be there for you the way you’d be there for them. It’s a big ask. Because I know full well the lengths you’ll go to for the people you love.’
Jared stared out over the blue sky and the darker blue of the ocean. ‘I like her. There’s something about her.’
‘So keep me posted?’
‘That’d be telling.’
‘Yes.’
He didn’t have to turn to see the smirk on her face.
‘Yes, it would.’
ROWAN TOOK THE weekend off. She’d worked the last three weekends in a row and she was entitled to some down time. She headed for the airport, got on a plane, and three hours later touched down at a little regional airport in northern New South Wales.
And found Jared waiting for her.
Oh, she could get used to this.
He was good at making a woman feel special.
Offer her a crooked smile and a searching glance and the job was done.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked, and it was good to know that she hadn’t had to organise anything about this weekend beyond turning up to it.
‘Beach house tonight. Sailing tomorrow. Lena’s for late-afternoon drinks when we get back, and then beach house again on Saturday night. How does that work for you?’
“Beautifully.’ It sounded a whole lot like heaven.
‘Do you have to be anywhere on Sunday?’ he asked.
‘I did have an invite to Sunday dinner with my parents, but I cancelled on them.’
‘Is that going to cause a problem?’
‘I get the feeling they were expecting it. My parents recently retired and they’re feeling invisible. They’re searching for meaning within their new life, people to fill it, but I can’t be there for them the way they want me to be. Except for my grandfather, I don’t really do family.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because there isn’t any.’
He fell silent after that, and so did she as they headed towards a four-wheel drive tabletop ute, with fishing rod racks and surfboard racks gracing its roof.
‘I’m glad you came,’ he said as he stowed her carryon bag in the back and opened the door for her.
‘So am I.’
‘I’d kiss you, but I want to get you home first.’
‘Is this a control thing?’
He smiled down at her, slow and sweet. ‘It’s a once-I-start-I-don’t-aim-to-stop thing.’
Maybe it came naturally to him, or maybe he’d had a lifetime’s practice, but this man knew instinctively how to make her feel like the most precious person in the world.
And Rowan loved him for it.
Jared figured that asking Rowan how her working week had gone was off-limits. He told her what his family was up to, what he’d been up to, and that took five minutes. He made a late supper for them out of mussels and broth and chunky bits of bread and her eyes warmed even as she demolished it.
‘Are you on call?’ he asked, and she shook her head around a mouth full of food.
No.
‘White wine?’
Yes.
He’d been seducing women since his late teens. Confidently. Effortlessly.
This was different.
‘Beds and bedrooms are down the hall.’ Not exactly the smoothest introduction to their potential sleeping arrangements. ‘There’s plenty of them.’
‘I’m thinking yours.’
Well, all righty, then.
But he didn’t rush to get her there. He wanted to take his time.
They headed for the deck after dinner, and maybe Rowan guessed that it was one of his favourite places and maybe she didn’t, but in the end they had the big-screen television out there as well, along with enough pillows, cushions and deckchair mats to sleep twenty.
Open-air movie night, and the movie Rowan chose for them to watch was a spy one. They rewrote it as they watched, and Rowan laughed and drank another glass of wine, and pretty soon it was going on for one a.m. and her head was resting on his chest and her eyes were closed and her breathing was regular and deep.
Jared knew what bone-deep tiredness felt like and he had a sneaking suspicion that Rowan was no stranger to it either. He turned off the big screen and the lights and let the stars shine down on them. He dragged pillows towards them, pulled a cover over, tucked her into his side until they fitted together like pieces of a puzzle, and followed her into oblivion.
And the little bird inside his chest—it was singing.
Rowan woke before dawn—it was just her way. She’d been doing it for too many years to adjust easily to waking at a later time.
This time, however, she woke to a sea of pillows and blankets, the sky overhead, and a warm weight at her side was—Jared West. And he was a possessive bastard, even in his sleep, if the hand splayed over her heart was any indication. He hadn’t pressured her into anything last night. In fact he’d given her what she’d needed. A place to unwind from the pressures of a hellish week, permission to lie back and breathe.
She might have wanted soul-stealing sexual relations, but he’d given her exactly what she’d needed.
She rolled onto her stomach and moments later he followed, awake and tracing gentle fingers down her spine.
‘Did you sleep well?’ he murmured.
‘Mmm.’
‘Want to not sleep any more?’
‘Mmm.’
How was that even a question, given that his lips were following his fingers down her spine, soft and dragging and wholly reverent? A breaking dawn and the promise of lovemaking. She arched back against him, helpless in her longing for him.
‘Want you to be in me.’
He savoured her—there was no other word for it—and she surrendered to the blinding pleasure and the warmth.
He curled his hands around her thighs once he’d finished exploring every dip of her back. He lifted her to his mouth and for a while she thought he might be a sex god. And then he released
