Ray of Love (Lifestyle by Design Book 3) (18 page)

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't with any of them for longer than two months."

"What about the ones before Alison. How long was your second-longest relationship?

"Uh, about three months, I think. Can we continue this tomorrow, baby? I'm really sleepy."

"Okay," she whispered.

Faye mulled over the new information she was able to extricate as Ray dozed off. Out of all his girlfriends, Alison stood out with her ten months of being with him compared to the three months or less with the others, including her.

Were his feelings for Alison deeper than what he feels for me right now?

If they were, Faye knew there was nothing she could do but to continue to love Ray every day with the hope that someday soon, he would come to love her more than he'd loved anyone else.

She just prayed that no one else would steal him from her before that happened.

*******

Ray watched as Faye greeted more guests who arrived at her parents' big backyard, which was filled with several outdoor settings. It was the perfect place for relaxed and casual twenty-eighth birthday celebrations for Faye's twin brothers, Riley and Bradley.

She looked sensational in her blue sleeveless dress that matched the colour of her eyes. Even with other beautiful women in attendance, mainly friends of her good-looking brothers, she stood out like a glowing fairy.
 

His mouth quirked into a smile as she squealed with delight when the twins came out of the house wearing the same light green polo shirts she gave them for their birthday and faded denim jeans. They wore their hair the same and even wore the same shoes. It would definitely be hard telling them apart. Faye told him the twins had a penchant for practical jokes, so he was pretty sure they meant to confuse people as to who was who all night long.

He was glad to see Faye having a great time. Even though she tried to hide it, he could tell she'd been in low spirits for much of the last couple of weeks. It worried him. She was someone who would usually express her thoughts and feelings but, for some reason, this time she chose to stay quiet about whatever was bothering her.

He felt sure he wasn't the cause of it. If he was, she couldn't possibly make love to him with such passion and abandon several times a week, as she had been doing. Still, he'd prefer to know why she'd been downcast lately. But he didn't want to pry too much. She was entitled to some personal space and privacy.

"Here you go, Ray," Kane called to him, handing him a bottle of cold beer.

"Thanks. Cheers."

"You know, I'm plenty annoyed with you," Kane said casually as he took a swig of his beer.

Ray gaped at Kane in surprise and racked his brains for possible reasons why. The only other time he saw Kane was at Evan's exhibition five weeks ago.

"Is it because Faye and I didn't get in the car straight away?" he asked, referring to the time he and Faye got hot and bothered in the parking lot.

Kane chuckled. "Well, now that you reminded me …"

"Oh, so it wasn't that? Is it because I messed up your chance with Rita?" he grinned.

Kane snorted. "You're kidding, right?"

"So why?"

"You made Faye forget about making me cheesecake," Kane said with a grim expression.

"Hey, I'm really sorry, bro," he replied. "You should have said something earlier. I would have saved you a piece."

"She's been making them for you and she's forgotten all about me?" Kane asked incredulously.

"What can I say?" he replied with a big grin.

Kane shook his head. "I need to have a word with that sister of mine."

They both glanced at Faye, who was catching up with a couple of girls. At that moment, a tall, well-dressed, good-looking man approached her from behind and covered her eyes with his large hands. It took her only a few seconds of guessing who he was before she turned around to greet him with a laugh. The man lifted her up from the ground, giving her a big bear hug.

Ray scowled at the stranger. Whoever he was, the prick was being too familiar with his girlfriend and he didn't like it one bit.

"He still loves her after all these years," Kane commented dryly.

"Who is he?" he asked, his voice low and hostile.

"Someone she cares about a hell of a lot," Kane answered with a serious look on his face.

Ray's face darkened ominously, his glower deepening. "Should I be worried?" he asked, directing a deadly stare towards the guy Faye was happily prattling with.

When he didn't get an answer, he turned to look at Kane.

Kane was observing him with keen interest, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

"You got it real bad for her," Kane said with clear approval.

"I do," he replied without hesitation.

