"Tell me, why do I get the impression you would rather be somewhere else?" He watched her while he ate for her answer.
"Maybe because I had a life before I got landed with this place." She looked around before meeting his gaze. "It's not really that bad but we've been doing it hard for a while." Stacey poured herself a coffee and placing her hands on the edge, jumped up on the counter shuffling her butt back to lean on the wall relieving the tension in her back after a hard day. "Not very good at hiding my emotions sometimes, sorry. I don't think you need me to dump my problems on your shoulders."
"I asked, go for it. Tell me how you got here."
"My grandfather built this place. When he got too sick to run it on his own he asked me to come and take over. Not a problem, you know I was between jobs anyway and always loved my holidays out here."
She took a sip of coffee and watched Morgan wipe the crumbs from his lips. I could have licked them off and it would have tasted so good.
* * *
Morgan smiled at the way Stacey was watching him. He wasn't sure if it was tiredness or lust that put that faraway look in her eyes and the lips that slowly parted showing the pink tip of her tongue. It sent jolts of energy to his cock either way. Pushing away the thought of her underneath him he continued. He put his empty plate on the counter and pulled out a chair tucked away in a corner and sat facing her.
"So, he was one of the founding fathers you might say?"
"Uh, sorry. Sorry I was daydreaming. I'm pretty buggered and need some sleep." She gulped down the rest of her coffee and slammed the cup on the bench. "Yes he was. He loves this place and refused to sell when he got sick. Calls it his life's blood and won't part with it. I can understand that too. It was easy for me to come and take over anyway. I needed a change."
"Man or job problems send you out here?"
"A bit of both I suppose you could say although I can't see why it would interest you and I don't want to bore you with my problems. Anyway, here I am and here I will stay until the town goes under."
"Why would it go under? I thought the mine would give you plenty of business." He leaned back in his chair watching her.
"Not enough to keep the town afloat. Sneaky bastards get all their food for the work camp brought in from Sydney. When they submitted plans to the council for the Fly in Fly Out accommodation, they said 'they would buy locally where ever possible'." She gave a bitter laugh. "The only thing we get money for is what I sell in the pub and the occasional purchase from the corner store. Very rarely do they do any business in town. Most of the landholders around are looking at selling up if they can get a buyer. It's a real shame because we have some of the nicest landscape around. If I had the money I would develop it into a tourist destination."
"What makes you think people would come here?"
"It's on the way to Darwin. Everyone has to go through here to go just about anywhere else too. The top end, Kakadu, you name it, we are on the way to it. Smack bang in the middle of the damned highway north. The problem is that we are too small. Take a look at Mount Isa for example. One hundred and twenty miles from here. They have more infrastructure and the tourists go that little bit further and camp there the night instead of staying here. If the town was more developed, we could draw more people to stay for a while spending badly needed funds to keep the town afloat."
"Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. Look, thanks for the sandwich and the room. I might see you in the morning." He stood and put his plate in the sink.
"Sure, breakfast is from six until eight. Then I clean the rooms before the bar opens."
"Don't you have any help at all?"
"Nope, can't afford it. It's all me. Lucky hey?"
She jumped down off the bench and flicked the light switch off by the door. He walked out and headed for the stairs. Stacey walked along side him checking the lights and doors as she went.
They walked up the beautiful old staircase together, Stacey holding onto the hand beaten wrought iron railing, dragging herself up. At the top of the stairs she turned to him switching off the rest of the downstairs lights.
"You go that way, I'm down here. Night."
Morgan watched her walk away, her shoulders slumped in tiredness. His gaze followed the line of her long legs up to her tight butt. His brain went into overdrive when he imagined his hands cupping those denim clad cheeks pulling her into his needy body. Shaking his head he turned toward his room. When the door was shut behind him, he undid the buttons on his shirt and slipped it from his shoulders. He slid down the zip on his jeans and kicked off his shoes.
When he had booked in he had been tempted to write down another name other than his own but it looked like Stacey was none the wiser. Since she barely had time to take a break she would no doubt have little time to follow the gossip magazines either so his privacy should be safe here. The mine was in the company name so there should be little connection to him.
Being dragged through the courts by his ex-girlfriend had been a nightmare he would rather forget and definitely didn't want to repeat. It had been
