Page 26 of Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire

‘If I take up with you, chances are I’ll end up with nothing. I have exams. A future I’m working hard for. I can’t just...stop...because your kisses turn the world upside down.’ Words spoken more for her benefit than his. ‘I need to get back to work.’

‘You really don’t need to go back to work tonight, but I’m prepared to do this your way.’ He moved aside and opened the door and bathed her in light from the hallway while he remained in the shadows. ‘When do you finish your exams?’

‘The nineteenth.’

‘And the time?’

‘Four p.m. Would you like to know where?’ She could always put her snarky response down to sarcasm rather than a burning desire to set eyes on him again.

‘Would you like a kiss for luck?’ he asked.

‘Best not. We could be here all night.’ She was nervous now, because she truly had thought a kiss would put an end to his pursuit. She had nothing a man like him could possibly want. He’d been curious about the woman who’d kept him alive in the dust storm, that was all. And now that he’d found her he’d lose interest in her fast. ‘I’m glad you’ve made such a good recovery. You deserve to soar.’

He smiled, slow and sure. ‘See you ’round, Ari.’

‘We’ll see.’ She wasn’t part of his world at all. If he wanted to see her again, he’d have to come slumming in hers. ‘I have to go to work.’

Ari scribbled down an answer she knew was wrong and set her pen down as the buzzer sounded. Her practical exam had involved classifying live plants, and while some had been familiar, others she’d only ever seen before in photos and botanical drawings. Growing up on the edge of channel country had given her a limited set of plants to know by heart. The rest she’d had to learn. Even her regular walks through Brisbane’s botanic gardens hadn’t given her the reach she’d needed for this exam.

She gathered up her exam booklets, made sure she’d written her name and student number on the top of each, and handed them to the supervisor with a sickly grimace. She might scrape through. Just. And if she didn’t, it wasn’t the end of the world. She’d just take the course again.

Ari breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth as she left the exam hall, hoping that the afternoon sunshine and a lung full of fresh air would help chase her grim thoughts away. Sarah, her plant classification partner, fell into step with her. ‘How’d you go?’ the younger woman asked.

‘Touch and go.’ No point pretending otherwise.

‘A bunch of us are heading for the campus bar if you want to come too?’

Unlike Ari, Sarah lived on campus and was doing a degree course in horticulture full time. Sarah had study buddies and college tutors and friends to lean on. She’d been partnered with Ari for the practical component of two subjects on account of her last name being Collins. Cohen and Collins. Sarah had always gone above and beyond in her efforts to make Ari feel included, not just during coursework but within Sarah’s friendship groups too.

It wasn’t Sarah’s fault that Ari had the social skills of a wary echidna. ‘Thanks for the invite, but I’m just going to go and lick my wounds in private.’

‘You sure?’ They took the stairs together, in sync enough to reach the bottom at the same time. They stopped at the point the footpath split in two directions. The downward path led to the colleges. The upward path led to the car park. ‘If you’ve passed all your other subjects with good averages and for some reason bomb this one, you can put in for special consideration,’ Sarah continued.

‘Good to know.’

‘You sure you don’t want to join us?’

‘Yeah, I’m too old for all your partying ways.’

‘You’re, like, two years older than me!’

‘Still not drinking with you, lovely.’ They shuffled to the side of the paths so other students could walk past. ‘Let’s stay in touch, okay?’

‘Yes!’ Sarah beamed and hugged her for good measure. ‘I have your number. Don’t ghost me.’

‘Go. Be merry. I promise I’ll keep in touch.’

Ari didn’t want to confess what she was holding out for this evening.

A long shot.

The promise of a kiss and a gravelly, See you ’round.

A fairy tale.

Reid leaned against the bull bar of Ari’s battered old ute and waited for her to walk closer. She’d seen him from a distance—he’d noted the hitch in her step and the way she’d clutched the strap of her satchel tighter. She’d put her head down, her dark wavy hair swinging forward to partially cover her face, but she’d kept coming his way.

Granted, he’d planted himself right in her way but needs must.

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