One last fluff of her hair and she closed the bedroom door behind her.Take it or leave it, Cole Harrison. This is as good as it gets.
Having Nancy and Lenore sitting in the lounge room like parents waiting for their daughter’s prom date to arrive was frankly a tad embarrassing. She probably should have arranged to meet Cole wherever it was they were going, in case she needed to make an early exit, but she’d been so euphoric about actually going on a date, it hadn’t even occurred to her. Until now.
‘I’m going to head out.’ Making a quick exit would circumvent any inquisition.
Lenore lowered her book to her lap and looked over the glasses perched on the end of her nose. ‘You look gorgeous.’ Sitting there beside the Christmas tree in her leopard print kaftan, silver hoops in her ears, her hair whirled into a bun, she looked more like a fortune-telling clairvoyant than a retired academic. ‘If he doesn’t fall instantly in love with you, the man’s a fool.’ She winked. ‘Or at least in lust, but I suspect that horse has bolted.’
‘Lenny, leave the poor girl alone.’ Nancy tutted and waved a hand in the air. ‘Get going before she asks if you’re wearing your best lingerie.’
‘Ooh, I hadn’t—’
‘Have a good night, you two.’
Cole’s ute cruised into the driveway the second she stepped out the door. A big green tick for punctuality. He got out of the car wearing a khaki checked shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a pair of well-fitting jeans and boots buffed to an eye-catching shine. Another tick for grooming.
‘Hi.’
‘Hi.’ Her knees shook as if she’d stepped off a fast-moving treadmill and her mouth was sandpaper dry. ‘You look—’
‘You look—’
They both spoke at once and immediately laughed.
‘We both look great, right?’ As he opened the passenger door, he smiled that slightly bashful smile that turned her insides to molten lava. She breathed in the leathery, salty scent that was peculiarly him.
‘So …’ She snuck a peek at his biceps while he reversed out of the driveway. ‘Where are we going?’
‘On a picnic.’
‘Really?’ It had been years since she’d been on a picnic, possibly decades, and the spot her family frequented in the national park sprang into her mind. The crunch of fallen leaves under her feet. Rock-hopping with Maddie. Catching tadpoles as they listened to the magical burble of the creek. Bittersweet memories that left a hollow in her stomach and a catch in her throat. ‘Where to?’
‘It’s a surprise.’ The rumble in his voice as he spoke, the cheeky raise of his eyebrows and the smallest curve at the corner of his lips sent her hormones into overdrive. As long as he kept his eyes on the road he wouldn’t notice her nipples standing to attention beneath her shirt.
Thank God she’d worn her sexiest underwear.
In what seemed to be a silent pact, neither of them mentioned Owen. Tonight was about them, getting to know each other without the shadow of how they’d actually met darkening the conversation. They chatted about the town, Cole growing up and her moving there, a few mutual acquaintances, the progress in his stepfather’s recovery and their respective plans for Christmas. She even got through that topic without her muscles tensing or her pulse rate skyrocketing. The talking was easy and relaxed and with every turn they took in the road as it wound higher into the escarpment, the swarm of butterflies careening around inside her stomach began to settle. Coming on the date had been a good decision.
Pulling off the road, Cole got out of the ute and retrieved a picnic basket from the tray, handed her a blanket and led the way along a narrow trail. He clearly wanted the destination to be a surprise, so Hannah resisted speaking or asking questions, focusing instead on the sway of his hips as he navigated the bumps on the path and the fine hairs feathering the nape of his neck. All the while her blood was heating, warming her from her core to the tips of her fingers. She checked her back pocket for the small foil packets she’d slipped in there at the last minute, two for good measure. A girl had to be prepared.
‘Here we are.’
Cole stepped to one side as they entered a clearing that ran down to the edge of the escarpment. A swathe of gum trees reached all the way to the horizon, studded with patches of black where the fire had ravaged the land, but mostly masses of green shoots reaching their branches skywards as if throwing their hands up in celebration.
Hannah drew in a breath. ‘Wow.’ Such an inadequate expression of how she was feeling but all she could utter in the face of such beauty.
‘Pretty spectacular, isn’t it?’
‘I didn’t know about this place.’ She’d studied dozens of websites, planning out walking routes, but none of them had included the lookout.
Cole shrugged. ‘It’s a well-kept secret. Local hikers know about it but it’s not on any of the maps.’
‘You bushwalk?’
‘When I get the time. Haven’t done much of it lately. Too busy. But I’m hoping to get back to it once Bill is fully recovered and Owen doesn’t need babysitting.’
Stranger and stranger.
He took a step back and there at his feet was a cotton picnic blanket, a vase of apricot grevilleas sitting in the centre, batteryoperated tea light candles flickering in a horseshoe around the edge, two padded, ground-level seats and a bottle of champagne chilling in a cooler. It was like something from a television dating show.