Chapter Ten

Jarrah had no idea what the hell was going on. Olivia had done everything short of sticking her head out the window to avoid looking at him since returning from the Wishing Tree. What was even scarier was she’d kept that sassy mouth shut the entire way back home despite Abi’s merciless teasing from the backseat.

The Big House’s corrugated-iron roof shimmered in the distance like a huge disco ball as the midmorning sun started marching across the cloudless sky. With every year, the sanctuary that had saved his and Jeddah’s lives grew even more perfect. No gray concrete buildings blocking the sun, no traffic drowning the silence, and no crowds squeezing the air from his chest. It was more than the serene ruggedness that had him smiling despite his passenger’s mood; it was the strangers that had become the family he and his sister had never had.

“Something’s wrong.” Olivia grabbed his forearm. “Go!”

The concern on her face had him downshifting and stomping the accelerator before he’d even comprehended her words. The Cruiser screamed to life and lurched forward as Wingarra’s courtyard came into focus. Ryder was setting the chopper down outside the tree line as Jarrah caught a glimpse of what Olivia had somehow sensed. Two of the utes and three of the quad bikes that should’ve been out in the scrub were parked haphazardly in front of the Big House while people sprinted in all directions.

“Get your arses back here! We need the doc!”

Maddie’s voice crackled through the Cruiser’s two-way and froze the blood surging through him.

Olivia snatched up the handset. “What’s wrong?”

“Compound fracture, leg, bad.”

Abi swore and leaned between the front seats while he crushed the accelerator and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“Stabilize the leg, stop any bleeding, and call an ambulance. We’re two minutes away.”

The radio fell silent, and Olivia spun to face him. “There’s no ambulance, is there?”

The roar from the engine swallowed Olivia’s curse as he shook his head. The smile that had him tossing and turning most of the night vanished and left behind a blank mask devoid of emotion.

Olivia exploded out of the passenger seat before the ute had even skidded to a stop. He helped Abi clamber out of the backseat and waited until Ryder grabbed hold of her before racing after Olivia. He heard the all-too-familiar tortured grunts and muffled curses long before he saw the contorted remains of Ethan’s leg.

Jarrah had seen some shit in his day. A lifetime working with cattle and heavy machinery had a way of reminding people just how fragile they were, but the agony carved into his brother’s mud- and blood-splattered features had him sucking in lungfuls of air. The look his mum shot him as she cradled Ethan’s head in her lap only added to the adrenaline flooding his system.

Olivia placed a hand on his mum’s shoulder and exchanged a quick nod before kneeling beside her. “Damn, Ethan, if you wanted some alone time with me all you had to do was ask.”

The voice that did strange things to him cut through the chaos and silenced the crowd squeezed around them. Olivia tut-tutted and shook her head while surveying the grisly train wreck that was his brother’s body.

“What’s a nice girl like you do—” Ethan’s entire body clenched as he gasped in breath and smiled through clenched teeth.

“Oh, you know, just catching up with family and seeing the sights.” Olivia chuckled and eyed Kira, who held a blood-soaked towel around what was left of Ethan’s shin. “How you doing down there, Sunshine?”

Kira looked up long enough to shake her head before returning her panicked gaze to the mass of flesh and bone she held together.

Olivia sighed dramatically and cupped Ethan’s cheek in her hand. “What the hell have you gone and done to yourself, cowboy?”

“Fucking quad bikes, Doc.” Ethan’s fingers clawed into the dirt while grinning through clenched teeth. “Give me a horse any day.”

“Boys and their damned toys.” Olivia’s chuckles drowned out the nervous murmurs from the stunned crowd as she cradled Ethan’s head in her hands and examined him. “Anything hurt besides that tiny ouchie on your leg?”

Ethan growled out a curse and shook his head. “Nothing a massage and sponge bath won’t fix.”

Olivia leaned down and pried open Ethan’s eyelids with her fingers. “Nice try, tough guy. But you’ll have to take me dancing first.”

Olivia couldn’t have looked more out of place as she examined his brother. She was a classy city girl surrounded by a horde of filthy stockwomen and men. And within seconds of kneeling down in the dirt beside his brother, there was no doubt who was in charge. Even his mum, who’d bandaged and sewn together her fair share of bodies, stared on in wide-eyed amazement as Olivia went about her business like it was just another day in the office.

“Okay, big guy, foreplay’s over.” Olivia straightened and nodded. “I’m going to check out your leg, and it’s going to hurt like a motherfucker, so I want you to stop crying like a little bitch and toughen the fuck up or date night’s over.”

A choked gasp cut off Ethan’s laughter as Olivia gently ushered Kira out the way and peeled back the sodden towel. “For Christ’s sake, it’s barely a scratch, you big baby.”