Kane clapped him on the shoulder. "That's Dylan, our other brother. Come on, I'll introduce you to him."

Brother?
Ray smiled sheepishly, slightly embarrassed that he had jumped to the wrong conclusion yet again regarding another of Faye's brothers.

Kane snickered at his expression. "Hey, it makes me feel better knowing that my sister forgets her promises to me because of a guy who's crazy about her."

Ray chuckled while he walked with Kane towards Faye and Dylan. "So I'm back in your good books then?" he teased.

"Not fully. Not until she bakes me that damned cheesecake," Kane replied with a laugh.

~~~~~~~

Ray felt her before he saw her. When he looked up, Faye was almost by his side, smiling at everyone at their table. While he was thoroughly enjoying conversing with Kane, Dylan and three of their male cousins, he was glad she came over to where he was. It was pathetic but he was missing her a hell of a lot. It was hard to be in the same place as her and not touch her constantly or be by her side. But he didn't want to look like he was hogging her attention during her brothers' birthday party, where she was playing hostess along with her mum.

"How's everything going here, boys?" she asked as she put a hand on his shoulder. He noticed how she discreetly eyed the bottle of beer he was holding.

"Good, baby," he answered cheerfully. "Don't worry, this is my second and last one for tonight. You, on the other hand, can drink to your heart's content."

Dylan, who was sitting next to him, chuckled. "I can see all she needs to do is give you the eye, Ray, and you'll do whatever she says."

Faye swatted her brother on the shoulder. "He's driving us home, silly. Whereas you'll probably end up sleeping upstairs in your old bedroom."

"Don't let her call all the shots, Ray," Dylan continued. "She loves to be bossy, in case you haven't already noticed. Before you know it, you could be completely under her thumb and you'll wonder what the hell happened. In fact, I can see it happening right now before my eyes." Dylan wagged his eyebrows up at his sister.

"Don't scare him away, Dylan," she snapped.

Ray grinned at Faye. "Don't worry, baby, nothing can scare me away."

She sat on his lap and put her arms around his neck. "Nothing?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, nothing," he replied with a nervous laugh, slightly embarrassed at this very public display of affection in front of her male relatives.

She smiled in response, with an expression that tugged at his heart. He could only describe it as bittersweet. And was that vulnerability or insecurity he saw in her eyes before she blinked it away? He'd been seeing that look on her for the last two weeks.

"Oh, please, don't do that in front of me again," Kane spoke despairingly.

A bright grin was back on Faye's face.

"Don't worry, Kane. We don't plan to make a spectacle of ourselves here," she said to her brother as she got up from his lap. "I'll leave you guys to continue your male bonding session."

Kane was bombarded with questions about what his comment meant. He pointed a finger at Ray, indicating he should be the one to tell the story.

Of course, Ray didn't want Faye's male relatives to get a picture of how freaking hot and desirable he thought she was, so he gave them a watered-down version of what Kane witnessed in the parking lot.

As the conversation moved on to a different topic, Ray only half participated, his mind firmly on Faye.

Was I responsible for her recent gloominess, after all? What did I do?

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Hi, Elena, it's Faye Summers. Is Ray available at the moment?"

"Ray?" The surprise in the receptionist's voice was evident. "Sorry, Faye, he's in a meeting. Can someone else help you?"

"Ah, yes, thanks. Could you put me through to either Clarise, Jessa or Victor, please?"

"No problem. Just hang on."

Faye continued walking to the Lifestyle by Design office as she waited for one of her friends to pick up her call. Jessa did.

"I just finished a meeting near your building," she explained to Jessa. "Are you busy? I was wondering if I could drop by."

"Sure. It's almost five anyway."

"Great. Hopefully, Ray won't mind."

Jessa snickered. "Yeah, right. As if he'd send you away for bothering us with fifteen precious minutes to go before official closing time."

"It's not that."

"What? Are you planning to kiss him in front of everyone or something?"

"More like planning to lock ourselves in his office," she joked.

"If that's what you intend to do, I'm sure he definitely wouldn't mind," Jessa responded with a chuckle.

