Page 34 of Fighting Fate

ROSIE woke warm and comfortable, sunlight falling across the bed, but not at the kind of angle which meant she’d slept alarmingly late. She blinked around a little blearily, finding her phone and handbag set on the nightstand by the bed, a sticky note propped up against the bag.

Gone to get breakfast, was written in a blocky script. Please don’t vanish before I get back.

“As long as you don’t take too long,” Rosie murmured, but checking her phone she discovered she had a good hour before she needed to leave. And since she’d brought fresh clothes for the day, she wouldn’t have to rush back to her own cabin, either.

Sitting up, she grimaced as the towel she’d wrapped her hair in to sleep fell away. She was probably going to have to spend at least ten minutes dealing with her hair, but since she’d brought detangler and a comb, at least she had the tools to do so.

She was sitting out by the pool drinking her first cup of coffee and combing her hair when Adam returned. He popped his head outside to ask “How are you for time - can I have a quick shower before we eat, or do you need to eat now? I’ve got croissants.”

“Plenty of time,” Rosie said cheerfully. “Go wash, you sweaty beast.”

Not that he wasn’t absolutely delicious when sweaty, she thought privately, watching him through the windows as he deposited his backpack in the kitchen before heading for the bathroom. Sweaty was a very good look on him… but he definitely smelled better post-shower.

Smiling at her thoughts, she got up to go and refresh her coffee cup and investigate the backpack, discovering a large paper bag full of warm croissants inside. She found butter and jam in the fridge, honey in the pantry, and decided to set the table while her coffee brewed.

Singing from the shower made her twitch with surprise. Obviously Adam liked to sing while he washed, and wasn’t self-conscious about it, even though he had an absolutely terrible singing voice, a fact which made Rosie giggle as she listened to him thoroughly butchering what she thought was meant to be Maroon 5’s Moves Like Jagger.

She was still snickering to herself when he came out, wearing loose board shorts and toweling his hair dry.

“What’s so funny?” Adam checked, accepting the coffee she offered with a grateful smile.

“You might have moves like Jagger but you definitely haven’t got the voice,” Rosie teased.

“You’re not wrong.” Adam gave her a rueful smile, but then he shrugged. “I’ve known since childhood I had a tin ear. I decided it wasn’t going to stop me enjoying music. You can’t let what other people think of you dictate what you enjoy. Dance like nobody’s watching and sing like nobody’s listening, right?”

“That’s not the whole quote,” Rosie said without stopping to think.

Adam cocked a brow at her. “It’s a quote? I’ve only ever seen it on like, handpainted inspirational signs at craft markets.”

“It’s Mark Twain, I think.” She felt awkward now, but couldn’t exactly back down. “Dance like nobody’s watching, love like you’ve never been hurt, sing like nobody’s listening, live like it’s heaven on earth.”

“Love like you’ve never been hurt,” Adam said softly, his dark eyes on her face. “I’ve been lucky that way, so far. Maybe that’s why the rest comes easier.”

“I can’t say I’ve ever truly had my heart broken,” Rosie admitted. “I’ve been let down a fair few times… usually when I’ve built something up in my own mind to be far more than it really is. Like that morning we met and I was in pieces because I’d sold myself a fairytale that was never real.”

“You’ve still been hurt, though. Which makes you cautious.”

“It does.” She looked down at the croissant crumbs on her plate, nudging one around with a finger. “I called a friend who runs a headhunter agency yesterday. Specialises in hospitality sector jobs,” she said, her voice quiet. “I realised, after the other day, that if I truly do want to find any kind of stable relationship, that I need to go somewhere there’s an actual dating pool. Stop waiting for something to fall in my lap. It means leaving Sunfish, obviously, which will break my heart, but… I asked if she could maybe look for something which would suit me in Sydney.”

“Why Sydney?” he asked, a certain tension coming to his voice, and she didn’t quite have the courage to look up to meet his eyes. “You could work anywhere. Why there, specifically?”

“Because you’d said you might be there.” She dared to peek up at him. “I thought… I know we barely know each other, it’s only been a few days, but I feel like this could maybe go somewhere, if we have a chance to find out. If we were in the same city, at least we might have a shot. We could try. If you wanted.”

“I want, Rosie.” His big hand came out and covered hers, his broad smile breaking out, white teeth flashing. “But you don’t have to leave Sunfish.”

“You can’t imagine how many long-distance relationships I’ve seen fail,” Rosie started, but he was shaking his head at her, grin widening.

“I didn’t get round to telling you about my boat trip yesterday, did I? I met Jace Hunter and he took me over to the Chapel Islands. He’s going to buy them and redevelop them… and West Chapel is going to be a huge, state of the art sports rehab and training facility. He’s asked me to come on board and work for him, help get it off the ground.”

Rosie’s jaw dropped. Rumours had been flying for a while about Chapel’s Folly, about Charlie Chapel putting the islands on the market. Nessa had let a few hints drop that Jace had been looking at the project, but wasn’t sure what to do about West Chapel and the half-finished development there.

“Of course,” she said wonderingly. “That explains all those facilities.”

“It’s a huge project, and it won’t get off the ground for a little while yet. I’m going to have to do some travelling, check out other facilities.” He squeezed on her hand. “Recruit and train a lot of staff… for which I’ll need a personnel manager very much in my corner.”

“Oh,” Rosie almost whispered it, hardly able to comprehend what Adam was telling her. “You’d be living here?”

“Probably on West Chapel, eventually, anyway. But it’s only ten minutes from here by boat, and Jace says there’ll be boat shuttles every half hour, moving guests around the four islands. We don’t have to live together unless you want to, but it definitely needn’t be a long-distance relationship.”

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