First, she would need to talk to her boss about working with her good friend and colleague, Jessa Allen, regarding Will's business. She would tell them that since Will was a very good friend of her future brother-in-law, she would prefer that any reviews and articles for Will should not be written by her as there could be a perceived conflict of interest. This excuse to get out of a business relationship with Will may sound very thin but if she succeeded with her plans involving him, there would definitely be conflict of interest! Well, she hoped so, anyway.
But since she still needed the "business reason" in order to see Will, at least for the first couple of times, she would also propose to her boss that she will conduct the initial interview with the client, and perhaps help Jessa collate some information about the business. Clarise didn't see any problems with her boss or Jessa with this.
The next phase was the personal phase, the one that made her heart beat faster. She would like to get to know Will much better. She already liked what she saw and there was definitely something there from her end. This time around, she would lighten up and take big leaps. She swallowed the self-doubts that threatened to rear their ugly heads.
~~
Will arrived at Lifestyle by Design magazine's office five minutes early and Delia, the pretty, voluptuous receptionist, took him to a sleek and modern meeting room where he was to meet with Clarise.
Delia only needed to take one look at Will to decide she wouldn't mind flirting with him and see where that would lead to. She was only a temporary employee covering someone on a four-week holiday. Her employment at the magazine was coming to an end so she didn't see a problem with flirting with clients, especially one as hot as this one.
"Mr. Matthews - William - may I call you William?" Delia asked Will with a flutter of her eyelids.
Will tried to hide his amusement, a little intrigued by the not-so-subtle come-on by Delia. "Sure."
"Well, William, my name is Delia. Would you like some coffee, tea, water or...something?" Delia purred at him with a sultry voice, the last word sounding decidedly inviting. Her body was posed in a flirtatious way.
Will couldn't help but smile at Delia's transparency. He recognised Delia as someone who wanted to play - just the type who would be comfortable with the casual tumble in bed.
Will let his gaze rake over Delia from head to toe, lingering briefly on her breasts. He waited for his body to have a lusty reaction to her, but was surprised that he didn't feel anything. Funny, that, considering he hadn't been with a woman for four months. Delia had a hot body and he was a man with a healthy sexual appetite. He frowned slightly, thinking about what he wanted to do with her unspoken but obvious offer.
"I think I'll just have water for now, thank you, Delia," he answered with a smile that was both apologetic and cheeky.
Delia's smile faltered a bit. She was shocked that she'd been rejected yet transfixed by how even more handsome Will looked when he smiled like that. Her mind decided to hang on to his words 'for now'. That must mean there could be 'something' later. Her flirtatious smile came back.
Clarise was on her way to the meeting room, feeling both nervous and excited. The wide double doors to the meeting room were open and she stumbled a bit when she saw Will - sinfully handsome Will - smiling prettily at Delia, and Delia - the office slut - smiling seductively at Will. Her Will.
Clarise felt a sharp stab of jealousy and an uncharacteristic possessiveness. He's mine, she thought forcefully. With decisive steps, she walked towards the meeting room.
Will saw Clarise approach the room from the corner of his eyes. He straightened and turned fully towards the doors. There she was, walking with confident grace in her glamorous high heels and elegant dress that showed off her beautiful curves and sexy, long legs. Will felt his heart beat faster and felt the telltale tightening in his groin - the reaction he was expecting earlier, but didn't feel, towards Delia.
Clarise stepped into the room, smiled at him and looked cooly at the receptionist.
Delia saw the change in Will when he saw Clarise and also saw Clarise's warm smile at Will. Reluctantly, she walked towards the doors then, remembering her work duties, asked Clarise with a touch of frost in her tone, "would you like water, tea or coffee, Clarise?"
"Just water, thanks, Delia."
Delia walked off without another word.
"Hi, Will," Clarise said with a lovely smile, extending her hand to him. "It's great to see you again."
Will took her hand, shook it, and held it a fraction longer than normal. "It is great to see you again, Clarise," he said with a broad smile that would make any red-blooded woman gape.
And gape she did, feeling her heart pound in her chest. And she didn't need to worry that Will would think her as unprofessional because he was too busy gawking back at her.
A loud conversation outside the meeting room broke the spell and Clarise looked away, unconsciously licking her lips as she tended to do when she was nervous. The action didn't escape Will and his attention focused on her lips, lush and soft, and again he stared. He had this sudden urge to kiss her senseless.
The electricity that surrounded and crackled around them when they danced at Megan and Rick's party was back with a vengeance.
Clarise forced herself to be cool, calm, collected and professional. She sat at the chair nearest her. She noticed that Will hadn't moved and just continued to look at her. Well, at least I'm not the only one affected, she thought with satisfaction.
