Australian Obsession
AUSTRALIAN OBSESSION
AN OLDER MAN YOUNGER WOMAN ROMANCE
_______________________
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS, 99
FLORA FERRARI
CONTENTS
Copyright
A Man Who Knows What He Wants Series
Australian Obsession
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Extended Epilogue
Series
Newsletter
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2019 by Flora Ferrari.
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter
Book 59: Virgin in New York
Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby
Book 61: Possessive Protector
Book 62: Possessive Australian
Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother
Book 64: Possessive Cowboy
Book 65: Summer Romanced
Book 66: Possessive Prince
Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy
Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend
Book 69: Possessive Firefighter
Book 70: Football Next Door
Book 71: Doctor December
Book 72: Possessive Canadian
Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire
Book 74: Possessive K-9 Cop
Book 75: Possessive Brazilian
Book 76: Hockey Obsession
Book 77: Possessive Boston Irish American MMA Fighter
Book 78: Halloween Next Door
Book 79: Possessive Russian
Book 80: Baseball Mine
Book 81: Cop’s Caribbean Captive
Book 82: Instalove Island
Book 83: Dad’s Best Friend
Book 84: Thanksgiving with Dad’s Boss
Book 85: Possessive Italian Neighbor
Book 86: Possessive Portuguese
Book 87: Possessive Christmas Cop
Book 88: Russian’s Obsession
Book 89: Possessive Doctor’s Christmas
Book 90: Possessive Parisian Pilot
Book 91: U.K. Boxing Day
Book 92: Jealous Russian Stalker
Book 93: Italian Mountain Man
Book 94: Aggressive Russian
Book 95: Possessive Valentine
Book 96: Possessive Hunter
Book 97: Dad’s Russian Mafia Friend
Book 98: Russian Teacher
Book 99: Australian Obsession
AUSTRALIAN OBSESSION
My brother’s best friend is an inked bad boy from Australia…and I’m completely obsessed.
I decide to escape the cold of the Northern Hemisphere’s brutal winter to get closer to the older man of my dreams. But will I escape detection down under when he gets closer to finding out just how obsessive my need for him really is?
And when secrets are shared, and truths revealed, will I find out my obsession for him pales in comparison to what I discover under the Sydney sunset?
*Australian Obsession is an insta-everything standalone instalove romance with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.
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CHAPTER 1
Elena
He’s five minutes late.
I sit one table over from his favorite table, my back against the wall looking out at Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia.
He walks in, sees his table is empty, and makes a beeline for it even though there’s no need to rush. I’ve been telling people it’s taken, not that many have asked.
Locals and tourists alike are all congregated on the tables outside, watching the waves roll in just past the pine trees that line the beach.
I’d be sitting outside watching the waves too, but I already have. I’ve been doing it for the last few weeks, knowing he surfs this spot every Tuesday morning before coming into the Bluewater Cafe where he orders three eggs over easy with toast and bacon and a side of oysters.
It’s not weird or quirky, it’s idiosyncratic. He’s just like me…just like everyone. We all have our certain little things we do and things we like. Well, I like him and today he’s going to find that out for the first time.
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br /> See, I’ve been watching these waves for weeks, but not here in the flesh...from thousands of miles away. With surfing being the number one sport in his home country, I was easily able to watch the waves from one of the Manly Beach live surf cameras that are mounted in the area. They’re meant for surfers to check on websites like Surfline.com, where they can make a decision from their couch as to whether or not they want to paddle out each morning.
Surfline only charges seventy bucks a year, which is pocket change to him, but a lot for me. Working the kitchen in a high-end hotel sounds glamorous, if you’re the head chef. But if you’re the one actually doing the work, getting the third-degree grease burns, and having ten percent of all dishes sent back because the food is cold, you’d see it’s not glamorous at all.
See the thing is the food isn’t cold when wait staff delivers it to our diner’s tables. The problem is after spending ten to fifteen minutes getting the perfect Instagram shot, uploading it, tagging it, and waiting for that first like to come in the laws of physics come into play and the heat disburses. Then our dining guests take a bite and leave a bad review on Yelp.com, and send the food back, unaware that more time has passed since they took their first bite than it takes him to eat an entire meal.
It makes complete sense to me. My brother is his best friend and he’s just as impatient…always in a hurry to scarf down his food. In a hurry to go surfing. In a hurry to ride motorcycles. In a hurry to do everything.
That’s why they’re such good friends, and why I’m able to learn so much about him just from my brother’s private Instagram account.
See, the entire world gets his curated feed that his manager puts together. One of the world’s best action sports athletes couldn’t be expected to manage his own social media now could he? It’s a business. One wrong slip up and millions in endorsements can be lost overnight. Just ask Kevin Hart, right?
So he’s got an entire team taking care of that for him, while I follow along on my brother’s Insta, which only has one hundred and thirty-seven followers. Most people would wonder why my brother even has an account, but not me. Last time he told me he was thinking of deleting it I felt my hands shake and my palms immediately sweat, reminding him that he needs it if he wants to get sponsored for his surfing one day too. I even showed him how to use filters and hashtags so he could get more likes. And then I made sure his account was private, kind of defeating the purpose...but not my purpose.
“I’ll have three eggs over easy with toast and bacon and a side of oysters,” he says to the waitress as I mouth his order at the same time, trying not to giggle as I do.
