The light turned green, the engine caught, rumbled winningly as it picked up pace. Rafe kept the speed down, checking every shopfront till he saw her.
In Wanda’s Cakes and Stuff, of all places. Her hands making pictures in the air as she chatted with someone behind the counter.
Something inside him clutched, tightened, and released. Something that had been coiled in a hard knot since he’d driven out of town. Mercy’s words, “She’s not here,” playing in his head like a broken record. As if deep down inside, he hadn’t been entirely sure she’d be there when he got back.
He needed to drop the car at Radiance Restorations, fill it up before getting it to Melbourne, but instead he parked outside Bear’s, eased himself up and leapt over the door.
“Look at her go.”
Rafe turned, found Bear leaning in the doorway of The Coffee Shop. “Hey,” he said, moving in to shake hands.
“Don’t let that fool you,” said Bear. “They’ve been giving her an awful hard time since you’ve been gone.”
“It’s been two days.”
“A lot can happen in two days.”
Rafe turned, saw it was Wanda herself who Sable was trying to charm. Though Wanda, arms folded, was having none of it. “What is she even doing over there?”
Bear slanted him a look. “You mean trying to charm the hostile locals when she’d much rather be enjoying a quiet coffee in my much nicer establishment? Come on, mate. Think.”
Rafe didn’t need to think. He knew.
From Janie’s report Sable had every excuse for keeping out of the public eye right now, but knowing how hard he’d found being the subject of town talk as a kid, she was out there, smoothing the way. For him.
As if she was a ripple in the fabric of his existence. Rather than a seismic event.
Rafe took off across the street, pausing to let a single car cruise down the avenue, then jogging the rest of the way.
A half-dozen faces looked up from their conversations as he whipped open the door. Sable turned at the last. Her hands mid move. Her mouth half open.
Then she smiled. Her eyes lighting up, as if inside someone had flipped a switch.
As if he’d flipped a switch.
Rafe’s lungs emptied in a rush. He felt more than a little light-headed. And the urge to go to her, to drag her into his arms and kiss her till that sunshine filled him too was strong enough he had to press his shoes into the floor.
Because that wasn’t why she was back. It would only complicate things. Just as she said.
Only, now, none of that held quite the same sway as it did a week ago. None of it was enough to negate the power, the charge he felt just being near her. Making his fine life look two-dimensional in comparison.
“Rafe Thorne!” That was Wanda, coming at him with open arms. She enveloped him in a hug that smelled like lanolin and icing sugar. “You here to fix my oven light?”
“Not today, Wanda. I’ve got a sweet Pontiac outside and I promised Sable a ride.”
The customers all craned their heads, oohing and aahing at the slick car gleaming across the road. One of them muttered, “I bet he did.”
And Sable’s smile slipped, her gaze lowering. As if all the work she’d put in the past two days to try to smooth things over, for him, had been for nought.
Done with overthinking things, Rafe did the one thing that had always served him, had never let him down. He followed his gut.
Holding out a hand, he said, “You ready, Sutton?”
Sable looked at it, then at the customers who were all watching the interplay with bated breath, then back at him.
He gave her a nod. A subtle wink. All but daring her to take it.
Finally, her hand reached out, cool fingers sliding into his as the sleeve of her jacket slipped back, revealing her wrist. And the fine, gold bracelet wrapped around it.
When she saw the angle of his gaze, she went to pull her sleeve back down, but he took his chance to tug her in close, tuck her hand into his elbow.
He ran a thumb over the fine gold chain. Turned her wrist to find the arrow he’d known would be there.
And something inside him locked into place.
Like a lost puzzle piece that had been missing for years.
He opened the door for her, made room for her to walk through before him. Together they crossed the street. Hips bumping. His hand still resting over hers, his thumb tracing the curve of her wrist.
Bear gave them a smile before he slipped back inside his shop.
A few locals walking down the street slowed, gave them a long look before heading on their way.
“Everyone’s staring at us,” she murmured as they reached the car, taking care to slip her hand out from the crook of his arm.
“Nah,” he said, no longer sure what to do with his arm, now she wasn’t holding on. “They’re staring at you.”
Her gaze locked onto his. Beautifully baffled. Rich, mellow hazel. Flecks of grey and gold. The colours of the trees behind her. Of home.
Rafe, buddy, he thought. If you don’t rein this in, you’re gonna find yourself in a world of trouble.
But it was too late. It had always been too late where she was concerned. The connection between them was inescapable.
If they were on opposite sides of the planet, or not. If they had a child together... Or not.
“Rafe?” she whispered, disoriented. “What happened to Sydney? Dubai? Janie mentioned London. I expected... I don’t know... That you’d be gone. A while.”
“Mmm,” he said, taking the time to drink her in in a way he hadn’t let himself do, not properly, since her return. “Thought the same myself.”
“So what are you doing here?”
“This.” He moved in, slid a hand behind her neck.
When she didn’t demur, he pressed her gently against the side of the car.
When she didn’t push him away, or call him out for complicating things, he
