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‘My ex’s lawyer, very likely trying to get me to agree to the ludicrous offer he emailed to me yesterday.’ Her steely gaze was now pinned on the far-flung distance.
So there he had it, from the horse’s mouth … she was single!
Connor’s heart both sank and buoyed. ‘You mean that you and Benjamin have separated.’
‘Yes, and no.’ She finally turned back to him. ‘It’s more like we’ve completely split and are in the middle of signing divorce paperwork, and working out who gets what, which for the record, he’s being very unfair about.’
‘Oh shit, I’m so sorry, Sammie.’ Her look of sadness was so grave that Connor felt nothing but heartbreak for her in that moment. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’
Frowning even deeper, she shook her head. ‘Nope.’ Then she huffed. ‘I’m determined to use the time here to try and move on, and hopefully come to a fair property separation agreement so I can put it all behind me.’
‘Fair enough.’ He sighed, nodding. ‘I get wanting to do all of that.’
Shoving her hands into her pockets, she lifted her shoulders ever so slightly. ‘I’m so tired of living in the past, Connor, I just want to somehow start afresh, you know, like a sunflower opening its heart to the sunshine for the very first time.’ She tipped her head, her expression thoughtful. ‘Does that make sense?’
‘It sure does, and that’s an awesome way to explain it.’ It astounded him how she could look so sweetly innocent and wickedly smoking hot all at the same time, and that deepthinking mind of hers – just, wow.
She replied to his compliment with a grateful smile.
She’s single, Gunn …
With his mind going rampant with the possibility of them re-connecting in that intimate way, he firmly reminded himself that she was fragile. That she needed him to be a gentleman, and to respect their friendship, and to not cross any lines. That she needed him to be the kind of man that only wanted the very best for her in this quite often unfair world. He didn’t want to do anything to break her. She’d been broken enough. Too many times. His job, as her long-time friend, was to help put her back together, as best he could in such a short amount of precious time.
‘Right, well, come on then Sammie Samsung, time’s a-wasting.’ He needed to do something, anything other than stand here, wanting nothing more than to strip her naked so he could make the sweetest of unconditional love to her.
‘Okay, let’s do this.’ She clapped her hands, and then, as if tripping on thin air, she lost her footing, stumbled, teetered and then tumbled.
A wave of protectiveness swept over him as he reached out and caught her. ‘That’s the second time in a matter of days you’ve fallen head over heels, Sammie.’ He held her until she felt steady on her feet again, internally chastising himself for using a phrase that referred to falling for someone. ‘Anyone would think you’re doing it on purpose,’ he added, laughing.
‘Ha, you wish, Gunn.’ She was laughing it off, too, but her cheeks were glowing red and there was that tender look in her eyes he’d witnessed all those years ago, when she’d thrown caution to the wind and kissed him.
Actually, I really do wish … he wanted to say. ‘Whatever,’ he said instead.
And as they traipsed towards where he’d parked, he couldn’t help but contemplate how she fitted so perfectly into him, as if she belonged within his arms. In that moment of accidental intimacy, as he’d breathed her in, he couldn’t help but notice how her hair smelt like it always had, of sunshine and wildflowers. The recollection had him missing her more than he’d ever believed possible after all this time apart, even though she was walking right beside him, all flesh and blood and bones, so real, so powerfully enthralling, so stunningly beautiful in every single way.
CHAPTER
12
Samantha couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw what Connor had needed a hand with, especially as he’d thought she wasn’t cut out for the job. Here she’d been, imagining a rogue bull had broken through a fence, or there’d be some heavy lifting or machinery involved, but no way, Jose, this didn’t come close to any of that. Malarkey was what came to mind, as she tried to remain poker-faced. Watching from the sidelines as Connor tried his best to lure his mum’s pet nanny goat back into its enclosure, with a handful of sunflower seeds of all things, Samantha did her best not to burst into uncontrollable laughter. With its stubby tail whisking about, and unblinking eyes wide with anticipation, it appeared as though the obstinate goat thought this was a game.
‘Oh, bloody heck, I give up.’ Clearly exasperated, Connor straightened, stomped his boot and huffed. ‘I don’t know why my mum loves you so much, you pig-headed brute.’
The goat tipped its head to one side, bleated loudly with tongue extended out, and then took a step backwards, away from where it should have been heading.
Tossing the sunflowers over his shoulder, Connor widened his stance and glared at the goat in a way that declared war. A Mexican stand-off at its finest. Samantha muffled a chuckle. She couldn’t believe that this crazy goat had planted its feet and was refusing to budge an inch.
Seconds ticked by: one, two, three, four, five …
Connor’s frown deepened.
Samantha actually found herself holding her breath.
Connor was the first to move, but in a split second the goat did too.
Taking off like a bull at a gate, with the bell around its neck clanging, it made a beeline for Joyce’s vegetable patch.
‘Nooooo, you don’t.’ Diving through mid-air, Connor landed with a thump as he grappled for the goat’s lead, now dragging behind in the dirt. ‘Bugger,’ he bellowed as the tail end of the rope slipped from his fingers.
