Page 42 of Road to Rosalee

‘Of course.’ Plonking the cups back down, he ignored her outstretched hand and instead wrapped an arm around her. ‘Let me …’

And she did.

His heartbeat raced with being so close to her again. What did this woman have over him? It was like he was an addict and she was his drug – he simply couldn’t get enough of her. As he positioned a cushion behind her back, their gazes met, and locked. There was but an inch between them. Could he close it? Should he? Did she want him to? Lord knew how much he wanted to.

A breathless second passed, followed by another. Helpless to stop himself, he closed the gap, his lips barely brushing hers just as he mentally slapped himself into line and pulled back.

‘What the heck, Zai?’ a very wide-eyed Melody said as he tried to get a grip on the situation, and his frenzied heartbeat.

It was jarring, seeing her so aghast, but he wasn’t about to make a big deal of it. ‘Fark, sorry. I don’t know what came over me.’ He ran his hands over his face before looking to her for a response.

‘Insanity, maybe?’ Her tiny lopsided smile lightened the mood a little.

‘Ha, yeah, something like that, I suppose.’ Zai shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘I’m a bloody idiot. Please just pretend that never happened, okay.’

‘Nothing happened.’ She metaphorically zipped her lips.

‘Thanks, Mel, appreciate it.’ He took steps away, but then, turning, he rested his shoulder against the doorframe. ‘I’m sorry I—’

She held her hand up, stopping him. ‘It never happened, remember? So no need to apologise.’

He sighed, heavily. ‘Right, yup, thanks.’

‘No need to make a big deal out of nothing.’ She waved a dismissive hand at him. ‘Now be gone with you.’

‘Righto. Well, I’ll catch you tomorrow then.’

She nodded. ‘Yeah, you will.’

Taking one arduous step after the other, Zai did as she asked and let himself out. Closing the door behind him, he tugged his boots on and descended the back steps. The darkness of night was a relief – he didn’t want anyone to see how miserable he felt right now. Looking to the diamond-studded sky, he heaved a heavy-hearted sigh that for the second time in his life – the first being his high-school sweetheart – a woman was breaking his heart.

* * *

Mid-morning sunshine stretched across the hardwood floors of the lounge room and reflected off the television as Melody hung the phone up after reassuring her dad, for almost half an hour, that she was going to be okay. Easing back into the couch, she felt a fresh wave of pain ride over her as she rested the ice pack up against her aching ribs, left black and blue from her fall to hard-packed earth. Having been given the day off to recuperate, she was glad for the rest, although she was finding it incredibly hard to distract her thoughts from her near-kiss with Zai. Even thinking about it now had her feathering her fingertips over her lips as she imagined what it would feel like to have his mouth, and his body, pressed up against hers. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, it would be mind-blowing.

Allowing her mind to wander, she imagined what would have ensued if she’d tumbled into the ensnaring moment that had stolen her breath and leant into his kiss, into all that was him. They wouldn’t have been able to put on the brakes – it would have been the spark that incited a wildfire. With a quiver, she envisaged unbuckling his belt and helping him slide his jeans from his hips before he did the very same to her, the pair of them then stumbling down the hallway, unable to keep their mouths and hands from one another. When they reached her bedroom door, he would lift her and carry her to the bed. Everything else that would follow she imagined in slow motion – every touch, every kiss, every stroke, every breath, and how she would quiver beneath him while he whispered in her ear how deeply he felt for her, and she for him, while he slid inside of her and the two of them became one. And then, over and over again, all night long, until the sun came up and they finally succumbed to sleep in each other’s arms, her head resting upon his divine chest.

What in the hell am I doing?

Mentally slapping herself, she brought her attention back to the present. She had to stop being so lustful, especially for a man she considered her closest friend here. It would do her no favours with the mess she was already in back in Sydney. Giving in to her desires for Zai, as intense as they were, would be dangerous territory, because she damn well knew once she had a taste of Zai, she wouldn’t be able to stop wanting more. Every bit of her had wanted to lean in and meet him, but she’d fought tooth and nail to stop herself in that breath of a second. Zai didn’t know her situation, and after avoiding the truth when he’d asked point-blank, it would have been so very wrong to give in to her cravings for him. She didn’t come here to fall for a man. She’d come here to find her father, and herself.

Then again, Zai Wellstone wasn’t just any man – he was so much more than that. He was all she’d ever lacked in Antonio and more, much more, in fact. And the better she got to know him, the farther she tumbled into liking him. She really needed to get a grip before she did something stupid. She didn’t want to hurt Zai, nor did she want to be hurt. She had to remember he had a reputation of being a womaniser, and she was also still legally married. Their timing just wasn’t right, nor would it probably ever be.

Dragging her gaze from where Patrick Swayze was twirling Jennifer Grey across the dance floor – Dirty Dancing, her all-time favourite film – she stared at where she’d watched the man who’d climbed inside of her heart as effortlessly as he mounted a horse stride away from her last night. It had torn her heart to shreds, having to be so cold and aloof with him, but what else was she meant to do? Anything else would have been leading him on. He didn’t deserve that. She had to draw the line somewhere. But far out, she really didn’t want to … why did life have to be so complex?

Chewing on a corner of her fingernail, she jumped when a rap at the front door snapped her from her train wreck of thoughts. ‘Coming.’ Easing up from the couch, she hobbled to the front door like an eighty-year-old woman – she’d gone and forgotten just how much being thrown from a horse hurt like buggery, especially the next day.

Tugging the timber door open, she met with the very eyes that always had a way of stirring her soul. ‘Oh, hey, you.’ She drew in a quiet, calming breath. ‘I thought Slim was coming to my rescue.’

‘Hey there yourself.’ Zai cleared his throat. ‘And sorry to disappoint, but Slim has been waylaid with a broken pump at the far paddock. So I’m next in line to come to your rescue, I’m afraid.’

‘Sorry, that sounded really rude.’ Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes at her foot-in-mouth. ‘I honestly didn’t mean how it came out.’

‘All good.’ He shrugged, tipping his head a little to the side. ‘You know you don’t need to keep the place locked up like Fort Knox out here?’ His lips widened into a grin.

‘Ha, yeah. Habit, I suppose.’ She liked the way his smile was always as real as he was.

‘So.’ He tapped a shifter against his palm. ‘You have a leak?’