"Would you like to sit down, Will?"
Will gave himself a mental shake. What's happening to you, idiot? You're making a fool of yourself.
He sat on the opposite side of the large, mahogany boardroom table from where Clarise sat. He needed to have some distance between then to keep his head focused on the business at hand.
Delia re-entered the room with a glass of water for each of them. It didn't escape Clarise's attention that Delia didn't even acknowledge her when she thanked her for her water but smiled beguilingly at Will when he thanked her for his. Bitch.
Clarise narrowed her eyes fleetingly at Delia but decided she needed to be professional first. She brought the conversation to business and for the time being, they were able to maintain professionalism.
Will told Clarise what he wanted from the magazine and his hoped-for results. Clarise explained to Will how they will go about doing the review and article for his business. She made it clear that any article they will write will be an honest review, regardless of what he wanted them to write.
Will was comfortable with this. He was confident about his team and their service. He knew they gave exceptional service and experience to their clients and their research should uncover that.
Clarise then explained that while she would be working with him initially to gather information, it would be Jessa Allen who would do the bulk of the work and write the article.
Will was surprised by this. He was expecting and hoping to work with Clarise with the whole thing. He asked her why she wasn't doing the bulk of the work.
"Conflict of interest," she said with an enigmatic smile. At Will's questioning and very intrigued look, she said, "Well, you are a good friend of my family." Then, deciding to take a big leap, she added with a direct stare at his captivating hazel eyes, "and who knows how many more parties we will be attending together." The words were hardly out of her mouth when she felt herself blush furiously. Embarrassed, she looked down on her notepad and pretended to shuffle paper, willing herself to maintain composure. She wasn't used to being this brazen with men.
She's interested! Will's face broke into an amused smile before it registered a frown. Her mention of her family poured cold water on an otherwise enchanting realisation. He remembered that he considered Clarise off-limits. Sure, she was quite clearly interested and there was this undeniable attraction between them, but judging by her apparent embarrassment at her flirtatious remark, he was sure she was not the type who looked for physical-only encounters. She was definitely
not like Delia.
She seemed to be the type who would look for commitment as a natural progression to a relationship. Definitely 'no-go', he said to himself. Plus there was her boyfriend. Her boyfriend! He almost forgot about him. He had to know what was going on there.
"I seem to remember your boyfriend also works here," he said, trying to look and sound nonchalant.
Clarise looked up and smiled. She was relieved her composure had returned. She had hoped Will would bring up the topic of Victor so she could 'set the record straight' and was glad that he did.
"Victor? Victor's just a friend now." Clarise didn't want to clarify that Victor was gay. This wasn't the time.
Will felt joy leap in his heart, startling himself. Not for the first time, the kind of feelings this woman stirred in him surprised him. He refused to analyse it further and put it down to lust - lust he didn't think he'd have the opportunity to satisfy. What a shame.
"Will, do you have any more questions about how we would go about doing research and interviews for the review of your business?"
Will roused himself from his thoughts. "Ahh, yeah." He dragged his thoughts back to the business at hand. "I only have one other question. Timing is quite important to me as I would like the article to come out close to the time I'll be opening up the Melbourne branch. That's about four months from now. Would it be possible to have the article come out around that time?"
"I don't see why that would be a problem. I'll speak with Jessa. The sooner we get organised, the better, of course. If you have any written materials like your brochures and marketing materials, we'd like to have copies of them. We'll get our factual information of what you offer from those. I'll sort through them and let Jessa Allen do the rest. So just let me know when we can meet again so I could have those materials." Clarise smiled at how easy it turned out to arrange another meeting with Will.
"No problem. I'll get them organised for you and let you know when they're ready."
"Great. Well, if there's nothing else..."
Will realised their meeting had ended. He looked at his watch and noticed almost half an hour had gone by. It felt like it had only been ten minutes and he wasn't quite ready to end the meeting with Clarise yet.
"Are you doing anything for lunch, Clarise? It's almost twelve o'clock and if you have nothing planned, maybe you'd like to join me?" What? Will, didn't you just decide she's a no-go? Why are you asking her out?
Oh, yes, please! "Sure. That would be good. Just let me grab my bag and we'll go," Clarise answered in a sedate tone that hid the ecstatic jubilation she felt. She thought the lunch would be considered a date, not a business meeting. And he asked her! She'd have to let Victor and Jessa know she wouldn't be joining them for lunch.
Too late, damn me. Will raked his hand through his hair.
~~
They decided to go to a cafe a couple of blocks away from Clarise's office. They talked companionably about the lunch choices around the area as they waited for the pedestrian light to turn green.
