The Boy Toy - Nicola Marsh Page 0,32
only shunning her mother’s choice of man but had chosen a decade-younger Aussie stuntman to date?
Fifteen
Samira had never been more tempted to head back to the city with Rory and spend the rest of the day with him. But after last night and their leisurely morning, which had morphed into a pretty special first date, she needed some space before she did something silly: like tie him to her bed for the next five months.
She’d been with the guy twice now and shouldn’t be feeling this . . . dazzled. She didn’t believe in love at first sight or soul mates or any of that romantic crap. But hanging out with Rory made her feel good in a way she hadn’t experienced in forever.
The way he’d reacted to her age, like it meant nothing, surprised her. She’d expected a withdrawal of some sort, a hesitation, at worst an excuse to cut short their morning. Instead, he’d held her hand like he didn’t want to let go and had been all too keen to share a falooda, her favorite Indian drink, at one of the many sweetshops she remembered from childhood, where they’d lingered, laughing over his mispronunciation of gulab jamuns and rasgullas.
It was so easy being with him. She’d never dated an Aussie guy even though she’d grown up here, because she’d had to concentrate on her studies in high school and uni, and then dated a few of her mom’s “suitable choices” before she’d married Avi. Her mom would’ve burned her best sari if she’d brought an Aussie home back then. Which begged the question, how would Kushi react now?
No way was she ready to find out, so she bade farewell to Rory at the station and headed to her mom’s, battling the usual guilt. She’d been so busy at work she hadn’t visited all week; though that could have more to do with the fact the few times they chatted on the phone, Kushi kept badgering her about Manish. She had to agree Manish was a nice guy, but considering he’d seen her barf the first and last time they met, she wasn’t in a hurry to catch up, no matter how much Kushi insisted.
Parking outside her childhood home, she wondered if she’d done the right thing. Rory had seemed keen to spend the day with her, and dropping him at the station had been tough. How had he gotten under her skin so fast? Before she could second-guess her impulse, she slid her cell from her bag and brought up his number. She could text but had a sneaking suspicion what she wanted to say would come out all wrong. At least if she screwed up while talking to him, he couldn’t look back and see evidence of her idiocy in print.
Gnawing on her bottom lip, she hit the “call” button.
“Hello?” His deep voice sent a shiver of longing through her, which was totally crazy considering she’d had her fill of him well and truly last night.
“Surprise.” Damn, she sounded too perky and quickly tempered her enthusiasm with a calmer, “I thought it only polite to ring and make sure you haven’t been accosted by any punks on the train.”
He laughed, and her skin rippled with awareness. “Babe, the train’s only just pulled out of the station. Give the gangs a few minutes to pull out their weapons.”
“Don’t joke about that,” she said, hating the thought of anything happening to him. Ludicrous, to care this much about a guy she barely knew, but she couldn’t help it. She was smitten. She blamed the phenomenal sex. It addled her brain.
“You started it with that feeble excuse for calling me.”
“Can’t you give a girl a break?”
“I thought I already did last night.” He lowered his voice. “Several times.”
Her thighs clenched. “Aren’t you remotely interested in how I got your number?”
“From my agent’s original referral, I’m guessing. I’ve been waiting for your call ever since.”
“You could’ve got my number from Pia.”
He made a cute snorting sound. “Too icky, mixing business with pleasure.”
“Fair point.”
“So do you want me to swap trains at the next station and come back? Because like I said, I’m more than happy to extend our first date into an all-day affair that lasts well into the evening . . .” He ended on a seductive purr that made her want to say hell yeah, but she really owed her mom a visit. “I like you, Sam, and I’m hoping our first date can extend to another?”
“Only if