"Seven?"
"Good. See you soon."
"See ya."
She was grinning from ear to ear when she noticed Ari and Sam staring at her.
"What's your plan?" Sam asked.
Kris arched her eyebrows. "Plan for tonight?"
"No. Overall plan regarding Trey."
She shrugged. "I don't have any, except to be myself and hope that's enough."
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Trey exhaled his relief, raking his hand through his hair. Kris still meant to see him. For a while there, he thought she'd lost interest.
Earlier in the day, he had been worried for a very different reason. After Dylan's disclosure about Kris' past, he'd wondered if it was a good idea to keep on seeing her. He didn't want to lead her on. Knowing what she had gone through, he didn't want her to think there was any future for the two of them.
He was even ready to tell her he couldn't see her tonight, fearing it would give her the wrong impression. He had waited apprehensively for the phone to ring since lunchtime so he could turn her down. That kept him on the edge for hours.
But she didn't call.
It dawned on him that perhaps Kris wasn't as emotionally interested in him as Sam and Ari feared she might be. Kris was a straightforward woman. If she said she only wanted a fling, she must have been telling the truth, right?
He sent her a text to see how she would respond. She didn't reply straight away, which cemented his belief she wasn't love-struck or anything like that. Most women who were the chasing, desperate type were all over him the second they got a text or a phone call from him.
The fact that Kris wasn't needy or too keen brightened up his day. He didn't have to avoid her, after all.
He was extremely glad about that. He didn't think he could stay away—for no other reason than the fact that she was incredibly hot in bed, he assured himself.
*******
"It's funny how, with all the other good restaurants around, you want to keep coming back here," Trey commented as he and Kris went inside the establishment they'd been to a couple of times already in one week.
"Their food here is really good. When I find something I like, I stick with it," she said. "Would you prefer to go somewhere else?"
"No. Here's good. This is one of my favourite places too. Dylan, Adam, and I come here a lot."
They decided to try a couple of new dishes neither of them had had before. As Trey casually surveyed the room, he remembered the other day, when he had seen Kris and Sam dining there with two other people.
That nagging feeling bothered him again. He didn't know why, but there was something about the guy they were with that time that irked him.
"You know the other day when you were here with Sam and a couple of others?" he said nonchalantly. "Who were the other two?"
"Oh. Jill is Sam's friend. She's her former schoolmate. She moved here to Sydney years ago and got married here. The guy, Blake, is Jill's brother-in-law. He owns that dance studio a couple of streets from your place."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. I'm actually hoping he'll give me a contract job. It's short-term for three months. He needs a dance teacher/choreographer while he's working on a musical."
His eyebrows shot up. This was news. Kris could be around for three more months? The thought made him smile.
"That's great! Have you applied yet?"
"Yes. I auditioned for him the morning you saw us here for lunch. He said he'd let me know his decision in a few days. Hopefully, he doesn't make me wait for too long," Kris said with a cute scrunch of the face.
He frowned, remembering the conversation that went on between Kris and Blake. She'd mentioned something about her having a heavy workout, and a teasing banter ensued between them. He shifted in his seat, feeling nettled. What kind of dance did she do for him?
None of your business, Andrews, he reminded himself.
"Who were those two ladies with you that day?" Kris asked.
"Oh, my sister and my mother," he said, taking a sip of the cold water as he tried to push away an unfamiliar sensation. It felt so much like…jealousy. He shook his head at the ridiculous idea that he could be jealous. Surely, it was just some sort of male possessive, territorial, whatever feeling. Kris was his fling partner and, casual though it might be, he didn't like sharing.
He glanced at Kris who was staring at him thoughtfully.
"You don't need to talk about your family if you don't want to," she said softly.
He gave her a small smile, grateful for her misapprehension.
"My mother and I have a strained relationship," he found himself blurting out. "She was telling us her good news that she was about to re-marry. For the fourth time." He couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice.