“Well, sure. But what if you break up? You’re stuck with it.”
“Not really. I can have it lasered out if I want to. But I wouldn’t have had it done if I had intentions of getting rid of it in the future.”
“You’re brave, is all I can say. Can’t see myself doing anything that crazy for any woman.”
Jeff smirked. “Just you wait, bro.”
“You’re worse than Zach,” Greg said.
“Both of you are generally worse than me in lots of things,” Zach teasingly interjected from behind them.
“I admit I’m worse than you when it comes to being crazily in love,” Jeff said.
“What makes you say that?” Zach asked, jumping in the water and facing them.
Jeff twisted so Zach could see his ink.
Zach’s eyes bulged out. “Hell. That’s... something.”
“Yeah,” Greg agreed. “I can see why Sarah’s looking so happy and radiant,” he added, eyeing the group of women chatting happily in one corner.
Zach frowned. “Where did you go to have it done?” he asked Jeff.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to copy me.”
“Well, I must admit, that beats any material thing you could give a woman.”
“The effect won’t be the same, bro,” Jeff said. “I had it done first. You’ll just appear as a copycat.”
Zach grimaced. “I’ll have to think of something else.”
Jeff laughed.
“Hey guys,” Connor said, swimming to them. “Wanna play some pool volleyball?”
“Sure,” Zach and Greg said.
“Can’t, dude,” Jeff said. “I’ll just watch.”
“Why can’t you?”
Jeff showed Connor the reason why.
Connor let out a whistle. “To think I almost made a move on your girl.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Jeff said lightly, although his serious gaze showed he meant business.
“No need to worry,” Connor said with a chuckle. “I’m not that interested.”
“Good. Make sure you keep it that way.”
“Hey, Jeff.”
Rebecca, Brenna and Gemma were walking toward them, grinning from ear to ear.
“Show us!”
Jeff proudly lifted his arm so the girls could have a proper look.
“That’s so romantic, Jeff,” Rebecca said.
Zach reached out for Rebecca and dragged her into the water with him.
“Zach!” Rebecca cried in surprise.
“I love you, baby,” Zach said, wrapping Rebecca tightly in his arms.
“I know, honey,” Rebecca said with a laugh. “And no, you don’t need a tattoo to prove that to me.”
Zach grinned, giving his fiancée a sweet kiss on the lips.
Jeff looked around for Sarah, suddenly yearning for her presence. He spotted her and Amanda sitting on the far side of the pool, watching them. He waved to them, wondering why they hadn’t come over with the others.
“Doesn’t Amanda want to see my new tattoo?” Jeff asked.
“Oh, um, she does. She’ll check it out later,” Brenna said.
Connor snickered. “I’ll go away now, so Amanda can happily join you guys,” he said, then got out of the pool.
The brothers stared at their friend in surprise.
“Is something going on that we don’t know about?” Greg asked.
“You’ll have to ask Connor,” Gemma said, motioning for Amanda and Sarah to come over.
Amanda seemed reluctant still, but when Sarah stood up, she followed hesitantly.
“An interesting development, boys,” Jeff said to his brothers.
“Indeed,” Zach agreed.
“Please don’t make Amanda feel uncomfortable by asking her about Connor,” Rebecca pleaded. “He’s kind of a very big button for her.”
“Well, you can tell me in private,” Zach said.
“Yeah, I’ll ask Sarah,” Jeff said.
“Well, I suppose I’ll have to find out from the man himself,” Greg said, standing up to go to Connor.
“Hey, Amanda, come and see my new tattoo,” Jeff called out loudly.
“What new tattoo?” Magda asked from where she was sitting, chatting with the oldies.
Within seconds, everybody was crowding around Jeff, including his grandmother, who looked suitably impressed.
He glanced at Sarah, watching the ruckus he’d created. He winked at her and she smiled back, her expression touched... maybe even overwhelmed.
Heck, this was the craziest thing he’d ever done for a woman. He had no explanations for it, except that he was in love—utterly and happily. As long as Sarah returned his feelings, he didn’t care about the why and the how.
*****
“I’m sad that this weekend’s almost over. It’s been wonderful,” Sarah said as they strolled toward the gazebo.
Jeff smiled and hugged her to him. “We can come back anytime you want. Or we can stay in one of our other properties.”
“I’ve grown to love this place,” Sarah sighed, tugging his hand to walk toward the edge of the garden. “Maybe we can come back when it’s not fully booked?”
“That might be a while, baby. Are you worried that we won’t get a room?”
“Well, how could we get a room when it’s fully booked? I know you own the place, but surely, you just don’t kick out guests whenever you feel like staying here.”
He laughed. “All we need to do is inform the hotel manager of various dates that we’re likely to want to come and stay. If the place is already fully booked on a particular date, bad luck for us. Otherwise, she’ll reserve a suite. Of course, it’s preferable that we let her know if we’re not coming a few days beforehand so she can release it for paying guests.”
“Maybe in a month or two we can stay again for a few days.”
“Okay,” he said, kissing her on the temple, before patting the itch on his arm. “I can’t wait until this blasted itch goes away,” he muttered. “I’m so tempted to scratch it.”
