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He’d changed to loose, drawstring cotton pants in a sludgy khaki and a collarless loose-weave white shirt—both from India, she guessed. The casual clothes made no secret of the powerful shape of his legs and behind, the well-honed muscles of his chest and arms—built up, she suspected, from his life as a builder rather than from hours in the gym.
Now, as he helped her keep her balance, she was intensely aware of the closeness of their bodies: his hand on her waist; her hand on his shoulder; the soft curve of her breast resting lightly against the hard strength of his chest. The hammering of her own heart.
Somewhere there was the swish of the small waves of the bay rushing onto the sand then retreating back into the sea; the rustle of the evening breeze in the trees that grew in the hotel garden; muted laughter from the direction of the boathouse.
But her senses were too overwhelmed by her awareness of Sam to take any of it in. She breathed in the heady aromas of masculine soap and shampoo that told her he was fresh out of the shower.
She was enjoying being close to him—and she shouldn’t be. Three days ago, she’d wanted to kiss Jesse. How could she feel this way about a stranger?
She couldn’t trust feelings that had erupted so easily. She needed time to get over the Jesse thing, to plan where she went to next. Not straight into another impossible crush, that was for sure.
Having Sam around was a distraction. He didn’t look like the man who had battered her young heart—and a good portion of her soul—eight years ago when she’d been twenty, but he was the same type. Sam had that outrageous masculinity; the untamed, ‘don’t give a damn’ look that sang to something wild and feminine and reckless in her—a part of herself she thought she’d long suppressed.
Panic started its heart-stopping, breath-stealing, muscle-tensing attack on her. She took in a deep breath that came out halfway to a sob.
‘You okay?’ Sam’s deep voice was warm with concern.
She pretended to cough. ‘F-fine thanks,’ she said. ‘Just...just a tickle in my throat.’
She dropped her hand from his shoulder and stepped away so his hand fell from her waist. She immediately felt bereft of his touch. With hands that weren’t quite steady, she switched her handbag to her other shoulder.
‘Let me carry that bag for you,’ Sam said, taking it from her, his fingers grazing the bare skin of her arm. It was just a momentary touch but she knew she’d feel it for hours.
‘Th-thanks,’ she stuttered.
He heaved the bag effortlessly over his own shoulder. ‘It weighs a ton; what on earth do you have in it?’
‘Anything and everything. I like to be prepared in case anyone needs stuff. You know—tissues, insect repellent, pain-relievers, tamp— Never mind. My bag’s a bit of a joke with my friends. They reckon anything they need they’ll find in there.’
‘And they probably rely on it. I get the impression you like to look after people.’
‘I guess I do,’ she said. There was no need to mention the accident that had left her sister in a wheelchair when Kate had been aged thirteen, or how her father had left and Kate had had to help out at home more than anyone else her age. How helping other people run their lives had become a habit.
‘So what’s in the folder?’ he asked.
‘The master plan for the wedding. The documents are on my tablet too, and my PC, but I’ve got backup printouts just in case. There’s a checklist, a time plan, everyone’s duties spelled out to the minute. I want this wedding to run like clockwork. I’ve printed out a running sheet for you too, to keep you up to speed, as they’ve made you part of the meeting.’
Schedules. Plans. Timetables. Keep the everyday aspects of life under control, and she’d have a better chance of keeping errant emotions and unwelcome longings under control.
She couldn’t let Sam Lancaster disrupt that.
* * *
Sam noticed that as Kate spoke her voice got quicker and quicker. She was nervous. Of him?
Had she somehow sensed the tight grip he’d had to keep on himself to stop from pulling her into his arms?
He hadn’t been looking for a relationship—especially not when everything was up in the air with the business. Selling it would impact not only on his life but also on the lives of the people employed by his company, including the contractors, suppliers and clients. It was important to weigh up the desire to free himself from the hungry corporate identity that had dominated his life since he’d been a child with the obligations due to those loyal to the company. He owed it to the memory of his father to get such a momentous decision right.
But in just the few short hours he’d been in Dolphin Bay Kate Parker had wiggled her lovely, vivacious way under his skin. He hadn’t been able to think of anything else but seeing her again since he’d said goodbye to her at the restaurant.
And now he wanted to take her hand and walk her right past that boathouse—past the meeting she’d scheduled for a big wedding the bride and groom didn’t seem to want and onto the beach with him, where she could ask him any questions she wanted and he could ask her a few of his own.
But he would not do that while there was any chance she could be involved with his good friend.
Again, she glanced down at the watch on her narrow wrist. ‘C’mon, I can’t bear to be late for anything—and especially for a meeting I arranged.’
He liked the dusting of freckles on her pale arms, so different from the orange-toned fake tan that was the standard for so many Sydney girls. He liked that she was so natural and unaffected, unlike the girls his mother, Vivien—she’d never liked him calling her Mum—kept trying to foist on him ever since the big society wedding she’d wanted for him had been called off.
