Four days later, and almost everything was in place. It was going to end badly, but perhaps that was as it should be.
Lou turned in a small circle, shielding her eyes to look at the Maria Downs parcel of land the company wanted to buy from the council so badly. For its gas. Such a shame; this land was beautiful. The gentle foothills at the base of the mountain were covered with summer grasses and wildflowers. Small shaded valleys gave way to more dramatic rock escarpments, and a sparkly stream meandered through the centre of it all. It felt peaceful, like a place that should revive you, not break your heart. Lou thought how much Sharni would love to paint this scene.
Over the last four days, Lou had worked hard to try to find another buyer for the land, someone who might see its potential. But the drought had made the going hard, and the timeline she was working to made doing a deal even harder. If she had longer, she felt sure she could rope something together, find a buyer and save her father. She had swallowed her pride and called every investor she knew who was remotely interested in property development or agriculture. But even the deal-making diva herself couldn’t pull this one off, not in time. So, faced with failure, she had come out here to remind herself why she was doing what she was doing. She had talked it over with her father, and he agreed.
It was time to face the music.
Her phone pinged in her pocket and she wanted to ignore it, just drink in this scene a little longer. But it might be her father, or the gas company. She couldn’t afford a cock-up at this stage.
‘Samuels,’ she snapped into the phone, quickly registering the blocked number.
‘Well hello sweetness,’ a smooth Texan voice countered.
Lou groaned internally. Oh no, not now. She really couldn’t deal with Roy Macrossin, as much as she liked him. Not right now. Her patience for predatory miners was pretty slim. ‘Hey,’ she responded. ‘Er, listen Mac, I’ve got a thing today. Could I call you –’
He cut across her. ‘Sorry, honey, no. I need you. Now.’
‘Now? I can’t, I’m still in the Wild West.’
‘Excellent,’ he boomed, and she could almost see that shark’s smile on his big handsome face. ‘I’ll fly out there to see you this afternoon.’
‘What? No, Mac, you see, I’ve got this –’
‘I know,’ he said, laughing, interrupting her again. She nearly lost it. He was usually more charming and less bossy than this. ‘And I’m disappointed I’m the only one you haven’t called. Word gets around, y’know.’
‘Jesus, Mac, if you know, you’ll know the last thing I need is another damn miner on my –’
‘I have a problem, Samuels,’ the Texan growled. ‘And from what I hear, so do you. I think we might be able to help each other out.’
Lou paused, not daring to let a tiny sliver of hope peek into her heart. ‘I’m listening.’
Lou strode across the road towards the council chambers, trying to avert her eyes from the big yellow TRAITOR graffitied across the front of the building. She steeled herself. If all went well, the town might yet forgive her father.
When she hit the mayor’s office, they were already assembled. Tom Byford was sitting cross armed and tight lipped in a chair by the window. Matt was pacing the room. And her father was sitting behind the desk with a slight grin playing around his mouth.
As soon as Lou entered, Matt turned on her. ‘What the fuck is this shit? A fucking injunction, Lou? You think you can undo this fucking deal?’
Lou slowly took a seat close to her father’s desk, dropped her bag by her feet and pulled out a notebook and pen. ‘Don’t worry, Matt, the injunction’s only temporary.’
‘Thank God for that,’ Tom grunted, all the clean-cut bonhomie of the night at the pub gone. ‘We’re losing valuable days in the establishment phase. Head office aren’t happy.’
Lou looked at her watch. ‘In about a week, the order will be permanent.’
Matt advanced on her, tension packed into every hard line of his body. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Sit down, Matt,’ Gary said, and there was a note of quiet authority in his voice, a warning.
Matt glanced at Tom Byford, and took a seat.
‘I think you’d better explain it all, honey,’ her father said.
‘Of course,’ Lou said, smiling sweetly. She lifted a piece of paper from a folder in her bag. ‘You see, guys, it’s like this. My father, and the council, have had a change of heart.’
