Page 79 of Down the Track

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His eyes were on hers, and yeah, okay, the sun had gone all golden and orange and dim, but she could still see. She was an emotional coward but she wasn’t stupid.

He was going to kiss her.

The pattern of words in her head tumbled over and over like beads in a kaleidoscope: black and blue and red anxiety; sparkly and rumbly and bright anticipation; back to—blacker! And bluer! And redder!—anxiety, then, flipping heck, anticipation—

The kaleidoscope went pfft as Hux brought his mouth down on hers.

Her ponytail tugged at her scalp as he slid his hand to her head. An arm curled around her shoulder blades. If she’d had a moment to think about aims and hypotheses about what it would feel like to be kissed—by Hux, in a helicopter, the precious graveyard of prehistoric bones sleeping beneath her feet, the sun setting so they were two shadows in an orange glow of warmth—she might have predicted that she’d enjoy it.

But she wouldn’t have predicted she’d love it because how could you know that until it actually happened? Like it was now?

And how could you predict that the last thing you wanted to do when you were having the kiss of your life was think about freaking science?

Was this her future being kissed into life? Her emotional intelligence being rebooted?

She didn’t feel like Joanne Tan, disappointing daughter and wannabe dinosaur scientist, dressed in dusty workwear and steel-capped boots. She felt like Joanne Tan, woman.

Hux’s hands were sliding up her ribs. They found her shoulders and moved up her neck. They cupped her face and she’d have murmured ayes, please, don’t ever stop, but she was too busy kissing him back. His chest was warm when she placed her palms there, the back of his neck even warmer when she slid her hands into his hair.

After a moment that came way too soon, he eased back, kissed the corner of her mouth and pressed his forehead to hers. ‘Well,’ he said, his voice rough. ‘I guess now you know I’ve been thinking about you, too.’

CHAPTER

31

An hour later, all Jo’s gear had been delivered to the growing pile by the old dig site, the shade tarpaulin was up and two camp chairs were pulled in next to an old log that made a useful place to rest booted feet, and they’d made a big hole in a packet of Arnott’s Assorted that Luke had pulled out of one of the shopping bags. The sun was mellowing and edging closer to the ridge atop the jump-up, and Hux’s watch was telling him four o’clock wasn’t far away and he had some decisions to make.

Maggie’s parting words played on a loop in his head.

TYSON: She said she hoped you’d find whatever it was you were—

Yeah. He remembered what she said. He was just … unsure.

‘Any luck with road access?’ Jo said.

Unlike Jo, it seemed, who was all business.

‘We did a fly-by from the homestead to here and there’s no obvious track, but the ground’s flat. I think the four-wheel drive would have no trouble getting here. The police vehicles we saw last week must have come through from the homestead, because when I was looking for somewhere flat to land I saw fresh tyre tracks. I think you’ll be able to follow them no problem.’

‘Great. I’ll call the Dirt Girls in the morning and see if they’re okay with me driving around.’

‘It’s a fair old drive from where you’re parked, round the station’s perimeter and in through the main gate. Might take you an hour or two.’

‘I’ve got plenty of fuel.’

‘Yeah.’ That wasn’t really what was top of his mind, but Luke was sitting there with his ten-year-old ears flapping away in the breeze. ‘It’s, er, pretty remote out here. Especially with your vehicle a kilometre away.’

‘We’re fine.’

He cleared his throat. How could he say what he was worried about without freaking out the kid? Without alerting the kid’s mother to the fact that there was a lot of Huxtable family emotion swirling about just under the surface that Hux had no idea how to deal with, and the idea of leaving Jo and her kid alone out here without the resource of a fully equipped vehicle was making him break out into a sweat.

He tried a different tack. ‘As it happens, I’ll probably need to camp out here tonight.’ And then he could make sure she had a vehicle nearby before he left.

Jo blinked. ‘What on earth for?’

He shrugged. ‘The light’s fading. So far, I’ve had zero luck coming up with a reason for our mystery man to want to be dropped out here. By the time I look around some more it’ll be too late to fly back to Yindi Creek.’

‘You could fly back out here in the morning,’ she said.