LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Eight

      ‘SOPHY, can you come with me, please?’ Lorenzo met her as she walked into the building.

      She glanced at Kat behind the reception desk, hoping the girl hadn’t picked up on the chill in his words. ‘Of course.’

      Was he mad with her? She hadn’t returned to the warehouse yesterday—had got held up completely until the early evening. Her sister had come round and it had turned into a whole family gathering. She’d made excuses and gone after a while—but she needn’t have hurried. Lorenzo hadn’t come round, had left no message on her phone. It was the first night they hadn’t had sex all week. And stupidly she’d had less sleep than ever. So she really wasn’t in the mood to have a hard time from him.

      He led her out the back and gestured for her to get into his car.

      ‘Where are we going?’ She fixed her seat belt—he already had the engine running.

      ‘You’ll see.’ He fiddled with the stereo and put the music up loud. What, he didn’t want conversation?

      ‘I had a nice night, thanks.’ She chit chatted really loudly just to annoy him. He didn’t want to talk personal? Tough. ‘Big dinner with my parents and Victoria and Ted. It’s my niece’s birthday this weekend so we were celebrating early. Rosanna sent a text. She’s in Sydney for a few days.’

      He gave her a sideways look but said nothing.

      Yeah, she loved having conversations by herself. So she gave up. They drove through half of Auckland and she relaxed into the comfortable seat. Suddenly she sat up. ‘Lorenzo, this is the airport.’

      ‘And we’re right on time.’

      On time for what? ‘Where are we going?’

      ‘Have you ever gotten on a plane and not known the destination?’

      She shook her head.

      ‘Now’s your chance.’

      ‘Lorenzo—’

      ‘Have you ever taken a risk? Gone with an impulse?’

      ‘Maybe,’ she said cautiously. Like the time she’d come on to him with the basketball.

      He parked the car, crossed his arms and called her on it. ‘What are you going to do, Sophy? Play it safe or walk on the wild side? Come on an adventure.’

      ‘How wild an adventure?’

      ‘Totally legal.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Honestly, don’t make a big deal about it, you’ll end up disappointed.’

      She didn’t think so. She didn’t think she’d ever be disappointed when he was offering adventure.

      He got out of the car. ‘Are you coming or what?’

      As if she could say no. He loaded a surprisingly heavy-looking suitcase onto a trolley and headed to the checkin. She wasn’t worried. It wasn’t as if they were going to go overseas—he didn’t have her passport, this was the domestic terminal.

      ‘We’re flying back tonight, right?’ She’d better check on that though.

      ‘No.’

      ‘Then when?’

      ‘Sunday.’

      Sunday? ‘Lorenzo, I can’t. I promised my brother I’d organise the cupcakes for my niece’s party.’

      ‘Were you going to bake them?’

      ‘They’re not that hard.’ She nibbled her lower lip. ‘Oh, I can’t, Lorenzo. I can’t let him down. I can’t let her down.’ But she was disappointed for herself more than anything.

      ‘Do you have to be at the party?’

      ‘No. It’s for her little friends. I was just making the cakes. She likes the icing I do.’

      ‘Someone else can do icing.’

      Who? Baking wasn’t something anyone else in her family did.

      ‘Phone a bakery and get them to deliver,’ Lorenzo said, as if he were instructing a small child. He was right, of course. It would be so easy.

      ‘It’s short notice.’

      ‘Just offer to pay double and they’ll do it.’

      She laughed. ‘Is that how you get what you want? Offer to pay?’

      ‘No. That wouldn’t work with you. I have to come up with other alternatives.’ He grinned. ‘Like abduction.’

      She chomped on her lip some more. So tempted.

      ‘Phone up and get it done.’ He gave her a sideways look. ‘What else did you have scheduled for the weekend?’

      ‘A few things.’ Sophy dug out her phone and her diary. ‘What am I going to tell them?’

      ‘The truth.’

      ‘I don’t want to.’

      ‘You don’t want to say you’re running off for a dirty long weekend?’

      Oh, she couldn’t hesitate now. ‘We’re a secret, remember?’

      She got on and made the calls. It took the whole twenty minutes they had left on the ground to rearrange everything she’d agreed to do in the weekend.

      She put the phone away but her practical-oriented brain presented her with the next set of problems.

      He lifted her face to his. ‘What’s wrong now?’

      ‘I don’t have any clothes with me.’

      ‘You don’t need any.’

      ‘Oh, we’re going to a naturist colony? Awesome.’ She aimed for sarcastic but was burning inside with the naughty promise of his words. ‘They don’t mind furry teeth either?’

      He laughed. ‘There are shops where we’re going. We can get you a toothbrush, okay?’

      ‘Fabulous.’

      The flight was only just over an hour. Christchurch. She knew the destination now, of course—the signs and the pilot’s message had given that one away. She was fine with it. Christchurch was a nice city and she hadn’t been there in ages.

      But when they got into the rental car he headed straight onto the bypass and the motorway north.

      ‘Where are we going?’

      ‘I told you, you’ll see.’

      After forty minutes or so she thought she had it figured. The rows and rows of vines in the fields gave it

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