft but determined, and it brooked no argument. ‘I’m her parent, not you, and she has my full support.’
Gail sent him a mischievous look. ‘Yeah, I’m cutting the umbilical cord. Jumping the nest. Spreading my—’
Rob held up his hand for her to be quiet. It didn’t work.
‘Spreading my wings. Flying the coop.’
Their mum’s piercing look stopped Gail’s crowing. ‘I’m asking Rob to step away, but I’m still going to keep a very sharp eye on you, young lady. You have the impulse control of a two-year-old.’
Rob felt as if he’d dropped into a black hole. What was happening? He had to get this conversation—his life—back on track.
He placed his beer bottle on the table and folded his arms against his chest. ‘Can we talk about this? It’s a pretty big decision. We need to talk about this!’
Okay, that hadn’t come out right. He’d sounded panicky and stressed and...unhinged.
His mum shook her head and he immediately recognised her stubborn expression. ‘Talking about it won’t change anything; she is going. You have to trust her—and me—enough to step away and let us deal with this. And while we’re on the subject you need to stop mollycoddling us, darling. Enough now, okay?’
Rob knew that his mouth was open and that he was trying to speak, but no words were coming out. Taking his silence for permission, or acceptance, his family started a lively discussion about their plans for the future. A future he had no control over.
‘You have to trust her—and me... Stop mollycoddling us.’ Could he? Could he do that? He didn’t think so. Standing guard over them had become a habit and...a shield. An excuse...
After a couple of minutes Patrick nudged him with his shoulder. ‘So, that was a mighty kick up the jack, wasn’t it?’
Rob turned to look at him, not realising that his eyes held fear and hope. And relief.
‘Guess they just handed you a Get Out of Jail Free card, dude.’
‘I have no idea what you are talking about,’ Rob muttered.
Patrick chuckled, enjoying his cousin’s predicament a little too much. ‘Please... Everyone realises that you’re trying to atone for leaving them with Stefan by hovering over them. But what you’ve never understood is that nobody ever blamed you for that...except you.’ He grinned. ‘And that’s because you’re an idiot. Now you have no excuse not to get your ass on the first plane out and go to Willa.’
Yes. No. Hell, maybe.
Rob stared down at his plate and lifted his broad shoulders. ‘I hurt her, cuz.’
As a reasonable adult, and his best friend, Rob expected Patrick’s support—a statement of wisdom, of thoughtful consideration. Instead Patrick just shook his head and placed his hand on his daughter’s back.
‘Kiley, honey?’
Kiley lifted her mouth from gnawing on a chicken bone to look his way. ‘Mmmph?’
‘What do we do when we do something bad or naughty?’ Patrick asked in a gentle voice.
‘Say sorry,’ Kiley muttered, her mouth full of chicken.
Patrick’s eyes laughed at Rob. ‘See—even my four-year-old has a better handle on the situation than you,’ he stated.
Rob narrowed his eyes at his cousin, his expression promising retribution. ‘You think you are so damn smart, don’t you?’ He growled the words.
Patrick clinked his beer bottle against Rob’s and shrugged. ‘Nah, I don’t think I am—I know I am.’
* * *
Willa, coming in from her morning run, heard her mobile ringing from where she’d left it on the hall table and fumbled her key into the lock of the front door. Thinking, hoping that it might be Rob, she barrelled through the door and snatched the phone up with a raspy, breathless, ‘Hello?’
‘Is that Willa Moore?’
Not Rob. Damn.
She almost replied that she was Willa Fisher-Moore, then remembered at the last minute that she was divorced and that she was reverting to her maiden name. ‘Yes. Can I help you?’
‘Hopefully.’
The caller gave his name and his company’s name and Willa wrote them down on a notepad on the hall table. She’d heard of the company—a vitamin distribution company—and wondered why the CFO was calling her.
‘Rob Hanson gave me your name. We’re working together on a deal to supply his stores with our brand of supplements.’
‘Okay...’ Willa perched her bum on the edge of t
he hall table.
‘In conversation, when he was raving about his super-bright and intuitive Australian accountant, he told me how you’d found a creative way to work around an issue with foreign-owned entities.’
