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“Grant, this is Bluey.” I smiled. “He belongs to Ryan. Remember I told you he got bitten by a snake, so we’ve been keeping a close eye on him.
“And that requires that you keep a close eye on his owner too?”
Hudson came and looked over Grant’s shoulder.
“They have snakes. Cool. Mom, can we have a dog?”
Autumn heard Charlotte’s distinct voice say, “No,” in the background.
“I’m sure we can work out some things. I’m thinking of climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge if you want to join.”
“Wow. I’m impressed. We will definitely take you up on that one.”
We chatted about our presentations for a while and I could relax that the conversation was not about my sex life.
“I’ll be marking the days off on the calendar till you come over. Take care.”
“Bye, Autumn. We’ll talk again soon.”
Ryan came out of my bedroom and was dressed. I hoped he wasn’t going home.
“So, I heard you say that you really will climb the bridge. Give me the dates and I’ll book it. You can’t back out of it then.”
“I’ve no intention of backing out. I may vomit out of fear, but I will do it.”
“Good, because over the next few months, I plan on pushing you to some limits, especially some that require you to have no clothes on.” He pulled me into his arms.
“I can’t wait.”
* * *
The past week had been the best of my life. I had worked hard every day, but had put the shell in the postbox and had a visit from Ryan every night. I was aware this was all new and fun so I was going to enjoy it while it lasted. The shine might wear off soon enough.
Ryan said he had a surprise for me this weekend. I still did not like surprises. Plus, the fact he had a mixed record when it came to surprises—the glow worms had been fantastic, but the bush walk had been a bit insane. I would be worried if we headed off down some dirt track, likely never to return to civilization again.
Grant had tried to get more information out of me about our relationship, but I wasn’t saying anything. It felt wrong to talk to someone else about what I was doing with Ryan. It was our business alone. When Grant was here, he would wheedle it out of me anyway. I would deal with it then. For now, I would get ready for another one of Ryan’s ‘Let’s discover Australia’ days.
I was ready to go when the doorbell rang. Ryan had said to pack an overnight bag. I hoped it was not another overnight in the bush no matter how great the stars were here.
My heart beat that little bit faster every time I saw him, and the past week had made the feeling grow stronger. I needed to be sensible or I would be crying on the plane all the way back to England. I didn’t want to think about that at the moment though.
“I just need to take Bluey over to Dorothy, and we can be off.”
He was back within minutes, and I jumped in the pickup. “So, where are we going? Hopefully, you’re not going to throw me off a mountain.”
“I would never do that, well, probably not. Only if you have good life insurance and you made me the beneficiary.”
“You are all heart.” I thumped him on the arm.
“We’re going to visit some caves.”
“I’ll give it a go but don’t want to get stuck in some tunnel underground.”
“You won’t. These are the world-famous Jenolan Caves. They are like cathedrals. Then this afternoon, we can go abseiling and then I’ll chuck you off a cliff.”
I stared at him, wide-eyed.
“Just kidding.”
