“Morning.” He came to a halt, his breathing only mildly fast. “This is a surprise. Didn’t know you were into jogging, too.”
Ally wished her breathing could be as steady as his. Up close in his exercise gear, Nate’s body glowed with a powerful physicality, his damp shirt clinging to his slick pectorals.
“I jog this route three times a week.” She struggled not to ogle his muscled chest. “I’ve never seen you here before.”
“I usually jog in the evenings, but I got woken at the crack of dawn this morning by my neighbor’s mutt.” He looked her over, taking his time, seeming to enjoy the view, but frowned when he caught sight of her skinned knees. “What happened there?”
“Oh, just a bit of gravel burn. I didn’t see the fresh stuff they laid back there.” He continued to stare at her legs, making her self-conscious.
“Is it just your knees?”
Realizing there was no point in lying, she shrugged. “I twisted my ankle a little, too. Nothing serious, but it’ll take me a while to walk back home.”
“My place is just five minutes from here. I can run back to fetch my car.”
“Oh, no, that’s too much trouble. I’ll be fine.” She limped forward a few steps to prove her point.
“Don’t be so stubborn. I can’t leave you like this.”
She was being stubborn. And silly. If she had any sense, she’d accept his offer, but a part of her disliked the thought of being beholden to Nate. It was almost a week ago that he’d shown up at Clifton Gardens. After she’d turned down his invitation for a drink, she hadn’t seen him all week. Not that she was counting or anything.
“Tell you what,” she said. “Why don’t I walk with you back to your house, and you can give me a lift from there?”
He grinned, his teeth white against his tanned skin. “Okay.”
They moved off down the road. The air was fresh and sweet. Birds chirped, and bees droned in the bottlebrushes. The peaceful surroundings should have soothed her, but Nate’s presence had her all antsy. She couldn’t stop darting a glance at him every minute or so. His long, muscular legs with their smattering of dark hair were much too distracting.
“So where did you used to go jogging in the city?” she asked, desperate for a diversion from her overactive imagination.
“Usually on the treadmill in my apartment.” He gave her a wry smile. “I’d watch the news feeds and the overseas stock prices at the same time. I am—was—a master multi-tasker.”
It didn’t sound like much fun to her. “So you’ve given up the treadmill?”
“Couldn’t fit it in my house. Anyway, who wants to run for miles in the same spot? The scenery outside is a lot better.” His eyes flickered down once more to her leg. “How’s that ankle of yours holding up?”
She tried to act casual. Tried not to wish she’d shaved her legs before going jogging. “It’s not too bad now, but it probably won’t be happy by the time I close up shop today.”
They turned the corner onto Nate’s street, and she saw his house just ahead.
“Expecting a busy day?” he asked.
She nodded. “My stall at the garden festival generated a lot of phone enquiries. I’ve had to get more stock. Plus, a few of the wedding guests have been wandering in, and I expect more of them today and especially tomorrow.” Tomorrow night most of the guests were supposed to arrive. Almost all the hotels and inns around Burronga had been booked up for the entire weekend.
Nate gave her a quizzical look as they approached his house. “So there is a silver lining under every cloud.”
She waited until they reached his pickup truck before answering. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no cloud, just silver.”
He was just ahead of her, key at the ready to unlock the car. Without warning he swung round. “Good answer,” he murmured.
Her heart jumped from the nearness of his body and the glimmer in his eyes. And the instant, visceral response of her own body. “Silver and gold and crisp bank notes,” she said. “I’m talking about money.”
“Are you?” He shifted nearer, and the potent tang of his scent had her pressing up against the truck. She was trapped between him and the vehicle, and by her own rebellious longings. “I thought you were talking about something else completely.”
The metal of the truck was cool against her back. Her front took the full brunt of the heat radiating off his body. She tried to breathe in and out slowly, but she couldn’t concentrate. The pulse at the base of his throat had her mesmerized. She wanted to reach up on tiptoe and slide her mouth over his skin, licking, sucking, kissing… The sharpness of her wanting made her dizzy.
“Ally?” His husky, honeyed voice slid over her like a caress.