“Don’t,” Sarah warned. “It might get infected. Or you might ruin the tattoo.”
He grinned. “We wouldn’t want that, would we?”
“Not at all,” she said impishly.
“You do know that since this thing is staying on my arm till the day I die that you’ll eventually have to marry me,” he said lightly.
Sarah stared at him, surprised by his words. “Well, I’d hate for you to go through the pain and hassle of removing it,” she said in an equally teasing tone. “So yes, I suppose I’ll eventually have to marry you.”
“I suppose I’ll eventually have to get you a ring.”
Sarah shrugged. “I suppose.”
“Is this week too soon?” he asked quietly. Serious now.
“Oh Jeff,” Sarah whispered, her eyes naked with love and uncertainty. “It’s crazy that...”
“I know.”
“But at the same time...”
“It feels right?” he supplied.
Sarah nodded. “But we really haven’t known each other for that long and...”
“We might discover later that we’re not meant for each other?”
Sarah gulped, her eyes clouding at that statement. “It’s just happened so fast. But I suppose sometimes love can happen so fast.”
“What are you afraid of, Sarah?”
She took a deep breath. “Conventional wisdom is to not marry in haste.”
“I know. Until recently, I was even in the not-marry-at-all camp. But we don’t have to get married straight away. We could have a long engagement. Besides, I’d rather subscribe to my grandmother’s wisdom. She said that love is timeless and boundless, so time is not a factor. And I don’t really care what works or not for other people. All I care about is that we make us work.”
“Oh Jeff,” Sarah said, her eyes watering and filling with fear.
“You know what? You’re right,” he conceded, trying to swallow his disappointment. “It’s too
soon to talk about getting engaged and all that. It was just an idea. We could wait and see how we are as a couple a few months from now and—“
“But I do want to spend my life with you,” Sarah said softly. “I do want to grow old with you and stare at your tattoo everyday. But I was engaged once before, Jeff. I said yes straight away, even though I’d only known the guy a few months. He’d changed his mind and said he’d made a mistake. I know that what we have together is much, much deeper than what I had with Aaron. But I’m still scared that it’s too soon.”
“Oh baby,” he said, cupping her face. “I’m scared too. I know that the future holds no guarantees. But the way I feel for you, I’m committed to making it work. I’m not sure of anything else either, apart from that fact.”
Tears cascaded down Sarah’s cheeks.
“Please don’t cry,” he said, his heart constricting. “I’m sorry I brought it up too early. I won’t mention it again until much, much later. I’m happy to just be boyfriend and girlfriend—”
“Yes, Jeff, yes,” Sarah interrupted, emphatic, as she wiped her tears away.
He stilled. “You’re ready to get engaged?”
“Yes.”
“That means you want to marry me, right?”
“Yes.”
“Sarah, I don’t want to force you—”
“You’re not forcing me, Jeff.”
“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”
“No.”
“Really, we can wait, if that’s what you want.”
“I’m committed to making this work too, Jeff. So whether we get engaged now or later doesn’t matter.”
“This is all settled then? There’s nothing else you want to talk about first?”
“No.”
“Are you sure, Sarah?”
Sarah laughed. “What else do you want me to say, honey? I love you. Yes, I want to marry you. I most definitely want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
His face broke into a face-splitting smile. “Okay, I believe you now.”
Sarah rolled her eyes upwards. “Finally,” she teased.
He gathered her in his arms and hugged her tight. “Finally. Now before we head home, let’s celebrate this by going back to our suite and getting hot and naked.”
Sarah giggled. “For a while there I thought you were going to say let’s celebrate this by letting everyone know.”
“Yes, that too. But then they’d want to chat and discuss weddings and all that. I want to make love to you first.”
“Hmm. Me too.”
They turned to head back to the building when Sarah stopped, staring afar. Jeff followed her line of sight and saw Connor and Amanda in deep discussion by the front entrance.
Connor seemed to be explaining something, his hands gesticulating. Amanda shook her head, crossing her arms. Connor raked his hair in frustration, then walked off. Amanda turned on her heels and went back inside.
“Whoa, something is definitely going on there,” Jeff said.
“Yes,” Sarah murmured, looking very intrigued.
He lifted her in his arms.
“Jeff, what are you doing?”
“Just want to make sure you’re not going anywhere but our bedroom. We can find out what’s happening with those two later.”
She chuckled and buried her face in his neck. “I love you, Jeff.”
He smiled, his heart unbelievably full. “I love you, too, Sarah.”
###
Thank you for reading!
Amanda and Connor’s love story is next. Again (Time for Love Book 3) is due for release in July/Aug 2014.
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In the meantime, if you haven’t read Will To Love (Lifestyle by Design Book 1) yet, turn the page to check out the first chapter. This book is free!
WILL TO LOVE (LIFESTYLE BY DESIGN BOOK 1) EXTRACT
Have you read this book yet? Click here to download FREE from your preferred site.
