Will to Love (4 page)

She gave Will a hug.
 
"Will, thanks so much for coming.
 
We really appreciate it.
 
I know Rick mentioned introducing you to someone tonight but it turns out she's already going out with someone else," Megan said sheepishly.

"No worries about that, Megan," Will said with a chuckle.
 
"Quite frankly, I wasn't really looking forward to your matchmaking so that's a relief.
 
Apart from wanting to be here to help celebrate your engagement, I really just wanted to meet your sister."

Megan and Rick exchanged a startled glance.
 
"Why?" Megan asked, perplexed and remembering Will and Clarise's dance.

"I wanted to talk to her about reviewing my business and writing an article for Lifestyle By Design."

"Oh, okay.
 
Good luck with that."
   

"Thanks, and thanks again for inviting me.
 
Rick, I'll see you for tennis in a few days."

"Yep, see you then, Will."

They both watched Will walk out of the marquee.
 
They saw him look at something that made him stop for a second and shook his head slightly, before he continued walking.

They looked to where Will was looking and saw Clarise and Victor giving each other a big hug.

Megan looked at Rick.
 
"Interesting.
 
Very interesting," she said.
 
Rick gave her a what-do-you-mean look.

~~

Will got into his car and let out a long sigh.
 
He was still reeling from the strong attraction he felt for Clarise.

"Don't forget you're just looking for playmates, Will, not a girlfriend.
 
She is one of your close friend's sister-in-law," he chided himself loudly, his voice filling the car.
 
"And besides, she's already taken," he said in a sour tone, surprised at the jealousy that coursed through his body.

He frowned, not pleased with himself for what he was feeling.

CHAPTER THREE

"I really don't know how to untangle myself quickly from the situation I created.
 
Besides, I might not see him again anyway."
 
Clarise had recounted the whole Will Story to her best-friend Faye, telling her about their dance, the electricity between them and Victor playing the possessive boyfriend in front of Will.

"What so hard about it?
 
You could just say you and Victor have decided it wasn't working out so you've both agreed to break up and remain just friends.
 
Then you're free to go out with him."

"If he even thinks of asking me out after seeing that I'm not available.
 
Besides, it could just be my imagination that he was interested, you know."

"Well, if you're really interested in him you should do something about it and not just wait around.
 
Honestly, Clarise, get out of your fear of rejection issues already!
 
It's bad enough that you keep your head buried in your writing and your work most of the time.
 
You have to take big steps for what you really want instead of just wishing for it to happen.
 
I don't know how you can be so straight and upfront when it comes to work but a coward when it comes to men".

Clarise groaned frustratedly, knowing her best friend was right.
 

The two friends couldn't be any more different.
 
Faye Summers is an extroverted, pretty, social butterfly with a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue.
 
Because of her gregarious, tell-it-like-it-is personality, she had intimidated plenty of men who were interested in her but this did not trouble Faye.
 
She went for whom she wanted.
 
Steve, her boyfriend of almost one year, would not consider himself shy by usual standards but he was tongue-tied and bumbling when he first met Faye at a club.
 
After one week of meeting him and when it looked like he didn't have the nerve to ask her out, Faye waited outside his office one afternoon with a single red gerbera.
 
When Steve walked out of the building, she had boldly approached him, handed him the flower with a sweet smile on her face and asked if he would like to have dinner with her.

Clarise couldn't have done what Faye had done with Steve.
 
Not only did she prefer reading, writing and spending time alone much more than socialising, she was also a scaredy-cat when it came to matters of the heart.
 
She just couldn't bring herself to flirt openly or show her interest in a man until she was convinced he was indeed interested in her and that he was not someone just after a one-night-stand.
 

"Clarise, are you there?
 
I said if you're interested in him, you should do something about it."

"Well, if he gives me a little sign, perhaps."

"A little sign?
 
From what you've told me, what happened at the party was already a sign!"
 
Faye said with obvious frustration.
   

She continued emphatically, "Honestly, Clarise, you are much too serious.
 
Lighten up already!
 
Just go out and date him without any expectation towards anything serious.
 
Just get to know him without thinking he might hurt you.
 
It's really time you stop seeing that idiot Nick in every guy you meet."
 

Clarise knew that Faye was right.
 
Nick had been her first love.
 
She was twenty-two and he was twenty-eight.
 
She fell fast and hard for him and she thought he did, too.
 
He worked in the same building she did back then although for a different company.
 

It was pouring rain the day they met and she didn't have an umbrella.
 
She had decided to brave the rain and get soaked just as long as she could go home when a blond-haired guy she had seen in the building before offered to share his umbrella with her.
 
She thought he was attractive and very sweet and she accepted.
 
They laughed when a wind gust almost tore the umbrella from Nick's hold.
 
She grasped the handle with both hands to help him hold it in place and one of his arms went around her shoulders so they could huddle together under the not-big-enough-for-two umbrella.
 

A week after that rainy day, Nick had been insistent in taking their relationship further.
 
She already fell for him then and also wanted what he wanted.
 
So they made love and it was her first time.
 
They saw each other almost everyday after that and she thought she couldn't be any happier.
 
One night while they were in the throes of passion, Nick said the three little words she longed to hear.
 
