‘You bet.’
She adjusted her line…somehow. Alex just let his be and hoped it was doing what it should be. ‘It sure beats the rush and bustle of the city, don’t you think?’
He didn’t answer. She was right, but he didn’t answer.
‘I was lucky to grow up around here.’
Her child would be too.
‘Did you grow up in Sydney?’
‘Yes.’
‘Whereabouts? North, south, east or west?’
His stomach tightened. He didn’t like talking about his childhood. But her question, it was innocent, innocuous. ‘In the western suburbs until I was twelve and then Vaucluse.’
She spun on her rock. He shot an arm out to steady her. ‘You grew up in Vaucluse—as in on the harbour—and you’ve never been fishing?’
‘Would you eat what came out of the harbour?’
She pursed her lips, then nodded. ‘Good point.’
He removed his arm from around her waist. He couldn’t stay here in this golden place near this golden woman. Eventual y everything he touched turned to ash.
He wouldn’t do that to Kit.
In the next instant he nearly fel off the rock. ‘Holy crap!’ The fishing rod had developed a mind of its own.
Kit started laughing so hard tears fil ed the creases at the corners of her eyes. ‘Reel in! Reel in!’
she final y managed to choke out. ‘You’ve hooked a fish, you landlubber.’
‘A fish?’
He promptly set about reeling it in.
‘Ooh, it’s a big one!’ Kit gave him instructions
—“Play the line out a bit, don’t lose it on the rocks’.
Frankly, he didn’t have much of a clue what she meant, but final y he had the fish, flapping on the end of his line, clear of the water.
Jumping to her feet and bracing herself against his shoulder, Kit scooped the net beneath the fish and presented it to him. ‘Your first fish!’
He leapt to his feet. His first—
‘A bream! Congratulations, Alex.’ With that she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek.
He promptly felt ten feet tal . He leant in and kissed her ful on the mouth.
She kissed him back.
They drew away and stared at each other. Her eyes were golden with sunshine and fun. Her lips…
The al -consuming need that had been building in him for the last fortnight broke through his control. He had to have more! Before he could think the better of it, he grasped her chin in his free hand and slanted his mouth ful y over hers.
She tasted of salt and choc-chip cookies and some memory from his past that he couldn’t quite grasp.
His tongue traced the inside of her bottom lip, revel ing in her velvet warmth. Maybe if he kissed her deeper, longer, more thoroughly, he’d remember that memory and—
memory and—
Her tongue shyly stroked his and al conscious thought fled as their kisses deepened. Her hand fisted in his shirt to draw him closer. His fingers slanted around the curve of her scalp, sliding through the silk of her hair to angle her mouth so he could explore every exquisite mil imetre of her delectable lips.
Four months! He’d ached for this for four months.
It was worth the wait.
For a moment he thought it might just be worth anything.
Final y, with a gasp, she dragged her mouth from his, rested her forehead against his cheek, her chest rising and fal ing as if she’d just run a race.
‘Alex, you’ve got to warn a woman if you’re going to kiss her like that.’
He was breathing so hard he couldn’t speak.
‘At least make sure she has two hands free to hold onto you.’
She was stil holding the net ful of fish. He took the net from her. ‘Sorry, I got carried away by the moment.’
No, he wasn’t. He wasn’t the least bit sorry.
She stared up at him then, a frown in her eyes.