‘Let’s go, then,’ he said, trying to inject a note of enthusiasm into his voice. When they started talking flowers, caterers and canapés, he’d tune out.
Dusk was falling rapidly, as it did in this part of the world. The boathouse ahead was already in shadow, the lights from the windows casting a welcoming glow on the sand. There was music and the light hum of chatter. He thought he recognised Ben’s laugh.
As Kate walked beside him, he realised she was keeping a distance away from him so that their hands would not accidentally brush, their shoulders nudge. He didn’t know whether to be offended by her reaction to his closeness or pleased that it might indicate she was aware of the physical tension between them.
It was torture not knowing where he stood with her.
As they got within striking distance of the boathouse, he couldn’t endure not knowing any longer. He wanted to put out his hand and stop her but he didn’t trust himself to touch her again. He halted. She took a few more steps forward, realised he’d stopped and turned back to face him, a questioning look on her face.
Before she had time to speak, he did.
‘Kate—stop. Before we go any further, I have to ask you something.’
‘Sure,’ she said, her head tilted to one side. ‘Fire away. We’ve got a few minutes left before we’re late.’
He prepared himself for an answer he didn’t want to hear. ‘Kate, what’s the story with you and Jesse?’
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_61be8a35-1982-591f-ba66-a19ee7c3104b)
KATE’S FACE FROZE in shock at his question. For a long moment she simply stared at him and Sam waited for her reply with increasing edginess.
‘Me and J...Jesse?’ she finally managed to stutter out.
Sam nodded. ‘You said you were just friends. Is that true?’
‘Yes. It is. Now.’
‘What do you mean “now”?’
‘You mean Jesse didn’t say anything?’
‘About you? Not a word.’
Kate looked down so her mass of wavy hair fell over her face, hiding it from him. She scuffed one sandal in the sand. Sam resisted the urge to reach out and push her hair into place. She did it herself, with fingers that trembled, and then looked back up at him. Even in the fading light he could see the indecision etched on her face. ‘Do you want to hear the whole story? It’s...it’s kind of embarrassing.’ Her husky voice was so low he had to dip his head to hear her.
Embarrassing? He nodded and tried to keep his face free of expression. He’d asked the question. He had to be prepared for whatever answer she might give him.
Kate clutched the purple folder tight to her chest. ‘Our mothers were very close and Jesse, Ben and I grew up together. The mums were always making jokes about Jesse and me getting married in the future. You should see the photos they posed of us as little babies, holding hands.’
Sam could imagine how cute those photos would be, but he felt uncomfortable at the thought of that kind of connection being established between Kate and Jesse at such a young age. He had a vague recollection of Jesse once mentioning a red-haired girl back home. What had he said? Something about an ongoing joke in the family that if he and the girl never found anyone else they could marry each other...
Sam had found it amusing at the time. He didn’t find it amusing right now. How difficult would it be to break such a long-standing bond?
‘So that’s the embarrassing bit?’ he asked.
Kate pulled a face. ‘It gets worse. When I was thirteen and he was fourteen we tried out our first ever kiss together. It was awkward and I ended up giggling so much it didn’t go far. But I guess in my childish heart that marked Jesse as someone special.’
Jealousy seared through Sam at the thought of Jesse kissing Kate, even if they had been only kids. He was aware it was irrational—after all he hardly knew Kate—but it was there. It was real.
He had to clear his throat to speak. ‘So you dated?’
She shook her head so vehemently her hair swung over her face. ‘Never. We both dated other people. As teenagers, we cried on each other’s shoulders when things went wrong. As adults, we lived our own lives. Until...’
Her brow creased as though she were puzzling out loud. ‘Until a few years ago—I don’t know why—I started to think Jesse might be the one for me. After all, everyone else thought so. I developed quite a crush on him.’
‘So what’s so embarrassing about that?’
She paused. ‘Three days ago we kissed—at my suggestion.’
Now that jealousy turned into something that seethed in his gut. He’d always prided himself on being laid-back, slow to anger. He felt anything but laid-back at the thought of her in another man’s arms, even one of his friends. Especially one of his friends.
‘And?’ His hands were fisted.
‘Crush completely over. It was an utter disaster. So wrong that words can’t describe it. And I speak for him as well as for me.’
Sam’s fists slowly uncurled.
‘So Jesse doesn’t want you as more than a friend?’
‘Heavens, no!’ Her voice had an undertone of almost hysterical relief. ‘We could hardly wait to make our getaways. And we succeeded in avoiding each other until we met in the restaurant earlier today.’
‘It seemed awkward between you. Tense.’
‘At first. But it’s okay now. We’ve been friends for so long, seems we can both laugh it off as a monumental mistake and move on.’
