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‘You need to get in touch with your feelings,’ his sister told him.
‘Says the woman who spent ten years ignoring her own feelings, when it came to who she loved.’
‘So I’m slow? Not exactly a newsflash.’
‘You’re not slow.’
It was an old scold that went way back to when schoolwork had come so easily to him and his younger siblings but Lena had had to work hard for every mark she received. She’d despaired of her inadequacies, and sometimes she still did.
‘Wash your mouth out.’
She grinned at him, more mermaid in that moment than human soul. ‘I missed you,’ she murmured. ‘I’m glad you’re back, and I’m selfish enough to like the fact that you’ve quit a job that would have swallowed you whole. I like it that you’re finally showing more than a passing interest in a woman, even if I’m not entirely sure she’s going to be able to give you what you need.’
‘What do I need?’
‘Someone who can be there for you the way you’d be there for them. It’s a big ask. Because I know full well the lengths you’ll go to for the people you love.’
Jared stared out over the blue sky and the darker blue of the ocean. ‘I like her. There’s something about her.’
‘So keep me posted?’
‘That’d be telling.’
‘Yes.’
He didn’t have to turn to see the smirk on her face.
‘Yes, it would.’
CHAPTER TEN
ROWAN TOOK THE weekend off. She’d worked the last three weekends in a row and she was entitled to some down time. She headed for the airport, got on a plane, and three hours later touched down at a little regional airport in northern New South Wales.
And found Jared waiting for her.
Oh, she could get used to this.
He was good at making a woman feel special.
Offer her a crooked smile and a searching glance and the job was done.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked, and it was good to know that she hadn’t had to organise anything about this weekend beyond turning up to it.
‘Beach house tonight. Sailing tomorrow. Lena’s for late-afternoon drinks when we get back, and then beach house again on Saturday night. How does that work for you?’
“Beautifully.’ It sounded a whole lot like heaven.
‘Do you have to be anywhere on Sunday?’ he asked.
‘I did have an invite to Sunday dinner with my parents, but I cancelled on them.’
‘Is that going to cause a problem?’
‘I get the feeling they were expecting it. My parents recently retired and they’re feeling invisible. They’re searching for meaning within their new life, people to fill it, but I can’t be there for them the way they want me to be. Except for my grandfather, I don’t really do family.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because there isn’t any.’
He fell silent after that, and so did she as they headed towards a four-wheel drive tabletop ute, with fishing rod racks and surfboard racks gracing its roof.
‘I’m glad you came,’ he said as he stowed her carryon bag in the back and opened the door for her.
‘So am I.’
‘I’d kiss you, but I want to get you home first.’
‘Is this a control thing?’
He smiled down at her, slow and sweet. ‘It’s a once-I-start-I-don’t-aim-to-stop thing.’
Maybe it came naturally to him, or maybe he’d had a lifetime’s practice, but this man knew instinctively how to make her feel like the most precious person in the world.
And Rowan loved him for it.
Jared figured that asking Rowan how her working week had gone was off-limits. He told her what his family was up to, what he’d been up to, and that took five minutes. He made a late supper for them out of mussels and broth and chunky bits of bread and her eyes warmed even as she demolished it.
‘Are you on call?’ he asked, and she shook her head around a mouth full of food.
No.
‘White wine?’
Yes.
He’d been seducing women since his late teens. Confidently. Effortlessly.
This was different.
‘Beds and bedrooms are down the hall.’ Not exactly the smoothest introduction to their potential sleeping arrangements. ‘There’s plenty of them.’
‘I’m thinking yours.’
Well, all righty, then.
But he didn’t rush to get her there. He wanted to take his time.
They headed for the deck after dinner, and maybe Rowan guessed that it was one of his favourite places and maybe she didn’t, but in the end they had the big-screen television out there as well, along with enough pillows, cushions and deckchair mats to sleep twenty.
Open-air movie night, and the movie Rowan chose for them to watch was a spy one. They rewrote it as they watched, and Rowan laughed and drank another glass of wine, and pretty soon it was going on for one a.m. and her head was resting on his chest and her eyes were closed and her breathing was regular and deep.
