Page 18

Carter’s body swayed with the truck as Indy handled the swooping hairpin turn on their way down Windale Mountain the following morning.

Ray had offered to ride with Indy so Carter could have a half-hour longer in bed, but spending alone time with Indy without raising suspicion from Beau or anyone else was definitely worth getting up early for.

He needed any time he could get with her to convince her that he did want to kiss her.

Still, he was being careful to keep his gaze on the treetops and his breathing even, not wanting to reinforce his reputation as the vomiter.

He rested his head back and the red heeler on the seat between them laid her head on his leg. He ru?ed behind her ears.

Indy glanced over briefly from the driver’s seat. ‘Traitor,’ she mumbled.

Carter pinched his lips together to stop his laughter.

She’d scowled the whole morning, from loading the sheep onto the back of the truck with the aid of the two dogs that now sat between them, to pulling out past the bunkhouse and onto the windy road.

Even now she sat straight-backed in the driver’s seat, her grip on the large steering wheel turning her knuckles white, her shoulders bunched up near her ears.

Why was she so on edge? What was she worried about?

He would’ve asked her if he thought he’d actually get a straight answer.

She obviously didn’t want him in the truck or coming to the expo at all.

When he’d overheard her conversation yesterday with Nova, seeing and being with Indy again had been the only thing on his mind.

And that seemed to make her edgy. Because she liked him as well? Man, he hoped so.

‘Is it the showgrounds in Windale?’ he asked.

‘No,’ she answered, not taking her eyes from the road as it finally flattened out. ‘It’s the regional showgrounds that are closer to Denarlie, a bigger town.’

‘How long will it take to get there?’

She shrugged. ‘Longer than if we didn’t have twenty sheep in the back.’

He chuckled. ‘Fair enough.’ Relaxing his legs, he stroked the fur between Scout’s ears absentmindedly, drawing another glance from Indy.

She cleared her throat. ‘Tell me something. How does your coach become your stepfather?’

‘Other way around.’

‘What?’ This time she glanced at his face, confusion briefly concealing her scowl.

With her hair pulled back in a braid, he had the clearest view of those blue eyes in the morning sun.

The perfect colour. A blue he wanted to paint on every wall in his house so he could always be reminded of her. Man, he was turning into a sap.

‘He became my stepfather first and my coach second.’

‘Right, so you said your dad was a great footy player and then your mum married a footy coach. Is she, like, a mega fan of the game or something?’

He chuckled again, but sobered when the memory of his mother’s reaction to him going away on camp with a team that hated him hit.

Not a current fan. ‘My dad and Jonathan were both in the army and were best mates. Dad played in the ADF team, the Australian Defence Force team, and Jonathan coached the team. That’s how they met.

When Dad died, Jonathan would come around a lot and I guess he was really good at comforting my mum.

They didn’t start anything until three years after Dad died. ’

Indy nodded slowly and Carter peered past her, checking out the small town of Windale. Houses crept up the side of a hill behind a line of old buildings and large industrial sheds. They passed a clock tower on a roundabout. This early, it looked as sleepy as the rest of the town.

‘Why is he coaching instead of playing?’ Indy asked as the truck continued out the other end of town, past a small primary school with wooden buildings painted a deep green that reminded Carter of his very first school. ‘Is it a case of those who can’t do, teach?’

He shook his head. ‘Jonathan played in the ADF team himself until a roadside bomb took a couple of huge chunks out of his legs on his second deployment in Afghanistan.’

‘Wow.’ Her voice was soft and her face pale, all snarkiness faded. ‘I wondered why he always wore long pants in this heat but never noticed a limp or anything.’

A tiny smile tugged at the corners of Carter’s mouth.

‘Honestly, the guy’s something else. From what I’ve heard, he took the blow on the chin, got on with his rehab and took a job mentoring other wounded soldiers.

Everyone admired his courage, and he still loved his football, so they kept him on as coach.

The national rugby league guys were keeping an eye on him, and when I got accepted into the Scorpions juniors’ program, they made him an offer to be on the coaching staff. ’

‘Sounds like a fairytale.’

‘If fairytales include a lot of hard work to prove myself then, yeah, we can go with that.’

‘I don’t think Cinderella would call scrubbing floors and putting up with wicked stepsisters easy.’ She grinned. ‘Or Snow White picking up after seven messy little men. That wouldn’t be classified as fun.’

Carter chuckled again. ‘Or going less traditional, Shrek taking on a dragon and a pompous little wannabe king to make Fiona his bride.’

Indy laughed and slapped the steering wheel. ‘Pretty sure Shrek was made by DreamWorks not Disney, but sure, I’ll let you have that one.’

‘Still counts as a fairytale.’ He was quietly chuffed to have made her laugh so heartily.

‘I’m sure it would’ve taken hard work, I mean, I’ve seen the effort you put into your training sessions, but didn’t Jonathan, like, pave the way for you?’

Carter’s eyebrows rose. ‘He tried, but my last name’s still Hendrix, not Taylor.’ He paused. ‘I knew you’d been checking me out.’

‘What?’ Realisation dawned on her face. ‘No, that’s not what I meant.’