Olivia scanned the crowd before locking her gaze on him. The hope that had built in his chest froze and plummeted into his gut as he caught sight of the concern hiding behind her smile. He sank to his knees opposite her and dragged over the first-aid chest he’d used too many damn times and handed her a pair of gloves. With a determined nod, she drew in a deep breath and got to work.

While he sucked in air and passed her tools, bottles of saline, and bandages with fumbling hands, her fingers danced over the mangled mess of torn flesh and shattered bone with the unconscious grace of a classical pianist. Between trading insults and flirting with Ethan, Olivia cleaned, packed, and dressed the wound until it almost looked like a human leg again.

With the politeness of a sledgehammer wrapped in velvet, she marshaled her troops and had his brother’s leg splinted and his entire body strapped to a wooden door that’d been torn off a nearby shed while Jarrah struggled to process what he was witnessing. Judging by the gaping mouths and stunned faces staring down at the deep freezer’s worth of frozen veggies piled on Ethan’s legs, Jarrah wasn’t the only dumbstruck onlooker.

He clenched his fists to stop his hands from shaking and watched on with the same silent awe that had fallen over the crowd as Olivia pecked Ethan’s forehead and pinched his nose. “Not bad, mate. You’re pretty tough…for an Aussie. Now don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.”

She ripped off her gloves and tossed them in the garbage bag he held open for her before ushering him and his family toward the Big House. Her smile faded with each step until she looked as worried as the rest of them. “We’ve stabilized the bleeding and immobilized his leg, but he’s going to need urgent surgery to save the limb. Where’s the nearest hospital?”

“Charleville. Two hundred kilometers.” Maddie’s response sounded more like a curse. “The flying doctor’s on the way. They’ll be here within the hour.”

A shadow flickered across Olivia’s face before she nodded. “He’s got circulation to the leg, but the frozen veggies aren’t going to delay swelling long. I’ve cleaned the wound as much as I can, but he’s still got half the Outback in there. They’re going to have to pump him full of antibiotics to prevent infection, and he’s going to need proper scans to get a better idea of the damage. X-rays aren’t going to cut it.” She paused long enough to look each of them in the eye before releasing the breath she’d been holding. “Do we know what equipment Charleville has?”

His mum clutched her hands to her chest and shook her head. “It’s just a bush hospital. Anything serious ends up in Brisbane.”

Olivia sighed and dropped her head as if she’d already known the answer. Long, silent seconds passed before her head shot up and her eyes glowed with a ferocity that stole his breath. “Can we contact them in the air?”

…

Olivia leaned on the veranda’s weathered railing and breathed in the tranquil darkness. The air smelled a lot like the lasagna, garlic bread, and chocolate mud cake she’d just stuffed herself with. And she couldn’t care less about the bloated stomach oozing out of her jeans. She just felt too damned good.

The surgeons in Brisbane were confident Ethan and what was left of his leg would make a full recovery. He wouldn’t be taking her dancing anytime soon due to the scaffolding they’d erected to support his shattered tibia and fibula. Considering the horror story it could’ve been, he was one lucky cowboy. The first aid they’d performed had bought him enough time for the magicians from the Royal Flying Doctor Service to fly Ethan and Naya directly to Brisbane, where a team had waited to ferry him straight into surgery. Infection was still a very real threat given how much desert he’d jammed into his leg, but he was as tough as a rusted fence post and probably still high from all the antibiotics and painkillers they’d pumped into him.

The raucous celebrations that had kicked off thirty seconds after Naya had called with the good news had finally settled down and the work crews and their families had drifted back to their camps to nurse weary nerves, food comas, and relieved hangovers. Work had carried on throughout the day while they’d waited for news, but a grim silence had hung over the place that reminded Olivia way too much of the ER waiting room. Thank God her days of triple shifts, wrestling drug addicts, and treating gangbangers while they’d threatened one another were over.

“Now this is no place to find a superhero.”

His voice shot a fresh dose of adrenaline into her exhausted system. It surged through her body and pooled low in her belly. “I needed some privacy to change back into my secret identity.”

“Too late. Word of your superpowers has spread far and wide.” He grinned and pointed to the silvery darkness cloaking the desert. “They’re going to be queuing all the way out to the Wishing Tree just for the chance of meeting the doc.”

She’d given up asking her new fan club to call her Liv after accepting their ninth toast of the night, but her new official title hadn’t caused her throat to clamp shut. Oh no, her breathing difficulties could be squarely attributed to that damned Wishing Tree and the images her galloping libido had shoved inside her brain. She groaned and dropped her head onto the railing in the desperate hope it’d buy her enough time to evict the cheeky horse-riding cowboy from her thoughts.