‘Too late, sweetheart,’ Matt barked, a bullish smile on his face. ‘The deal’s done. They invoked the power, and we did the deal. The contract for the land is made expressly on the condition that council grants Clean Gas passage and exploration rights over the properties in question. It backs down, we back out.’
‘We’re comfortable with that,’ her father said, his face grim but determined.
‘As I understand it,’ Tom said, standing and crossing his arms, ‘you can’t back down. Once the power is granted, it’s irrevocable.’
‘Not quite,’ Lou said, flicking the piece of paper imperiously. ‘There is one thing that trumps council’s decision.’ She enjoyed milking the pregnant pause. ‘Native title. If the traditional owners object, at any time within a three-month window, the council has to revisit its decision.’ She aimed a special grin at Matt. ‘And while it’s been revisiting, we got this injunction.’ She flapped it in Matt’s face. ‘But we won’t need it for long. Council’s decided. In light of native title objections, and the recent information that has come to light about certain …’ she paused, revelling in the men’s discomfort, ‘… untoward practices on the part of the company, the council decided to withdraw its grant of rights to Clean Gas.’
Matt stood as well, his face turning a purplish red. ‘You think we haven’t covered native title?’ He grinned in a way that carried no mirth. ‘We’re not amateurs, Samuels. We’ve had the traditional owners signed up for months.’
It was Lou’s turn to grin humourlessly. ‘Exceptional circumstances is assessed separately from the mining licences.’
Matt grinned again, this time a little less fulsomely. ‘So we’ll go back, make the deals again.’
‘Too late, Matt.’ Lou shrugged, feigning disappointment. ‘The TOs have spoken. Turns out they don’t like the cut of your jib.’
‘The what? What the fuck?’ Matt smacked a fist into an open palm. ‘We’ll see about that, Samuels,’ he hissed, working hard to stare her down. ‘We’ll get the best lawyers in Sydney onto this.’
‘You’re looking at one of them,’ Lou assured him, returning the paper to her folder. ‘And I feel very confident.’
Her father clapped his hands together and popped his glasses on to look at the two men, who were staring at Lou with open-mouthed fury.
‘Now, any questions before we finish up?’
Once they were gone, her father dropped the jovial act he had assumed for the meeting. He stood and loped over to Lou. ‘It was the right thing,’ he said, ruffling her hair. ‘And you know what? I feel better for it. I know without the deal the town’s screwed, and so am I, but somehow it all just sits better in my gut.’ He narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. ‘I’m just so sorry I put you through all of this.’
But Lou felt only relief and exhilaration. ‘Don’t dig your grave yet, Dad, I’ve got some more news.’
‘Shoot,’ he said, moving back to the big chair behind his desk.
‘I’ve got a buyer for the land. Someone who doesn’t need mining access and exploration rights to want to snap it up.’ Lou smiled, thinking about the look on Mac’s face when he’d seen the land the day before.
Gary’s face lit up in a similar way. ‘Really? But how? So quickly?’
‘Really.’ She laughed, enjoying the absolute pleasure on her father’s face. ‘Divine providence, I guess. I’d been rattling the can, but I never expected the offer to come from him. He’s a miner.’
Her father’s face fell. ‘Er, honey, don’t you think “out of the frying pan …” ’
She held up a hand. ‘It’s okay, Dad, he’s apparently reformed. Had a big consortium together on an eco-tourism deal up north and the land package fell through. Our spot’s perfect and because the capital’s already raised, it’s a no-brainer.’ She smiled, thinking about Mac’s excitement when he had realised his bacon was safe. ‘I think it’s what you call a win-win. His arse would have been toast if the deal had fallen over. He had some very unhappy Japanese investors.’
Gary bolted out of his chair once more and dashed over, picking her up and swinging her around. ‘Woooeee,’ he squealed. ‘But what are they going to use it for?’
‘Eco-tourism,’ Lou said again, grinning madly back at him. ‘The possibilities are endless. And he’s a good guy – someone I know from the city.’ Lou’s brain clicked into gear, thinking about what it could mean for the town, for employment, for tourism, for people like Franklin and his family and for the dreams Piper had.
