Dreaming Of... Australia. Annie West

was free to give.

      And so Sam playing kissing-kites had done nothing but mess with her head and cut her deep down inside where she never let anyone go.

      ‘Aimee … Stop.’

      ‘Someone will steal your kites,’ she threw back over her stiff shoulder, picking up pace as the park got smaller behind them.

      ‘They’ll have to untangle them first.’

      Her smile stretched her skin tight. Even his sharp wit got up her nose. Why couldn’t he be an egotist? Or as thick as two planks? Was he not even the slightest bit muddled by what had just happened back in the skies? By that little aerial seduction?

      Did he not even have the decency to be vaguely rattled?

      ‘Aimee. Please.’

      Her feet slowed. Shuffled. Stopped. But she didn’t turn around. Either he’d see how mad she was or he’d see the confusion in her eyes, and she didn’t want either. She clenched her fists. ‘I’ve got somewhere to be, Sam. I’m not at your disposal all day.’

      ‘You’re angry with me.’

      Her eyes drifted shut and she turned slowly, marshalling her expression. ‘I’m not angry with you. I’m just angry at …’ The universe. The timing. ‘… this whole situation.’

      ‘It was nothing. It wasn’t supposed to be anything.’

      That meant he knew it was something. Her mouth dried up.

      He lifted his hands either side of him. ‘I just wanted you to have the chance to fly a kite.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because you never have. That seems wrong.’

      ‘Why is it your job to fix the ills of my past?’

      He frowned. ‘Because …’ But his words evaporated and his shoulders sagged. ‘I don’t know, Aimee. I just wanted to see your face the first time you got the kite up. I wanted to give you that.’

      She stared at him. It was a nice thing to do, and it was just kites. But then it wasn’t. ‘So what was with the kite foreplay?’

      It was a risk. She watched his face closely for signs of total bemusement, for a hint that this was all in her head and totally one-sided and she’d just made a complete fool of herself. Or for the defensiveness of a man caught out.

      She got neither.

      ‘I don’t know,’ he murmured, frowning and stepping closer. ‘It just happened. And it was kind of …’ She tipped her head as he grasped for the right words. ‘Beautiful. Organic. It didn’t feel wrong.’

      It had been beautiful and it had started so naturally, but it was wrong. It had felt too good so it had to be wrong. She shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her sweatshirt and took a deep, slow breath. ‘This is how we’re always going to go, Sam. Even something ordinary like flying a kite becomes—’ loaded ‘—unordinary.’

      He ruffled long fingers through his hair and stared at her. ‘So maybe that’s just us? Why don’t we just … allow for it?’

      Allow for it? ‘How?’

      He stopped in front of her, looking down with deep, calm eyes. ‘It is what it is, Aimee. Neither one of us is going to act on it, so do we really need to stress about it? We could just accept that there’s an … attraction … between us, and then just move past it.’

      Her lips twisted along with the torsion in her gut. ‘You make it sound so simple.’

      ‘I’m sure we’re not the first two people who have accidental chemistry.’

      Except it wasn’t just chemistry for her. Her mind was involved. Her heart. And that made it very complicated.

      ‘What just happened with the kites …’ he started. ‘I feel comfortable around you, Aimee. Relaxed. It just happened. I’ll be on my guard from now on so that it doesn’t happen again.’

      Her chest hurt. ‘What kind of friendship is that going to make? If we’re both constantly guarding our words and actions?’ Our hearts.

      His broad shoulders lifted and fell, but she couldn’t tell if it was a shrug or a sigh. ‘Our kind.’

      Sam’s defeat was contagious. Her eyes dropped to the ground.

      ‘Come on. We have an hour before we’re due back. Let’s go rescue the kites and then go back to the café for that interview.’

      The interview. Did either of them believe that excuse any more? But the pages of her book were already established neutral territory between them, so it was good to have it to retreat to.

       Just accept the attraction …

      Aimee shook her head. He was so easy to believe. He was so certain that this was a good idea. Sam had no doubt that he could put aside whatever this was simmering away between them, and maybe he could.

      But could she?