Andy looked at her with narrowed eyes. ‘Whatever you say, boss.’
*
By early afternoon, everything was done. Andy had left and Ava was doing a last-minute check of each tier of the garden before she too would leave. Normally, she would do a handover with the client, take them on a tour of the renovated garden, pointing out all the special features and design tricks she’d employed, and then present her final bill.
But that wasn’t going to be possible with this job, with this client, with this man.
Upstairs, the pool was pristine and sparkling. The dark mosaics on the bottom shimmered and blurred in the water and the sides were a brilliant aquamarine blue. It had an infinity edge, with the water lapping over a hidden drain, which gave it the appearance of floating in the sky. The place looked like a resort, which it actually was to any normal person.
Ava kneeled down on the edge and ran her fingers through the water. It really was deliciously cool. She drizzled droplets of water across her forehead and the relief from her exertion and the heat was palpable and instant.
And then she got the craziest idea. She was all alone in this stunning house. After today, she would never see it again.
And there was a pool.
She was sweating and hot and there was a pool.
No-one would ever know.
She stood, unlaced her work boots and slipped them off, pulled off her thick socks, and unzipped her shorts. She tugged them off, leaving them in a crumpled heap on the slate tiles that surrounded the pool, flicked off her tank top and stood in her bra and knickers. Her plain, sensible skin-coloured bra and knickers because who on earth wore anything fancy when you were working all day in the dirt and your own sweat?
Her smile became a face-splitting grin. She stripped off her underwear and stood on the edge of the water, naked, the breeze coming off the ocean surrounding her, thrilling her to life at the deliciously risqué thing she was doing.
She took a deep breath and dived in.
*
All Callum wanted to do was dump his suitcase, secure his briefcase and the papers within it in his home office, and then find Ava. He didn’t head directly from the airport to his office in the city, as he usually would when returning from a business trip. He had an entirely different kind of business to take care of.
He’d meant every word that he’d said to Ava on the phone. Damn the phone. Damn that conversation that had to happen when he was six thousand miles away. He’d challenged her: tell me you don’t want me. She hadn’t denied it. All she said was that they couldn’t. And then something strange, something he couldn’t understand. Something about betraying Lulu.
There were things they needed to talk about. There were things he needed to say to her. About how he felt. That meeting her had him thinking about a future for the first time in a long time.
As he turned the corner into his street, he shook off the tiredness he felt. He’d never learnt to sleep on planes, no matter how comfortable first class was. And last night? Knowing that he’d be seeing Ava today? He didn’t sleep.
Callum checked his watch. It was nearly two in the afternoon. As he turned into his winding street, he spotted her car parked out front.
He felt something like desire course through him. She was here. A flight of stairs away from his bed, which was better than he’d planned. He needed her. He wanted her in the most ferocious way.
And he wouldn’t have to waste precious time driving around to Bondi to find her.
He waited impatiently on the street while his garage door opened and then parked the car with a squeal of brakes. He tugged his keys from the ignition and got out, suddenly full of energy. A couple of flights of stairs later and he was in his living room.
‘Ava?’ he called. He didn’t see the balcony doors were closed. He didn’t notice the new black wicker chairs or the large grey pots filled with cycads placed strategically along one of the walls. He strode across the room, slid open the doors to the balcony and stepped out.
That’s when he heard something. A splashing from the pool below.
Callum walked to the balcony railing and peered over the side.
He gripped the cool metal of the balcony railing.
Holy fuck.
*
Ava had closed her eyes against the warm afternoon sun and was singing to herself, wafting her arms back and forth at her sides to keep afloat. Her voice echoed under the water as if she were wearing headphones and that made her smile. What a glorious feeling and what a beautiful place, she thought. It wasn’t a bad way to end this part of her life, to officially close the book on her years of obsession with Callum Malone, by literally washing herself clean of him.
On Monday, her life would start a new chapter. She would work with every fibre of her being to be over Callum, to put him in her past where he belonged. Because no matter how much he wanted her and she wanted him, wanting didn’t mean it would happen or should happen. Fate and timing had cruelly teased her once again.