Page 3 of Seal of Approval

“Not ordinary.” She waggled her eyebrows. “And not middle-aged.”

What were they talking about? I hadn’t had time to google him yet. Were we about to get stuck with some grumpy old guy? Lily handed her phone to me. I sucked in a breath. Oh, shit. The person staring into the camera was mid-thirties and had a smile as captivating as his hazel eyes. They seemed to see right through the centre of me in every photo I flipped through. He wasn’t even here in person yet and already I found it hard to tear my eyes away. My mouth went dry. I scrolled. He looked as good in a dress shirt as he did in a wetsuit peeled off to his waist.

“You’re shitting me.” My eyes went to the search bar: Ethan Shaw, Marine Biologist. I shoved the phone back into Lily’s hand.

“Too hot to handle, huh?” Jack asked, chortling.

“Have fun knowing that fine specimen, or should we call him Sex on Legs, is sleeping only metres away.” Lily gave me a wink.

“Co-worker, housemate, that’s it.”

I wiped the images from my mind. Or at least I tried to.

Two more days until Ethan arrived. I didn’t know if I wanted his charm to match his good looks or the opposite. Which would be better?

CHAPTER TWO

Ethan

I was five hours into my drive from Adelaide to Haven Bay. The towns on the dusty highway were few and far between, each one smaller than the last. Trees with tall, thick trunks and branches, and a head of leaves reminded me of gangly teenagers.

I’d asked my phone for information about the area as I drove, and it told me this was a wheat farming area. The soil here didn’t look like it would sustain much life. It was pale and dry. But what would I know? My life was on the water, not the land. I studied the horizon. The land was as flat as the sea on a calm day. Nothing like San Francisco with its continuous hills. Everyone who lived there knew where to walk or bike to avoid the hills. It’s a skill well learned.

I pulled into a gas station and a man in his fifties with a cap pulled down low on his head came out. I hopped out of the car and headed to the pump.

“I’ll do that for you, mate,” he said as he reached me.

I handed the nozzle over. It was rare to get this service back home.

“Where ya heading?” he asked as he started pumping the gas.

“Haven Bay. I’ll be working there for six months.”

He gave a low whistle. “That’s out woop woop.”

“Woop woop?”

“Yeah, beyond the black stump.”

What black stump? Was there some famous black stump I should know about? Nothing I’d read had mentioned it. I must have looked confused, because the man cracked a grin. “It means the middle of nowhere.”

“Oh, right.” Of course, it did. They had weird sayings here. Like calling the truck I was driving a ute.

“Somewhere Bay is the closest town to it. Decent-sized town. Half-hour drive.”

I cocked my head. It was a strange name for a town.

The man chuckled. “I get that look a lot when I say the name. The ship that explored those waters had no idea where they were. So, they called it Somewhere Bay.”

I nodded. When I’d googled Haven Bay, all I’d found was that it was situated close to a national park and a marine park. I didn’t pay much attention to the surrounding area, including Somewhere Bay. The sea lions were what I was interested in.

“What are ya going to be doing there?” he asked as the nozzle clicked in his hand.

“I’ll be studying the sea lion colony. I’m a marine biologist.”

He nodded and headed inside. I followed. “Popular tourist thing, that. They have tours taking people to swim with the sea lions.”

I had read about the tours and tried to withhold my reservations until I saw them in action myself. My first reaction was negative. It sounded like something that would disturb the natural order.

---