He was giving her as much encouragement as he could, but he couldn’t tell her what she wanted to hear. But at least she wouldn’t have to wait too long to find out. ‘Thank you. That sounds promising.’
‘I found out where Simon’s car is as well. We can pick it up on the way, it’ll give you some mobility.’
Slowly the bonds that tied her here were unravelling. A car. And if everything went well, a house to live in too. For one brief moment Sara wished that Simon’s house was somehow uninhabitable, and then cursed herself for her petty selfishness. ‘So Trader and I might be out of your hair, then.’
‘No. I said a day trip. You can’t go back there.’
‘Why not? If the fire’s already been through, then there’s no more danger, is there?’ The thought of a lonely house, in a blackened landscape, frightened her. Served her right. How could she have even thought about the possibility of a problem at Simon’s house, however small and easy to fix, just so she could stay on here?
‘That’s not the point. We’ll go back to the house, find out what’s happened and salvage what we can. Then we come back here.’
He was giving her orders. She’d had enough of those from her own family, and Reece wasn’t going to start that with her. He was about to turn away when she reached forward, catching the sleeve of his shirt. ‘I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, but I can make my own decisions.’
‘Not with this, Sara.’
‘I’m not afraid.’ Okay, so she was afraid. But she wasn’t about to give Reece any more reasons to keep her here. ‘If the house is okay, I’ll stay there.’
‘Right. So you know where to go to get petrol for the car, do you? Or where to get food if the local store is closed? The power’s almost certainly off, so you’ll have no running water, and you can’t rely on the phone working either. What happens if you have an accident when you’re on your own up there?’ The tension lines had reappeared around his jaw, and his eyes flashed warning signals.
Trader slunk past them and out onto the veranda. He at least knew when to fold with Reece, but Sara wasn’t ready to throw in her hand yet.
‘Stop trying to frighten me, Reece. Lots of people will be going back to their homes. Why can’t I be one of them?’
‘Because you’re alone. And you’re not used to the terrain here, or the dangers. The emergency services have enough to do at this time of the year, without having to keep tabs on you.’
‘So I’m a liability?’ His words had stung her. He made her sound like the kind of person who just did as she pleased and let other people pick up the pieces.
‘You will be if you go back to the house. Simon would be the first to agree with me.’
‘I imagine he would. Simon isn’t my keeper, you know.’ Sara felt herself flush. She was being unfair and Reece probably knew it just as well as she did.
Her outburst shocked them both to silence for a moment. When he spoke, Reece’s voice was suddenly calm. ‘You’ve been under a lot of stress, Sara.’
If he only knew. ‘Don’t patronise me.’
‘I’m not patronising you. I’m asking you to stay here.’
There was an urgency in his tone that told her this was more than just a decision based on common sense. More than just a friend of the family, who was looking out for her safety. She should put a stop to that one right now. ‘What for?’
Before she could take another breath, he had looped his arms around her waist, pulling her hard against his body. Before she could get used to the jelly-legged, head-swimming sensation that having him close to her produced, he was kissing her.
Reece knew he shouldn’t be doing this. She was his friend’s little sister. She was a guest in his house. She was also irresistible, and she’d pushed him too far.
She tasted sweet, with a tang of the chilli tomatoes that were simmering on the cooker. Yielding and yet fiery all at the same time, and he wanted to explore both of those options. Her body pressed against his, her fingers leaving trails of pure, excruciating pleasure. He took his mouth from hers, just for one moment, to allow himself to catch his breath, and a little sigh escaped her lips. He caught it in another kiss.
He backed her against the refrigerator door and she shivered slightly as her bare shoulders touched the cool surface, grinning upwards and reaching for him again. Pulling his head down towards hers, for one more kiss, this time her eyes open and staring into his. Dark and full of things that he wasn’t sure he wanted to know about but simply couldn’t resist.
There were about a million reasons why he shouldn’t be doing this, but right now he couldn’t think of any of them, because Sara was unbuttoning his shirt. Her fingertips found his skin and he gasped. She raked one nail gently across his chest and he felt his whole body shake.
A fridge magnet clattered to the floor and his itinerary for next week fluttered after it. No problem there. The foreseeable future had just changed.
‘Kiss me again, Reece.’
He obeyed willingly, and she rewarded him by sliding her hands upwards, across his shoulders. A little sigh, and a shudder of pleasure that reverberated against his own aching body.
The phone rang.
No way! The sky could be falling in around their ears as far as he was concerned. He was busy.
The answering-machine kicked in. ‘Reece. Pick up. It’s an emergency.’
They both froze. ‘Go and get the phone.’ She pushed him away from her, and Reece turned and snatched the handset from its cradle.
‘This had better be good …’
It was good, all right. Or bad, whichever way you wanted to look at it. By the time he’d finished taking the message from his surgery, Sara had turned and was busying herself at the cooker.
‘You have to go?’ She’d clearly been listening to his side of the conversation, even though her back was to him.
‘Yeah. I’m sorry, Sara.’
‘What for?’ She turned her eyes on him, dark and suddenly thoughtful. The moment had been well and truly shattered.
‘For starting something I can’t finish.’ Reece wasn’t sure whether the apology was for the starting part or the not finishing, but he could keep that open for the time being. ‘One of my patients needs a home visit.’
‘Would you like me to come along? Perhaps I can help.’ She had already clapped the lid onto the saucepan and taken it off the heat, and was untying the strings of the butcher’s apron that she wore. A trace of regret tingled through Reece’s already inflamed nerve endings. He’d been looking forward to getting her out of that apron himself.
He forced his attention back to her question. Doubting her judgement had already gone down badly once tonight, and anyway he wanted her with him. ‘Yes. That would be great. Thanks.’
They drove in awkward silence. Reece was used to being flung together with people and then letting go. The feeling that Sara might be ready to stand on her own two feet now, and that it was him who wasn’t ready to let go, was unfamiliar and vaguely unsettling. When she finally did speak, her tone was measured.
‘So what’s the matter with the patient you’re going to see?’
‘Two-year-old child. Feverish, vomiting, listless.’
‘Probably just a stomach bug, then.’
‘Probably.