‘Louise Samuels,’ Gary said, placing a finger under her chin and lifting her face to look at him. ‘Have I ever told you that you are completely brilliant?’
‘Not lately.’
He studied her carefully, his finger still under her chin. ‘You seem different,’ he said, turning her face from side to side teasingly. ‘What is it? That young man? I heard he’s out.’
‘I heard that too,’ Lou said. ‘Amazing recovery; constitution like an ox apparently.’
‘But you haven’t seen him?’
‘No,’ Lou said, thinking about how soon she could find Gage to tell him the news.
‘So it’s not that then,’ her father said, chewing a fingernail as he kept studying her. ‘But it’s definitely something. I haven’t seen you this happy for …’ He paused. ‘Over twenty years, I guess. What is it?’
Lou smiled, suddenly shy. ‘I’ve been spending some time with Skye, in the hospital,’ she said, flapping a hand as though it wasn’t that big a deal.
Her father raised an eyebrow.
‘It’s nice,’ she conceded. Gary looked like he needed to make some profound pronouncement, so she interrupted his opportunity. ‘Nothing big,’ she said, knowing they would probably go that far. ‘Just nice, that’s all. I’m okay about it.’
‘Good,’ her father said, taking her hand. ‘That’s real good, Lou Lou. Now, how about we slip across the road for a celebratory drink?’
‘Yes,’ Lou said, grabbing her bag. ‘Great idea. I’ll call Sharni.’
A couple of hours later, the news had begun to seep out. People made their way to the Queen’s Arms, slapping Gary on the back and kissing Lou; their treason was forgotten, they were forgiven. Clean Gas was gone.
Two glasses of wine under her belt, Lou was feeling warm and satisfied when Bo, Piper and Gage ambled in. Piper ran up to Lou, who was standing with Gary and a couple of council members. ‘Is it true?’ she cried.
Lou nodded and accepted the huge hug Piper thrust upon her. When she disentangled herself, Gage was standing in front of her. His arm was covered in dressings and his face was bruised, but apart from that, he looked perfect, although it was impossible to read what he was thinking as he stood stony-faced in front of her.
‘I heard you got out today,’ she said, kicking herself for making it sound like he’d been in jail. That’s what it’d felt like while she’d been trying to do the deal.
‘I heard you’ve been visiting,’ he said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Just not coming to say hi.’
‘I didn’t think you’d want to see me,’ she said, trying not to sound petulant. ‘Which is completely fair enough, of course,’ she added quickly.
Gage ran a hand through his hair. He was dressed in blue jeans, a white T-shirt and brown boots. His hair was so long it looked like it needed a ponytail and his eyes were so scrumptiously green they needed a warning label. ‘Louise Samuels,’ he sighed, giving her a wry smile. ‘I’m hard pressed to think of a time I didn’t want to see you. Even though you make me crazier than anyone I ever knew.’ Her tummy turned cartwheels as he moved closer to the bar. ‘Drink?’
‘I shouldn’t,’ she said, nursing the dregs of her second wine. ‘Bad things happen when I drink too much.’
‘Bad things?’ He was standing very close to her and the warm invitation in his voice took her back to the ladies’ at this very establishment.
‘Well, things, at least,’ she conceded.
He laughed that wicked, tummy-scraping laugh. ‘In that case, I’ll make it a double,’ he chuckled, looking at her glass. ‘Wine?’
‘Make it a vodka.’ She was going to need it to get through what she had to say to him.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Obviously those things you’re so worried about aren’t too bad then.’
She wanted to be able to laugh and smile and make light with him, but she couldn’t. Not while a hot brick of guilt sat heavy and judgemental inside her. She needed to unburden herself to him; tell him what she had done and why. Most of all, she needed to say sorry. ‘Will you come for a walk with me?’ she asked, raising her eyes shyly to his.
‘Why, Lou,’ he said, feigning shock with wide eyes, ‘I haven’t even had a drink yet. A guy needs a little romancing.’