“Um?” She blinked, belatedly aware that her lips had parted, and she was staring at him like a star-struck groupie. He hadn’t laid a finger on her, and yet she tingled all over as if he’d been stroking her.
“Usually when a woman looks at me the way you’re looking at me…well, let’s just say we wouldn’t be talking by now, we’d be scandalizing the neighbors.”
Heat flooded her. “You’ve got a wild imagination.”
“Only as wild as yours.”
The invitation in his burnt sugar eyes was almost irresistible. She pushed her back against his truck, desperate for some breathing space. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not one of those brash women you pick up in your trendy city bars.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t live in the city anymore.”
“A leopard can’t change its spots.”
“Who says the leopard wants to change?”
Oh, boy. How was she going to get out of this one? “Why me? Surely you can see it’s a bad idea.”
“Don’t you remember what I said about bad ideas and me?” He smiled roguishly. “I like you, Ally. A lot. And I know what I’m feeling isn’t one-sided.”
Her pulse leaped. Pure lust coalesced around her center, fever-hot. She bit her lip against the temptation. “Just because we have urges doesn’t mean we need to act on them,” she said. “We’re not animals.”
“Really? You could’ve fooled me.”
She pressed hot hands against the cool metal of the truck. “I’m not kidding.”
He let out a forceful breath, his frustration beginning to show. “Okay, have it your way this time, but I’m giving you fair warning. Give me that I’m-oh-so-hot-for-you look again, and I’m going to kiss you, whether you say so or not.” He unlocked the car and opened the passenger door for her. “Hop in. I’ll get you home unscathed.”
She started breathing again. She clambered into the car and shut the door.
We’re not animals, she’d told Nate. Now she just had to convince herself.
Chapter Nine
“Ally, thank Christ, am I glad to see you.”
“Hey, that’s what sisters are for.” Ally squeezed Jess’s arm as she took her place at the workbench beside her sister.
“Are you sure about this?” Jess chewed her lip. “I mean, it seems a bit weird…”
To ask her to make floral arrangements for her ex-fiancé’s wedding? Maybe, but not under these circumstances. It was just after six in the evening, the day before the wedding. Jess had called Ally, asking if she could come over and help, and when Ally had arrived at the floral shop shortly afterward, she’d seen why. Jess looked awful. Her face was sallow, and her fingers were scarred from the florist wire she’d been twisting all day long. Her shoulders were slumped with exhaustion, and her eyes had taken on a glazed yet panicked expression.
“I’m glad you called me,” Ally said. “Now that I’m here, why don’t you go home and relax?”
Brian, who had been hovering in the background, moved forward to cup Jess’s shoulders. “Yeah, honey. I’ve been telling you for hours to take a break. Ally and I can finish the rest.”
“No, you can’t.” Jess shrugged off her husband and pulled a ceramic bowl toward her. “Here, let me show you how to do the centerpieces.”
Ally threw a sympathetic glance at Brian before focusing her attention on her sister’s demonstration. Brian was a lovely husband, but when it came to floral arrangements he was all thumbs, and Jess had long ago assumed full responsibility for this aspect of their business. From the side benches filled with ornate bouquets, Ally could see Jess had already completed the bigger arrangements. She would have finished the smaller centerpieces, too, if she hadn’t been plagued by morning sickness the entire day.
Ally watched as Jess gathered peonies, mock orange, fern, and laurel leaves and fashioned a graceful arrangement around a white scented candle set into a bowl. Ally had often helped her sister, and it wasn’t too difficult to follow her instructions. Taking her own materials, she worked at a slower pace, carefully replicating Jess’s centerpiece.
“Good enough?” she asked when she’d finished.
Jess nodded and gave her a faint smile of relief.
As she gazed at her work, Ally experienced the faintest of twinges in her chest. Tomorrow the centerpiece she’d just created would grace a table at Seth and Paige’s wedding. She wouldn’t be human if she didn’t feel a slight regret that beautiful flowers like these wouldn’t be adorning her own wedding. At nineteen she’d been too young to get married, but she knew that she wanted a husband, a loving relationship, and eventually children. Maybe not now, but some day in the future.