Page 48 of Road to Rosalee

‘Seriously, you can take my word for it. You truly are.’

‘Thanks, Mel. And just for the record, you’re pretty amazing yourself.’

‘Stop it, Wellstone, before you make me blush.’ She shoved him playfully when all she really wanted to do right now was wrap her arms and legs around his body and kiss him.

‘Should we head home?’ he asked finally, breaking the lingering silence.

‘I don’t really want to, but yeah, I suppose we’d better. It’s getting late.’

It was long past midnight when they finally extracted themselves from the water. Zai stuck to his promise and made sure to keep his back to her as they got dressed. On the flip side, she hadn’t promised a thing, and took great gratification at watching his butt glowing in the silvery starlight, and also the way his muscles stretched and bunched as he tugged his clothes back on.

‘You decent?’ he called.

‘One sec.’ She tugged her dress over her head. ‘Yup, all good.’

He swivelled and strode towards her. ‘Come on, then. Let’s get you home, beautiful.’

And there it was again, that glorious tingle that spread from her head to her toes every time he called her something other than her name. Climbing into the four-wheel drive, they bumped their way back to the homestead to the tunes of what Zai told her were Chris Stapleton. Melody loved the singer’s husky voice, and the lyrics were beautifully heartfelt – fitting for the night they were having.

Pulling up beneath the towering paperbark, Zai killed the engine and gently stopped her from opening her door by grabbing her hand. ‘Wait, I’ll come round and let you out.’ A little squeeze and he let her fingers go.

Melody’s already swooning heart melted even more. ‘You know I can do that myself, right?’ Where on earth had this chivalrous, kind, sexy, thoughtful man come from?

‘I know, Little Miss Independent, but I like to do it for you because a lady should be treated like one, always.’

Her heart pitter-pattering, she watched him scoot around the front of the LandCruiser and to her door. There was a split second, as her door swung open and he took her hand into his, that their eyes met and in that poignant abyss between her exhalation and inhalation, she felt a mind-blowing rush of something she’d never experience before. And she knew, without a doubt, what it was. Deep, unconditional, love. Finally, she’d gone and found it, at the most unfavourable of times, when she was helpless to do anything about it.

What in the heck is the universe playing at?

‘Earth to Melody.’ Zai’s deep voice lured her back. ‘You can get out whenever you’re ready.’

‘Oh, sorry. I must be tired from all the gallivanting.’

She thanked the billions of stars above that he was there to guide her from the passenger seat because she was sure as anything that she wouldn’t have been able to stand on her own two feet without his body to stumble against when they hit the ground. He steadied her when she did, chuckling. Literally, and metaphorically, he was turning everything she’d believed to be true in her life upside down, and to be honest, she liked the view from where she was dangling – all she wanted to do now was let go and fall completely and utterly into all that was him.

But she couldn’t. She was lawfully married. And he didn’t know a damn thing about it. And she’d gone beyond the point of making it known to him. Now it would seem like a blatant lie, one that would be very hard to explain her way out of, and she hated the fact. What had she been thinking, keeping it from him? Her heart sank to her feet. Hindsight was an absolute bitch.

He walked her up the front steps and across the verandah, stopping short of the welcome mat at the front door. ‘I hope you’ve enjoyed tonight as much as I have?’

‘I most definitely have, thank you, Zai.’ He’d given her a memory she’d treasure for a lifetime.

‘It was my absolute pleasure.’ His killer dimples froze her to the spot.

The increasing sexual tension made it hard to breathe, as did the irrefutable love swirling in her heart, begging to be let free. But, pushing it down, she squeezed some oxygen through her slightly parted lips. If she were reckless, a thousand scenarios could happen right now, but one outdid them all – him, in her bed, gloriously skin-on-skin with her so they could be at one, making sweet love all night long.

‘Right, well.’ Zai sucked in a deep breath. ‘I’d better let you get inside.’ He checked his watch. ‘We have to be up in less than five hours to start the day.’

‘Wow, yes, okay. I’d better let you get some sleep too.’ Thankful for his resolve, she broke the stare and turned away before she went and did something really stupid, like kissing him, walking straight into the closed door in her haste. ‘Oops, far out. Silly me.’

‘You’re meant to open it first, Mel.’ Zai’s hand came to rest on her back, his chuckles as light and gentle as his touch. ‘You okay?’

‘Yup.’ Wishing the ground would swallow her whole, she laughed and spun back to face him, hoping to god her face wasn’t the colour of beetroot. ‘Night, Zai. Catch you tomorrow.’ She half grimaced. ‘Actually, make that catch you today, in a few hours.’

‘Ha, yeah. We can be tired buggers together.’ He leant in and, just missing her mouth, brushed a kiss on her cheek. ‘Night, Sweet Melody. Have the sweetest of dreams, won’t you.’

The way ‘Sweet Melody’ rolled off his tongue for the second time tonight … Bam. There was that shock of electricity again. All she could do was smile through the zap, the budding emotions inside her robbing her of any appropriate words. Pausing for a brief second longer, she finally tugged her gaze from his, turned, opened the door and stepped inside.

Zai’s footfalls fell across the verandah then down the front steps. She’d usually wait and wave him off, but she closed the door and rested her back up against it, both her hands resting over her heart. Her mind flew back over the dreamlike evening, and she couldn’t help the sigh on her lips or the racing of her pulse – she was a woman, falling, precariously fast. Zai Wellstone had won her over but, regardless of the fact, she needed to tread extremely carefully. There were feelings involved on both sides, and she wasn’t about to go playing with the fire that had ignited between them. She wasn’t going to risk burning him, or herself, which was inevitable when she went back to the city. And with that depressing thought, her buoyant mood sank. She needed to get off the damn cloud she was floating on and plant her feet firmly back on the ground, and bloody well stay there. Fairytale endings were for the books and movies she so loved to read and watch, not for real life. It was time to draw the line between mateship and relationship, and not dare step over it.