Page 34 of The Player in New Zealand
Tane bent down, and I was careful not to move too much, lest I headbutt him. This close, in the illumination of the lights, I could see his eyes in such detail, the slight gradient from dark brown on the outer rim to a lighter brown on the inner rim. Our noses and foreheads touched, and I lost my view of his eyes as he closed them.
“Breathe,” he said, and I closed my eyes too. Inhale. Exhale. Tane smelled like lemon and tonic. I opened my eyes first, hoping I wasn’t being disrespectful, but the view of Tane, blurry from being too close to focus on, was worth it. He looked so serene, calmer than I’d ever seen him with this comfort of his heritage.
The warmth of Tane’s skin disappeared from my nose and forehead as he stepped back. “There you go,” he said, letting our hands slip apart.
He watched me for a moment while I mentally shook myself out and recovered. Tane’s calm had soaked into me.
“I like it,” I said when I had found my voice. “It feels spiritual.”
“Ae, it does. We’ve shared breath, and that means something, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said softly.
Tane cleared his throat and rubbed his hand over his lips, his attention on my mouth. I looked at his, too. He watched me, his pupils wide, black and bouncing between mine as he took a step closer. “Is this okay?”
He raised a hand and slid his palm around the side of my neck, his fingers pressing into the base of my skull, warm and rough and right where my tattoo was. His pointer finger inched up a bit, through the hair at the nape of my neck, his thumb stroking a line on my tattoo. Tane’s eyes flickered down to my lips again.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “It’s okay.”
Tane stooped—I’d never had a guy stoop to kiss me before—and I closed my eyes. His lips brushed against mine, warm against the crisp night air. Once, twice, and then I breathed out, relaxing against his grip. Tane was gentle with me, soft. Not what I expected from a man built like a tank who was used to throwing rugby players around.
Our lips parted, a bare hint of dampness, and then he backed away. It took a moment for me to open my eyes, and I found him looking out over the range.
“So, yeah...” he started, looking anywhere but at me. All the calm feelings from our hongi were replaced with tension, my heart rate speeding up.
“That was good to practice too, right?” I asked, trying to tamp down the nerves that had begun to flutter in my rib cage. “I mean, we will probably kiss in front of your family. It would be weird if we didn’t, like, get used to it.”
Tane turned back, a small frown on his face. “Practice. Right, that is a good idea.”
I touched my lips with my finger, thinking about how odd it was that I missed his already. “Okay, that was a pretty good kiss. Hopefully, it won’t be weird when we are around your family.” I thought for a moment before chuckling. “If Nina can behave.”
Thankfully, Tane laughed with me, which turned into a sigh as he ran his hands over his face. “How did I get myself into this?”
I shrugged. “Nina is just looking out for you, I guess. And you love her.”
His hands dropped. “I do. But damn she’s crafty as.”
TEN
An eight-hour driveto Auckland meant an early morning for me. After our kiss on the back porch, Tane told me that he’d pick me up in his ute—whatever that meant. At six a.m., after only a few hours of sleep, I sat in the lobby of the hostel, waiting. I’d laid my phone on my lap, facedown, expecting the vibration of a text to let me know when he was here.
I must have dozed off, because an indeterminable amount of time later, I was gently shaken awake. I blinked wearily up at Tane, his big face not far from mine and holding back amusement.
“You snore.”
I made a very ladylike noise as I cleared my sinuses, and begged my saliva glands to refill the desert that was my mouth. “Only when I sleep sitting up.”
Tane straightened to full height. “So I have that to look forward to all day.”
“You’re the one who wants to drive. We could be there in an hour,” I said, infusing my voice with as much saltiness as I could muster.
“Hey, it’s free. Don’t be knocking a free trip to Auckland. You could have shelled out the money for a flight.”
I sat up as Tane picked up my duffle bag and carried it out the door. I took long strides to catch up to him on the street, where I found his big truck idling at the curb. I opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat. “You promised me a nap—let’s go.”
The truck—ute—bounced as my bag joined his in the truck bed, and then Tane climbed into the driver’s side.
We pulled away and I watched Wellington outside my window, the city waking up. Either because of my little nap in the lobby, or because I was in a car with Tane, sleep eluded me.
