AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Are we keeping you up, Gunn?’ Jack said, with a chuckle then a loud yawn of his own.
It started all of them off, as they began yawning.
Conner stretched his arms high. ‘I better get going soon, I have to be up at a sparrow’s fart.’
‘Me too,’ Jack replied.
‘We best get our beauty sleep then, mate.’ Sculling the last of what would have been warm cider by now, Connor stood and stretched. ‘Thanks for a great night, you lot.’
‘You’re very welcome,’ Shea replied.
‘Catch you on the flip side.’ He leant over and gave Shea’s cheek a friendly kiss, followed by a manly shake of Jack’s hand. He turned to Samantha and hesitated. ‘Night Sammie,’ he said with a nod as he passed her.
‘Night, Connor.’ She watched him disappear into the darkness, then rested her head back again. ‘That was a really nice night,’ she said with a contented sigh, all the while wishing she could have enjoyed a goodnight kiss from him, but not in the same friendly way as Shea had.
In another life, another time …
Jack and Shea agreed about the lovely night with mumbled responses.
The deep grumble of Connor’s LandCruiser being revved to life enticed them all from their chairs, into the house and to the comfort of their beds.
Samantha plugged her phone into the charger, switched the lamp off and fell back against her pillow. With the curtains softly swaying in the cool country breeze, she watched the moonbeams dance over the ceiling as she tried to collect her thoughts in a way that would send her off to dreamland quickly. But her thoughts weren’t having a bar of her discipline. They took on a mind of their own, as she imagined Connor tall, strong and very naked, hungrily ripping every inch of clothing from her, and then dropping to his knees and kissing her in the place that was now aching with longing. Squeezing her legs together, she rolled over and hugged a pillow to her.
For goodness sake, Samantha, get a damn grip.
Pressing her eyes shut, she willed herself to sleep. It was late and she really needed to try and get some rest. A few minutes passed, then a few more, until it felt like she’d been laying there for almost an hour. Tossing the pillow she was clutching over her head, she groaned into it as she willed her wayward mind to visit the land of dreams. Maybe she should try meditating, or counting sheep.
Let go, let go, let go …
One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep
Five and a half hours later she woke at the crack of dawn. Desperate for a run before she weighed herself down with more pointless contemplations about a man whose name she wasn’t even going to say – it would do her no favours – she quickly got dressed in her exercise gear and runners, and tugged her bed-hair into a messy bun. Feeling her way down the stairs, she cringed as they creaked beneath her feet. Pausing briefly, she listened for any sound of having woken Shea or Amaya, but thankfully silence met her. Then she tiptoed towards the back door and stepped outside just as the sun was beginning its ascent into the dusty pink-hued sky.
After stretching her limbs to life, she popped her AirPods into her ear, picked a high-energy Spotify list and then took off at a steady pace. She was unsure of which way she would end up going and how long she would jog for, but she wanted to allow her mood to take her on a whim. Reaching where the long winding driveway split into two, she decided to take the hardest way – mostly uphill, but the lookout at the top would make the extra effort worth her while, she was sure.
Losing herself to the sound of her music, her rhythmic footfalls and a countryside that never stopped taking her breath away, she found herself at the peak of the knoll before she knew it. A few more steps, and a patchwork of lush green fruit fields and earthy brown countryside rolled out before her eyes in the most mesmerising of ways. Stopping to catch her breath, she used the time to stretch again, all the while keeping her gaze towards the sunrise-soaked horizon. One of her favourite tunes started, and in a rare moment of impromptu excitement she felt an irresistible urge to have a little dance – and seeing as no one was watching, she let loose. Busting out some kick-arse moves with all her heart and soul, and singing the lyrics out loud, she almost jumped to the clouds when the tap of a finger upon her shoulder had her spinning around to see a very amused, and equally sweaty, Connor staring back at her. That was right about when she lost her footing and ungracefully stumbled smack-bang up against him.
OMG, could I be any more of a klutz?
Never had she felt so red-cheeked in all her life. ‘Hey, you.’ She plucked an AirPod out with one hand, and unthinkingly left the other hand against his chest to steady herself.
‘Fancy running into you out here, Sammie.’ His voice was a sexy drawl. ‘And those dance moves were very nice.’ His grin widened. ‘Stellar, in fact.’
With his dimple-clad smile making her legs even weaker, she suddenly realised how close she still was to him and jerked her hand back from his, ahem, very nice-feeling chest. ‘Sorry, you startled me.’ Plucking her mobile out from her Lycra pocket, she stabbed stop on the song that driven her to embarrassing folly. ‘I didn’t know you jogged?’
‘Yup, I do, whenever I get a chance.’ He gestured to the phone clutched tightly in her hand. ‘You really should get rid of that thing, or at least leave it behind when you head out and into the great outdoors.’
She held it up. ‘This thing?’
‘Yup, it’s a pleasure spoiler.’
‘Ha, okay, says the blind leading the blind.’ She noted he wasn’t laughing, and tipped her head in curiosity. ‘Hang on a minute, don’t you own a mobile phone?’
‘Yeah, I do, but I don’t have it glued to my hip like most people, and half the time I don’t even know where it is.’ He shrugged at her look of bewilderment. ‘What? I like not being able to be contacted sometimes, it makes me feel free.’
‘Fair enough.’ Wanting to get out of his effortless bubble of magnetism, she glanced at her Fitbit. ‘Anyhoos, I best get on with it.’ She didn’t wait for him to respond, just started off at a slow jog. ‘Got to keep my heart rate up, to burn all the calories I ate last night, so I’ll catch you later, Gunn,’ she called over her shoulder.
‘Righto, laters then, Evans,’ he called back to her.
