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Jake sat down beside her, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.

‘Penny for your thoughts?’ he asked quietly.

‘Just thinking about how different this is from what I expected,’ Amelia said. ‘A couple of weeks ago, we were heading to Winton. Now I’m learning to roof a pub with station workers and fossickers. Life’s strange.’

‘Strange good or strange bad?’

‘Strange perfect,’ Amelia said honestly. ‘I’m happy.’

Jake smiled, and it transformed his face—the professional sternness melting into something warmer, more open. ‘You did really well today. I meant what I said about you being a natural. You’ve got instincts for this work. That can’t be taught.’

‘You think I could actually do this? Make a career of it?’

‘I think you could do anything you set your mind to,’ Jake said. ‘But yes. Building, carpentry, restoration—you’ve got the aptitude and the passion. That combination is rare.’

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, watching the fire, listening to Davo’s harmonica.

‘Jake?’ Amelia said quietly.

‘Yeah?’

‘Thank you. For staying. For teaching me. For—’ She paused, not sure how to finish.

‘For being here?’ Jake suggested, his voice equally quiet.

‘Yeah. For being here.’

Jake turned to look at her, his expression serious in the firelight. For a moment, she thought he might say something more, something that would change things between them. His eyes dropped to her lips, and her breath caught.

Then Davo launched into a particularly rowdy song, everyone joining in loudly, and the moment was shattered.

Jake stood abruptly. ‘Early start tomorrow. Better get some sleep.’

‘Right,’ Amelia said, trying to hide her disappointment. ‘Sleep. Good idea.’

‘Goodnight, Amelia.’

‘Goodnight, Jake.’

She watched him walk to his truck and felt Sophie materialise beside her.

‘You two are killing me,’ Sophie whispered. ‘Just kiss him already.’

‘It’s not that simple,’ Amelia said. ‘He’s my teacher. My boss, basically. There’s a power dynamic—’

‘There’s sexual tension thick enough to cut with a knife,’ Sophie corrected. ‘And you’re both adults who clearly like each other. Life’s too short for this much restraint. Do it and get it out of your system’

‘He’s just being professional.’

‘He’s being an idiot. And so are you.’

Amelia sighed. ‘Maybe. But he’s right to be careful. When the project’s done, when I’m not working for him—’

‘That’s months away!’ Sophie protested.

‘Then I wait months,’ Amelia said firmly, though her heart wasn’t in it. ‘It’ll be worth it.’

But as she climbed into the van that night, she couldn’t stop thinking about the moment on the scaffold—Jake’s hands on her waist, his heart beating fast against her back, the way he’d looked at her lips like he was starving.