With no more kissing, if Sam had anything to do with it.
He stepped closer to her. This time he did reach out and smooth an auburn curl from falling over her cheek. She started but didn’t step away and he tucked it behind her ear before letting his hand drop back to his side. They stood as close as they could without actually touching.
‘So Jesse’s right out of the picture,’ he said. ‘Is there anyone else?’
Anyone else he had to fight for her?
Her face was half in shadow, half in the dim light coming from the boathouse. ‘No one,’ she said. ‘I...I haven’t dated for quite some time.’ She paused. ‘What about you? Question number three: is there any special lady in your life?’
‘I was engaged to a long-term girlfriend. But no one special since that ended.’
He’d smarted for months at the way the engagement had been terminated, the wedding cancelled. In fact, he’d been so gutted he’d taken off to India to get away from the fallout. With perspective, he could see ending the engagement had been the right decision. But, while the wounds had healed, he had been wary of getting involved with anyone. Now he was ready. His ex had moved on, but he hadn’t met a woman who had interested him. Until now.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Would it count as question number four if I asked about what happened—or would that be part of question number three?’
He grinned. ‘I’ll allow it as part two of question three—but it might have to wait until I have more time to answer it.’
‘I’m okay with that,’ she said with a return of her dimples.
The last thing he wanted to do was scare Kate off. He had never before experienced this instant attraction to a woman. He had to work through how he handled it.
Kate was so obviously not the kind of woman for a no-strings fling. It wasn’t what he wanted either. But his previous relationships had started off slowly with attraction growing. He understood how that worked, not this immediate flaming that might just burn itself out in a matter of days. The kind of flaming that had seen his parents trapped in an unhappy marriage, the consequences of which he had been forced to endure.
That aside, he realised Kate might not feel the same way as he did. If he wanted to get to know her, he knew he had to take things carefully.
‘Before Jesse came into the restaurant, I was about to ask you out on a date,’ he said. ‘What would you have said?’
‘I...I... You’ve taken me by surprise. I would have said—’
Just then the door of the boathouse opened, flooding them with further light. Ben peered through the door and called out. ‘Hey, Kate, what are you doing out there? You warned us all to be on time or suffer dire consequences and now you’re running late.’
Kate immediately stepped back from Sam so fast she nearly tripped. ‘I’m coming!’ she called in Ben’s direction.
Sam cursed under his breath at the interruption. He wanted to shout at Ben to get lost.
Kate looked back up at Sam. ‘Sam, I...’
But Ben was now heading towards them. He caught sight of Sam. ‘Sam. Mate. I didn’t see you there. Come on in.’
Sam groaned. Kate looked up at him in mute appeal. He shrugged wordlessly in a gesture of frustration. But not defeat; he would get Kate’s reply sooner rather than later.
Then he was swept along into the boathouse with Kate, Ben walking between them like an old-fashioned chaperone.
* * *
An hour later, Kate was pleased at how well the meeting had gone. Everyone who needed to be there had been there—except for Sandy’s sister who lived in Sydney, and her five-year-old daughter who was to be the flower girl. Plans had been finalised, timetables tweaked. Now the bridal party had been joined by a few other friends. Snack platters from the hotel kitchen had arrived and the barbecue was being fired up. There wasn’t much more she could do to ensure the wedding went to plan on Saturday.
If only she hadn’t been so darned conscious of Sam the entire time. It had been more than a tad distracting. She’d found herself struggling to remember important facts, her mind too occupied with Sam. But no one seemed to have noticed the lapse from her usual efficiency.
She just hoped they hadn’t noticed the way she’d found herself compelled to check on him every few minutes. He’d met her glances with a smile, even a wink that had made her smother a laugh. It was only too obvious he was bored by the details of the wedding meeting. He’d crossed his long legs and uncrossed them. He’d not-so-subtly checked his mobile phone. He’d even nodded off for a few minutes until Ben had shoved him awake.
But she hadn’t had a moment alone with him since they’d been interrupted on the beach.
She’d been just about to say yes to Sam’s suggestion of a date. But would it really be a good idea?
Her fears screamed no. Just the light touch of his fingers on her cheek had practically sent her hurtling to the stars. She’d never felt such strong attraction so quickly. She was terrified that it might lead her into the kind of obsession that had nearly destroyed her in the past. It would be wisest to keep Sam at a distance.
But her loneliness urged yes to seeing Sam. Why shouldn’t she go out with him on an uncomplicated, everyday date, with no other agenda than to share a meal, enjoy a movie, find out something about what made the other tick? Flirt a little. Laugh a lot. It didn’t have to go further than that.
For so long she’d been on her own. Surely she deserved some masculine excitement in her life—even if only temporary? Sam would only be around for a week and then he’d be gone. Where was the harm in enjoying his company?
It was time to say yes to that date.