Lou was getting flustered with all this flirting. He was supposed to be mad with her. She was supposed to be able to be contrite, apologise, tell him how she was feeling. ‘I …’ she began, staring down at the floor.
But when she looked up again, he was grinning at her and holding out his hand. ‘Let’s go out the front for a bit,’ he suggested. ‘Get some privacy.’
She nodded and followed him out, watching how his arse still looked outrageously fine in those blue jeans. Damn it, she was a complete goner when it came to this man.
When they emerged into the early evening, Gage gestured to the little picnic table set up on the grass out the front. ‘Private, but not too private,’ he suggested. ‘After all, I’m not sure you can be trusted. Even without the drink.’
She settled herself down opposite him, her heart shrivelling a little in her chest as she watched him wince as he sat.
‘Is it really true?’ His face was more serious now than it had been inside. ‘Clean Gas has gone? And there’s some deal being done that might save us all?’
Lou nodded. ‘It never should have to happen that way,’ she said, staring at the old table and starting to pick some peeling paint from it. ‘I should never have helped them get a foothold here. I …’ She flicked her gaze up to try to assess what Gage was making of this little speech, but his face was inscrutable as he watched her very closely. ‘I thought I knew how to make things right, for everyone. You see, there was a problem, with council, and –’
‘Lou,’ Gage interrupted, closing his hands over hers to still them at their picking. ‘I know. Sharni told me.’
‘She told you?’ Lou was shocked at the breach of confidence, but as she thought about it, she knew why she would have done it. Sharni was done with the walls between Lou and Gage. She only wanted them both to be happy.
Gage nodded. ‘Now don’t go getting all hot with her. It’s not like that. She came to visit me, in the hospital, and I … Well …’ Gage rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I have to say I was pretty sore with you. She just wanted me to understand.’
‘And? Do you?’ Lou dared not hope.
‘I think you’d do anything to protect your dad, and I think you have this overdeveloped sense of responsibility, for everyone really. Including this town, which I know has given you more than your fair share of grief.’ He looked at her, hard and hot. ‘Sometimes I try to understand why; why you’re like that.’ He shrugged. ‘And then I think maybe I don’t have to look so far. You said it, that night, twenty years ago. We’re the same, you and me. We never really got to be kids; we always had to take charge. So we still do it, all the time.’ He laughed. ‘I’m sure it makes Piper crazy.’
Lou’s skin was prickly with excitement. He wasn’t angry with her any more.
But then his eyes narrowed and his face shut down. ‘I may not act like it, Lou, but I really do get it. All of it. Including why you can’t stay here. You were right, what you said that night; if it was Piper, I’d never be able to come back here. I’d never forget.’ He released her hands and put his down on his lap, and she felt the loss like a new grief. ‘I guess we’re the same like that too.’ A change came over him again – his cheeks flushed and his hands returned to the table, one of them making a fist. ‘But damn it, Lou, I wish things were different. I wish you could stay here with me, or I wish I could go to wherever you are. I know we can’t, but I can’t help it. I’d sell my soul for a chance to see if we could work.’
His words brought tears to Lou’s eyes. She closed them quickly, not wanting to break down in front of him. It had been such an emotional week, Gage and Skye in hospital, Lou wondering if she could make things right with the town, wondering if he would ever forgive her. And now he was sitting here in front of her, the same Gage he had always been – so frank, so honest, so entirely open to her. Telling her how much he wanted her.
‘I’m staying,’ she said, in a quiet voice. ‘At least for a while, for Mum …’
‘You’re staying?’ He smiled at her then, a smile so wide and white and utterly brilliant she considered lying down on the picnic table and telling him to take her now. How did this man function with that kind of beauty? How did women not throw themselves on the street in front of him, every day, begging him to have his way with them?
‘I’m staying.’ Then she frowned a little. ‘For the time being,’ she amended. ‘While Mum –’
‘Of course,’ he said, looking like he was unable to wipe the grin from his face. Then the smile slipped a little. ‘But what about …?’