She’d spent the afternoon alternating between worrying about Ethan and analyzing that damned dream, or whatever the hell it had been, while helping Abi and Kira prepare the bush classroom for the dozen or so home-schooled kids who traveled with their mustering parents. Abi had been as helpful as ever and had used Olivia like a stress ball to ease her own anxiety by teasing her mercilessly. Her sister had even recruited Kira into the mix, and Olivia had figured out the youngest Harper was as devious as she was adorable. Olivia hadn’t told them what years of less than mind-blowing sex, jet lag, and stupid superstitions had created in her head. That hadn’t stopped Abi and Kira from inventing a few fantasies of their own to torture her with. And all involved the man standing two feet away.

He eased in beside her and slid a mug of hot chocolate into her hands. “It’s not Glenfiddich, but it’s pretty bloody good.”

And there it was, that tingling sensation that skittered through her body. The dozens of people that had crowded the Big House during the festivities had diluted his power. Yet whenever their eyes met through the crowd, or he’d casually checked that her plate was overloaded and her glass was full, something had crackled between them like someone had flicked a switch.

Too chicken to face him, she clung to her mug and stared out into the night. She’d made sure she couldn’t even see him out of the corner of her eye, but it didn’t do any good. Her skin burned as his gaze inched down her body, only to ignite as his surveillance lingered on the bits that tingled the most, as if he knew exactly what he did to her.

If she’d been an inexperienced teenager, she might have been able to convince herself the attraction was all one-way traffic and she was just crushing on the bad boy she couldn’t have. However, she’d traveled along enough dual-lane highways in her time to know she and her guardian bad boy were headed straight for crazy town unless they slammed on the brakes. Drawing in the cool night air to calm her red-lining heart, she slowly turned to tell him she was getting off at the next exit…and crashed straight into a pair of soft, warm, chocolate-flavored lips.

Delicate and sweet, the kiss was as gentle as the breeze drifting over her superheated skin. And ended before she’d even had a chance to figure out what the hell had happened.

He drew his top lip into his mouth as if he was tasting her, only to do the same with the bottom before swallowing and clearing his throat. “Mum asked me to thank you for saving her baby boy’s leg.”

Olivia’s internal satnav shut down as his words filtered through the carnage in her mind and she plowed head first into crazy town. Any thoughts of exiting the freeway or slamming on the brakes evaporated with the air gushing out of her mouth as she clutched her mug to prevent her hands from shaking.

With a casualness that only increased her heart rate, he leaned in and kissed her again. He’d kept a few inches of night between them and hadn’t even spun her to face him while he’d caressed her lips with his, which was just as well considering the only thing keeping her legs from buckling was the veranda’s bannister.

He shrugged and carefully balanced his mug on the railing. “Mum said Ethan asked me to thank you as well.”

He raised one eyebrow and studied her as if he wasn’t quite sure whether she was going to pass out or knee him in the junk. She opened her mouth to respond only to discover that for once in her life she had absolutely nothing to say. She should’ve thanked him for passing on Naya’s and Ethan’s gratitude and for her hot chocolate before escaping inside. Yet the thought of leaving scared her almost as much as where they were headed.

With deliberate gentleness, he pried the mug out of her numb fingers and placed it on the railing before slowly turning her to face him. The continuing celebrations inside the Big House faded, as did their insect serenade, while she lost herself in his eyes. With agonizing tenderness, he captured her face and claimed her mouth with his.

This time, he allowed his lips to linger until the kiss melted her frozen limbs and thawed her brain. As if witnessing their impending car crash in super slow motion, she watched on helplessly from the sidewalk as everything she’d dreaded collided with everything she wanted and burst into flames. And she couldn’t summon even an ounce of regret.

He trailed fire down her neck with calloused fingers before cupping her shoulders and studying her as if he still wasn’t sure whether she’d take flight or fight. “I’ve been trying to figure out a better way to describe you, Dr. Williams.” He shrugged. “Amazing pretty much covers it.”

She’d shared kisses that had stolen her breath and turned her mind to mush. She’d enjoyed make-out sessions that had melted her bones, curled her toes, and had her lady parts jumping for joy. Yet no man had come close to pushing all her buttons at once with just a simple kiss. And no man had ever had her logical mind completely rolling over and playing dead to lust.

Reason exited stage left and dragged reality and the future right along with it. While what was left of her brain justified her body’s reaction with jet lag, over-indulgence, and the adrenaline dump that up until five minutes ago had been leaching from her system, she teetered up onto her toes and kissed him back.

What she’d intended to be a controlled exploration erupted into a full-body assault the instant she brushed her lips to his. The electricity that had crackled between them surged through her as she clawed her fingers into his hair and dragged him onto her mouth.

The hands that had been resting on her hips roamed over her body before crushing her to his chest. The only thing soft about him was his mouth and the confirmation of what she did to him only fueled her need. Parting her lips, she devoured him while grinding into him.

