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His love for his wife kept expanding and growing with each passing day.
He’d never believed in the corny love at first sight thing until he’d walked into that old-fashioned, rundown, coffee shop in Rainbow Creek, taken one look at the spiky-haired rebel with a cheeky smile and flashing cinnamon colored eyes serving behind the counter, and been a goner.
Drifting through regional Victoria from town to town had suited him fine, until he’d fallen head over heels for the sassy brunette with a smile that could light up a room.
Eloping may have been impulsive, reckless, and downright stupid considering their ages and how long they’d known each other, but he’d never regretted it, not one single day.
The only thing he regretted was walking away from her, despite having her best interests at heart.
But he was through with regrets.
This time, he’d give it all he got. Their marriage was worth it.Camwas worth it.
Oblivious to the depth of his feelings, she sent him a jaunty wave while standing in the shallows before leaning forward, twisting her hair into a tight spiral and squeezing the water out, the sun highlighting the honey streaks in the dark molasses, creating a halo effect as she shook it out and ruffled it dry.
Halo? She was no angel, with the constant teasing glances, the flirtatious banter, the subtle touching. Friends, she’d said. Yeah, right. She’d been driving him crazy ever since she’d moved in, stoking his fire until he could barely think straight let alone put the finishing touches on the surprise he had lined up for her.
He’d anticipated she wouldn’t want a bar of him after he’d done a runner six years ago and he hoped the surprise would go some way to proving how seriously committed he was to reviving their marriage.
While she may be singing the ‘let’s take it one day at a time’ tune, she was warm and spontaneous and fun as always, her actions speaking much louder than her words.
She could call their living arrangements ‘hanging out together’ but from where he stood, they were testing the marriage waters, and while his sexy sceptical wife may be dipping her toes, he was ready to dive in the deep end.
Watching her jog across the sand toward him, he silently thanked whoever had invented wetsuits. The material outlined every gorgeous curve of her body. She’d filled out and then somesince he’d first fallen in love with her and her new figure had him craving his luscious wife more than ever.
As she reached him, he leaped to his feet and dusted off his butt before thrusting his hands into his pockets to stop from grabbing her and never letting go.
“So, how does this rate as a date?”
She screwed up her nose, pretending to ponder. “Technically, it isn’t a date. You gave me some lame excuse about your penthouse needing to be fumigated and I pretended to believe it, because apparently we had to take refuge at your mate’s holiday house for the weekend or suffer dire consequences from inhaling pesticides.” She tapped her bottom lip, unwittingly drawing his attention to it and how much he’d like to kiss her. “So really, this isn’t a date, it’s a necessity for my delicate constitution, right?”
He snorted. “Delicate? Yeah, as an angle grinder.”
Chuckling, she squeezed the last droplets from the ends of her hair. “But just so you know, I’ve never jet-skied before and it’s awesome.”
Her eyes glittered with pleasure as she fiddled with the zip on her wetsuit, sending his excitement meter off the scale.
“Glad you liked it.”
Seeing her like this, exuberant and glowing, resurrected the scary tight chest feeling.
Yeah, they’d only just met up again.
Yeah, it was too early to be thinking long-term.
But deep down, he knew.
Their marriage was alive and kicking.
He trusted his gut instincts, the same instincts that had made him a fortune in the building industry, the same instincts that had catapulted him to the top of the construction world and made him a multi-millionaire ten times over, and right now his gut was telling him she wanted to reunite as much as he did.
Getting reacquainted as friends was the first step, and this amazing woman standing in the sun like a glowing goddess would hopefully be right alongside him as they took steps toward a happy life together.
“You hungry yet?”
Her stomach growled in response and she laughed, patting her belly. “I guess falling off that thing a hundred times worked up an appetite.”
“I only counted fifty.”