‘Hannah?’ The familiar needle of pain jabbed her as she said the name, but somehow it didn’t sting as badly as it usually did. She had been talking about her little sister a bit, over the last few days.
‘Wow,’ he breathed. ‘That’s the first time I’ve heard you say her name in twenty years.’
‘I need to say it a whole lot more,’ Lou said softly. ‘It’s time.’
He nodded. ‘I can help,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how, but I can help.’
She nodded back at him. ‘You help. You help, just by being,’ she said, this time not trying to blink back the tears that sprang to her eyes. Her sister. Her beautiful little sister who had been so much more to her than a sister.
Gage squeezed her hand. ‘Oh, darlin’.’
She sniffed. ‘It might take some time. Until it feels okay.’
‘I know,’ he said, standing carefully and coming over to sit beside her and wrap his arms around her. ‘Fuck,’ he said, his nose buried in her hair. ‘I can’t believe it.’ He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he smiled even wider. ‘You’re really real.’
His smile was contagious, and an answering smile of her own broke through the tears.
‘Get your bag, Louise Samuels,’ he said, standing and holding out a hand. ‘We’re getting out of here.’
Lou didn’t hesitate. She took his hand, and held it all the way back into the bar to retrieve her bag, heedless of the stares of almost everyone in the crowded room, especially from Piper and Sharni, who had been chatting with Bo and Gary as they entered and whose eyes were both standing out on stalks. Lou noticed Bo give Piper a none-too-subtle elbow in the ribs and she tried to assemble a casual face as they drew level.
‘Dad, can you get Pip home?’ Gage asked, looking like a man in a hurry. ‘Lou and I have some business to finalise.’
Bo nodded and grinned.
As Lou reached under the nearest bar stool and grabbed her bag, the mood of the little group changed. When she stood up, Matt was standing in their midst.
‘Evening, guys,’ he said, his mouth twisting into a bitter smile. ‘Celebrating something?’
Sharni was the quickest off the mark, her green eyes flashing as she gave him her sunniest smile. ‘We sure are, honey,’ she said, punching him affectionately on the arm. A little too hard, by the quick wince Lou noticed before Matt reapplied his happy face. ‘Lou and her father defeating the forces of darkness and Stone Mountain living to fight another day.’
‘Oh, Sharni,’ Matt chuckled, reaching over to chuck her under the chin. ‘You always were a total sap for this place.’
As he said the words, another body pressed into their circle: the warm, engaging Sergeant Mick Brooks. ‘Why, Sharni Pie,’ the cop said, ignoring everyone else and zeroing in. ‘If you do not look like an absolute goddess tonight.’
Piper giggled and blushed, Sharni beamed at him, and Matt scowled. Lou just stood there enjoying every second.
‘Well now, Sharni,’ Matt said, his voice dripping with fake goodwill. ‘Didn’t take you long to go and get yourself a new admirer.’ He turned to Mick. ‘You’re on a safe bet there, mate,’ he said, nudging him. ‘Y’know at school they called her Sharni Easy-as-Pie?’
Lou barely registered what happened next as Matt lay sprawled on the ground, a trickle of blood running from his nose, and a stream of very bad words running from his mouth.
Mick looked at Gage. ‘Why did you do that, brother?’ he lamented good-naturedly. He completely ignored the injured man on the ground and gestured to Sharni. ‘That was my job. Now I gotta find some other way to play the hero and get her attention.’
‘Sorry.’ Gage shrugged, smiling at him. ‘It’s been coming a long time. I thought I could safely call dibs.’
‘Fair cop,’ Mick sighed, bending down to pick Matt up. ‘Well, Ms Sharni, I wish I could stay and have a drink, but now I have to go and process this fool for disturbing the peace.’
‘Me?’ Matt was only half up and still looked very groggy. ‘I was just assaulted.’
Mick looked around at the little group, scratching his head. ‘Can’t say I saw that, buddy,’ he said, sounding genuinely regretful. He stepped back a little and called out loudly to the assembled patrons, ‘Anyone just see an assault?’
There was a loud chorus of disagreement.
