Page 24 of Journey to You

“It says here this place is a bird paradise, with over three hundred and eighty species including some rare Siberian cranes.”

Thankfully, Ethan bought her diversion and removed his arm from around her shoulders. Strange, considering he’d been hellbent on pushing her to acknowledge their attraction at the Lake Palace last night. Then again, he’d probably got her message loud and clear after she’d flicked through his Taj Mahal guide, drank her champagne too fast, and practically shoved him out the door of her room.

She should be grateful he hadn’t called her on another distraction technique now, not harbouring a tiny trickle of disappointment.

Leaning over her shoulder, he peered at the map and she held her breath, unprepared for all that hard, male chest to be wedged up against her.

“What other attractions has this place got?”

Forced to breathe in order to answer him, she inhaled a heady lungful of pure male tinged with sandalwood, making her momentarily light-headed.

Her palms were clammy, her body on fire, and her head spun with the implications of reacting to him despite all the self-talk that she shouldn’t.

Peering at the guidebook like it had answers to questions she shouldn’t be contemplating, she cleared her throat. “Hawks, pelicans, geese, and eagles, among countless other species, and they also have golden jackals, jungle cats, striped hyenas, blackbuck and wild boar.”

“Great.”

Yeah, great. He’d hired the rickshaw driver for an hour, and in that time she’d be stuck, wedged tight against him, unableto breathe without his tantalising scent assailing her, unable to move without encountering way too much firm muscle, unable to think without contemplating how much better this could get if she shed her inhibitions.

As a pelican flew at the rickshaw in an indignant rage the driver swerved, throwing her flush against Ethan and all that glorious muscle.

Righting her, he smiled, a warm, toe-curling smile that reached down to her heart, the type of smile that made resistance futile.

“No need to throw yourself at me.”

Her hands splayed against his chest, the rhythmic pounding of his heart proof that their proximity affected him too.

“You wish.”

Holding her gaze, he tipped up her chin. “You have no idea how much.”

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, the distant screech of an eagle as hauntingly piercing and achingly poignant as the yearning to stay like this, touching him, secure in his arms, for more than a brief moment.

His eyes begged her to push him for answers he would be too ready to give. And as much as her foolhardy heart urged her, she couldn’t do it. She’d taken a risk once before and her judgement had been way off. She’d thought Richard had been a safe bet, she’d trusted him, and look how that had turned out.

Trusting Ethan would be tantamount to handing him her heart on a serving platter complete with carving knives.

As she tried to muster a coherent response, he straightened and set her away from him with strong yet gentle hands. “You know what you look like?”

“What?”

“A worm surrounded by the entire population of this bird sanctuary.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, allowinghis fingers to linger, brushing the soft skin of her neck. “I’m not going to push you, Tam, so quit looking at me like I’m the big, bad wolf.”

Before she could respond, he ducked his head and captured her mouth in a swift, urgent kiss that barely lasted a second, yet left her dazed and more confused than ever.

Their gazes held for a moment, but when she didn’t say anything, he turned to watch a gaggle of geese take flight, giving her time to reassemble her wits. She braced her feet to stop from rocking against him any more than necessary, stunned speechless, and touching her trembling lips with a shaky hand.

She wanted to be like those geese. Free to take off, free to expand her wings, free to be whoever she wanted to be. She wanted to feel carefree and unburdened for the first time in years, wanted to have the courage to explore outside her comfort zone, to let the winds of chance take her wherever.

Darting a quick glance at Ethan, staring resolutely out the other side of the rickshaw, she knew with the utmost certainty that he was a part of that yearning to explore the unknown, the craving to take a chance.

She’d grown accustomed to repressing her true feelings, so used to playing a part, she didn’t know who she was anymore, let alone how to be the carefree, happy woman she’d once been.

Ethan could help her.

He could help her rediscover her zing, could nurture their spark towards something exciting, something beyond her wildest dreams.

But she had to take a chance.

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