Secret Designs(5)

"I'm on it!" Sam declared. "Lead me to the dream kitchen."





*******



All four of them were busy preparing dinner, happily taking instructions from Samantha, who had appointed herself head chef for the night, when Jasmine's phone buzzed with a text message.

"That was from Kane. We're going to have an extra guest tonight," Jasmine announced.

"Oh, cool. Who?" Kris asked.

"Dylan. Kane's brother. Apparently, one of Dylan's friends is looking for an architect to renovate an old house he bought recently. Dylan wants to know if Kane would be interested in helping his friend out, so Kane invited Dylan over for dinner to find out more about it."

"Great! We get to meet one of Kane's brothers. I know you said all his siblings are good-looking, Jaz, but is Dylan as hot as Kane?" Kris asked jokingly.

Jasmine glanced at Ari before answering. "My answer would be biased, of course, as I'll say my man is a lot hotter. But why don't you ask Ari? She'd met Dylan."

Ari fidgeted as Kris and Sam looked at her expectantly. "Oh...um," she stuttered, embarrassingly flustered.

Heck, she couldn't help it. Dylan was having dinner with them tonight. She had dreamt about him all week—hot, sweaty dreams—and soon she would be seeing him again. In the flesh.

"I know Jaz thinks Kane is the hottest man on the planet," she said blithely, forcing herself to maintain composure. "But I think Dylan is not far off the mark. In fact, at the risk of having a debate with our friend here, I'll go one step further and say Dylan's hotter."

"Oh, really?" Kris asked, her eyes wide. "Do I detect an interest from you, Ari?"

Ari laughed. "A passing interest that had been assuaged. You might as well know, I had a one-night stand with him."

"What?" Kris and Sam cried out together.

"It was totally unexpected," Ari replied, colour rising to her neck and face. "We bumped into each other at a club last week and we probably had too much to drink and ended up in my apartment. But we did discuss it, and agreed that we were both only interested in a one-night stand."

We were both only interested in a one-night stand.

Ari had been repeating that mantra to herself all week. She was sick of hearing it in her head. She must have said it at least a hundred times. But for the life of her, she felt she had to keep reminding herself of that simple fact.

"Wow," Sam said in wonder. "So you're not interested in anything more than that?"

"I don't think Dylan's interested in a relationship," she answered. "Nor am I," she added hastily.

"Would you be okay with Dylan joining us tonight, Ari?" Jasmine asked, her tone light but her eyes betraying her concern.

"Of course!" She went over to her friend and gave her hug. "The question is do you think Dylan would be okay with me being here tonight?"

"Yes," Jasmine replied without hesitation. "Kane told me Dylan can maintain friendships with women he's had one-night stands with. I'm not concerned about Dylan. I'm worried about you! You've told me before you're not into one-night stands, so I was very surprised you had one. With Dylan, at that!"

"I know I've said that in the past, but after my experience with my cheating ex a new relationship is the farthest thing from my mind. For the record, the one-night stand was my idea, not Dylan's," she said with a carefree face.

"Really? Well, okay. As long as you're fine, I'll stop worrying about it." Jasmine matched her lighthearted tone.

"Good! I'm absolutely fine, so stop being such a worrywart," she said emphatically, grateful acting was one of her hidden talents.

So Dylan remains friends with other women he's slept with?

The thought disturbed her more than she cared to admit.





*******



Ari jumped when she heard the doorbell. She was thankful she had already placed the plates she'd been carrying on the dining table. Nothing would be more embarrassing than if she had dropped and broken them.

She hid a sigh. No doubt that was Dylan at the door. The butterflies in her stomach were going haywire.

How on earth would she be able to enjoy the sumptuous meal Sam had masterminded when her tummy was feeling funny and her heart was pounding like crazy?

She heard Jasmine talking. "Come to the kitchen and meet my best friends from Melbourne. Ari's here, too."

"Ari's here, too?" an achingly familiar voice asked.

Jasmine appeared in her line of sight with the man she had developed an enormous crush on.

"Hi, Dylan," she said lightly, keen to play Super-Cool-and-Unaffected-Ari to the hilt.

"Hey, Ari! Good to see you here, gorgeous," Dylan responded, walking up to her and giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek.