Page 32 of Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire

‘Two? Or... I don’t know. I don’t swim much. I’m kind of a get-wet-up-to-my-middle if it’s the ocean and an edge-clinger if it’s a pool.’

‘Trust me, he’s not going to let you drown. I’m thinking a two-piece with a bespoke silk wrap and matching skirt. Coral reef colours with a bit of blue and seafoam. Trust me, I’m your fairy godmother and that there’s a centurion credit card he’s left on my counter. He can afford the designer silk.’

‘But I don’t want him to pay.’

Rita disappeared behind a curtain and returned with an armful of seafoam silk glory.

‘Oh. That looks like nightwear.’

‘Well, it is five p.m.’ Rita held up the swimwear. ‘You’re a neat size ten and this will fit you to perfection. Try it on.’

‘No.’

Which Rita somehow interpreted as I’ll take it.

‘The skirt is a wraparound—one size fits all. The wrap is gorgeous—so sheer, and there’s a camisole and panties to go with it as well as a swimsuit. It’s a honeymoon combo. From champagne and strawberries and ruffled sheets to a quick dip in the spa to soothe those aching muscles, it’s got you covered, so to speak.’

‘None of it look like it’s going to cover very much.’

‘Oh, sweetheart. You be you. I’ll open the champagne, and then we can really get started. We can cover more of you if that’s what you’d prefer.’

Was champagne a thing on a Friday afternoon in a closed swimwear shop? Apparently, it was, and there were triple Brie cheese and fig jam and salted crackers too. By the time Reid returned, Rita had added pleated long trousers, a beaded silk sleeveless top, and pretty leather sandals to Ari’s pile.

Reid had returned with enough finger food for ten people, and out came plates and forks and a guy dropped in with a big jug of beer and stayed for a satay stick with peanut chilli sauce and was this a bizarre way to spend a Friday evening in the river city? It didn’t seem all that billionaireish.

Instead, Ari got to laugh as Rita and brew master Tanner, who owned the bar next door, swapped tall tales about customers and worked their way steadily through the food and beer.

By the time they left the shop and entered the old wool warehouse on the river’s edge, Ari knew all about Rita’s husband and one-year-old granddaughter, and brew master Tanner’s experimental passionfruit beer pop that needed finessing because it tasted—he readily admitted—really awful.

The sun had started to disappear behind tall buildings, and coloured lights were beginning to wrap the city in their glow, and Ari felt pleasure sink into her skin. She liked this city with its moist heart and sticky nights. She liked Reid’s company and not just because she was two glasses of champagne down and carrying a couple of thousand dollars’ worth of almost-there clothing in two fancy recyclable carry bags. Apart from his dedication to giving her a Cinderella experience, his life and friendships seemed extraordinarily normal.

‘I like your neighbourhood. And your friends. You’re a people person. Who knew?’

‘I knew,’ said Reid as he unlocked an apartment door with the press of his finger on a door pad and ushered her into a soaring space with exposed brick walls and enormous glass doors at one end of the long narrow living space, lushly decorated with textured furnishings and dozens of paintings that shouldn’t have worked when all piled together but they did.

Beyond the glass doors was a terrace that led to a delicately lit infinity pool that seemed to flow into the river. There was a spa section to one side, with a rock wall and spouts. Waterfall option, her brain supplied helpfully. She could picture Reid relaxing in this space. She could picture herself in it too, courtesy of the swimwear he’d just purchased for her.

‘What do you think? Do you like it?’

She wanted to say something snarky about him not needing her approval. She wanted to chide him about having way too much money to spend on making his Brisbane crash pad a showstopper, but the words never left her mouth.

In truth, she didn’t want to say any of that.

Why shouldn’t he have a home full of beauty that instantly made people feel comfortable and welcome? Who was she to try and take him down with petty envy?

‘I love it,’ she said honestly. ‘It’s beautiful.’

‘Guest suite is through that door to your left. My bedroom and a few other rooms are to the right, and my office takes up the mezzanine. I started this day aiming to whisk you away to an island tonight to impress you.’ He walked to the big glass doors and again pressed his hand to a steel pad and the doors slid silently open until there was no visible glass wall left at all. This apartment was modest when it came to space and mighty with its bells and whistles. ‘But there’s water here too.’ He looked back at her. ‘I’m not backing out of our Cinderella deal, but we could stay here and order in and if it’s beer you want, Tanner will deliver.’

‘You say that as if we’d be slumming.’ She couldn’t figure him out. ‘You have to know that my version of this evening comes nowhere near this standard of luxury. Isn’t that what you want me to know?’

‘Not exactly.’

She waited for him to continue.

‘I want you to recognise that I get takeaway and beer and relax at home too. Just like you.’

Maybe her bedsit rental was the same as this place underneath. A place to cook, a place to sleep. She looked past the museum-quality paintings on the walls to the pool and spa and river and city lights on the other side of the bank.

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