Page 21 of The Mistletoe Wish

“I’ll keep an eye on them.” Darim placed his picnic basket near the table and moved over to the edge to stand sentry. “Don’t go out into the middle, Skye. The current is still running fast after that last storm.”

“Seriously, Dad? I’m a junior lifesaver at Bondi Beach.”

Smiling as father and daughter continued to argue, Sara removed the jumbo-sized Tupperware container of fruit salad and a tub of Greek yoghurt then added both to the groaning table. She chucked off her clothes, laying them neatly in a pile before treading carefully over the bindi covered ground.

“Are you coming in?” she asked Darim who stood arms folded and frowning at the water’s edge.

His eyes lit up as they examined her modest emerald-green swimsuit, and a wolfish smile curled his lips. “Sweetheart, one day and soon; we’re going swimming. Alone.”

“Is that a promise – or a challenge?” She popped a hand on one hip and added with no trace of a smile on her face and a hard thump of her heart, “Because either way, I can handle anything you care to dish out.”

“I know. That’s what I’m counting on.” Sneaking an arm about her waist, he tugged her close and his lips grazed her temple.

For several pulse pounding, tummy churning seconds, she stood tense and stiff uncertain how to react. She was acutely aware of his daughter’s widened eyes.

Tessa whispered with a wide grin, as she walked past with Tilly, “Gran is never wrong.”

But her words only dimly registered.

As Sara sucked in a shaky breath, all she was aware of and all she could feel was Darim’s searing male heat branding her heart forever. What she longed for more than anything was to turn into his embrace and kiss him. To taste his lips on hers.

Doubt held her back.

But if she didn’t tell him about her past, he could eventually hear about it from someone else.

Then what kind of a relationship would they have? Him knowing she’d kept such a dark secret from him. Her racked with guilt because she hadn’t trusted him.

That wasn’t the life she wanted them to share.

He deserved the truth.

Whether he could ever understand and forgive, however, was a black cloud that sucked the life from her soul.

And kept her rigid in his arms.

CHAPTER9

Darim felt distinctly grouchy when he stalked inside the shack the following morning after rapping on the door and been given the okay to enter. A decent sleep had eluded him. Instead, he had spent the majority of the night plotting and wondering how to dismantle Sara’s defenses. It seemed she was determined to keep him at arm’s length, despite the mutual attraction that amplified by the hour. There had been a moment at the rock pool, when he’d honestly thought she had been about to kiss him. But she’d beat a hasty retreat. Worse, he’d spotted a deep sadness in the darkness of her eyes. Unable to do anything to erase it had burned like a cauterised wound all night long. It wasn’t in him to sit on the sidelines when someone was in need. He was a fixer of problems - a protector.

Unfortunately, Sara wasn’t having any of it or him.

That vague idea he’d had of forcing her out of their joint ownership had vanished. What he wanted now was a more intimate partnership.

Apparently, not only was Sara not listening but so was the universe. Maybe it was time he tried a mistletoe wish.

His gaze sought and found her the instant he set foot over the threshold. She was dressed in faded jeans and a long sleeve white tee. Her shiny black hair was pulled back from her face in a low ponytail. But it was her complexion that held him still; normally a light golden honey shade, she was pale and there were smudges beneath her eyes.

She looked up from where she was folding a blanket.

And stiffened.

Damnit.He couldn’t read a thing from her impassive expression.

“What’s llama day?” Skye stabbed a finger on the yellow sticky note attached to the wall behind the camp stove. “Is this something to do with the llamas you were talking about Dad?”

He grunted an affirmative.

“Cool.”

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