I can’t believe she said yes. I’ve been dying to see her again after the last date. Between work and the gym, I haven’t had an opportunity to ask her. Every time I walked past the shop she looked busy, so I chickened out and kept walking.

Something about her calls to me. I’ve never been this attracted to a woman before and I don’t know what it is that keeps me coming back. Sure she’s gorgeous, but so are a lot of women I’ve known. It isn’t just her looks - she has an aura of a lost soul about her, like she needs protecting. She’s fiercely independent and I know that she’s been all over the world for her work. Hell, I’ve never been further than Bali, and that was years ago. There’s probably not a country she hasn’t been photographed in. I’m surprised that she’d look twice at me, let alone agree to a date. I’m not gonna stuff this up. At. All.

Luckily work isn’t too busy for the rest of the week, leaving me time to get a suit dry cleaned. It’s been a long while since it was worn and I want to look my best. I’ve had a haircut, shave, and shower before I change into my suit and tie. I should have asked her about the colour of her dress so that I could coordinate my tie. I’ll just go with a deep navy one. I don’t have too many ties to choose from so the selection is navy, navy stripe or black.

As I knock on her front door I’m conscious of butterflies in my stomach. I feel fifteen again and on my first date. An older version of Haven opens the door with a smile and welcomes me in. Her mother. After introductions, she hurries off to tell Haven I’m here. I hear footsteps on the tiled floor and look up to be greeted with a huge smile from the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.

“Haven” I say, taking in her short fitted white dress with cut-outs at the thigh and waist and shoulder, which showcase her tan perfectly. A large brimmed hat sits on her curled long hair and her make up is immaculate. She’s stunning, and I’m lost for words temporarily. As the power of speech returns, I take a big gulp, pushing down the lump in my throat, before saying breathlessly. “God, you look incredible! I’m speechless, and believe me, that doesn’t happen often.”

“You like?” she asks doing a twirl in sky high stilettos. I’m astonished that she can walk in them but she looks totally comfortable in them.

Leaning forward to give her a gentle kiss on her cheek, I spy her mum watching us with a smile.

“Geez, I’m gonna have to stock up on the spinach if you intend to go out looking so good. I’ll need my muscles to fight the guys off.”

“Come on Popeye. Let’s go lose some money and have some fun.” She says, turning to pick up her clutch purse. “Oh, do you mind if we pick up Sarah on the way? I kinda promised her we would, if that’s okay?”

“Sure no problem. See ya later Mrs. Montgomery.” I say with a wave as we walk to the car.

Sarah’s ready and waiting as we approach her house. She looks amazing in a purple skater dress with a purple curly fascinator thing in her hair.

Our afternoon is so much fun. Haven gets a lot of attention and I think I should have been going to the gym more as I glare at some guy eyeing off her butt as she stands talking to Sarah. As soon as he gives me a smirk and moves his eyes away another guy gives her the once over. I’ve never been possessive of a woman before, but I can almost feel a snarl starting in my chest as I look at him, narrowing my eyes.

I watch as the girls go up for the best dressed woman competition, laughing together as they climb the steps to the catwalk in front of the racetrack. After all of the women do their show off walk, up and back again, the woman standing next to Haven gets announced as the winner. I admit she looks good, but not half as good as Haven does. I watch Haven give her a big hug as she goes to get her sash and flowers. Sarah and Haven make their way down to me again and I hear a squeal behind me as a small girl rushes at Haven, who bends to scoop her up in a warm hug. Following the girl is Dalton, also dressed in a dark suit and I give him a small smile of recognition.

He waits beside me as the girls get closer and his daughter’s chatting away excitedly, explaining to Haven and Sarah that she has her “Bestest” dress on and they both tell her how gorgeous she is. I admit she does look pretty damn cute, as I smile at her. She gives me a smile and asks Haven quickly who I am and she tells her that I’m her friend Micah. Studying me with a strange look on her face, she accepts Haven’s words, as she climbs down and stands in front of me, looking up seriously.

“You can be my friend if you want.” She says with a smile.

“Baby girl. You wouldn’t remember Micah, but you’ve met before.” Dalton says, indicating me with a sweep of his hand. “Micah, you remember my daughter Amelia?”

“Sure do. How are you Miss Amelia?” I ask, gracing her with a wide smile and a small bow.

“Daddy, he’s funny, isn’t he?” she says, laughing loudly.

“He is.” He agrees. “Sarah. Haven.” He acknowledges them with a nod of his head. “You both look incredible.” Dragging his eyes up Haven’s body, I catch the look of appreciation and store it away for more thought later.

“How about we all go and find a table and watch the next race?”

At the end of the afternoon we all adjourn to a taxi to take us into town so we can meet up with the rest of our friends at a local pub. Squeezing through the crowd we manage to snag an empty table as a group leaves. Laughing loudly at Sarah trying to hurry in her huge heels we fall into chairs around the table and wait for the server to clear the empty glasses.

