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“Ever heard ofBA Constructions?”
She shook her head, the name vaguely familiar, the type of thing she might’ve seen on billboards or scaffolding around the city. “Not sure. Maybe.”
“That’s my company.”
He pronounced it with the kind of unaffected casualness she’d come to associate with him from the first minute he’d bowled into her parents’ old-fashioned coffee shop and swept her off her feet, the quiet confidence of a guy who knew what he wanted and how to get it.
“Tell me about it.”
“The renovations on the garden-edged squares around town? We were contracted to do them.”
That’s when the proverbial penny dropped.BA Constructionswasn’t just any company, they’d made headlines for securing the mega deal ahead of larger, more establishedconstruction companies. And there’d been something about making a financial magazine’s rich list too…
“BA Constructions, huh? Blane Andrews, CEO extraordinaire, by the sounds of things.”
He shrugged, his self-deprecating smile adorable. “You know I’m basically a builder at heart. I worked long hours, got the right contacts, put in the hard yards, and it paid off.”
It certainly had if this swank penthouse was any indication.
“I’m happy for you,” she said, instinctively reaching out to touch his hand, proud beyond belief he’d achieved so much.
“Thanks. I did it for us.”
Heat infused his gaze, instant and smouldering, burning her with its intensity, drawing her to him like a moth to a scorching flame: hypnotic, inevitable, despite the struggle to escape.
“Because I wanted to come back to you with something we can build a future on. A strong foundation for what I hope we can achieve together. You know that, right?”
How could she, when they hadn’t seen each other in six long years? But the longer he stared at her with determination, she wished she could leap off the sofa and put some much needed distance between them, but unable to move, caught up in something bigger and more powerful than the both of them.
Capturing her hand, he brushed his thumb across the back of it, a gentle caress that sent heat spiralling through her.
“I know I said no pressure, and believe me, I intend to stick to it, but I need you to tell me exactly what you’re thinking about all of this? About us?”
There is no us,though thankfully, she had the foresight not to blurt it out despite her befuddled brain as his thumb continued to stroke her hand.
She’d already waged an inner battle for the last few hours, dreaming up ways to pull out of staying here, while secretlylooking forward to it, devising ways to ditch their dinner date while ensuring she paid her debt.
He had her confused, bamboozled, and hotter than she’d ever been. And she was tired of pretending this all meant nothing, that he could breeze into her life and out again without affecting her.
Sighing, she turned her hand over, sliding her fingers between his, the intertwining filling her with simple joy.
This was some of the stuff she missed about being part of a couple: the hand-holding, the shared moments, the in-jokes.
Maybe she could get to know him a little better, get reacquainted, see where it led? What did she have to lose, when she’d lost the most important thing—him—years earlier?
“You want to know what I think? I think you’re crazy for waltzing back into my life and thinking we can pick up where we left off.”
A slight frown dented his brows and she raised a finger to smooth it away. “But I also think you’re interesting, funny, and cute. After all this time, you still make me want to throw caution to the wind, go figure?”
His eyes sparked with delight and she laughed. “I also think as you’ve been kind enough to let me crash here for awhile, it’s only fair I cut you some slack.”
His answering smile could’ve lit up the whole of Melbourne. “I like the way you think.”
To prove it, he closed the short gap between them and kissed her.
Fireworks exploded in her head. Heat raced through her body. And the shield around her heart thawed and cracked as she recognized on an instinctive level this kiss meant more than she could’ve possibly imagined.
Camryn had fooled herself into thinking she hadn’t missed Blane all these years. She’d been wrong. So wrong.
