reached a long arm out and twisted his fingers into her hair. ‘I like your hair like this. Neither straight or curly, but it definitely has this little kink.’
There was a time when Ellie would have ensured that every time she saw him next, her hair would be just so. She’d straightened it to a crisp for one boyfriend, curled it tight for another—always aiming to please. To do whatever to make a guy like her and keep liking her. Old habits died hard. But she wasn’t going to do that for Ruben—it had never been that way between them and she wasn’t going to slide backwards now. No, after last night she needed to make more than sure she stayed on top of her vulnerable trying-too-hard tendencies.
Despite only having a couple of hours’ sleep in the early hours of the morning, she couldn’t seem to get back to sleep now. Nor could Ruben. By unvoiced agreement they dressed and went downstairs, sat on the rug in front of the little log burner.
‘We only have muesli bars left.’ Ruben rummaged in the tin, pulling out packs of bars and bottled water. ‘Sorry I don’t have anything else.’
‘I like muesli bars.’
‘I don’t even have a deck of cards,’ he added ruefully.
‘That’s probably a good thing, I only know how to play poker.’ Ellie glanced up and caught the look in his eye. Yeah, time to move the conversation along. ‘I’ve got some news actually.’
Ruben took a bite out of his bar and chewed thoughtfully, taking satisfaction in the way her smile was bubbling out of her. That was his doing and it made him feel good.
‘I’m up for a tourism award. Only a very minor one of course. Rookie Guide of the Year—can you believe that?’ She bounced on her knees. ‘I’ve only been there a couple of months but I’ve been nominated! I’m so thrilled.’
So that was why she was glowing? It wasn’t because she was still bathed in post-sex bliss? He felt stupidly deflated. ‘That’s awesome.’ He nodded. ‘When did you find out?’
‘A few days ago,’ she said.
A few days? But they talked on the phone every night. ‘How come you didn’t tell me already?’ It niggled that she’d kept something so special a secret.
‘I wanted to tell you in person.’ She smiled, her pleasure iridescent. ‘I wanted to see your reaction.’
‘Oh.’ He felt a bit better. ‘Well, that’s really cool. Good for you.’
‘I’ve finally found what I’m meant to do.’ She grinned and bit into her bar. ‘It’s the best job in the world.’
Impulse hit Ruben hard—he wanted to see if she won that award. He wanted to be there to give her a hug if she didn’t. Okay, maybe he wanted to give her more than a hug. ‘When do you find out if you’ve won?’
‘There’s a function—dinner and the awards and stuff—at the end of the week.’
‘Do you get to take a date?’
She paused. ‘I’m not sure.’
‘If you do, will you take me?’
‘You want to go?’ She looked surprised and suddenly elated. The sun pierced through the clouds the same moment her smile exploded.
‘Of course, that’s what friends do.’ He tried to get a grip. That was what this was about. Being a friend and supporter, right?
‘Friends,’ she echoed.
‘We are still friends, right?’ He blinked as the bright sunshine hurt his sleep-deprived eyes.
‘Of course.’ Her smile didn’t dim.
Ruben was relieved the sun soon burned off the fog because he needed a little thinking space to assess quite where he was at. Satisfied, yes—but for how long? It was what she’d insisted on—one night—and then back to normal. But he really didn’t feel quite right.
He flew them down to the airport—had booked her flight back to Wellington. He planned to stay at the lodge a couple of days and catch his breath. But when he said goodbye to her at the departures gate it was with a way-too-friendly, utterly breathless kiss. She melted into his arms and he unashamedly hauled her closer, revelling in her surrender. Maybe they’d take this one hook-up at a time. They could stay friends on the phone and lovers on the nights their schedules melded. No problem at all. And maybe their clashing out of town calendars could be just the thing to stop this affair from ending too soon.
* * *
Three days later Ellie was all but skipping around the office. She was supposed to be working on the plan for her next tour, but distraction in the form of random Ruben thoughts kept hitting her.
‘You really can’t concentrate, can you?’ Bridie teased.
Fortunately her boss thought her dithering was about the awards tomorrow night, not the excitement of seeing Ruben again.
It was silly—he was coming tomorrow just as a friend. But she knew what might happen—he’d said it was enough, but that kiss goodbye at the airport? Oh, she wanted more of that. She could control this added dimension to their friendship. Of course she could. Friends with benefits wasn’t just a Hollywood set-up, maybe it could really work. Okay, so the realist in her sensed impending heartache, but there was that irrepressible flicker of hope—surely he wouldn’t have offered to come with her if he didn’t care even just a little, right?
Maybe, just maybe that wall of his was coming down—one brick at a time. They’d grown closer over the last few weeks—not physically but in all those phone calls. And then the physical had happened—and transported her to a whole other level. She’d never felt closer to anyone than she had with him in that hut. She’d never felt closer to heaven.
* * *
Ruben was staring at his calendar and planning future trips to Wellington for more nights with Ellie when his phone rang. It was a blocked number—and the call played to his innate ambition.
Anthony Mackenzie—of the Australian department store dynasty—was in the country with his sister. ‘We’d love to have a meeting with you. We’ve heard you excel at discreet luxury.’
‘Are you looking to stay at one of my venues?’
‘We want you to come to Australia and build us some.’
Ruben paused for a ‘wow’ moment. Overseas expansion wasn’t in his current plan but he’d be a fool not to make the connection. ‘When did you want to meet?’
Ruben—still looking at his schedule—frowned as Anthony named the next day. It shouldn’t matter—the meeting was in the afternoon, Ellie’s gig was in the evening. So long as he made the flight he’d be there. And if he missed the plane, he could charter his own. It wasn’t going to be one of those clash of timing things at all. Fate wouldn’t be so inconvenient. It was completely manageable.
The instant he hung up from Anthony, Ruben phoned Ellie. The opportunity made excitement burn all over and he wanted to share the buzz.
‘Are you getting excited?’ he teased her
