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Hannah dropped her handbag on the small kitchen table in the flat she shared with Emma, her laptop bag still slung over her shoulder. There was a knock on the door. Depositing the bag in her room first, she rushed to the door to find Matt holding up a bottle of Shiraz.
‘I thought I should partake in all Australia has to offer.’ He smiled.
Hannah pulled him in and kissed him fiercely. His hands came around her waist, holding her firmly against him. ‘I’d love to, but I promised to go for drinks with some colleagues. You could always come with.’
‘I could?’
‘Yeah, we’ll be there for an hour at most, and then I’m all yours.’ She purred, pressing up against him.
‘All mine, huh?’ Hannah held her breath, watching a teasing smirk curve his lips. ‘I think I could live with that.’
Hannah worried for a minute that Matt might misunderstand her invite. Work drinks were never a serious affair—it wasn’t like meeting friends or family. No one really cared as long as they could let loose, complain or gossip. Relief flooded her when he agreed. It meant he understood and, despite her momentary nervousness, he seemed completely unfazed, happy to change his plans at the drop of a hat.
Well, he was only going to be around a few more days—something Hannah was trying not to think about, certain she would miss him. But this was a vacation romance and those always ended.
‘Great. I’ll just grab my coat.’
A short time later, Matt held the door open to a moodily lit bar in one of Melbourne’s stylish alleys. Stepping through, Hannah immediately spotted her group and, pushing her shoulders back and holding her chin up, she plastered a broad smile in place as she approached them.
‘Hannah! We wondered what was keeping you!’
‘Had to stop by home first.’ She looked up at Matt, who was studying her with an unreadable expression on his face. Supposing it would be rude to expect them to introduce themselves, she placed her hand on his arm, pushing him forward slightly. ‘This is my friend, Matt. He’s visiting for the week.’
Everyone from her department stared at him with gaping mouths, but she had to admit she was impressed when Matt showed no reaction at all, except to say, ‘Nice to meet you all.’
She had to fight every impulse to respond to his voice when he leaned down and said, ‘I’ll get our drinks.’
Nodding, she made her way with the group to one of the tall standing tables where they could huddle together and share war stories from their week. Hannah laughed brightly at every complaint, touching the arms of the people she spoke to, all the while keeping the smile that everyone had come to expect from her firmly in place. And, when she looked over at the bar, she caught Matt watching her.
Soon enough, he joined their crowd, handing her a cold bottle of beer. Clinking the bottles together, she and Matt took a long draught of the chilled drink. She watched him place his bottle on the table, keeping one large hand around it while his thumb traced the beads of condensation collecting on the glass. His other hand slid into his pocket.
How was it possible for one man to be so effortlessly sexy, to be so comfortable and at ease all the time? Hannah was so busy watching him that she stopped hearing what was being said around her. She forgot about her bright smile or the confidence she needed to exude at all times. Matt’s presence made her body react to him without thought or pretence.
It was only her name being called that returned her to the bar and group of friendly faces that she saw every day. She pulled her confidence and smile back on, like shrugging on a jacket before stepping out of her home, and turned to face the owner of the voice. ‘Sorry, I was a million miles away.’
‘I see that,’ said the blonde from Sales. ‘I was asking if you had any plans for the weekend.’
‘Of course,’ Hannah smiled with a vixen’s smirk. ‘It’s been a long week; I think I deserve a little fun.’
‘I don’t know how you do it, Hannah. You have the busiest social life of anyone I know.’
Hannah simply laughed the comment away, thinking to herself, I don’t know how I do it either.
And there was Matt, studying her once again. Why did it seem like those green eyes could see right into her soul? She wasn’t sure she liked that. After all, she had gone to a lot of trouble to hide it from everyone. As for right now, it was becoming difficult to keep up who she was supposed to be when her body was fighting to make her reach out to Matt.
She almost sagged with relief when he put down his beer and announced that they should go. ‘We’re supposed to meet up for dinner, remember?’
‘Oh, right. I almost forgot about that. We don’t want to be late.’ Hannah bid everyone a good night and the two of them left, saying nothing at all until they reached her apartment.
She’d felt a shift in Matt since they’d entered the bar, but the silence was making her brain work overtime. To buy herself a little time before, as she was certain, he would address whatever was on his mind, she fed Lucky, Emma’s black cat, that was asleep on its fluffy cat tree.
She was about to open the wine when Matt grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit with him on the couch. Draping her legs over his lap, he held her in place, and Hannah had to admit that there were very few places where she felt as good as she did in his arms.
‘I’m not going to let you avoid me when you know I saw,’ Matt said, tenderly brushing her hair away from her face.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Hannah couldn’t look him in the eye. Her heart was pounding; she was sure he could feel it. He was about to peel a plaster off very slowly and she was sure it was going to hurt.
‘Don’t you?’ His fingers held her chin firmly, forcing her to look at him, but still Hannah tried to avert her gaze. She breathed a sigh of relief when he allowed her to look away. Her body was rigid. She felt his arms curl around her, pressing her to his chest, her head safely tucked into his neck.
