Outback Blaze (27 page)

Not trusting himself to stay a second longer, Drew squeezed her hand and retreated. When he kicked his leg over his bike ten seconds later, he could feel his heart thumping in his chest. Withdrawing from Ruby's kiss had been the hardest thing he'd done in a long while and he couldn't recall feeling this physically frustrated since high school.

Oh. No!
The first thing Ruby thought of when she woke up Thursday morning was everything she'd told Drew the night before. The second was the offer he'd subsequently made. And the third was that her parents weren't here anymore. The last thought was too sad to contemplate but the first was downright embarrassing. She cringed, rolled over and hid her head under the pillow, too ashamed to crawl out of bed and look at
herself
in the mirror. She'd never felt close enough to another person – not even her parents – to tell them the whole truth about the end of her relationship with Jonas. No way she'd have been so open if she'd been in possession of all her sensibilities but her parents' letter and disappearance had thrown her more than a little off balance.

Still, off balance or not, she'd shared some pretty personal things yesterday and Drew had been about as perfect as a guy could be about them. That was even before he'd thrown in the sweetener of offering to be her personal sex tutor.
Oh my!
She half laughed and peered out from under the pillow. Okay, so that wasn't exactly the way he put it, but when she analysed his offer, it wasn't far off. He hadn't said anything about a relationship or the possibility of more than one night, but he'd pretty much guaranteed he could prove she wasn't the dud in bed Jonas made her out to be.

Simply thinking about what he might do to prove this fact had her insides tumbling and turning, and her knickers heading fast towards wet, but what if it didn't work…
Oh Lord, was she actually considering it?
She'd never been much of a risk-taker, but being with Drew made her feel safe as well as incredibly turned on. She couldn't stop thinking about what they could do together if she said yes.

Suddenly hot and bothered, she launched herself out of bed and into the shower. She hoped the warm wake-up call would help clear her head. She stood under the hot needles of water thinking of everything she needed to do today; thinking about anything but Drew proved futile. Her mind found its way back to the kiss they'd shared last night. He'd eventually pulled back, but not before he'd set a match to her desire.

She couldn't recall ever experiencing such a heady lust around Jonas, and if she ever had, such thoughts were long buried beneath the negative ones. Even before he'd made noises of dissatisfaction about their sex life, she'd been experiencing doubts about the whole happy-ever-after thing. Taking a deep breath Ruby turned off the shower and wrapped a big, fluffy bath sheet around her. She dressed quickly and then headed into the kitchen for her morning injection of caffeine.

There she paused and smiled at the peanut butter and jam left out on the kitchen bench, lids off and the knife he'd used still lying sticky between the two jars. So he wasn't
quite
the perfect man. Not that she was complaining. Flicking on the kettle, Ruby recreated Drew's famous sandwich as she waited for the kettle to boil. Usually she had porridge or a bowl of Special K, but as she sunk her teeth into today's breakfast, a warmth spread all over her body.

What did she have to lose taking Drew up on his offer?

Glancing at the kitchen clock on the wall, she thought about going to him. Right now. And accepting his sweet and sexy proposal. Lord knew she'd be unable to concentrate on anything else until she did, but he was probably already at work.

And then a terrible thought struck. Maybe he'd regretted the offer overnight. Maybe he hadn't even meant it. With a groan, her head fell forward and thunked against the kitchen table. The rollercoaster inside her skull stalled when a knock sounded on the front door. Could it be him? Standing, she ran her fingers through her still-wet hair as she headed to answer it. She couldn't stifle her disappointment when she opened the door and found Simone on the front step.

‘Oh. It's you.'

Simone raised an eyebrow. ‘Who were you expecting, Prince-bloody-Charming?'

Ruby returned her look with a shrug. ‘A girl can dream, right?'

Simone nodded. ‘As long as you understand that where men are concerned dreams are far better than reality.'

‘Do I dare ask?'

‘No. I came to see how you are, not to dissect my non-existent love life.' Simone stepped past into the hallway. ‘Can I steal a cuppa?'

‘Sure. The dinner date with Ryan Forrester didn't go well then?'