‘Sorry, fella,’ Mick clucked, man-handling Matt out the door. ‘Looks like we just have to deal with the breach of peace.’ He turned back to the others. ‘Later.’
Matt protested loudly all the way out the door about the corrupt policing he’d been subjected to since he’d been back in Stone Mountain.
When he was gone, Sharni looked starstruck, Bo looked very pleased and Gage was rubbing his fist.
‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ Lou said, taking his hand to examine it. ‘He could have hit you back; and you’re just out of the hospital.’ She dropped his hand, satisfied there was no damage, and paused. ‘But I’m glad you did.’
‘I’ll drink to that,’ Sharni said, and the little group raised their glasses in a toast to Gage.
Lou and Gage were lying on a blanket under a stand of eucalypts on a slight rise at the northern end of the waterhole, looking at what felt like more stars than Lou had ever seen. Except maybe one other time, twenty years before.
Gage leaned down and kissed her, and the warm outdoorsy smell of him wrapped around her and filled her up. It was a light kiss – so fleeting and delicate she wasn’t sure it had really happened, and she was very sure she needed a whole lot more than that to sate the fire that was raging out of control across her skin. She placed her hands on his shoulders and made to pull him down to her.
‘Lou,’ he said, stopping her. ‘I want you to know, I know this doesn’t mean …’ He stopped, his face closing down. ‘I mean, I know this is just for now. I know you’re staying a while because of your mum, not –’
Lou put a finger to his lips. ‘No,’ she said, trying to communicate with her eyes what she felt even though it was so terribly hard to explain. ‘No, Gage, this isn’t about Skye. Yeah, I want to be with her, whatever time she has. But I want this too. I want you.’
He frowned. ‘I don’t know what that means,’ he said, rolling down to lie next to her and prop himself on one elbow, staring at her face. ‘I mean, I hear you. But what about Sydney, and –’
‘I don’t know,’ Lou said, wriggling onto her side so she could meet his eyes. ‘It seems the eco project here might need some support, in the early stages. And then … I don’t know. But I do know this.’ She leaned forwards and pressed a kiss to his mouth, as light and teasing as the one he had given her. ‘I’ll never run away from you again.’
And then she didn’t say anything more, because Gage kissed her so hard and long, and with such barely restrained ferocity, that the whole galaxy of stars above her head merged into one blaze of delicious light. He tasted like hay and maple syrup, smoky-sweet. And his lips melted every last piece of her into an elastic wire of pure desire, stretched so taut it might snap and recoil on them at any moment.
She met his fierceness with some pent-up need of her own, pressing her lips against his and running her tongue over his as he invaded her mouth. His insistent tongue made her weak and wanton and left her in no doubt about what he wanted to do to her. His hips pressed into her, and he was long and hard inside those tight jeans. She wriggled against him and tried not to think about how good it was going to be – how good it had been that day on the mountain. If she did, she might explode before they even got there.
She tore at his shirt, trying hard to be careful with a bandage that still decorated his chest, wondering momentarily if this was a good idea given his still-fragile state, before he growled at her to stop thinking and take her dress off. But her limbs were so molten she couldn’t compute how to manage the manoeuvre, so he clucked his tongue and whipped it over her head, flinging it as far away as he could manage. ‘Bugger off, evil thing,’ he shouted at it.
Now she was freed from the restriction of the dress, Gage turned things up another notch, trailing his tongue over every inch of exposed skin, before flirting with the edge of her blue silk bra. ‘I hate this,’ he said, pulling at it with an obstinate look on his face.
She smiled. ‘But it’s so pretty.’
‘I hate it,’ he repeated in a low growl.
Lou was so mad for him – so desperate to get to the place they were heading – that she reached her arms behind her and unhooked the bra, flinging it in the direction of the dress. Gage made it worth her while, lavishing sumptuous attention on first one breast then the other, trailing fingers down to tease her through the matching blue silk underpants. ‘This is going to be nothing like the mountain,’ he whispered, fluttering kisses over her belly and shooting flames right through her. ‘Tonight I’m going to take my time with you.’
