eyes twinkled, and he felt himself relax. And then she gestured to the door.
‘Do you want to come inside?’
He barely took a second before saying, ‘Sure.’
Her house was spacious, filled with light and bright flowers from her garden. The open plan meant that the lounge, dining room and kitchen led from one room to the other, and all the furniture complemented the warm and rustic theme of her house.
‘Did you do the interior of the house?’ he asked, walking past a shelf that held pictures of the McKenzie family.
His eyes were drawn to a picture of Callie and Connor, standing next to a woman and a man who looked so much like them he thought that if he’d met them on the street he would have recognised them as Connor and Callie’s parents. They looked so happy, he thought, and his heart broke for reasons he couldn’t describe. Somehow it made him think of his own family, and the fact that Callie wouldn’t ever see a picture like this anywhere in his place.
‘Some of it.’
He turned when she answered him, and the compassion in her eyes tugged at his heart. How did she continue to see through him?
‘But mostly I’ve kept it as it was when my parents were alive,’ she pressed on, and took off her jersey, throwing it over one arm. ‘My mom had great taste.’
‘Yeah, she did.’
He was still thinking about her family when she said, ‘I’m going to change. It shouldn’t take too long, but feel free to make yourself comfortable.’
She walked through a doorway in the kitchen and he heard her footsteps on the floor and a door closing. He turned back to the shelf with the pictures and tried to keep his mind off the thought of her changing in the next room. But his thoughts kept shifting back to how she would be slipping off those heels that made her legs look as if they never ended. And she was probably taking off that dress that had done nothing to hide the curves that had been in his thoughts ever since he’d touched them.
He swallowed, and walked to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.
There was an empty glass in the sink, and he rinsed it and filled it with water from the tap. As he drank he looked up through the window that was just above the L-shaped kitchen counter. It overlooked a tidy little yard which was completely free of flowers, but had a large palm tree that shadowed a swing seat just beneath it. But the real view was of the mountain just above it.
‘That’s Lion’s Head.’
He turned back to see Callie looking past him through the window. She had changed into a long floral skirt and a mint-green T-shirt, and had loosened her hair so that it fell in waves down her back. She looked so effortlessly beautiful that his heart stopped for a few minutes just looking at her. She walked towards him until she was next to him and then pointed to the right of the mountain he’d seen.
‘Table Mountain is over there.’
But he couldn’t keep his eyes off her, and her proximity overwhelmed his senses. When she looked back to him her eyes widened in that way they did whenever something she hadn’t expected happened.
He put his hands on her waist, cautiously, asking permission without saying a word, and she took a step towards him so that there was barely any space between them. His arms slipped around her and his body heated at finally being able to feel hers again, and then he leaned down to her until his mouth was next to her ear.
‘I’m going to kiss you now,’ he whispered, and felt her shudder. He moved his head back so he could see her face, flushed and beautiful, and asked, ‘Is that okay?’
* * *
‘Yes.’
She had barely said the word before his lips were on hers. She had expected hunger, passion—everything that had burned with their first kiss. But there was none of that. Instead it felt as though he was trying to make up for that, to show her there was more to whatever was going on between them than just pure lust.
She thought vaguely that this might be the way their kiss on the rooftop would have felt if they’d let it continue for a while longer. And as the sweetness of their kiss swept through her she felt her heart open and be filled with it. He pulled her closer, and her heart beat at double its speed as she let her hands explore his body.
As soon as she did, the sweetness turned into need and she deepened their kiss, wanting more.
‘Callie.’
Blake had ended the kiss, but he didn’t let her go. She opened her eyes to see his own were closed, and he leaned his forehead against her.
‘Do you want to give me a heart attack?’
She laughed breathlessly. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise I had that in me.’
He lifted his head and smiled, and for the first time she noticed the crinkles around his eyes. She’d never really seen them before, she thought, and brushed a thumb across one of them.
‘I think you have a lot in you that you don’t realise,’ he responded, and then took a deliberate step away from her.
As he did so she suddenly realised where she was, who she was with. Where had all this come from? Why was he was saying all the right things? About how she wasn’t alone, how she shouldn’t worry about the hotel, how they would deal with whatever was happening between them together. She had let her guard down enough to invite him in, and now he’d kissed her—in her own kitchen.
She turned her back to him and braced her hands on the sink as the uncertainty of the situation overwhelmed her.
‘Hey,’ Blake said, and moved to next to her. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Nothing.’ She turned to him and forced a smile to her face. ‘Can I get you something to drink?’
‘Callie, come on. I thought we agreed we were going to be open with one another.’
‘Yeah, we did. So tell me where all this is coming from. How are you so calm and determined to be open with me when the last time you did this you pushed me away?’
The words had rushed from her mouth and she sighed, wishing she had some semblance of control over it. Especially when she saw the pain on his face.
‘I’m sorry, Blake. I told you I was feeling a bit raw. And kissing doesn’t help.’ She resisted the urge to touch her lips.
He nodded. ‘You’re right. We should probably straighten things out before we do that again.’
Her heart accelerated even at the thought of it.
‘Is that drink still up for offer?’
‘Sure. Would you like some wine? I have a really good red.’
‘Yeah, that’s great.’
She poured the wine and joined him on the couch. It overlooked the garden when the curtains were open, and the amount of light it offered the house meant she kept them that way most of the time.
She
