Those three little words created unfamiliar and unwarranted sensations in Cassie’s abdomen. Like a ferry ride in rough weather, exhilarating and heart-stopping. They spread warmth to her toes and up to her cheeks, and she quickly looked away. Bending her head, she sipped her drink, hoping he’d think any colour came from its heat.
Mel muted the sound and left the remote on the coffee table.
‘Do you want to stay tonight, Jack?’
Her innocent question almost had Cassie choking as she swallowed. Jack sleeping in the room across the hall from hers. Jack showering in the bathroom one wall away. Jack...
What was the matter with her?
She shared a house with two men, and didn’t turn a hair if they wandered around draped in a towel.
‘I’ll go home, thanks. How about I pick up breakfast in the morning? Special treat.’
‘Ooh, yes, delicious egg and bacon rolls, full of calories and cholesterol. Delightfully wicked at my age,’ Mel enthused. ‘Just don’t tell my doctor.’
‘It’s a deal.’
‘With that pleasant thought to send me to sleep, I’ll say goodnight. Thank you both for a lovely day, the best I’ve had for ages.’ After turning the sound up again, she left the room.
Persuasive advertisements urged them to buy, buy, buy, backed up by jarring music. Cassie finished her drink, held on to her mug and tried to formulate an intelligent topic opener. Nothing came to mind.
‘Yawning might help.’
Startled, she almost dropped her mug. His smooth-as-silk deep timbre coiled around her heart, enthralling her. His wide smile and the provocative gleam in his eyes activated warning signals in her brain.
She set her mug down, clenched her stomach and mentally strengthened her resolve. If he thought she’d be easy to charm, he was in for a disappointment. The foolish romantic side of her hoped he’d try.
‘Help what?’
His grin widened. ‘Convince me you’re tired and want to go to bed.’
Her sucked-in gasp wasn’t nearly as incriminating as the heatwave that swept over her skin. The surge of desire at his unintended suggestion stunned her, left her speechless and fighting for breath.
He caught the double meaning, chuckled, and that darn Outback scene flashed into her head. She blinked it away. Too late—he’d noticed.
In a rapid switch, he leant forward, hands clasped between his knees. His now sombre expression matched the thoughtful contemplation in his eyes. She drew in a steadying lungful of air and waited.
‘Your choice, Cassie. I can leave now or we can a while. We’re going to see quite a lot of each other in the next few months. The more at ease we are together, the happier Mel will be.’
Easy for you to say, Jack Randell. Your hormones aren’t going crazy whenever you’re near me.
She wriggled back into the corner.
As if that little bit of distance will diminish his potency.
Her brain scrabbled for an intelligent question.
‘How long have your parents lived in Queensland?’ Background stuff, not too personal. If he followed suit, her disclosures could be of similar ilk.
* * *
All Jack had gained was a few minutes’ grace so why the crazy, unwarranted zing of success? He felt muscles he hadn’t noticed become taut, loosen, and wished he were on the settee beside her. Close enough to inhale her alluring aroma. Not tonight, perhaps—would there ever be a good time? And what had happened to his stay away when she’s here decision?
‘Nine years. My mother hated Adelaide winters, always spent part of them up north with her family. She met Dad on a spring cruise to the Pacific Islands and married him six months later.’
He relaxed into his chair, legs outstretched, arms loose on the side arms. When Sam walked over and plopped beside him, head over Jack’s ankles, he bent to scratch the dog’s ears.
‘She put up with the cold because she loved him and he was an integral part of the family law firm, handling the accounting department. Once my brother, sister and I were self-sufficient, Dad resigned, sold up and they relocated to Queensland. He works for himself with an assistant. Less pressure, more time together.’
An abridged version, omitting his mother’s depression in his teens, and his struggle to avoid becoming ensnared in the Randell legal world.
‘Mel said most of the family find a reason to visit them during the year.’
Jack’s gut tightened at the faint tremor in Cassie’s voice and the wistful expression in her eyes. Quickly blinked away.
‘Especially during our winter. Your family aren’t within easy contact?’
She stilled, broke eye contact and her shoulders pressed back. Away from him or the question?
‘No.’ Steady. Resolute. ‘Mum died four years ago. There are no other relatives.’
Her stark sentences left him dumbfounded, mouth open, back stiffening as he jerked forward.
‘No one?’
No way could he envisage a world without his parents, aunts and uncles, his siblings and numerous cousins. Noisy, sometimes boisterous get-togethers had always been an integral part of his life.
He’d rebelled at the pressure from his father and mother to conform, to gain entry to law school and follow the path they’d chosen for him. There’d been loud, occasionally acrimonious arguments about his partying and seeming lack of study even though his grades were always high. Even at those times, there’d always been someone there for him, often a choice of many. They might not have agreed with his decisions but they’d given him moral support.
Watching the obvious change in his expression, he saw chagrin flood her face as she gave a choking laugh.
‘That came out as if I’m alone and abandoned. I never felt deprived because there was only the two of us, and I have a very supportive group of friends.’
‘You live alone?’ Spoken instinctively. He hadn’t meant to ask; it went beyond the bounds he’d set himself.
‘I share a house with two school friends. And you?’
‘Just me in my place near the beach at Port Noarlunga South.’
‘Do you surf?’
‘Best way to get the adrenaline going in the morning, though work takes precedence these days.’ Actually, it was the second best, and the sudden thought of sharing the first with her sent his pulse racing.
‘I tried years ago. Couldn’t see the attraction of getting dumped every time I tried to stand up.’
The sudden sparkle in her eyes belied her words; she’d enjoyed the experience. He imagined her in a sleek wetsuit and his body responded, causing him to shift in his chair.
‘Maybe you need an expert to teach you.’ Had he meant that to sound like an offer? Yes, if she was still around when the weather warmed up.
‘Or better balance.’
A strident voice in increased decibels made both heads swing towards the television.
‘That certainly won’t entice me into their store.’ Jack reached for the remote, pressed off, and said with reluctance, ‘Time I went home.’
He ensured Sam was settled on his bed in the family room while Cassie took the mugs to the kitchen. She seemed reluctant to approach him as he waited, hand on the back doorknob, to say goodbye. Was she regretting the disclosure of personal aspects of her life?
‘Lock