by Amanda Ashby
“Sorry I’m late.” Riley readjusted her glasses, her eyes twinkling as she caught sight of the photographs. “There was a problem with one of the self-service machines.”
“Hello, dear. I was just showing Will my trip.” Mrs. Eden beamed.
“And I’ve enjoyed it very much,” Will said, earning himself a grateful smile from Riley, which in turn made Will long to stand up and kiss her. Instead he turned to the elderly lady. “I’m about to take Riley out to lunch, would you care to join us?”
“Oh.” Mrs. Eden colored before shaking her head. “You really do have the charm of Bingley, but no, my sister will be finished checking her books out in a minute and then we’re off to bingo.”
“Then it’s our loss,” Will assured her before offering Riley his arm. It was just the same way he’d always done it in the past, but as her fingers touched the sleeve of his shirt, a bolt of desire ran through him. They bid their good-byes to Mrs. Eden then wandered toward the old oak tree that stood majestically by the side of the road. It had been there for over one hundred years—and had the added bonus of concealing them should Riley’s controlling boss happen to be looking out the window.
Which meant it was the perfect place to kiss her.
“By the way, hello,” she murmured, her hand finding his. Heat raced through him as she stepped into his arms and lifted her mouth to his. She made a soft whimpering noise and pressed her body closer.
“Hello, yourself.” He grinned, not releasing her hand. “You know, I’m not sure whether I hate that I can’t kiss you around your boss or if it’s incredibly sexy and hot.”
“Sexy and hot works for me,” Riley said as they slowly began to walk toward their favorite Japanese café. “And thank you for inviting Mrs. Eden along. That was so sweet of you.”
“Nonsense. She’s a lovely lady who likes you a lot, which lets me know she has excellent taste.”
“Yes and she also has sixty-two photographs of Jane Austen’s front door. And considering how late I was, I’m guessing that you saw them all.”
“It’s a very nice door.” He was fascinated by the way her nose twitched when she smiled. It was one of the many things he’d been noticing since their first date, three days ago. He thought he’d known everything about Riley, but he’d discovered how wrong he was. In fact, if Riley was next to him he could happily look at door photographs all day long. Then he let out a groan. He was turning into his brother. How the hell had that happened?
“What’s wrong?” she said in alarm, but he shook his head. There were many things he could tell her, but the fact that he was following in his love-obsessed brother’s footsteps? That would scare off just about anyone. Especially when he knew she didn’t want a real relationship. He paused as he considered his thoughts. Up until a few days ago, he’d never wanted a real relationship either. Did this mean he was changing his mind? He toyed with the idea before dismissing it. It was impossible to think when Riley was standing so close to him, her scent catching in his nose and reeling his senses.
“Nothing that can’t be sorted by kissing you,” he said instead as his mouth found hers.
“Good answer,” she murmured. Then she frowned as she pulled away. “And now that the kissing is done, tell me how your meeting went.”
“Great.” Will grinned proudly, then filled her in on what Geoff Tait was like in a boardroom. While he had still been eccentrically dressed in a unicorn T-shirt and brown sandals with his jeans, his shrewd mind had fired relentlessly, asking question after question. “I should hear within a week.”
“I’m so pleased,” Riley said, leaning in, but before she could kiss him again her cell phone beeped and she let out a soft sigh as she retrieved it from the pocket of her jeans and studied the screen. He watched as her mouth pressed together.
“Problem?”
“No. But there’s a small chance that the apocalypse might be coming.”
“And they sent you a text message to warn you?”
“Not quite.” She laughed, which had the added effect of causing her Jurassic Park T-shirt to strain just enough to highlight her chest. His pulse quickened. “It’s a text message from Jude. First my father and now my mother? Seriously, if you see four guys on horseback, start to panic.”
“Good point. So, what does she say? Is it about the trip on Saturday?” he asked. When Riley first mentioned she was going to see her mom because she couldn’t make the opening night, she’d refused his offer to go with her, mainly because she didn’t want to pretend they were dating when they weren’t. And since then, they’d been too preoccupied to give it any more thought.
“Actually, she says she has to cancel.” Riley was frowning when she looked up from the screen.
“Does she give a reason?”
“She says that the exhibition’s sold out and that she needs to get more pictures finished.” Riley pressed her eyebrows together, which meant she still wasn’t happy.
“Okay, I’m confused. Isn’t that a good thing that she’s sold out?” he said, not least since he knew that thanks to her mom’s India experience, more money was definitely a good thing. “I mean the sooner she gets back on her feet the better, right?”
“Of course.” Riley nodded, her dark eyes still clouded. “It’s great that she’s done so well. Let’s just say this isn’t the first time she’s had an amazing opportunity and then she’s blown it.”
“How do you think she’s blown it?”
“Look at the number of times she mentions Stephen in this message.” Riley sighed as she handed over her cell so that Will could read the message. For a technology-hating hippy, Jude had great punctuation. But as he read the long text, he could see Riley’s point. It was all Stephen said this, Stephen thinks I should do that, not to mention the fact that they’d apparently been out to dinner three times to discuss work.
