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That was all she’d done for him too—left room. And if that meant having a little less room for herself then maybe that was the price a girl had to pay for getting a man who came back for her.
Rosie bit her lip, weighed her options, became trapped in his eyes, then said, ‘Oh, what the hell,’ as she tore off her beanie and threw it over her shoulder before she dove back into the tent.
‘Now, tell me more about this crush you had on me in high school,’ he muttered as he stripped her down.
‘I think it was you I had the crush on. You were the captain of the footy team, right?’
‘No, I was not. Now, stop sassing me and tell me about the moment you first laid eyes on me and your teenaged heart went pitter-pat.’
‘Cameron Kelly,’ she said on a sigh as he went to work, ‘You’ll have to do much better than that if you think I’m ever going to spill a single detail.’
He did better. Like a lightweight, she spilled.
And, just as she’d hoped, the warning bells were soon drowned out by the symphony of sensations only this man could make her feel.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MOST of that next day and night Rosie slept like a log. Saturday morning she woke late, crinkled, ruffled, and blissfully replenished in every which way.
It was after lunch by the time she stood staring unseeingly at the window of the designer boutique on the top floor of Queens Plaza.
Adele was puffing when she arrived at her side. ‘Sorry, sorry. Lipstick disaster. Don’t ask.’ Puff, puff, puff. ‘What’s the big emergency?’
‘I have to buy a new dress to wear tonight.’
‘I know a dress from a pair of trousers, so I’m your girl. Do you have any maybes as yet?’
‘Not exactly. I have yet to venture inside.’
Adele turned to stare into the window at the shimmery, wispy, frothy frocks hanging off obscenely thin mannequins. ‘Any reason you’re looking in this particular window?’
‘It’s for Cameron’s father’s birthday.’
In the reflection Adele’s eyes shimmied down a mannequin whose dress was low cut in places, high cut in others and barely worth putting on, it covered so little flesh. ‘Happy birthday, Quinn.’
Rosie slapped her on the arm without even turning her head.
‘Ow. So I take it you and the great and wondrous Camster are still on?’
‘We’re not on,’ Rosie said, running her thumb hard down the middle of her palm to stop the tingle that had spread up her fingers at the memory of his hands touching her cheek, getting lost in her hair, stroking her naked back. ‘We agreed that our relationship only extends so far as dining together on occasion, and now we are attending an event in tandem.’
Adele’s eyes left the dresses to turn slowly her way. Her voice was impassive as she said, ‘Heck, Rosie, I’ve never seen you so very giddy.’
Rosie squinted. ‘I don’t do giddy, and you know it. It’s just new. He’s different. And…Oh, shut up.’
Adele grinned. ‘Mmm. Now he’s invited you to his father’s biggest-bash-Brisbane-has-ever-seen birthday party, where you will meet his whole family including his parents. Sounds ultra low key to me.’
Rosie scowled. ‘Just help me find a dress.’
Adele’s mouth quirked as she looked back at the window. ‘Have you seen the price tags hanging off those there garments?’
Rosie shrugged. ‘I can afford it.’
‘That one costs as much as a small car.’
‘There are side benefits to living in a caravan.’
‘So it would seem.’
Rosie stared at a more demure black, shimmery sheath. It was beautiful. It was what someone who Cameron Kelly took to a party would be expected to wear.
She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told Cameron how proud she was that he was going to face his dad. And she knew how hard it would be. She wanted to be there for him. And if she was truly honest the more she thought about it the more she wanted to be there, like she could somehow vicariously live through his experience now that it was too late for her to do the same with her own father.
And if that meant straightening her hair and pumping up her assets with chicken fillets, and stuffing herself into some dress that she’d never in a million years have picked out if she’d had the choice, could she do it? Should she do it? Was every new decision going to mean making room for him? Was it either do that or lose him?
‘So, are we going in?’ Adele asked. ‘I’m fairly sure the sales assistant won’t bring them out here unless you flash a platinum Amex.’
‘Give me a minute,’ Rosie said.
