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She was already feeling exposed—and sitting in her bikini and sarong didn’t exactly help. She took another sip of the cocktail, hoping the rum would calm her nerves.
She could see a little tic in Reuben’s jaw.
He took another swig of his beer. Did he need Dutch courage too? He sighed and set the bottle down with a clunk. ‘I like the fact you’re not a vacant blonde.’
She licked her lips. ‘Really?’
He shifted in his seat. ‘I like being around you.’
It was like getting blood out of a stone. It seemed that when it came to the emotional stuff Reuben was hard work.
‘I like being around you too,’ she replied.
He wasn’t looking at her any more. He’d fixed his eyes on the horizon. ‘But it’s awkward.’
‘Awkward how?’ This didn’t seem to be going so well.
He ran his fingers through his dark hair. ‘I’m not good at relationships.’
‘Is that what this is? A relationship? I wasn’t sure we’d got that far.’ She started playing with the straw in her drink. Nothing like talking about feelings to make you feel like an awkward teenager again.
He lifted his hands up and let out a huge sigh. ‘I don’t really know how to do this.’
She almost laughed out loud. ‘What do you normally do, Reuben? See a girl, ask her out? Date once, and that’s it?’
‘Usually.’
‘Haven’t you ever had a proper girlfriend? Lived with someone before? Had someone you would introduce to the family?’
This time he spoke a little more quietly. ‘If I introduced anyone to my family they’d have to be wearing a suit of armour.’
She reached over and squeezed his hand. She had such a great relationship with her mum and dad that she couldn’t really imagine how it was for him. They’d been having such a wonderful time she didn’t want to darken his mood, so she pulled her hand back and lifted her eyebrows. ‘My mum’s getting desperate for grandkids. I think the next guy I bring back home she’ll lasso for me and drag him down to the church!’
Reuben threw back his head and laughed. ‘I’d better watch out, then.’
She nodded. ‘You’d better. What’s your maximum number of dates, then?’
‘Honestly? I think it was six.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘And I spent two weeks with you in London, then our time on board, of course.’ There was a little sparkle in his dark eyes again. ‘You’ve already beaten the record.’ The more he spoke the thicker his accent got. It was doing crazy things to her pulse.
‘Even though we’ve barely kissed?’
He gave a tiny nod of his head. ‘You think I didn’t want to?’
Her gaze meshed with his. ‘Oh, I could feel you wanted to.’
He leaned back in his chair and threw up his hands again. ‘That’s just it. You know I want to. But I like you. I don’t want to hurt you. I have no idea where this could go.’
She stirred her drink again. ‘And you don’t want to find out?’
He folded his arms across his chest. ‘You know I do. But you see the kind of job I have, Lara. I’m hardly in the country for any time at all. I spend most of my life in mid-air. How can something work when one of us is never here?’ He picked up his beer again and leaned his elbows on the table. ‘Anyway, you might have forgotten but you’ve got a bit of a reputation.’
She jerked back. ‘I have?’
He was teasing again. She could tell. Every time he did it, a little glint appeared in his eyes again.
He looked up through heavy lids. This man could be so sexy. ‘You have. You’ve got a bit of a reputation for picking losers. I’m worried I’ll get labelled.’
She picked up her drink mat and flung it at him. ‘I can think of a whole host of other words.’
He laughed. ‘Seriously, though, what are you going to do when we get back home?’
She shrugged. ‘What else would I do? I’m going to look after Tristan. Caleb and Addison will be back by then and I love my job, he’s a great kid.’
A few lines appeared on his forehead. ‘Did you always want to be a nanny?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I told you. I kind of fell into it.’ She counted off on her fingers. ‘So far, I’ve been a nanny, a strawberry picker, worked in a bar, waitressed, spent three dismal months in a call centre, lost someone’s messages as a PA and...’ she paused and raised her eyebrows ‘...I even spent two months volunteering at a zoo.’
‘What?’
She giggled. ‘Believe me, the penguins stink!’
He looked serious again. ‘So, what was your dream job when you were a kid?’
