Page 102 of The Mechanics of Lust

I fingered the wordPoppaon the silicone band and smiled. “Okay, smart-arse. So maybe I’d hoped for a little less work on my part when I asked you for help, but I’ll take it.”

With no strength left in my legs, I sat on the tiles until the water ran cool. Then, feeling decidedly prune-like and with my eyeballs hanging out of my head, I dragged myself out of the shower. Avoiding my reflection in the mirror because... hell no to that shit... I scrubbed myself dry and pulled on some sweats and one of my favourite T-shirts.

Walking back into the lounge, I added a couple of logs to the dwindling flames in the fireplace and then padded into the kitchen to feed the gnawing pit in my stomach, which hadn’t seen decent food for over a day. Gil’s homemade mac and cheese leftovers stared back at me from the freezer.Perfect.

I threw a serving into the microwave, smiling at the knowledge he’d be horrified. Then I grabbed a light beer and headed wearily for the couch. But as I sank into the cushions, every joint and muscle in my body creaked and grumbled, and damn, I wasn’t sure that I’d ever make it out of it again. I eased my long legs onto the coffee table and swallowed a guzzle of beer.

I was so frickin’ tired.

Scooting my butt down on the cushion, I dropped my head onto the back of the couch and let my eyelids flutter closed. Somewhere in the background of my brain, I heard the microwave ding, but my body was past caring.

Just a few minutes’ rest and then I’d eat.

* * *

I started awake, the bottle of beer dropping from my hand to the floor with an ominous thud.

“Shit.” I whipped it off the rug before it emptied completely and set it on the local newspaper on top of the coffee table. The room glowed in warm autumn colours from the smouldering fire and I grabbed for my phone, blinking in disbelief at the numbers staring back at me: 9:32.

I’d slept for well over an hour. I sucked in a steadying breath and tried to clear my fuzzy head, the faint aroma of mac and cheese causing my stomach to growl. Groaning, I pushed to my feet and headed for the kitchen. If I didn’t eat soon, my body would consume itself.

I hadn’t taken more than a few steps when someone hammered on the front door and I almost jumped through the roof. It was oddly déjà vu, like maybe that’s what had woken me up.

I switched direction and made my way down the hall toward the front door, my legs like limp spaghetti. No doubt Doug had come to interrogate me after hearing I was back. Before I reached the door, the pounding started up again.

“Hold on to your horses, for fuck’s sake. And you better have food on you, that’s all I’m gonna say.”

The hammering stopped with my words, but there was no reply.

I opened the door and squinted into the harsh porch light. It took a second or two to register, because— “Zach?” I blinked and looked again. Nope, I’d been right the first time.

In reply, Zach’s troubled green eyes narrowed. “You were expecting someone else? Because it sounded like maybe you were. I can, um... I can leave if you want?”

“What?” I tried to process the shock of Zach standing on my doorstep. “No. I assumed it was Doug coming to ask questions. Why aren’t you still in Christchurch?”

“Doug?” Zach considered me for a long few seconds. “Why would Dougbe here?”

There was something in the way he asked that gave me pause.Huh.Rather than answer, I replied, “Any reason Doug shouldn’t be here? Because last time I looked, there wasn’t.”

Zach gnawed on his lower lip like he was thinking how to answer. Like whatever reason had brought him there, whatever he’d planned, had suddenly been turned on its head.

I sighed and put him out of his misery. “Doug is a friend, Zach. That’s all he is. That’s all he’s ever been. The question is, why areyouhere? And come to think of it,howare you here?” I peered around him to discover the airport rental car sitting in my driveway and a worrying thought hit me. “Is it your dad? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Mum and Jules are with him.” He took a breath and swallowed hard. “I, ah, I came back on my own.”

I considered that, put it alongside the nervous way he was hovering on my porch, and the intensity of those glittering green eyes, and yes, I had thoughts about why Zach might be standing on my doorstep. Maybe even hopes, as well.

But I needed to hear the words.

I needed Zach to say them before this went any further.

And so I asked again, “Why are you here, Zach?”

He looked to his feet and then back up. “I heard there was a position vacant.”

I blinked.Not exactly what I’d been expecting, and I struggled to get my tired brain around his words. “A position?”

He gave me a sheepish look. “Yeah. I heard you might be looking for a... boyfriend?”

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