because he’s had a lot of practice.
‘What’s with the frown?’
Brodie’s voice cut through Chantal’s musings. He stood above her, holding out a hand to help her up from her Lotus Position.
A pair of faded jeans hugged his strong legs and a soft white T-shirt skimmed over the muscles in his shoulders and chest. A leather cuff encircled his right wrist—it looked as though he’d worn it for years. The leather was faded and smooth, and it accentuated the muscles in his arm. But Chantal’s eyes were drawn to the anchor tattoo on the inside of his forearm, as always. She had to resist the urge to reach out and trace it with her fingertip.
‘Where are we going?’ he asked.
‘Huh?’
‘Your audition. Where is it?’
‘Right over there,’ Chantal said, pointing across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. ‘It’s about ten minutes on foot.’
‘Great—let’s go.’ Brodie turned and made his way off the yacht.
‘You don’t need to come with me.’
She grabbed her bag and scrambled after him, her blood pressure shooting up. Having him watch her last night had been humiliating enough. The last thing she needed was for him to witness a more serious rejection today!
‘Don’t you want a little moral support?’
‘No.’ She hitched her dancing bag higher on her shoulder and looked Brodie squarely in the eye. ‘I’ve been doing this on my own for quite a while. I like it that way.’
‘What if I want to watch?’
He said it in such a way that Chantal almost lost her footing on the jetty.
‘You only get to watch when I say so.’
Her blood pulsed hot and fast, flooding her centre with an uncomfortable and entirely distracting throbbing sensation. She didn’t have time to be horny. She had an audition to nail and he was getting in her way.
‘Brodie, I don’t have time to argue.’ She waved him off. ‘Can’t I just meet you afterwards?’
‘If you insist.’ He shrugged and fell into step with her.
The sun beat down on Chantal’s bare shoulders, making her skin sizzle on the outside as much as Brodie was making her sizzle on the inside. Humid air made her skin glisten and frizzed her hair. She yanked the length behind her head and fastened it with a hair tie… Anything to keep her hands busy.
They walked past other yachts, most of them matching the size of Brodie’s boat. It was definitely more upscale than the place where they’d been docked last night. A family to their right boarded a boat that looked twice as big as the house Chantal had grown up in. The mother and daughter had identical long blond ponytails and carried matching designer bags.
‘Do your clientele look like that?’ She nodded towards the family.
‘Rich?’ Brodie gave them a cursory glance and shrugged. ‘Yeah, I guess. People who charter a private yacht tend to have money.’
‘More money than sense,’ she muttered under her breath.
‘It’s certainly not the kind of life I had growing up, that’s for sure.’
Chantal’s curiosity was piqued. Brodie hadn’t shared too much about his family while they’d all lived on the Whitsundays. She’d seen a picture of him with a group of younger girls whom she’d presumed to be his family. It had been pinned up on the wall in the room he’d shared with Scott. But other than that she knew little about his family, or where he was from…
‘I always got the impression you were well off.’
‘Why did you think that?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know… You always seemed so relaxed—so… at peace with the world. It seemed like you’d had an easy life.’
Brodie’s blond brows crinkled and they walked in silence for a few minutes. Had she hurt his feelings? She hadn’t intended it, but he seemed to lack the tough outer shell of someone who’d struggled their whole lives failing to keep up with everybody else. Someone like her.
‘We had our ups and downs,’ he said, talking slowly, as though he chose each word with care. ‘My family wasn’t different to anyone else’s.’
‘You never talked about your family much while we were working together.’
‘You and I never had a serious conversation about anything.’ He grinned. ‘Too busy playing cat and mouse.’
‘We did not play cat and mouse.’ She shook her head, but her cheeks filled with roaring heat.
‘You don’t think so? I used to do anything to rile you up, to get your attention. I’d drive you crazy by teasing you about being a stuck-up ballerina.’
‘And I’d try to correct you by explaining the difference between ballet and contemporary dance. But I don’t think that’s a game of cat and mouse.’
‘Why do you think I teased you?’
They hovered under the expressway, enjoying the cool reprieve of the shade while people milled around. Sunlight sparkled on the water and laughter floated up into the air as the crowd filtered past. Everywhere people soaked up the rays, ate ice cream and held hands. The Sydney Harbour Bridge stretched out above, the Opera House in the distance, with the sun coating everything in a golden gleam.
Chantal had to admit it. As much as she found the hustle and bustle of a big city overwhelming, Sydney was beautiful.
‘I thought you were hot.’ He slung an arm around her shoulder.
‘You shouldn’t have thought that.’
He leant down until his lips were close to her ear. ‘I still think you’re hot.’
Caring about his opinion was a mistake, but his words made something flutter low down in her belly. She’d never wanted to be attracted to Brodie, but he had this thing about him. It was indescribable, intangible, invisible… but it was there.
She said, ‘I think you’re full of crap.’
He threw his head back and laughed. ‘Prickly as ever, Chantal. Good to see some things don’t change.’
‘I have to get to my audition.’
She shrugged off his arm and strode in the direction of the Harbour Dance Company’s building at the other end of the wharf.
You cannot stuff this up. Focus, focus, focus.
As much as she hated to admit it to herself—and she would never admit it to another living soul—Brodie rattled her. He was the only person who could knock her off course with such effortless efficiency. She needed a little distance from him, and tonight she would
