A Girl Called Malice. Aurelia B. Rowl

fire balls.’

      Zac closed the distance between us and sank down onto his haunches. ‘Can I see?’ he asked, holding out his hands palm up in front of him.

      ‘Um…’ I hesitated. I’d grown so accustomed to showing no sign of weakness that I struggled to accept help from anyone.

      ‘I’ll be careful.’

      ‘Hey, Charlie Bear,’ I said, turning my attention back to the little boy still stood naked from the waist down. ‘Can you be a big boy and show me how well you can get dressed again all by yourself?’

      He immediately reached for his pants.

      Zac waited without saying a word as though he could sense the battle going on inside my head. Hell, the way he was looking into my eyes he could probably see the battle going on inside my head without my usual shields in place. The strong desire to withdraw and lick my wounds alone was in direct opposition to the whole weird trust thing telling me it was OK.

      ‘Charlie, do you think you could have a hunt around the tree for my phone? I accidentally dropped it.’

      ‘Sure,’ he said.

      ‘Thanks, I knew I could rely on you,’ I said. Charlie’s little chest puffed up. ‘There’s a photo I really wanted to show you. I took quite a few in fact so help yourself.’

      ‘Cool!’ He immediately turned to begin his search so I looked back at Zac.

      Kindness and concern were all I could see in his eyes. He hadn’t let me down—not yet anyway—and my hands really did hurt so his first aid skills could come in useful. Ultimately, it was his patience that swung the decision in his favour and I placed my hands face up on top of his open palms. We both winced at the mess I’d made of them and my eyes prickled.

      ‘Ouch.’ He tenderly raised my hands, inspecting them one at a time. ‘They look like they’ve been in a fight with a cheese grater.’

      As comparisons went, it was pretty good. The entire surface of both hands was grazed, bleeding in some places and oozing clear icky stuff in others. Whether that was leaking out of me or was nothing more than residue from the tree was hard to tell.

      ‘They feel like it too,’ I said through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to rip my hands out of Zac’s despite his gentle touch. ‘Then, for an encore, I juggled a dozen hedgehogs.’

      ‘I thought you only juggled fire balls?’

      ‘Hedgehogs, fire balls, axes…what can I say? It’s a hobby of mine.’

      ‘Is falling out of trees a hobby of yours, too?’

      ‘You could say that.’ I allowed myself another sly peek at him. ‘Let’s just say my one hundred per cent record is still intact.’

      ‘Do you do it often?’

      ‘Hell no. I was seven the only other time I tried and it resulted in a broken wrist.’

      ‘Oops. Third time lucky, then? I mean the climbing part, not the falling.’

      ‘No way, I’m never setting foot in a tree ever again.’

      ‘Probably for the best.’ One corner of his mouth turned up a fraction but it didn’t make a dent in the serious expression he wore. ‘You need to get these cleaned up, Alice.’

      ‘Yeah, I know.’ I heaved a sigh, then nodded towards the abandoned picnic blanket. ‘I’ve got some kit in my bag.’

      ‘You carry first aid kit around with you?’ he asked, not quite masking his surprise.

      ‘Yeah, just in case Charlie falls over,’ I replied. ‘I didn’t really expect to be using it on myself.’

      ‘I’m impressed, but I doubt it will have everything we need?’

      A single butterfly fluttered its wings somewhere in my stomach. ‘We?’

      ‘Sure,’ he said, peering into my eyes again but hitting me with the cocky grin I was rapidly learning to associate with him. ‘You’re not really going to deny me the chance to put my training to good use, are you?’

      ‘Don’t you have places to be? A run to finish?’

      ‘Nothing that can’t wait and my shift doesn’t start for a another couple of hours.’ Zac had to be too good to be true.

      I even opened my mouth to tell him as much but chickened out. The words ‘OK, thanks’ came out instead.

      His smile grew wider still. ‘You don’t have to sound so glum about it, I’d make an excellent nurse if I wasn’t too busy playing the hero.’

      ‘Pity,’ I deadpanned. ‘I’m sure the dress would look great on you.’

      ‘Definitely.’ His chuckle set off a tingle that fizzed from my head to my toe. ‘I have a great pair of legs.’

      I made a show of appraising his lean, tanned legs but it backfired. Muscles clenched deep inside my core and crushed the tingly warm and fuzzies, replacing it with a different kind of heat. I’d lay down a bet right now that even a nun would find Zac irresistible so what chance did I have?

      ‘Yes, you do,’ I said, staring right into his eyes.

      ‘Told you so.’

      For once I didn’t have to pretend to be interested in a guy before I tried to pull him. ‘But what about your bedside manner?’ I slipped effortlessly into ‘flirt’ mode, complete with coy smile. ‘Is that great too?’

      Zac’s smile flickered but he didn’t miss a beat. ‘I guess you’d have to take that up with my girlfriend.’

       Yeah right.

      Like I’d ever let something as minor as another girl deter me from going after a guy. Poaching was a speciality of mine and it had been a while since I’d had a decent challenge. I had to give Zac credit for getting the girlfriend comment in nice and early, he’d already outdone a lot of the guys I’d known. It would almost make me sad to corrupt him but the heady thrill of the chase consumed me, promising my next feel-good hit so I pouted and tilted my head on an angle.

      ‘Maybe I will,’ I said, looking up at Zac from beneath my lashes. His eyes widened but I was too intoxicated by the rush of endorphins to care and leaned in closer until my mouth was within a whisker of the sensitive spot where his jaw and ear connected. ‘But I’d much rather find out for myself,’ I murmured huskily, making sure my lips brushed against his skin.

      Zac’s breath hitched in his throat and he swallowed deeply, fixing his gaze on a spot over my shoulder. His body language screamed at me to back off but he was just too polite to voice it. He got around it by locking his jaws so tightly together I expected to hear a grinding sound and I swear he’d stopped breathing. It was like I’d pressed some invisible pause button by accident and left him frozen.

       What have I done?

      Moisture gathered in my eyes as tears threatened to spill over, but I didn’t cry over guys and I certainly didn’t cry over rejection. I’d had a lifetime to get used to that feeling. Zac’s body language reached deafening level and snapped me out of my stupor. I pulled away to give him some space but foolishly risked a glance at his face as I sank back onto my heels.

      A slight red tinge crept across the top of his cheekbone to the tip of his ear and he eyed me warily. Within a millisecond I could tell that I’d blown it. A barrier had gone up between us and it wasn’t one of mine. Being on the other side was as effective as a bucket of cold water being dumped on me and it doused the more stubborn flames.

      ‘I’m sorry, I… That was…’ My voice quivered and then died altogether. If I could have wound back the clock, I would have but the damage was done. Goosebumps erupted over my arms but my hands were still held within Zac’s grip so I couldn’t use them to chase away the icy chill that coursed through my