‘I told you I didn't want to talk about it,' Simone said as she slumped into a chair at the table. ‘What's been going on with you?'

Ruby flicked the kettle on again and found two clean mugs. ‘I don't want to talk about that either.'

‘Fabulous. This is going to be the most boring cuppa ever then.' Simone sighed. ‘In the interests of riveting conversation I suppose I must share my shame and embarrassment.'

Can't be quite as shameful and embarrassing as what I could tell you
. Still, Ruby's interest was piqued. She hurried with the coffee, grabbed a packet of Tim Tams from the cupboard and sat down opposite Simone. ‘Spill.'

Simone picked up a Tim Tam, bit off both ends and then dunked one end into her drink. Moaning as she did so, she sucked up coffee through the middle and then finally ate the gooey chocolate mess. Ruby sipped her coffee and waited.

‘Okay. That was good. Probably the closest I'm going to get to sexual gratification for a long while.' Simone wiped a finger over her lips, picked up her mug and cradled it between her hands. ‘As you know, I had Ryan over for dinner. That part actually went well. I didn't burn anything, the girls behaved themselves and then Ryan and I flirted – or at least that's what I thought we were doing – over the washing up. We even had a soap-sud fight.'

Ruby smiled. She could just picture Simone and Ryan ruffling each other up with bubbles. ‘And?'

‘And nothing.' Simone took a long sip of her coffee and shook her head. ‘The girls both went off to bed and I suggested Ryan might like a drink in the lounge room. I dimmed the lights, put on some jazz, topped both our wine glasses up and sat down next to him on the two-seater. I made a few suggestive comments, leaned in close and just when I thought things were going somewhere, he said he'd better be getting home. I thought he was being a gentleman – you know, didn't want to take things too quickly but that at least he'd give me a quick kiss goodnight on the doorstep. But when I leaned into him for said kiss, he turned his head, wrapped his fabulous arms around me and said, “Thanks for a great night, Simone. You're a good mate”. Talk about putting me in my place.'

Simone grabbed another Tim Tam, this time shoving it into her mouth as she shook her head.

‘I'm so sorry,' Ruby said. ‘I thought you guys would make a cute couple.'

‘You and me both.' Simone sighed again. ‘Maybe I should just stop looking for another relationship. I had one beautiful marriage that gave me two gorgeous daughters. Maybe that should be enough.'

Ruby didn't know what to say.

‘I'm sorry, now I've transferred my down mood to you.' Simone reached across the table and took Ruby's hand. ‘How are you and your parents coping? Any more news on who started the fire.'

Ruby's hand tensed in Simone's grip.

‘Where are your parents by the way?' Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand. ‘Oh shit, are they still in bed? I know it's early but I figured since I'd dropped the girls at the bus stop, it wasn't too early.'

‘It's fine.' Ruby swallowed, then took a breath for courage. ‘They're not here,' she said after a few moments. ‘I don't know where they are.'

Simone frowned. ‘What do you mean?'

She proceeded to tell her friend everything she knew about her parents' disappearance, except this time she managed to keep her emotions in check. Why couldn't she have done that yesterday when Drew turned up?

‘Oh my God,' Simone said, once Ruby had finished. ‘How the hell could they do that to you?'

‘You don't think I haven't asked that question over and over again ever since I found the letter?'

‘I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, it's just…you still think they're innocent?'

Ruby circled the rim of her mug with her finger. ‘I don't know what to believe about anything at the moment. I want to believe that they are, but right now I'm finding it difficult to think of any other reason why they would think it's okay to cut themselves out of my life. And why run if they haven't got anything to run from? I think I'm okay to stay here because they own the house outright, but what if they are found guilty? The town's already made their feelings pretty clear.' Dammit, that emotion she was keeping in check? Not so much anymore.

Simone reached to the middle of the table and shoved the box of tissues towards Ruby.

‘It's empty.' Ruby sniffed. ‘I ran out just before dusk yesterday.'

‘Shit. I'd offer you a baby-wipe but I stopped carrying them years ago.'

Ruby tried to laugh. ‘It's okay. I'm tough.'

