LITMIR.BIZ

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so close to him, the faintest waft of cedar tickling her nose and a palpable heat radiating off him, she could barely think straight let alone come up with a half-plausible excuse.

      Crinkling her nose, she said, ‘Yeah, it did.’

      Before she could blink, he’d pulled over and turned to her and cupped her cheek, his touch instantly soothing. ‘Want to talk about it?’

      ‘You mean my parents or their time warp coffee house?’

      Her forced jocularity fell flat as he drew her closer and brushed a gentle kiss across her lips, a kiss of understanding, of support, and she slid her hands up his chest, gripping his T-shirt, feeling more anchored and safe in that moment than she ever had before.

      ‘You said you left Rainbow Creek not long after I did. From what they told me before I left, once I was out of the picture everything would be fine with you guys. What happened?’

      Sighing, she reached for the end of her ponytail and twisted it till she couldn’t twist anymore.

      She didn’t want to dredge this up, not today, the first day of the rest of their lives, but he’d asked. Besides, she had no hope of denying him anything when he cradled her close like this, making her feel more cherished and secure than she’d ever been.

      ‘You name it, they did it. Lying. Manipulating. Controlling.’

      Swallowing down the bitterness that arose whenever she thought about their final showdown, she forced herself to continue.

      ‘My nan died when I was sixteen. She and Mum never got on, so Nan left me everything. I never really asked how much it was all worth, but I knew it had to be hefty. Apparently, once her assets were sold, all the cash would be tied up in a trust fund I couldn’t access till I was twenty-one.’

      ‘Wow, so you’re loaded. Good to know you’re not just with me for my money.’

      With a tender grin, he brushed a strand of hair off her face, and she leaned into his palm, relishing his support, finding the need to keep talking surprising. She hated rehashing old stuff, painful stuff, but this was strangely cathartic.

      ‘My folks knew how much I wanted to move to Melbourne. It was all I talked about as a teenager, and I made it pretty clear that once I came into Nan’s money I was out of there. Not because I didn’t love them or Rainbow Creek, it was just my dream, you know?’

      ‘I know, sweetheart.’

      He did, considering the reason he’d left all those years ago was to let her pursue it. Crazy, infuriating man.

      ‘After you left we had this huge fight, a real monster blowout. They tried to tell me how stupid I’d been in marrying you, how I’d regret it for the rest of my life, and that it just proved I wasn’t ready to take control of Nan’s money.’

      Realisation dawned in his eyes, and she nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s right. Nan’s will stipulated I could have the money at eighteen, but Mum and Dad lied to me. They knew how much moving to Melbourne meant to me, but they manipulated the situation for God only knows what reason.’

      Even now, she couldn’t comprehend why they’d done it, apart from the fact they’d wanted to keep her chained to their sides like a little kid.

      Resting his hands on her shoulders, he gave her a gentle squeeze. ‘They must have loved you a lot to go to those lengths to get a few more years with you.’

      ‘That’s not love, that’s being controlling!’ Though a tiny seed of doubt unfurled amidst her residual bitterness as she absorbed what he’d said. What if he was right?

      She’d never considered the fact they might have acted out of love, that they might have wanted more time with her before she left town.

      Instead, she’d been so focused on the betrayal, of them lying to her, of how they’d blurted the truth in anger and would never have told her otherwise, that she’d shut herself off to their possible motivations.

      Smoothing back her hair, he said, ‘What they did was wrong, and I’m not trying to tell you what to do here, but I saw the pain on your face back there. Maybe you need to sort things out with them?’

      The mere thought congealed the ice cream in her tummy, and she surreptitiously rubbed it, wishing he wasn’t so damned intuitive, knowing it was part of his charm.

      ‘Maybe.’ She slid her hands up his chest to cup his face. ‘In the meantime, thanks for being such an amazing, caring man.’

      ‘I try.’

      His self-deprecating shrug and exaggerated modest expression had her chuckling, and she planted a quick kiss on his lips before giving him a gentle shove towards the steering wheel.

      ‘As a distraction technique, that was pretty lousy. Now, drive and take me to this great surprise.’

      ‘Right. We’ll be there in two minutes.’

      ‘Any hints?’

      She turned to face him, taking any opportunity to look at him. He hadn’t shaved this morning—after much badgering on her part, when she’d pleaded with him to leave the sexy stubble alone—and with his dark hair ruffled by the wind, what appeared to be his oldest polo shirt, bearing a faded athletic logo, and a pair of charcoal cargo shorts, he could have been a poster boy for a weekend by the sea.

      ‘I won’t give you any hints if you keep staring at me like that.’

      Her gaze lifted to his, her breath catching at the blatant desire there.

      Would it always be like this between them, the instant flare of fire deep within, the breathless feeling, the drop-away tummy?

      Surely something this powerful, this intense, this physical, should fade? But it hadn’t, not in the six long years they’d been apart, and it never would if she had any say in it.

      Reaching out to run a fingertip over his stubbled jaw, she murmured, ‘I was just admiring this.’

      ‘I could tell.’

      His eyes darkened to molten silver an instant before he ducked across the seat and hauled her against him, crushing her breasts to his rock-hard chest, plastering his lips to hers in the type of scintillating, breath-stealing kiss only he could deliver.

      Like a torch touched to tinder-dry kindling, she combusted, heat exploding in a chemical reaction which left her gasping as he broke the kiss.

      The sounds of ragged breathing filled the car as she flopped back into the passenger seat and he ran a hand through his hair, his shocked expression mirroring hers.

      ‘If you want to make it back to Melbourne and your café by nightfall, you better stop staring at me like that.’

      ‘Melbourne? Where’s that?’

      Smiling, she raised a hand to her sensitised lips, touching them, savouring the residual tingle, wishing she’d had the sense to get Anna to cover for her tonight, too.

      ‘You’re a bad girl.’

      He turned the ignition till the diesel engine rumbled to life and, with a pat on the dashboard, steered the lumbering ute into the deserted street.

      ‘And you love it.’

      ‘I do,’ he said, so softly she barely caught it, and a thrill—part exultation, part fear—shot through her.

      She’d realised she still loved him last night, but what about him? He’d wanted to get reacquainted, but did that mean he felt the same way?

      Yes, he’d found her and, yes, he wanted to reunite, but he hadn’t exactly said those magical three little words yet, no matter how much he hinted at it.

      ‘You don’t have anything to worry about.’

      ‘Who said I’m worried?’

      She shot a glance at him, and, while he hadn’t taken his eyes off the road, the corners

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