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He shook his head.
‘Well…’ she offered a faux-shy smile ‘…I’m not sure what else to suggest.What do you think?’
‘Actually I’m still keen on the belly dancing.’He wasn’t smiling.Then he offered his hand.‘Come, let’s go out to the deck.’
She looked at the outstretched hand.Slowly put hers in it.As soon as their palms touched his fingers curled, trapping her own.And she knew there was no going back.
He led the way through the large open-plan living area and out the bi-folding doors and she pretended her gasp was over the view, not the currents of electricity surging up her arm.Outside in the blazing sun there was a magnificent deck that flowed down to a large infinity pool, which gave the illusion of the water reaching right out and merging with that of the ocean.
‘Wow.’The plants in the pots lining one end of the pool were perfectly maintained, the water crystal-clear, the deck free of debris and clutter.The effect was soothing, relaxing and magical.
‘Did you do all this?’
He half snorted.‘I pay.’He looked at it and she could see in his face the pleasure he took from it.‘I oversaw the design.’
‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Thanks.’
She could imagine him swimming length after length; no wonder his body was so tanned, lean and strong.Right now she felt hotter than a cactus in Death Valley in the midday sun and that expanse of water looked incredibly inviting.She turned her back on it to look up at the house.
‘You live here alone?’
He nodded.
‘It’s not too big?’
‘I like the peace.’He nodded to the table, with the comfortable-looking chairs around it.A tall pitcher of fresh juice was the centrepiece.They sat, with him angling his chair so he faced her rather than the spectacular pool, and then he poured them each a drink.
She sat bolt upright in her chair, feeling as if she were about to be interviewed for a job she didn’t know that she was going to be able to do, but that she really wanted.
Amusement coloured his features.‘Relax, Cally.I’m not going to eat you.’He took a sip from his glass.‘At least, not yet.’
She crossed her legs a little tighter and reached for her own glass.‘I think you’ll find there’s something else on the menu.’
With a sly smile he set his drink down.‘Tell me about your business.’
‘Why?’
His shoulders lifted carelessly.‘It’s a big part of your life.I want to understand it better, understand why it’s so important to you.’
‘Okay.’That she could do.She started at the beginning again—her experiments in the kitchen that were motivated by the impudent desire to subvert her mother’s diet regimes, then her study in food science and the decision to go into business herself.She didn’t go into the decision to have the company donate half its profits to charity—he didn’t need to know all that.
But as she talked she relaxed, telling him some of the jokes between her and Mel.The crazy times when they’d worked through the night to prepare enough when the big orders had started rolling in, the crazier times now she had more staff to manage and more customers to satisfy.
‘It really is everything to you.’
‘It’s my baby.’She laughed, hiding the secret stab that came with the knowledge her business ventures were the only babies she’d ever have.‘It keeps me up all night—teething trouble, the works.’She glanced out to where the vivid blue of the pool seemed to meld into the wide blue of the sea.‘Actually, to be honest, it’s not so much a baby now as an unruly teenager who I’m thinking of turfing out of the family home.’
‘Really?’He laughed.
She nodded, joined in his warm, melodious mirth with a chuckle of her own.‘It’s eating up all my resources.’
‘Raiding the fridge?’
‘And how!’She sighed and her laughter died.‘I think I need a manager.I went into it because I wanted to do the fun bits, you know—the creative stuff, the recipe prep.Let me tell you, management and paperwork is not fun.But the way the business is growing that’s what I’m having to do more and more of.’
‘But if you gave it up what would you do?’
