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I go over, sit beside him, and pass him a coffee.
“Thanks,” he says. He gives a smile, but it’s half-hearted, and he drops his gaze afterward. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was upset about something.
“I’m just going to check on the delivery of the building materials that’s coming this afternoon,” Ashton says. “I won’t be long and then you can tell me all about your petting farm.” He takes his coffee and leaves the room.
I lean back against the wall and sip my coffee. “How are you doing?” I ask Marc. “Got much done?”
“Yeah, quite a lot actually. It’s been a busy morning. You?”
I nod. “I had great fun. Found a petting farm and spent the morning with the woman who runs it. I picked up quite a few tips.”
“Great.” He smiles, then swigs his coffee.
“You okay?” I ask. “Something on your mind?”
He gives me a curious look. “I thought you said you weren’t any good at reading people?”
“I’m not, normally. But you seem… I don’t know. Sad.”
He drops his gaze back to his coffee cup and sighs. “I bumped into Mel.”
My jaw drops. “Oh no. Where?”
“At the Riverbank. You might have seen her if you went in there for the coffees. Blonde. Pregnant.”
“She served me.” Holy shit, that was his ex? Ouch, the bump must have been painful to see. Oddly, she didn’t look like what I expected. It’s funny how you always imagine other women to be younger and prettier than yourself.
“Ashton says she has two kids already,” he says.
“I’m sorry.” I reach out and take his hand.
He curls his fingers around mine, looking at them as if surprised to see them there. “It was a shock, that’s all,” he says softly.
“Of course it was.”
“I didn’t expect to see her.”
“No, why would you? I’m not surprised it shook you up a bit.” I squeeze his fingers. “But you’ve moved on now, eh? New job, new life. You deserve better than her, Marc.”
He meets my gaze. There’s a strange expression on his face, although I can’t decipher it this time. Then, to my surprise, he lifts a hand to cup the back of my head and pulls me toward him for a kiss.
Conscious that Ashton could walk in, I feel my face warm, but I don’t want Marc to think I’m not interested in kissing him, so I close my eyes and give in. I know the kiss is connected with him seeing Mel—maybe he’s proving to himself that he’s still attractive to women, or probably more that he needs comfort after seeing she’s moved on. Either way, I’m happy to help, and I touch my tongue to his bottom lip, following which he slides his tongue against mine, and we indulge in a long, sensual, somewhat erotic kiss that leaves me tingling all over.
When he eventually moves back, I press my lips together and lean against the wall. “Mmm,” I say. “Yum.”
He gives a short laugh and swigs his coffee. “Yeah,” he says, “that about sums it up.”
Ashton comes back in at that moment, bringing an end to the conversation, but it takes a while for me to stop tingling.
He declares there are some other members of the Ark arriving outside, keen to meet us, so we wander out into the blustery afternoon and shake hands with the two men—Ken and Hemi, and one woman—Sally, who are founding members of the new sanctuary. Furniture is in short supply, but someone has some fold-up chairs in their car, and soon we’re all sitting on the grass, talking about Noah’s Ark and discussing similarities and differences.
Sally asks me about the success of the petting farm, and I start telling them about it. I list a few of the studies Leon quoted in his visit to the Beehive when he did his presentation to the Prime Minister, explaining how we’re hoping that teaching children to respect animals at an early age might improve the number of incidents of violence in the family home.
“I give a little talk at the beginning of each tour,” I tell them, “explaining about how the animals aren’t stuffed toys or cartoon characters—that they’re like people, and have feelings and emotions, and that pets especially rely on us to take care of them. It’s surprising how many children… er…”