The Love Story of Clarise Carson and Will Matthews
CHAPTER ONE
Victor will be there with me, looking like his usual gorgeous self. He assured me he'd be very attentive. Everyone will see how mad we are for each other. Well, hopefully, that's what they'll see. Surely this will work. It should stop my dear sister from going ahead with her matchmaking plans. If it doesn't, well, plan B is to die from embarrassment. It will work, Clarise Carson thought confidently before taking a deep sigh and returning her focus to her last piece of work before she ended the working day.
After a final review, she was done with her latest article for Lifestyle by Design, the popular monthly magazine read by those with loads of disposable income keen to know which restaurants and bars were worth going to, which exotic destinations they could holiday in next and which new gadgets they must own to make their busy lives easier.
She was still salivating at the memory of the glorious food she had at Stillwaters, the newest restaurant in Sydney, owned by an upcoming Australian chef, and the latest establishment she had researched and reviewed.
Yes, she nodded. They definitely deserve this glowing article. She knew the new restaurant would soon have a very long waiting list of patrons wanting to dine there once next month's issue became available.
Satisfied with her day's accomplishments, she shut off her laptop, grabbed her handbag and walked into the office of Victor Michaels, the magazine's very good-looking head graphic designer.
"I'm done for today, darling. Are you ready to go? I'm starving," she said to Victor. "I'd also like to talk to you again about Megan's engagement party this Saturday night. Seriously, if you can't go with me, I don't know who else to ask," she said, voicing her worry.
"Just give me five minutes and I'll be ready to go. And of course, I'm going with you to your sister's party," Victor replied with a grin. "I'm really excited about it. I'm already looking forward to meeting your family and showing them just how much I want you," he said in a low, sexy voice.
If it hadn't been Victor who made the comment, she would have blushed. Instead she laughed and settled herself on a chair and waited for him to finish.
Renewed hope flowed through her. Having Victor for her date should stop Megan's plan to introduce her to single men at her and Rick's engagement party. Who knew how many of them they had invited? And it was supposed to be a small affair only! She shuddered at the thought of being introduced to a line-up of bachelors, with everyone there knowing what was going on. That would be way too embarrassing!
I wouldn't make a spectacle of myself, even though Megan thinks she's only doing me a favour.
She had wondered why Megan was so intent on playing matchmaker. She wouldn't be surprised if their mum was in on it, too. Both of them must have felt sorry for her when she broke up with Daniel, especially when she'd asked if she'd ever meet 'The One'. She winced. She could still remember her conversation with her mother.
"Don't worry, darling, maybe Daniel's not really meant for you."
"Do you really think I'll ever find 'the one', Mum? You know, like you have Dad and Megan has Rick?"
"Of course, you will! You are gorgeous and you are beautiful on the inside, too. Somewhere out there, there's a man just for you. And I'm not saying that because I'm your mother. But you won't find this person if you don't go out enough! Most of your contacts are work-related and you have such strict rules about not dating anyone connected to your work. You should socialise more, Clarise."
Her mother hadn't hidden the fact that she was worried she would end up a spinster and would have no one to share her life with. With her track record of hardly going out on dates and her past relationships not lasting more than two and a half months—her time with Daniel being the longest—she shared her mum's concerns.
Ruefully, she remembered the time when she and Dan
iel took her parents out to dinner. At twenty-nine years of age, she had finally introduced a boyfriend to her parents. Her mother had been so excited it was like she herself was going out on her first date.
Three weeks after that, she was single again. She felt she had failed at something significant and swallowed the pain and guilt that attacked her at disappointing her parents—and herself.
"Are you okay, Clarise?" Victor's voice brought her back into the present.
"Yes, I was just thinking of Megan's plan to foist single men on me. I don't want to look desperate! How mortifying would that be?"
She smiled at the man in front of her. She couldn't help but think that it was, indeed, very unfortunate for the female population that Victor was gay. He was really hot-looking and a decent guy to boot.
"I'm so looking forward to your sister's engagement party but I seriously hope there are no handsome, muscular hunks there or I won't be able to keep up our pretence."
They laughed out loud.
CHAPTER TWO
Victor got out of the car, looking gorgeous in his light grey, long-sleeved, collared shirt and black pants. He went to the passenger side to open Clarise's door. With her in a chic, blue silk dress that hugged her figure in all the right places, the two of them were a picture of a beautiful couple.
"Thank you, darling," she murmured to Victor as she gracefully got out of the vehicle. Her eyes danced with controlled laughter as she watched him act out their game. "What is your mantra again tonight?" she teased him.
"I'm a sexy, handsome, straight man who's crazy about you," he whispered with a snicker. "Don't make me laugh or we'll give the game away. Your parents are watching us."
Clarise waved to her parents. They, too, had just arrived and were patiently waiting for them, trying not to stare at Victor.
She knew Megan would have told their mum straight away about her 'new boyfriend' after she had called a couple of days ago. She'd informed Megan she was bringing a date to her party after all.
"Is this your new boyfriend?" her sister had asked with open interest.
"I work with Victor, and we, umm, get along really well and we really like each other," she had answered. "There's the complication of working together but we seem to be managing it quite well. I'm really looking forward to introducing him to you guys."
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