Say what? ‘Please go on,’ Willa said.
‘Well, we have an issue that we have to solve before we launch our company on the Stock Exchange and we’ve had a dozen accountants look at it and tell us its irresolvable. Rob suggested that you take a look and that if you can’t find a way around it then it is impossible. He said that you are bright and brilliant and that he’d trust you with his life.’
Willa felt the warm liquid rush of pleasure. God, could anything be sexier than an endorsement of her brain and her skills? Oh, she knew that Rob loved her body, but this...this was the best gift he could have given her.
Apart from his love and a happy-ever-after, obviously.
‘Ms Moore?’
Willa pulled herself back to the conversation. ‘I won’t do anything illegal or immoral, but if you’d like to e-mail me your sticky problem I’ll take a look. No guarantees, though.’
‘Understood. I’m just grateful that you’ll look at it. Obviously we’ll compensate you for the hours you spend on it.’
Willa gave him her details, her hourly rate and her e-mail address, and when she’d ended the call held her mobile to her chest.
If she’d been see-sawing between love and lust this one action would have tipped her into love. Acceptance, validation, pride... By recommending her to his business cohorts he’d shown her that he knew she wouldn’t let him down, that he was confident in her abilities, maybe that he trusted her a little. In business, at least.
If only he could trust her with his heart and his love and his time.
Universe...again? Please?
* * *
Rob turned off the ignition of his hired car and swallowed at the ‘For Sale’ sign hammered into the grass next to the kerb. So Willa had decided to sell. A pity, because he loved this house. Loved the view, loved the openness...the access to the bay.
In a perfect world he could see him and Willa sharing their time between this house and his house in Jo’burg, with frequent visits to the family beach cottage in Knysna. If they had kids one day then they would have to settle down somewhere, maybe in Sydney, but really it didn’t matter where. Being together was important. Houses and things not so much.
But he wasn’t living in a perfect world. He was currently inhabiting a twilight world where nothing really made sense. Until he spoke to Willa and knew what course his future was taking then nothing would.
Heaven or hell. He would be experiencing one or the other fairly soon.
Rob pulled his keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the vehicle, his heart pounding in his chest. He walked up to the front door and thought about ringing the doorbell, but after all they’d shared that just made him feel stupid. Instead he tried the door, and—what a surprise—it opened to his touch.
Willa! God, how was he ever going to get her to take security seriously?
The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the hall was that the abstract painting on the wall was gone—and good riddance. Johnno Davies was one of the most famous artists around, but Rob didn’t care what anyone said—green streaks on a white canvas could never be masterpiece.
Rob glanced at his watch; it was seven thirty and he wondered where she was. In the library-cum-office, working—Patrick kept tossing more work her way—or in the TV lounge? In bed reading?
In bed with someone else?
The thought popped into his head and his blood froze. No damn way.
Sprinting up to her bedroom, he flung her bedroom door open and found Willa on the bed, dressed in denim shorts and a sleeveless top, painting her toenails a fiery red. No lover to beat to a pulp.
* * *
At the sight of an intruder, Willa let out a blood-curdling scream.
A few moments later she felt her heart settle in her ribcage, slowed down her breathing and felt as if her world was realigning itself on its axis. He wasn’t a murderer, he was Rob, and the cosmos was falling into sync again.
Unless he was here to tell her that there wasn’t a chance in hell that they would ever be together?
Oh, hell...her heart had started bouncing again.
She made herself speak past whatever was blocking her throat. ‘Um...why are you here?’
‘Are you alone?’ he demanded, his hands on his hips and looking fierce.
‘Apart from the male strippers in my bathroom...’
Rob didn’t look even vaguely amused at her quip, so she sighed and waved the nail polish brush around, not realising that she was flecking her white bed linen with red.
‘Of course I’m alone.’ Willa tacked an implied moron onto the end of that sentence.
Rob walked around the bed, took the nail polish from her and replaced the cap. Tossing it into the bedside drawer, he retreated a couple of steps and jammed his hands into the pockets of his Levi’s, his eyes hooded...and wild.