‘Still, I feel like I shouldn't leave you alone.' Simone glanced at her watch. ‘I have a shift at the café in fifteen minutes but I could call in sick.'

‘No. It's fine. It's sweet of you to offer, but I've got plenty to keep me busy.' Ruby stood and picked up their now empty mugs. ‘I'm going to take Roxie, then Riley for a ride.'

‘Well, you know where I am. Call me if you want to talk or anything again. It's only a few vocal busybodies who might think badly of you, but just ignore them. You've got real friends here, too, remember that.'

Simone stood and gave her a hug and Ruby pulled back before she started to cry. ‘Thank you,' she said instead and then saw her out of the house.

‘Oh, and Simone,' she called as her friend stepped off the veranda, ‘do you mind not mentioning my parents' journey to anyone just yet?'

Simone smiled and zipped her finger across her lips. ‘What journey?'

*

Friday afternoon and Drew found himself once again on roads, patrolling. The WA police seemed obsessed with traffic stats and between the three of them, the Bunyip Bay cops had to stop a certain number of cars and hand out a certain amount of infringements. Drew was all for road safety – it was part of why he joined the force – but the number requirements seemed a little over-the-top. Still, he enjoyed driving and the way his brain was right now, he probably wouldn't be good at anything much more taxing.

As he cruised the highway his mind drifted to Wednesday night at Ruby's place – the discovery of her parents' disappearance, her emotional confessions about Jonas Vanderbrek and then, taking up most of his brain's prime real estate, the way she'd kissed him. His whole body heated up at the recollection. Their lips could not have been locked for more than ten seconds but he'd been reliving that short period of time ever since. He guessed he'd got less than four hours sleep all up between Wednesday and Thursday night because all he could think about was whether she'd take him up on his offer to prove to her she wasn't bad at sex.

Offering the daughter of ‘persons of interest' a romp between his sheets was not the wisest move of his career, but things felt different down under. He was already doing stuff he'd never have done in his last job. The simple fact that he hadn't gone straight to O'Leary or above him to the arson investigators with the information that the Joneses had skipped town showed this.

He couldn't deny Ruby was the difference.

There was just something about her. She'd been through so much in the past year and he couldn't bear being the person that led to more pain.

‘You're quiet today,' Mike spoke from his position in the passenger's seat.

‘Things on my mind,' Drew admitted.

‘Probably not as interesting as the things on my mind,' Mike said. Drew saw his goofy grin reflected in the rear-view mirror and knew whether he asked or not, Mike was going to tell. ‘I got about two hours sleep last night.'

So that made two of them, but the excitement in Mike's voice told Drew he was proud and happy of this fact.

‘Yeah,' he continued, even though Drew hadn't made any comment, ‘I was skyping my new girlfriend. She's really something else, man.'

‘Skyping? So you've seen her. Does she match her profile pic?' He'd always steered clear of online dating sites – too many horror stories about women posting photos of their younger, prettier, sexier cousins or something.

‘Nope, she's way hotter. And kinky. She wanted to try sex skyping.'

Whoah, that was too much information even for Drew. The thought of Mike and his online girlfriend involved in virtual dirty talk made him glad he hadn't bothered with breakfast. And even gladder when a souped-up Holden Commodore whizzed past them. Hitting the brakes and the lights, he turned the patrol car and stepped on the accelerator as he pursued the car heading towards Bunyip Bay. The driver slowed, yet pretended he hadn't seen them but Drew kept on his tail until he eventually pulled over close to town.

‘I'll take this,' he said to Mike, grabbing his ticket pad and pen. He strolled towards the now parked car but just as he approached the offender's car, he heard the tell-tale clip-clop of horse's hooves on the other side of the road. His heart hitching a beat, he turned his head and his lips lifted as he laid eyes on Ruby and Roxie riding slowly down the gravel strip on the other side of the road.

He waved. She smiled and waved back, making every muscle in his body tighten as he tried to read her expression. Was she okay? He hoped she'd confided in a friend or something because he hated the thought of her being alone but hadn't trusted himself to go back and check on her. Now, she looked like an angel sitting tall astride that beautiful beast and he couldn't help but imagine what it would feel like if she were riding him.