She was over the moon.
 

About six weeks later, while walking arm-in-arm in the mall, he stopped outside a jewellery store, right in front of the diamond rings display.
 
He'd ask her if she had a choice, which ring she would prefer.
 
She was so surprised, but she kept her cool and answered him with a flippant "I'll let my man surprise me".
 
She almost couldn't contain her excitement.
 
She was so sure Nick planned to propose to her.
 
Why else would he ask her what ring she would prefer?
 
And they were definitely engagement rings!
 
They haven't been together for very long but it felt right to her.
 

A week after asking her which diamond ring she would prefer, Nick went on a work-related trip to Perth for four days.
 
When he came back, without any warning whatsoever, he announced that he was getting married.
 
Oh no, not to her, but to the girl he had supposedly broken up with before she met him.
 
She didn't know they still worked together and she went with him to Perth for work.
 
While there, they reconciled and got engaged.
 
Clarise was totally dumbfounded and devastated.
 
She cried and cried for weeks.
 

Her first experience of being in love was painful, and for the last seven years, she had been looking at each possible relationship, and each guy she dated, through those pain-caused-by-Nick-coloured glasses.
 
And for her part, she judged herself as gullible, naive, of giving all of herself too soon and decided then she wouldn't be that kind of girl again.

She dragged her mind back to the present.
 
"I'm certainly not expecting him to be serious with me straight away.
 
That would be an insane expectation.
 
But I'm looking for someone who would be interested in a relationship.
 
What if he isn't looking for something serious?"

"There's that word again!
 
You should have 'Serious' as your middle name.
 
What's wrong with just having fun while you date?
 
You know fun, right.
 
F-U-N?
 
Just relax and get to know each other first, for fuck's sake.
 
And I mean that literally.
 
For.
 
Fuck's.
 
Sake."

"Faye!" Clarise had to laugh at her friend's descriptive language.

"You know what I mean, Clarise.
 
You haven't had bedroom action in years.
 
Years!
 
And doing it solo doesn't count.
 
It's seriously time to loosen up, my dear".
 

"You're right, Faye.
 
When you say it like that, it makes a lot of sense.
 
What took you so long saying it?" she added teasingly, hoping to lighten up her dear friend's mood towards her.

"Phew!
 
I'm glad you're not mad at me."
 
Faye continued with a serious voice, "I do know how sensitive this issue is for you but I'm done allowing you to wallow in it.
 
You've been wallowing now for far too long."

"Thank you," Clarise said sincerely.
 
She took a deep breath, a clear intention forming all of a sudden.
 
"Well, my dear, I think you're right.
 
So with you as my witness, I promise that I'm going to try real hard to lighten up and have some fun with the next guy I choose to date."
 

"And the next guy you choose to date will be..."

"Will, I guess.
 
If he'll go out with me."

"Good!
 
And if you like what you see, do get to know him well, really well, for fuck's sake, okay?" Faye giggled.
 
In all honesty, Faye didn't really think Clarise would do that.
 
She was much too serious and conservative.

Clarise giggled with her and an unbidden image of Will, way too hot and handsome as he held her on the dance floor, flashed in her mind.
 
She blushed, grateful that her friend couldn't see.
 

They said their goodbyes and hang up the phone.
 

As Clarise mulled her conversation with Faye, her mind drifted back to the event two months ago that made her determined to change her attitude towards taking risks and being intimate with the men she dated.

~~

Two months ago, Clarise poured herself some iced tea from the fridge when she heard Daniel come into the kitchen.
 
She jumped as he snaked his arm around her waist but she willed herself to relax as he merely held her close, burying his face in her hair.
 
She tipped the glass to her lips to hide the disquiet she felt.
 
She allowed the drink to linger a bit in her mouth before she swallowed, aware of the coolness of the liquid as it slid down her throat, and aware too of the heat of Daniel's chest against her back.
 
She turned sideways, intending to go back to the lounge room but Daniel shifted her so she faced him, trapped within his arms.
 
With quick movements, he took the glass from her hand and placed it on the kitchen bench top behind her as he pinned her against it with his strong body.
 
Her heart thundered fast in her chest, nervous about what he had in mind.

Daniel captured her mouth and she was surprised at the gentleness of his kiss.
 
She expected something more insistent, something more demanding.
 
After a short moment, as Daniel continued his wooing, soft kiss, she started to kiss him back.
 
Daniel felt her response and deepened the kiss just a touch, gently prying her lips open with his tongue and exploring her mouth tenderly, slowly.
 
She hesitated, then loosely put her arms around his shoulders.

Just kisses
, she reassured herself.

She allowed herself to relax and settle further into his embrace when Daniel's kiss suddenly turned
 
into something more assertive, more probing, more seeking as his hands began to explore her back heatedly.
 
She tried to swallow her trepidation as his mouth left hers to trail kisses down her neck.
 
Then with a groan, as if no longer able to contain himself, he pulled her closer to him so she could feel his erection.

She froze and placed her hands on his chest, pushing against him gently but firmly.
 
"Daniel," she whispered warily.

"Clarise, please.
 
Please,
" he breathed against her neck imploringly.
 
He was begging her to give in to him as he continued to kiss her neck, her face, her mouth.