Carter let his laughter fill the cab. ‘Face it, you’ve been reliving that almost kiss just as much as I have, and you want to try again. Maybe you should listen to that little voice in your head that’s telling you it’s okay, I’m a sure bet.’

‘Ha.’ Her laugh was laced with sarcasm. ‘You don’t have to pretend to be interested in me to protect my feelings. I’m a big girl. I can handle a bit of rejection.’

‘There’s no pretending here.’

‘I get why you wouldn’t be into me. I wouldn’t be into me if I was you. Don’t worry, I’m not even offended. Now, can we just stop talking about it?’

Carter wanted to beat his head against the window. ‘Indy! I do want to kiss you. But you were shaking in my arms and when I kiss you for the first time, I don’t want it to be because you’re scared.’ The words burst out of him.

She visibly swallowed and her grip on the steering wheel tightened. ‘I said I don’t want to talk about it.’

With only the warning of an indicator’s ticking, the truck rumbled to a stop on the side of the road. Carter glanced out his window to see a bakery lit up invitingly against the outline of the smallest town on record. This couldn’t be Denarlie.

‘I need to check on the sheep,’ Indy muttered. She shot out of the cab.

Carter tipped his head back and groaned. No. His resolve strengthened. He wasn’t letting this go.

Springing out the door, he rounded the cab and saw Indy standing on the side of the truck, looking over the sheep with a sharp eye. He took a deep breath, marched up to her, reached up and, with two hands around her waist, lifted her to the ground. He spun her around, keeping her in his arms.

‘What are you doing?’ Her eyes were wide as she grasped onto his shoulders.

‘I’m kissing you. Do you have any objections?’ He dipped her back slowly, giving her time to answer.

She stayed silent, her sapphire eyes boring into his.

He lowered his head until his mouth met with hers.

Shooting stars rocketed through him, as her warm, soft lips moved beneath his.

A meteor could’ve taken out the truck and he wouldn’t have noticed or cared.

He forgot about everything except how good it was to hold her, to taste her, to be in her orbit.

She became the sun that his world was consumed by.

A light moan escaped her and it almost undid him.

Her lips parted invitingly and his tongue darted out, seizing the moment.

Their tongues twirled and danced together, exploring their new surroundings.

It was sweet, natural … perfect. If he never kissed another girl for the rest of his life, he’d die happy.

Fuck. That was a thought he’d never had before.

Indy broke the kiss first. A smile stretched wide on his face as he stood her up straight. A million questions popped in his head, but he didn’t voice any of them. The dazed, sated look on her face told him everything he needed to know.

‘Coffee?’

‘What?’ Her voice was breathy.

He jerked his head towards the bakery. ‘Do you want a coffee?’

Her smile was hesitant. ‘Sure.’

He walked away, refraining from the urge to whistle a happy tune.

Moments later, he climbed back into the cab with coffees in takeaway cups and cheese and Vegemite scrolls, grease already making marks on the paper bags that held them. Indy accepted hers with a soft thank you and they hit the road again.

The cab was quiet as they sipped their drinks and devoured the food, Indy’s gaze remaining steady on the road in front of them.

Carter’s happiness turned to anxiousness. ‘Can you please tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?’

Indy chewed on her bottom lip before answering. ‘That kiss shouldn’t have happened.’

‘I thought you wanted it? You didn’t say no.’ Shit, should he have waited for her to say yes?

‘It’s not that,’ she said. ‘It shouldn’t have happened because it won’t be happening again.’

‘Indy, I know you gave a whole lot of reasons why you think I wouldn’t be interested in you, but I really want to get to know you better and, yeah, do more kissing—’

‘You need to stop pushing it.’

‘Give me one real reason why it can’t happen again and I’ll let it go. Not the bullshit about our ages or being from different sides of the track or you having too much baggage.’

‘All of those are true and should be enough,’ she said, hotly. ‘But here’s another. I’ll get fired. Lose my job. Be out on my arse with nowhere to go. All for a fling? No, thanks. I told you, I’m no one’s bed warmer.’

It might not be a fling, Carter wanted to say.

It could be something tangible and real, long lasting.

But he swallowed his response. He couldn’t promise that.

Hell, he liked Indy, and she deserved the world, but was he really in a position to give it to her right now?

When his team didn’t trust him, his sponsors were on the verge of walking and he didn’t even know where he’d be next year? He deflated like a cut tyre.

Indy drove slowly through the quiet streets of Denarlie until she found signs directing them towards the showgrounds. They pulled in through the gate and Carter noticed a man in his early sixties with a grey Akubra on his head scowling at them from the main building.

‘Who’s that?’ he asked, breaking the silence that stretched between them. The man had leathered skin and an abnormally long nose, and his protruding stomach was encased in a blue flanno.

Indy finally grinned. ‘That’s Sharty Barty.’ She paused. ‘Bartholomew Granger. Our neighbour, a crusty bastard who wants to chase us off the mountain and put us in a kitchen or answering phones behind a desk.’

‘Sounds delightful.’

‘Do me a favour? When he comes over for a chat, and you can guarantee that he will, make sure you tell him how much you’re enjoying your stay at Windale Mountain Station? Rave about it, even if you have to make something up.’

Carter grinned at the fire in her eyes. ‘It would be my pleasure.’