Page 39 of Return of the Outback Billionaire

‘I ordered for us. Hope you don’t mind.’

‘I don’t mind.’

He padded forward to take his coffee, his body honed for battle and his expression guarded. ‘You left.’

‘The bathroom was calling. Loudly.’

He studied her over the rim of his coffee cup. ‘And you didn’t return.’

‘But I was just about to come in and try and wake you with the smell of good coffee.’ There was that.

‘Did I hurt you last night?’

He just wouldn’t let it go. ‘Physically, no. Though I’m a little sad that I’ve wasted so many years not having sex, because damn, Judah. I loved it.’

She had the pleasure of watching a slow blush steal across his cheeks. ‘Oh, really?’

‘Flat-out loved it.’ Where were her manners? ‘Thank you for the introduction. Although I’m sure I still have so much to learn.’

No offer to tutor her was forthcoming. But he did raise an eyebrow and hold her gaze.

She was Bridie from the bush and so many of its hazards didn’t faze her. Surely she could continue her line of reasoning in the face of a raised eyebrow. ‘You didn’t overwhelm me. You could teach me. You could use hands.’ Was that a flash of amusement in his eyes? Hard to tell, it was gone so quickly, leaving careful blankness in its wake. ‘I’m sensing you have regrets.’

‘Don’t you?’ he asked.

‘Not one. Haven’t you been listening?’

‘You’re in a hotel room with a man who made you tie him to the bed before he’d have sex with you. I’m wondering why you haven’t fled.’

‘Because it’s you, and you had...reasons.’ She waved a hand around to approximate those reasons. ‘And I trust you.’ Surely that was a good thing?

But he didn’t seem to be similarly ecstatic about her confidence in him. Matter of fact, he looked downright uncomfortable. ‘But I can take no for an answer, if it wasn’t that good for you and you never want to do it again. Paradise lost and all that.’ And on to breakfast before she fell apart in front of him. ‘We have mushroom, bean sprout and three-cheese omelettes, bacon on the side, tropical fruits, yoghurt, and everything else on the menu that we don’t usually have access to at home.’ She lifted domes from plates as she spoke. ‘Dig in.’

Maybe she’d done something right, because that was an invitation he didn’t refuse and boy could he pack it away. She was more of a grazer, not all that food-focused, whereas he went for it to the extent that she wondered if he ever got full. He caught her watching, and she looked away, but not before he’d downed his utensils and pushed his plate aside with an abruptness that scraped along the tabletop and every nerve she owned.

She didn’t know what to say. ‘More coffee? I think it’s a two-coffee kind of morning.’

His nod was enough to get her heading for the phone to order it. ‘Anything else?’

‘No.’

She didn’t press. ‘When’s checkout?’

‘Twelve.’

With their flight at five. They had all morning to fill in.

‘Do you need to go back to the gallery this morning?’ he asked.

Conversation initiated by him. She’d take it. ‘Yes. Probably a good move to make sure the print you don’t want on display comes home with us. Or goes home with you. Or me. Or whatever you want.’ Was there any ground between them that wasn’t treacherous? If there was, she hadn’t found it yet. ‘I do want to check out the button shop near the opal shop if I have the time.’

‘Button shop,’ he echoed. ‘Because you need buttons?’

‘No, I’ve just never been in a button shop before. Want to come along?’

‘No.’

And why would he? He might have been sitting opposite her at the breakfast table, but every word, every look, spoke of a distance he wanted to maintain. Whatever they’d done together last night, however much his body had betrayed him, he seemed driven to regain control. And control was fine, he could have it, but did it really have to come with such distance between them?

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