It was a couple of minutes before twelve when they got there so the place was still relatively empty of lunchtime patrons. Will suggested a table for two tucked in a corner and put his hand on Clarise's back as he led her to the table. Clarise felt a warm glow travel all over her body at the gesture. She liked it. A lot. All of a sudden, she wanted him to put his arm around her and hold her close just like he did on the dance floor. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, putting a stop to her wayward thoughts. Never before had a simple touch from a man affect her equilibrium.
Will noticed. "Anything wrong, Clarise?"
"No." She smiled at him in that lovely, guileless way that affected the way his heart beat.
They ordered their food and started talking about how they each got into their line of work.
Lunch proceeded with easy, enjoyable chatter.
Clarise learned that Will played tennis with Mark, Rick and a few other guys every two weeks on Sunday afternoons and this coming Sunday was one of those days.
Will was pleasantly surprised to know that the back way he usually took to get to the tennis courts from his place passed through Clarise's street. When she described what her apartment block looked like, he knew which one she was talking about. Casually, he asked her unit number and she told him.
"So tell me, how are Rick and Mark at tennis? Rick seems to take it pretty seriously."
"Well, they're both pretty good although Rick is definitely the more competitive of the two. He's my main rival among the group," Will said with a laugh.
"So I take it you're pretty competitive as well?"
"Yes, I tend to be. I usually throw everything I have for something I really want, and beating those guys in tennis is something at the top of my list of hobbies."
At the mention of Rick and Mark, Will remembered again who Clarise was - the future sister-in-law of his good friends. He was enjoying having lunch with her so much that he almost forgot that little fact. He reminded himself again of his decision. No-go.
Clarise looked at her watch and was surprised at the time. They'd been there for one and a half hours. It didn't feel like it. Fortunately, her working hours were very flexible.
Reluctantly, she announced she had to go back to work for another client meeting.
Will insisted on paying and refused Clarise's offer to halve the bill.
As they walked out of the cafe, it was Clarise that didn't want their day together to end yet. But she had a meeting to go to. She decided to take a small leap.
"Will, how about if I give you my mobile number? That way you can call me when you have those brochures organised or... if there's something else you want." She blushed a little bit and licked her lips nervously. She said it innocently enough, not knowing how to flirt well due to lack of practice, but she hoped Will got the message.
Will looked into those beautiful brown eyes and thought he could easily get lost in them. "Yes, that's a great idea." He smiled at her with that gape-inducing smile. He pulled out his smartphone from his pocket and tapped her number as she recited it.
"Why don't you have mine too?" he asked in a low voice, looking into those beautiful eyes.
That crackling electricity was very noticeable again.
Clarise hoped he hadn't notice the slight tremor of her hands as she fumbled with her smartphone to tap his number on it.
For the rest of the day, Clarise thought she was floating on a cloud.
For the rest of the day, Will fought with himself - should he stick with his decision that she's a no-go or should he act on their mutual attraction?
~~
Will had just finished collating all the travel books, brochures and marketing materials he had available and put it in a box to deliver to Clarise's office first thing on Monday morning on his way to work. He won't call her. He'll just drop it off at reception and maybe that girl Delia would be there.
He had decided when he woke up this morning that she will remain a no-go. He wouldn't be able to look at his friends Rick and Mark in the eyes, especially Rick, if he hurt Clarise. Much as he was attracted to her and much as she seemed like a really nice girl, he did not want a relationship. He knew it would create too much complication and distraction that he neither needed nor wanted.
He thought about her attempts to let him know she was interested in him. He smiled at the thought, liking her shyness and admiring her courage when it was apparent she wasn't used to being too forward with men. Warmth spread through him, not from lust, but from something else that he refused to acknowledge. He just wouldn't do for her, he thought. She deserved someone who'd treat her well.
~~
Will was on his way to his tennis game with the boys. Today was a big day. He and Rick would be playing the doubles finals against Glen and Stan. They took their tennis games seriously and enjoyed winning against each other.
Will was approaching Clarise's street and without realising it, he started to drive slowly. He recognised her apartment buil
ding from a few meters away and idly wondered if she would happen to be walking outside. He saw a car pull out from a street parking right in front of her building. With split-second decision, he pulled in to that now-available parking space.
He did have that box of travel books at the back of the car to give her, he reasoned. And since he was here, he may as well save himself some time on Monday morning. And since this parking space right in front of her building miraculously became available just at the right time... He nodded, comfortable with his decision.
CHAPTER SIX
Clarise was in a bit of a panic. She bunched up the top she was wearing over her breasts so she could put on a strapless bra. She had already buzzed him in the building so he'd be outside her door in a minute.
Maybe I should also put on a jacket or something. But seeing it was quite hot in her apartment, she discarded the idea.
Will to Love Page 5
