Barb moved in close to him, reaching out cautiously to stroke his back, her voice soft as she said, ‘It’s okay, son. There was just another small fire. The CFA already have it in hand. It’s nothing to worry about.’
He turned to her, his face like nothing she’d seen before. ‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m sure. It’s fine. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s all under control.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Mac called me. It was tiny, he said. The ghost gum next to the hillside dam burned down and some of the paddock grass caught too. But John was heading up there to fill up the tanker and saw it, so called it in and was there before anything serious happened. There’s nothing to worry about. I promise.’
‘You do?’ He sounded so much like a lost little boy, it made Prita’s heart clench.
‘I do.’
‘Can you check again?’
‘All right. I’ll check. But I left my phone inside. I just have to go get it.’
He nodded.
Barb kept up stroking his back, but her gaze went to Prita.
Prita mouthed, ‘What can I do?’
Barb mouthed back, ‘Distract him.’ Then she looked up at Flynn. ‘Can you just move a little, gorgeous boy, so I can get past?’
He looked lost for a moment and then seemed to realise he was blocking the door. Without letting go of the doorframe, he angled his body so that she could edge past him and inside the house, leaving Prita with him alone.
Distract him. She was happy to distract him. But how, when she wasn’t even certain what was going on?
‘Flynn?’
He didn’t look at her, his gaze pinned to where you could now see smoke rising above the trees in the direction of the hillside dam. Sadness flickered through her at the thought her special place might have been ruined.
But she quickly thrust that aside. She might be saddened by it, but Flynn seemed traumatised. Had this come about because of the fire at her house last night?
No. Barb didn’t seem to be shocked by this at all. In fact, she’d seemed to understand exactly what was going on before any of the rest of them did. Then this had to be related to losing Anna. He was afraid of fire.
What an idiot she’d been not to see it before. There’d been so many signs—the way he never cooked at the BBQ or even went near one. Him not volunteering with the CFA anymore despite his commitment to community work. The way he avoided the CoalCliff mid-winter bonfires and never sat with the kids in winter when the fire in the main restaurant was lit. His reaction to any talk about any bushfires—point in case the strange way he’d behaved last night when Reid had brought up the burned brush jump. It was easy to miss because he presented such a calm, controlled front all the time.
He wasn’t in control now. Far from it. How had she never seen this before? If she knew anything about this kind of trauma, he was going to seriously lose control very soon and for a man like him, that would be tough to get over. She had to do something.
Distract him, Barb had said.
Well, there was one guaranteed way of doing that. Should she? Could she? No, that was the rash side of her talking. She was a doctor. There had to be another way. Except, that way escaped her right now. Hell, why hadn’t she taken more notice in her psych rotation?
She had to go with her gut before he became worse and her gut was telling her one thing.
‘Flynn. Look at me, not at the smoke.’
He didn’t move, his gaze still pinned on the hill behind her.
She reached up and touched his face. ‘Flynn, look at me.’
His gaze darted down to hers and before he could look away, she took his face in both hands and held him there, angled so that he could only see her. She stroked his cheeks with her thumbs, grazing along the edges of his lips. His breath stuttered out of his mouth, lips opening slightly. ‘Prita?’ he said, sounding confused.
‘Yes.’
‘What are you doing?’
‘Distracting you.’ She lifted up onto her toes and pressed her lips against his.
Chapter 16
Flynn jerked as their lips met, stiffening, but she didn’t let go, just pressed her lips a little more against his, slanting sideways, nibbling the edges, letting her tongue out to taste the seam of his lips.
He gasped, trembled and then his hands were in her hair and his lips were moving against hers and he was moving, moving so that she was against the open door inside the house. Thank goodness, they were inside. He wouldn’t see the smoke from inside. Except, he could still smell it with the door open.
‘The door,’ she gasped as his lips left hers to make their way along her chin.
He moved her again and the door slammed shut with a loud snick and then she was pressed up against the inside of it, his hot, hot body hard against hers, holding her there as they kissed and kissed and kissed.
Then slowly, slowly, Flynn seemed to come to his senses. He pulled away from her, just enough to lean his forehead against hers, his breath a harsh puff over her face.
Holy hell, the man could kiss. She’d never imagined anything like it. Never experienced anything like it in those wild days when she’d rebelled as a teen and did things she’d become so sorry for since.
After a moment, when he seemed steadier, he pulled away from her further, staring down at her. ‘Why did you do that?’
‘You were having a panic attack.’
‘No, I wasn’t.’
‘You were. Everyone saw it.’ Ah, shit. It was the wrong thing to say. She knew it the moment the words left her mouth, but the look on his face told her the full story. This,