He skimmed fingers across the top of the underwear, pressing a little harder as they skated across that one delicious spot. But then his fingers would return to worrying at the elastic sides while making frustrated noises in the back of his throat.
‘Let me guess,’ she said finally, breathing out in a heavy whoosh as her frustrations at his pace boiled over. ‘You don’t like them either.’
‘Fast learner. And it’s not that I don’t like them. They’d be perfectly fine, hanging out over there with your dress and bra.’
Lou smiled an invitation at him, and he hooked long fingers into the elastic and whipped the knickers off. ‘Geronimo,’ he called as the underwear sailed over to meet its friends.
The cool mountain air danced on Lou’s skin as she lay naked before him. Gage was propped up on one elbow, taking her in.
‘Holy fuck,’ he breathed. ‘You just get better and better. How the hell did I manage this at seventeen without embarrassing myself?’
‘Pretty damn well as I recall.’ Lou smiled up at him, her love for him burning hot and hard in her chest as she looked at him, long dark hair falling over one eye, the line of his jaw set with determined focus. There was something so erotic about watching him admiring her, naked in the moonlight. ‘But …’ She gestured at his clothes. ‘You do know those are going to have to go, right?’
Gage stood quickly and discarded his jeans and shirt. She watched as he worked, revelling in the sight as his body was exposed to her, piece by piece. Goddamn if the man was not the finest thing she had ever seen. She had no idea how a guy like that had come to have feelings for a girl like her, but she wasn’t about to jinx it by asking the universe to explain. She was just going to lie here and be extremely glad he did.
Gage lay back down next to her and wrapped her in his arms, and she couldn’t recall ever feeling so warm, safe and completely turned on all at once.
‘Y’know I love you, right?’ His voice was deep but very soft, like he was afraid she might change her mind if he said those words.
She nodded. ‘I do, but you might want to work on your delivery.’
He laughed loudly, shaking his head. Then he studied her carefully. ‘Maybe I need a demonstration.’ His voice was light, but Lou caught the undercurrent. He needed this; he needed to know.
She lifted her hands and caught his face in them. This beautiful man, this other part of her – how could he doubt it? ‘I love you,’ she whispered. Then, louder and more clearly. ‘I love you so much that every day away from you … Every day of the last twenty years has been like a physical pain.’ She thumped her chest. ‘Here.’
He leaned down and nuzzled her neck, breathing against her ear. ‘I know,’ he said, lowering his body to lie beside her. He wrapped big arms around her, wriggling her a little so he could hook one underneath her and drag her closer. ‘But I’m going to make it all go away. I promise. I love you, Louise Samuels. There’s never been anyone else for me. You staked a claim on me twenty-something years ago and I’ve been no good for anything since. You’re a witch.’ He nuzzled her cheek and his stubble teased the soft skin. ‘And I don’t care.’ He pulled himself back up onto one elbow, looking down at her. ‘How was that delivery?’
Lou smiled. ‘Not bad. It’ll get better with practice.’
He growled at her and released her from the warm enclosure of his arms. She wanted to whimper at the loss until he rolled over and pressed himself on top of her.
‘You’ll pay for that,’ he scolded, lifting her hands and pinning them above her head on the blanket like he had that day on the mountain. Then he started kissing her again, stroking her neck and shoulders lightly with his free hand, teasing her breasts, and running his hand over every warm, electrified inch of her. Lou’s body turned swiftly to mush. She was ready – so ready – to have him inside her.
But he wasn’t ready. Not yet.
He used one hand to flip her onto her tummy, still keeping her hands above her head, so that her breasts pressed into the rough ground and were teased by the old blanket. It was painful but exquisite. Then he started work on the back of her, releasing her hands so he had two of his own to work with. She was so drugged with lust that she kept her arms stretched out above her head while he ran his hands up and down the length of her. He started at her shoulder blades, tracing the shape and line of them, then smoothed rough hands down her ribs, running one finger along the line of her spine. His fingers outlined the sides of her body, rubbing softly along the swell of her breasts, then his hands were at her lower back as it became her buttocks, and he filled his hands with them, softly at first, then kneading and squeezing with more intensity.