“I’m guessing you think work is a euphemism?”
“I’d like to say for sure it isn’t, but this is pretty much Jude’s modus operandi.” Riley rubbed her brow. “I just have to hope that this Stephen is a nicer guy than the last one.”
“Why don’t you text her back and say you’ll go and see her next week when she’s not so busy? I have Tucker’s car. Then you can check on her, see what’s happening in person.”
“Yes, but if we go together, she might think—” Riley broke off as color rose to her cheeks. “Well, considering what Tucker told her, she might think that we really are dating.”
“We’re not dating? Does that mean you’ve just been using me for my body?” Will raised an eyebrow and then grinned as Riley wrinkled her nose and looked adorably confused. “Not that I’m complaining, but still, your words wound.”
“Stop teasing me,” she commanded. “You know very well what I mean. If we go together she’ll read too much into it. Not to mention you’ve only got one more week here. I’m sure you have better things to do than visit my mom.”
“And that’s where you’re very much mistaken.” Will couldn’t resist the urge to kiss her again any longer. If he only had one more week in town then he wanted to make sure that every minute counted. Because if this was what it felt like to date his best friend, he couldn’t think of a single reason why he hadn’t done it sooner. Then, without waiting for her to reply, his mouth crashed onto hers and she melted into his arms.
***
Be the change. Riley stared at the text message her dad had just sent her and groaned. This time it was accompanied by five dogs all wagging their tails. At some point she was going to have to stage an emoticon intervention. Actually, she would have to do one for her mother as well, since she’d also taken to sending an inordinate number of text messages, though Riley suspected that Jude’s had been sent out of guilt for canceling today’s visit.
On second thought, maybe instead of an intervention for Jude, Riley could just send a thank-you card since her can
celation had allowed her and Will to spend the entire day together.
In the past that would’ve just meant sitting on the sofa watching movies and going out for a hike and some food, but now it had taken on a whole new dimension. Mainly involving the bedroom.
Especially since the countdown was on until his visit ended and he flew back to Indonesia.
The smile left her mouth. She always hated when Will left and she had to go back to her normal life, which didn’t involve nights on the couch together, discussing books and movies. But she couldn’t even image how much worse it would feel this time—
Stop.
She slammed the thought down. Thinking about what would happen when Will left was a waste of time. He didn’t do relationships and neither did she, which was why they’d both decided that this was something they would enjoy while it lasted. Besides, she’d have plenty of time to think about the consequences after he’d gone. But right now, she had to make the most of having him with her.
“Don’t judge me, Bingley. It wasn’t like you and Jane Bennet had the smoothest relationship,” she said to the guinea pig, who was sitting by the door, his nose twitching. She obviously wasn’t the only one waiting for Will to return. Then she frowned as she realized that Bingley was sitting on top of the folder of documents that Will had been working on earlier. “Okay, buddy. I think I’d better take those before you do anything crazy, like eat them.”
The guinea pig squeaked in protest as Riley lifted him up and retrieved the folder. It was for the E-waste startup. As she sat down and flipped through them, she saw that each page contained a real-life story of the people who lived in the village where they wanted to start the business. At the end it went into the figures and forecasts, but the fact that Will had put the people before the numbers made Riley’s heart swell with pride.
“Hey, why are you sitting here in the dark?”
Riley grinned at Will’s sudden appearance as she untangled her legs and stood up, trying to shake away the stiffness.
“I got caught up reading about your project. Will, this is truly amazing. All the stories about the people who will be working there. What you’re going to do is such a good thing.”
“We think so,” he said in a light voice, but she could see the sense of pride in his eyes as he spoke. “And thank you. It means a lot that you understand what I’m trying to do.”
Her heart pounded. He didn’t say it out loud, but he didn’t have to. Riley had always known just how much damage his ex-fiancée had done to him. For a moment she thought of the conversation she’d had with Lisa. The other woman had gone out of her way to insist that she was the victim not the villain, but Riley had a hard time believing it. After all, if Lisa had told Will how important the money was to her, he never would’ve been so hurt by her betrayal.
“I do understand and I’m proud of you,” she in a soft voice as she followed him over to the kitchen, her stomach growling. “And now, Mr. Clever and Kindhearted Aid Worker, I hope you got something nice to eat.”
“Of course,” he said, then his mouth found hers. There was a sense of urgency to the kiss, so hot and engulfing that Riley almost forgot about food until Will broke away. He lifted a large cake box out of one of the bags. “Coffee triple-layer.”
Riley grinned. “Smart and sensible. I like that in a person.”
“You know, there’s only one thing better than eating cake,” Will teased, holding the box just out of Riley’s reach. “And that’s if you eat it with no clothes on.”
Riley groaned. “Is that your answer to everything? No clothes?”
Will paused for a moment, as if to consider the matter, before nodding his head. “I believe it is. Think how much consumerism would be avoided, plus it would cut down on water consumption and laundry bills. It really is ideal. So, what are we waiting for?”