He pulls out his GoPro to review this morning’s surf session and when he does he accidentally flips just a few drops of water on me.
Now’s my chance.
I don’t look over. Instead I take the napkin I had in my hand and slide it down the side of my leg.
“Oh sorry. Did I get you wet?”
Oh, he got me wet a long time ago.
“No, it’s okay. We’re close to the beach and it’s to be expected. Plus it reminds me I shouldn’t be in here eating this,” I say looking at my food. “I should be out there enjoying the beach myself.”
I let my eyes linger over my food just a second longer than necessary, but not long enough to make it obvious.
His eyes look ever so briefly and they lock up, his brows furrowing. Yes, I ordered the same thing he did. No, it wasn’t an accident.
In these days of social media, serendipity can be manufactured just as well as it can fall from the sky. Come to think of it, manufacturing it is a lot better, isn’t it?
I mean who in their right mind would walk into a business meeting without Googling the meeting participants and checking their LinkedIn? When you do it then it’s called being prepared. It can even get you a raise.
If you do it in real life if can be considered stalking. But I say if people go to all that effort just for a meeting and a bit of money, shouldn’t one put in even more effort when it comes to meeting the only person you’ve ever wanted? I think most people would agree when we look at in that light, right? It’s all about perception, and perception is reality.
“You’re eating oysters and eggs?” he says.
“And a bit of toast and bacon. I was hungry this morning. I stayed up late watching a basketball game.”
“You watch basketball?”
“Sometimes, when my team is playing.”
“What’s your team?”
“I follow certain players more than teams these days, with all the trades and such.”
“Okay then. Who’s your favorite player?”
“Ben Simmons of course. He’s local. Well Melbourne, but close enough in this case.”
His shoulders pull back and his head cocks to the side. He looks around the room to see if there’s a camera. Is this one of those prank shows? No, it can’t be. My accent is obviously foreign so I might not even know who this man sitting next to me is. Surfing barely registers for most of the world. Sure people know Kelly Slater, but after that who outside of people from a select handful of countries can name another?
“So you were watching the—“
“Seventy Sixers game,” we say simultaneously. Of course, because that’s his team. Like I was going to take a chance, take a risk, when it came to anything about him?
“Whoa, this is weird…like some Twilight Zone kind of moment.”
I smile. “Probably not. The Seventy Sixers are only getting more popular here by the day. There are a lot of fans.” I want to bring my hand around and pat myself on the back for downplaying it. I’ve never done anything like this before, because I’ve never been so obsessed with anyone in my life. I feel like I’m doing a really good job of all of this so far. Then again it’s not like I can bounce notes off someone, or ask them to evaluate my performance, can I?
“Where are you from?” he asks.
“It’s a real small place. I’m sure you’ve never heard of it.” I even dismiss it with a swipe of my hand.
“I’ve traveled a bit, as Aussies do. Try me.” I love how Aussies are so darn friendly. I knew he would be.
“Okay. You ready?”
“Ready.”
Storytelling 101. Get the listener invested…and raise the suspense.
“Promise not to laugh?”
“Can’t say I promise, but I’ll try.”
I shake my head and watch as he’s held in rapture, his body turning in his seat. His back’s not even touching the seat anymore. He’s completely turned his body towards me.
“Kill Devil Hills. It’s a little place in—“
“North Carolina,” he interjects.
I smile.
“Who’s finishing whose sentences here?”
Now I laugh, because it’s true. We’re tied…one to one in the “you’re taking the words right out of my mouth” category.
“I guess we’re taking turns,” I say shyly, still not opening up my body to him. I don’t want to look too easy. He’s way too used to that. I’ve seen all the girls who throw themselves at him after he wins surf competitions, and how he looks at them with complete disinterest...on the rare occasions that he decides to look at them at all.
He’s looking for something real. Just like me. Something real and lasting.
“There’s some really great surf in Kill Devil Hills.”
“We think the best on the East Coast.”
“You surf? I mean…sorry, you just didn’t make it seem like you surf.”
Now he’s apologizing…to me? I’ve got him on his heels. How easy it was.
“I don’t, but my brother does.”
“Your brother? My best mate is from there!” Wow, he really punctuated the end of that sentence. If he thought the breakfast order was serendipity, wait until he gets a load of this.
“Really? There are only seven thousand one hundred and seventeen people who live there. Try me.”
“Eric Andrews,” he says as if the fat
e of the world hangs onto my response.
I put my elbow on the table, bad manners I know, and raise my hand at the same time I lower my face into my palm.
“No! You’re joking me?”
I grab my cheapie Blu cell phone, my daily use phone that doesn’t have Instagram installed of course, and scroll through my gallery to the fifth picture, the one I want him to see. The one I knew I’d be showing him this morning.
He leans in, so close I can feel his breath on my arm. I can see the blue in his eyes. I can see the goosebumps raising up his skin underneath all his ink. Yes, I’m that close and it only took less than two minutes.
“That’s you and Eric,” he say. He doesn’t yell though. How could he? He’s so astonished. Of course he is. But I bet I could astonish him even more if I told him I know exactly what he’s going to say next. He says it all the time, and he probably doesn't even realize it. “What are the odds?”
Really damn good, if you ask me.
CHAPTER 2
Lachlan