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She bit back a yawn. ‘Fine. But they’d better serve coffee. Three nights out in a row, and I’m afraid I might fade to a shadow.’
‘If that’s what it’ll take.’ With that he pulled her close and kissed her again. This time it was slow, soft, tender, mesmerising. He tasted of white wine and strawberries. He made every inch of her feel toasty warm. In that moment the word ‘yes’ felt like the easiest word in the entire world.
When he pulled away, he did so with discernible regret.
He groaned, spun her on the spot, gave her a small shove in the direction of her car and said, ‘Now get, before today becomes tomorrow and we both turn into pumpkins.’
As Rosie walked down the street she felt Cameron’s eyes on her the whole way. He obviously hadn’t believed her about her ability with her boots. Or maybe he just liked the view.
She added a swagger for good measure.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE sun was just beginning to rise but Cameron’s backside had already been parked atop a dry, paint-spattered stool for an hour as he earned his keep playing diplomat between Bruce, the project manager, and Hamish, the architect. With a month to go before completion, things were tense.
He slid a finger beneath his hard hat to wipe the gathering sweat from his brow, and was hit with the image of Rosalind wearing one the night before.
With those big, grey eyes and her long hair hanging in sexy waves beneath the orange monstrosity, she’d looked adorable. And he was entirely certain she’d had no idea. As a short-term distraction she was proving to be all he could have hoped for.
‘Kelly!’ Bruce called out, slamming Cameron back to earth with a thud.
‘What?’ he barked.
‘Where the hell have you been for the past five minutes? You sure as hell haven’t been on Planet Brisbane.’
Cameron frowned. But Bruce was right. Spending every spare moment with Rosalind was proving to be mighty helpful at distracting him from obsessing about his father. He just didn’t need that distraction spilling over into other areas of his life.
Since he’d been thrown out on his own, his business was his everything. It filled his waking hours, and many of his sleeping ones as well. It was his fuel, his drive, his passion. While on the other hand, Rosalind was…
‘Earth to Cameron,’ Bruce said, shaking his head.
Cameron mentally slapped himself across the back of the head. Enough, already.
‘I’m here,’ he growled. ‘Keep going.’
Bruce leant against a column and crossed his arms. ‘I was just telling Hamish here about your little tryst upstairs last night. Candles? Seafood?’
Cameron all but threw the handful of papers in his hands into the air in surrender.
Hamish pulled up a stool so that he was in Cameron’s direct eyeline. ‘Please tell me the big man’s been telling tales out of school. You did not bring some woman here after hours without proper supervision. Not a month out from signing off?’
Cameron stared hard at his mate. Hamish—who had known him since university, therefore knew him only as the ambitious, focussed, blinkered entrepreneur he had become—stared right on back.
‘God, Cam,’ Hamish drawled. ‘You had to be breaking a good dozen laws, not to mention union rules.’
‘You think I didn’t tell him that?’ Bruce asked.
But Hamish wasn’t done. In fact there was a distinct glint in his eye as he crossed his arms and leant back on the stool. ‘Cam,’ he said. ‘The last of the honourable men, brought thudding back to earth by a mystery woman. Who the heck is she?’
Cameron closed his eyes and ran his index finger and thumb hard across his forehead. ‘She’s no-one you know. And this subject is now closed.’
‘Fine with me.’ Hamish held both hands in the air, then glanced at his paint-splattered watch. ‘I have somewhere else to be.’
‘We have work to do, McKinnon,’ Bruce cried. ‘Where else could you possibly have to be?’
‘I have a date waiting for me on the exterior-window cleaning trestle. She should be at about the thirtieth floor by now, so I’ll just go grab the champagne and get harnessed up.’
Cameron didn’t even bother telling Hamish where to go, he just slid from the stool and walked away.
‘Where’s he think he’s going?’ he heard Bruce ask as he reached the lift door.
‘If he’s trying to cut in on my date,’ Hamish said, ‘It’ll be pistols at dawn.’
There was a pause, then Bruce said, ‘I thought you were kidding about the girl,’ as the lift doors closed. Cameron was only half-sorry he missed Hamish’s response.