Lou squirmed and writhed on the blanket, her hips bucking against it, her legs opening, wondering where the divine downwards dance might stop. His fingertips waltzed down the last curve of her buttocks and then onto the top of her thighs, starting a teasing tango across thighs and buttocks – up, down and across, over and over again.
She groaned into the blanket. ‘Enough already.’
He laughed, a dark, intense laugh that only sent her tummy further into freefall. ‘What do you want, baby?’
She didn’t answer him. She couldn’t speak.
‘Is it this?’ He pressed one finger against the hot centre of her.
She whimpered.
‘More?’
‘If you stop I’ll kill you,’ she groaned.
‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ he said, pressing a finger inside her as her muscles went into spasms of welcoming delight.
And then he started the dance again, circling her thighs, buttocks and back with one hand while the other teased and discovered her, alternating between slow, lazy circles and increasingly insistent thrusts deep inside her. The combination of caress and plunder was almost unbearable. Her hips bucked against his hand and every piece of her quivered. He needed to hurry the hell up or this was going to be a one-woman show.
Gage obviously had the same idea because without warning he flipped her over again. ‘That was good,’ he murmured, pushing her hair out of her eyes. ‘But I really need to kiss you.’ So he did, and the sweet assault of it was almost a relief after the impossible intensity of the pleasure he had been giving her.
She pressed her breasts into his warm, naked chest as he kissed her, wriggling herself into position so that the length of him pushed hard against her. He groaned as she squirmed under him.
‘If you keep doing that, I’m not going to be able to contain myself.’
‘Good,’ she said, reaching down to touch him, almost passing out at the length and girth of him. ‘’Cause I can’t wait any longer.’
And then he was above her, his face more intense than she had ever seen it, those dark eyes burning into hers, and that wicked mouth repeating the words he had said to her twenty years before.
‘Are you sure? Because you know, once we do this, there’s no going back.’
He was so beautiful, and the night was clear and starry and perfect, and she had wanted this for so long, that Lou had no doubt. It didn’t matter that she was seventeen – she knew. But she couldn’t speak; her throat wouldn’t make the sounds. So she nodded, and then nodded again. She was sure as hell, but she was scared. She knew nothing of men, and she knew that he knew a hell of a lot of women.
‘Do you always bring them here?’ she said finally. She loved that he had brought her to his home, to this little stand of eucalypt trees, on this rise near the waterhole, with the stars pressing in on them like brilliant voyeurs. The waterhole felt so much like their place. The place she had watched him, for so long. The place he had watched her. She couldn’t bear the thought that she wasn’t the first to lie here with him.
He gently reached down and stroked her face. ‘Never,’ he insisted, his cheeks flushed and his face earnest. ‘And I swear to you no-one will ever come here with me after tonight. No-one but you.’ He touched her hair, feeling it between his fingers. ‘This is different, Lou,’ he whispered. ‘We’re different.’
She knew it. ‘Hurry up,’ she said.
‘No way,’ he countered, a look on his face like he’d just been offered first prize in something truly spectacular, and had no intention of hurrying his pleasure. Or hers.
Lou had never imagined it could be like that. He was so slow, so sweet and so entirely focused on her that the shivers that started in her tummy spread like wildfire through her whole body and across every inch of her skin.
By the time they joined, she couldn’t remember where she stopped and Gage began.
Lou lay panting on the old blanket, wondering how anything could have been as good as that first time.
But somehow, it had been.
‘Last time we did this, you told me you would meet me on Sunday for lunch,’ Gage whispered into her ear. ‘And I didn’t see you for twenty years.’
She turned to look at him and he closed his eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I’m not trying to give you the guilts; I’m just afraid that if I shut my eyes you might disappear.’
She pinched his cheek lightly. ‘Stop worrying, Gage Westin,’ she said, leaning in to kiss his swollen lips. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’