I push my way to the bar to get drinks when I realise that Dalton isn’t with us. He must have dropped his daughter off at his parent’s house before coming to meet us. By the time I get back to the table someone has managed to steal another and joined it to ours which is now crowded with people. Shoving my hip into the space between my chair and Haven I lower the drinks to the table and distribute them accordingly. We’ve all had a bit much to drink and the atmosphere in the pub is festive, as it always is on race days. I glance out to the bay and smile at the thought of the guys working the boats this afternoon. I raise my glass in a silent toast to them, hoping they have a quiet shift.

The girls get up to go to the bathroom later in the evening and I watch Haven push her way through the crowd. As she gets near the door I see an arm snake out and wrap around her shoulders suddenly, pinning her to the spot. Her squeal of surprise alerts me to the fact that she doesn’t know the drunk guy. As she struggles to get away from the drunk, Dalton and I fly up out of our chairs, crossing the room in an instant, with faces like thunder. I grab the guy and immediately yank him away as he leans in for a kiss, and moves his hand to her breast, grabbing it roughly. Before he has time to react, I land a fist on his nose with as much force as I can, sending him sprawling into the wall behind. He shakes his head, blood pouring from his nose and pushes himself off the wall ramming into me with his head down. I easily grab him in a headlock and use my free hand to continue pummeling into his bloody face.

My focus is entirely on him as anger overtakes reason and I feel arms grabbing at mine, trying to stop me. It isn’t until I hear Haven yelling at me above the chaos that I step back and let him fall at my feet. His mates surround him as Dalton steps to my side, pushing the girls behind us as the young guys step over their mate and with fists flying come at us, urged on by the guys surrounding them. Bouncers start pulling them away from us as I throw punches, connecting with flesh, hoping to do damage. Dalton catches my eye and winks with a smirk as he delivers a roundhouse kick that sends two guys flying into the wall, stunned. As the Bouncers begin to get control I step back, exhausted at the effort, but secretly pleased with myself. I haven’t been in a fight since high school but I don’t think I’ve lost my touch.

Leaning down and resting my hands on my knees to catch my breath, I take in the words that the Security guys are saying as my pulse thunders in my ears. We have to leave. Fair enough. I don’t bother trying to argue our case. They don’t need to know. Haven knows and for the moment that’s enough for me.

As we make our way to the door she pushes past me in an aggressive manner. The door gets flung open as she stands outside, hands on hips, glaring at us. I quickly look myself over, noting the bloody torn shirt and my swollen, bleeding knuckles. I run my hand up over my hair to smooth it and glance over to Dalton who looks as bad as I do, but he’s grinning widely. Apparently that infuriates Haven further as she starts abusing us for being teenagers, when she had the situation under control. A smirk breaks over my face as I try to stifle a laugh, failing miserably. Dalton and I bend down trying to catch our breath and laugh loudly as we look at each other. This only makes Haven angrier, and she, along with Sarah, starts berating us for being juvenile and cavemen and a few other choice verbs. Standing up straight, I try to shut down my laughter as I tell her that I was protecting her honour. She should really be grateful for our interference. As soon as the words leave my lips I know I said the wrong thing. Her expression darkens, and she glares at me, eyes blazing with fury.

“I’ve been handling creeps like him for years. Do you really think that he’s the first? Guys like him are a dime a dozen when you do what I do for a job. I was about to shove him away when you went all ape-shit on his arse. The pair of you need to grow up and realize this isn’t the 18^th century where we feeble females need a man to come to our rescue.” Sarah joins in with a resounding “Here, here.” I look from one to the other, expecting them to tell me this is a joke and they aren’t seriously pissed at us. My expression must change to one of confusion as I look to Dalton with raised eyebrows.

“I thought every woman wanted someone to look out for them and protect them. Most women I know would love that we started a fight with that moron and his mates. Isn’t that what you women want? A man to protect you?”

Her eyes drill into me and I can almost feel the ice as she narrows them, pinning me with her glare. A moment of silence tells me that once again I’ve said the wrong thing.

“Oh shit mate. You’ve done it now.” Dalton says quietly beside me, taking a small step back out of the line of fire.

Haven opens her mouth to say something then closes it again, doing this a few times as if she can’t quite believe what I said to her and she can’t come up with a suitable answer. Turning away she strides off, closely followed by Sarah, who gives me a dark look over her shoulder.

“What the fuck? What the hell just happened?” I ask Dalton, turning to track the women with my eyes, tentatively taking a step forward to follow them. No way is Haven walking home alone, tonight of all nights.

“Mate, I think you just got your arse handed to you, without her saying a word.” He says, falling into step beside me. As we catch up to them, Haven turns to glare at us again, trying to walk faster in her sky high heels.

“We aren’t leaving, so you had best get used to it. No way are you walking home alone.” I tell her as Dalton nods in agreement.

“Go away, the pair of you. We’ll be fine, for God sake.” She throws over her shoulder, attempting to stride faster. “This is Esperance, not the middle of Melbourne or Chicago. It’s quite okay. It’s not far.”