“You present a compelling case.” Riley giggled as he put down the cake and pulled his old T-shirt over his head in one fluid motion. The sight of his chest reduced her knees to jelly, and she let out a sigh as he reached for her. But before his fingers could make their way to the top of her jeans the doorbell rang.
She frowned. It was almost eight at night, which meant most of her friends would be curled up with a book by now. She considered leaving it, as Will was nuzzling her neck, sending a shockwave of desire racing through her, but then the doorbell sounded again. She pulled away and reluctantly crossed the floor to peer through the peephole.
She let out a little gasp when she recognized the frizzy hair and sensible trousers.
“Crap. It’s Gloria.”
“As in Gloria from the library?” Will blinked, but instead of answering Riley grabbed his hand and dragged him into the bedroom before she realized that he’d already taken off his T-shirt. She quickly retrieved it and threw it at him. “Riley, what the hell’s going on?”
“N-nothing,” she stammered as the doorbell went again. “It’s just, remember the whole thing where she thinks you’re gay and that I’m single? Well, let’s just say that you standing here feeding me coffee cake with no shirt on might ruin that image.”
Will opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again. Riley gave him an apologetic smile as she hurried to open the front door.
“Gloria.” She feigned surprise, her grip tightening on the door handle. She had to try to pretend that her boss always showed up on her doorstep at eight o’clock on a Saturday night. “Is everything okay?”
“I know it’s late, but my niece’s partner broke his leg on vacation so they’re back early, which means I need to collect Bingley.”
“Bingley,” Riley said blankly before realizing that Gloria was peering over her shoulder. She clamped down on her lip. Hopefully Will had stayed in the bedroom.
“Is there is a problem?” Gloria narrowed her eyes, much like she did when she thought someone was talking too loudly in the library.
“Nope.” Riley shook her head as she ushered Gloria into her apartment, then led her over to where Bingley was sitting in the middle of the sofa. “I’ll just go get the travel cage and the rest of his food. Oh, I got him a couple of little toys to play with. He likes the rubber dog the best. I think it brings out his inner alpha.”
“Riiight.” Gloria gave a thoughtful nod just as there was a clattering sound from the bedroom. Riley groaned. In the past she’d known Will to walk into her apartment and make a cup of coffee all before she knew he was even there, but tonight he must’ve turned off his stealth mode, because whatever had happened, it sounded like a dinosaur had been involved. “What was that?”
Just my gorgeous neighbor who’s also my fake boyfriend who I happen to be sleeping with.
“Nothing,” she said instead. Given Gloria’s face expression, she must not have been convincing, so she tried again. “Well, not nothing. I left my fan on. It must’ve blown something off the dresser. It happens all the time. Anyway, we’d better get Bingley all comfortable before his big trip home to see his real family.”
For a moment Gloria was silent, then she nodded. “Of course. And, Riley, thank you for doing this.”
“Please, don’t worry about it,” Riley said as she scooped Bingley up and felt his little body wriggle in her hands. “I’m going to miss this guy.”
“I’m more of a cat person myself, but my niece swears that guinea pigs are good company. Perhaps you should get one?”
“Perhaps.” Riley said as she followed her boss out the door.
They said a short good-bye and she waited until Gloria had climbed into her car before returning to where Will was sheepishly standing in the middle of the room, holding two pieces of wood in his hand. It looked suspiciously like the small bookshelf that sat next to her bed. “What happened?”
“The good news is that we now have a real spider story. I saw one climbing on your books and I thought I would do the manly thing and remove it for you—�
��
“While hiding from my boss?” Riley raised an eyebrow.
“It seemed like a good idea. But then I caught sight of one of your bras. It was pink and lacy and I got distracted and bumped the bookshelf. As for the spider, I think he ran for his life,” Will said, then frowned. “Since when do you have pink lacy bras?”
“I bought it for a party last year,” Riley said, once again feeling shy around him. She knew that Italy had plenty of guy friends who she’d discussed everything from panties to sex with, but Riley and Will hadn’t been like that. And even now, despite what happened between them, she still wasn’t quite comfortable. “This is weird.”
“Which part? The part where I had to hide from your boss or where I found your lacy pink bra in your bedroom?”
“Both.” Riley sat down in the chair and stared at the space where Bingley’s hut had been. “Everything. I feel like I’m floating and I have no anchor. I made you hide in my bedroom so that my boss doesn’t think I’m dating anyone. Who does that?”
Will sat down next to her and linked his fingers through hers so the heat from his body radiated out toward her. “I’m the first person to agree that lying to your boss isn’t the smartest thing you can do. Especially when there’s no need to. You can get this promotion based on your talents, not whether you have a boyfriend. Even if he is ruggedly handsome and smart.”
“You forgot modest,” Riley said, forcing herself to look at him. “So do you think I should call and tell her the truth?”
“Only if you want to. Look, I get that you want this promotion and your independence. It’s part of what makes you who you are. I watched my mom and Lisa change because of the prospect of money. And I know you hate it every time your parents make crazy decisions, so I’m the last person to ever ask you to do anything that could jeopardize your independence.”
“You really don’t mind that I made you hide in my bedroom?” Her throat tightened as she looked into his pale eyes.