Willa ignored the fact that only a couple of toes were painted and wrapped her arms around her knees, not having the foggiest idea what to say. She’d already asked once why he was here—should she ask again?
‘Why—?’
‘I—’
Their words collided and they both stopped speaking. Willa lifted her hands in a gesture for him to carry on talking.
‘I want to change the rules,’ he said, shocking her to the core.
Willa could hardly hear her own cool voice over the roaring in her ears. What did he mean? What could he mean? ‘You want to change them this time?’
A muscle ticked in Rob’s jaw. ‘Yeah. I want to totally rewrite them, in fact.’
‘Ah. Um...’
Okay, it was official. He’d turned her into a blathering idiot. She swallowed, gripped her knees harder to keep them from knocking, and searched his face for a clue. It was there in the vulnerability in his eyes, in the tremor in his normally confident voice.
‘I’m going to need a bit more of an explanation, here, Rob.’
Rob shoved his hand into his curls and tugged. ‘I was at home and my family were all there but you weren’t. The most important part of my family was missing and it didn’t make any sense.’
Oh... Oh. Oh, my...Willa felt tears shimmer in her eyes as her mind started filling with possibilities. Did she dare hope?
‘I missed you every minute,’ Rob said, his voice hoarse.
‘Me too.’
Rob kept his hands firmly in his pockets and Willa wished she could touch him, feel his heat, his hard body. But she knew that if they touched right now they would fall into lust and passion when they needed to talk through the emotion shimmering between them.
‘I really meant it to be a fling, but you crawled under my skin and into my heart. You’re smart and brave and wonderful and I—’
Willa held her breath.
‘And I think that I’m in love with you.’ Rob held up his hand as a delighted smile crossed her face. ‘I’ve never been in love before, so I could be wrong.’
‘Me neither.’ Willa pulled a face when he looked sceptical. ‘I haven’t... Not as an adult with her eyes wide open.’
A smile finally touched the corners of Rob’s mouth. ‘So, what does love feel like?’
Willa tipped her head back to look at him, her face and her tone serious. ‘It feels likes home—like my life suddenly makes sense with you in the room. It feels soft, but strong. I’m ecstatic that you’re back and so, so grateful that you are. It feels...perfect.’
Rob just stared at her, a mix of naked emotion, hope and lust on his face.
Stepping towards her, he sat on the edge of the bed and lifted his hand to her face. ‘It does feel perfe
ct.’ His thumb brushed her cheekbone.
‘Missed you...’ she murmured softly.
Rob groaned as his forehead touched hers. ‘Missed you too, honey.’
‘Rob?’ Willa said, when he just stayed where he was, his body radiating tension.
Why wasn’t he kissing her, holding her, ripping her clothes off her? Heat throbbed down below and she thought that if she didn’t have his solid weight on her soon she would quite simply spontaneously combust.
‘Mmm?’
‘Are you going to kiss me some time soon?’
‘If I do I’m going to be inside you so damn fast we’ll go up in flames,’ Rob retorted, licking his lips.
‘And why would that be a problem?’ Willa asked softly, draping her arms around his neck.
Rob’s hand spanned her waist before moving over to her bottom. ‘Another example of my idiocy... It’s not a problem at all.’
* * *
Sex was different when love was involved, Willa thought, watching her naked man leave the bed and head into the bathroom. Always spectacular before, making love—and that was what it now was—was deeper, hotter, more thrilling. Her heart had orgasmed along with her happy place, and it was a feeling that she knew she’d never get enough of.
She wouldn’t ever get enough of looking at Rob either—naked, dressed...it didn’t matter. Preferably naked, though, she thought as he walked out of the bathroom back to the bed.
Rob placed his hands on his hips, looked towards the bathroom, and then looked down at her. ‘If we’re going to be doing this for next fifty decades, at least, can I ask you a favour?’
Willa sat up and leaned back against the leather headboard, her soul singing at his reference to the rest of their lives. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for him when he looked at her with love in his eyes.
‘Sure...what?’ she asked as he sat down next to her on the bed, facing her.
‘Can you go on the pill? I want to be with you without the feeling of latex.’