Something between a snarl and a groan leaked between their joined lips. She had no idea whose mouth it escaped from, and she didn’t care. Clamping his head steady, she speared her tongue deeper and ground into him.

He picked her up as if she weighed nothing and dumped her on the railing. Mugs tumbled into the dirt, the veranda shook, and she growled while clamping her thighs around his waist. Lights flashed, sirens wailed, and the tiny voice of reason that hadn’t been swamped by lust screamed into the hurricane swirling around her.

She bucked against him while their lips and hands fought for control. Chocolate, soap, cotton, leather, sweat…the scents drowning her were almost as overpowering as the strength of his worshipping hands. She wanted him inside her, wanted him pumping into her while she rode him into oblivion.

Yet with each pull of her mouth and drive of her hips, that tiny voice of reason screamed louder until it screeched over the muffled grunts escaping into the night. The superheated muscle flexing around her froze as if he’d heard the same screams.

She released the lips she’d been mauling and sucked in heaving breaths as she sagged against him. The hands that had been roaming over every inch of her stilled before sliding around her and cradling her to his chest. His soft lips trailed delicate kisses down her nose, across her chin, and along her jaw until he nuzzled her neck. “So—where—the—hell—do—we—go—to—from—here?”

Every desperate word had her wanting him even more and the rod of muscle locked between her thighs wasn’t helping. Christ, she had absolutely no freaking idea what to do except rip off his clothes and do unspeakable things to him right there on the veranda. For the first time in her life, she’d found a man who captivated so much more than just her mind or her body.

If he’d been just some random Aussie hunk she’d met on her travels, she’d have worked him out of her system and left him limping and smiling before boarding the plane back to L.A. If they’d lived in the same damned city, she’d have explored her newly developed dating standards to figure out just what the hell was happening between them.

Problem was he wasn’t just a nice guy who drove her crazy. He was an original member of the family she’d officially join as soon as Ethan was back. And in four weeks they’d return to their real lives and have the world’s largest ocean between them. Not only was a short-term, strictly no-strings-attached, wild-monkey-sex arrangement with him as bat-crap-crazy as it was complicated, if things went south, as they tended to do when you genuinely liked someone as much as you wanted to rub up against them, she’d have to relive the trauma every vacation.

The battle confusion, doubt, and lust waged inside her silenced the instant he leaned away and brushed away the hair that had fallen across her face. Only then did she realize how long she’d kept him waiting for an answer.

Shrugging, she cleared her throat and decided to go with the only thing her short-circuiting brain could process. The truth. “If I’d met you a year ago, I’d have jumped you as soon as you brought out those damned Ferrero Rocher.”

The shadows consumed her whispered words before a soft chuckle interrupted the silence. “Before or after you ate them all?”

No gloating, no pressure, no guilt. Then again, she hadn’t expected anything else. Despite all her preconceived ideas, Jarrah Harper wasn’t an arrogant playboy sowing his high-society oats. He was a hell of a decent guy who just happened to have almost as much money as raw sex appeal. “During.”

His playful groan had her smiling despite the turmoil swirling inside her. “A year ago I wouldn’t have made it past the bacon-and-egg roll before annoying you.”

Something warm and gooey flowed through her before reality chilled it. Four weeks was plenty of time to work loose the kinks and water the dry spell she’d endured. But so much had changed in the last twelve months, and there was only one person to blame. “Freaking Ab—”

“Bloody Ryder.”

His curse cut her off as she chuckled and dropped her forehead to his chest.

With a tenderness that had her hands once again encircling his neck, he eased her down and pecked her forehead. “I was perfectly content working my arse off, playing with my toys, and adding to my little black book. And then I saw that damned smile on my idiot brother’s face whenever he looked at your sister, and I realized I had no idea what true happiness was.”

“Ditto.” She nuzzled between his pecs and rode the rise and fall of his chest while memorizing every sensation tingling through her for her life’s highlight reel. The security of his embrace, the wood smoke mingling with his scent, the steady beat of his heart while the insects and frogs serenaded them, the billion stars illuminating the night sky.

She encircled his waist and kissed the valley of exposed skin below his collar. “I lived with them for a year.”

“Okay, you win.” He sighed and pulled her close before slow dancing to the muffled music escaping the Big House.

“We could swallow the red pill and check out of the Matrix for a little while?” He chuckled and squeezed her butt when she stiffened. “Or we could swallow the blue pill and ignore what’s happening between us.”

Thoughts of Neo, Morpheus, and epic sci-fi movies joined the chaos in her head as she stared up at him.

He grinned and raised one eyebrow before starting to dance again. “Do I make you nervous, Doc?”

She forced her numb feet to move and pretended her heart rate hadn’t kicked into overdrive as she allowed him to slowly twirl her around. “Y-You don’t make me nervous.”

He chuckled and shook his head before pulling her close. “Funny, because you scare the shit out of me.”