"Yeah, sure," Faye said mockingly. "He hasn't exactly told anyone else there about us. It's still only the three of you who know, right?"

"I think so. But it's not because he doesn't want anyone else to know. It's just that Ray has never been one to talk about his love life at work."

"I know," she sighed. "He must worry a little bit about perceived favouritism if you guys look like you get away with murder just because I'm the boss's girlfriend - especially if I go there and annoy you while you're still working."

"Hey, the three of us always put in more hours than required. Ray knows that and that's the reason why he's very flexible with us, not because you're our best friend. It was like that even before he met you."

"Thanks for reminding me," she grinned. "But just to be safe, I'll pretend I'm there as your friend, not his girlfriend."

She got to their building and took the elevator to their floor. As she walked through, she stopped at reception to have a brief chat with Elena.

"Are you here to see Ray?" Elena asked with a curious look.

"I was going to talk to him about something," she answered. "But I think I'll see Jessa first."

"Okay, that's good. He's still in a meeting and that could take a while," Elena said with a smile.

"No problem. I'll go see Jessa now."

"Can I offer you some coffee or tea?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine."

Faye walked towards Jessa's office, feeling irrationally miffed at Elena's treatment of her. It wasn't the receptionist's fault, of course. She was just doing her job. But it irked her that she was being treated like a client. She wasn't a client; she was the boss's girlfriend, for heaven's sake.

She passed by one of the meeting rooms on her way to Jessa and her steps faltered. There was Ray, laughing at whatever the beautiful, exotic brunette sitting next to him was telling him and definitely looking ultra comfortable as a manicured hand lingered on his arm. His face was turned away from the clear glass walls of the room so he didn't see her, and the brunette didn't take her eyes off Ray.

She forced herself to continue walking, not wanting to attract attention to the sudden burst of jealousy and insecurity that zipped through her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she was fairly certain she knew who the woman was.

Jessa's office was a couple of doors away and she pasted a big, fake smile on her face as she greeted her friend.

"I saw Ray in the meeting room but he didn't see me. Who's he meeting with?" she asked nonchalantly.

Jessa shrugged but checked her computer. "Alison Costa."

She heaved involuntarily as her suspicion was confirmed and was unable to hide the pain that flashed in her eyes.

Jessa frowned. "You're not jealous of her are you?"

"Shouldn't I be?" she asked in a small voice.

"Faye! They broke up ages ago. Ray's with you now."

She nodded, trying to hold on to rationalism as much as she could. But she couldn't help commenting, "She's very pretty, isn't she?"

Jessa narrowed her eyes at her. "So are you," her friend pointed out.

"If you saw Rob enjoying the company of the ex-girlfriend he'd been with the longest, how would you feel?"

Jessa's face softened. "I've been his longest but if I saw him enjoying the company of
any
of his ex-girlfriends then, yeah, I suppose it would bother me a bit. But Ray's having a
business
meeting with Alison."

"Doesn't look like it to me," she murmured.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they were laughing and she was touching his arm and he was clearly enjoying it."

Jessa shook her head in censure. "You just have to ask him when he comes out, and I'm sure he'll put your mind to rest."

Faye looked down on her hands. Typically, that was exactly what she would have planned to do. But for some reason, when it came to anything remotely involving the possibility of learning Ray had strong feelings for someone else, she'd been holding back. She was too scared she might not like the answer. The truth could be far too painful, so she opted for hope instead - hope that eventually he'd love her enough to forget about anyone else.

"Hey, what are you doing here, darling?" someone called from the door.

"Hi, Victor. Just thought I'd pass by."

Victor saw her face and walked towards her. "What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing. I'm just being silly."

"I'll say," Jessa agreed.

"You waiting for Ray?" Victor asked.

"He doesn't know I'm here."

"He shouldn't be too long. I'm going in there to join them. He just buzzed me."

Her mouth pressed in a sad line.

"Faye?"