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Authors: Ann B. Harrison

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BOOK: Outback Thunder
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"I would have
thought that was fairly obvious." Jonas looked at her, and Zoe pushed down
the heat that was coiling in her stomach as she looked at his seductive mouth.

 "Where's
Brandon? He was supposed to meet me."

"Yeah, well,
he got a little bit busy. He asked me to do the honors since I had to come into
the city anyway."

Jonas slipped his
arm through hers and with his free hand he steered the trolley toward the exit
doors. Zoe found herself being guided along the footpath toward a stretch black
limousine.

"I can catch
a bus you know."

He looked down at
her, his mouth tight. "Your call. If you want to spend the next thirty hours
on a bus, feel free to knock yourself out. I had to come down anyway and pick
up the new mustering helicopter so it wasn't as if I made the trip especially
to pick you up."

Zoe's stomach
dropped with the thought of being in a confined space with him. Just standing
next to him was sending the wrong signals to her body. Her nipples were pushing
against the damp bra and she tried to ignore the pulsing in her clit. She
licked her dry lips knowing he would walk away if she wanted him to.

 "Um..."

"Make up your
mind Zoe. I have places to go."

"Sheesh,
settle down, Jonas. My word, you haven't calmed down any in the last few years
have you? Still the same snappy little prick you always were."

"Little
prick, are you kidding me? You have obviously forgotten how we spent much of
our time, Zoe."

Heat washed over
her face and Zoe turned away so he couldn't see the effect he was having on
her. She swallowed a couple of times trying to ignore the image her brain
conjured up of a naked, horny Jonas stretched out on the hay in front of her.

"That wasn't
what I meant and you bloody well know it. Stop being so pushy and give me a
chance to make up my mind. It won't kill you to wait another couple of seconds
will it?"

"Still fiery
too I see. Would it make your sensitive feelings better if I counted to ten
before I asked nicely for your answer?" The sardonic look he gave her
pissed her off even more.

"See, that's
your problem right there. If I don't want to toe the line, you snap. You sound
as immature as you were ten years ago." She tapped her foot on the
pavement. Sitting on a bus for hours didn't thrill her but being stuck in a
small helicopter with Jonas did.

 Too much
.

As much as Zoe
tried to rationalize it he had nothing to offer her now and he wouldn't affect
her, she knew she was kidding herself. She still wanted him badly as the effect
he had on her body proved to her. Her only problem was how to hide it from him
until she could go back to London.

"Fine then.
I'll come with you. Where is it?"

"We need to
get to the airfield. Over there." He pointed to the limousine and pushed
her trolley to the curbside. Zoe hurried to keep up with him as he strode away
from her. Jonas lifted the bags into the boot brushing aside the offer of help
from his driver and slammed it shut. He opened the back door of the car and
waited for her to get in.

Sliding across the
seat, Zoe placed her handbag between them and kept her gaze ahead. Jonas gave
the driver instructions and he pulled out from the curb and headed to the
airfield.

"What made you
go to London?"

Zoe turned and
looked at Jonas, startled by his question. Her gaze followed the line of his
jaw and up to his full lips, lips that had once done the most decadent things
to her body. A small whimper escaped her throat before she could stop it.

"Zoe, snap
out of it. I asked you a question."

"Sorry, I
must be jetlagged." She rubbed the heel of her hands into her eyes willing
herself to not show her emotion. "I know I didn't sleep very well at all.
Um, I guess it was something different and when I got there I liked it. Plenty
of travelling with friends so I got to see something of the world and I liked
where I worked." She tried to smile at him without looking like she wanted
to throw him back on the seat and straddle him, ripping her panties off on the
way. Doubting she was achieving that she turned back to look out the window
again. "Why did you buy out the other partners?"

The silence
stretched out. Unwilling to look at him or repeat the question she bit her
tongue and waited. Jonas coughed and the silence stretched out. Damned if she
was going to ask again. It was a battle of wills between them, one she wanted
the upper hand in because if she didn't get it now, she doubted it she would
get what she came here for.

Chapter Two

 

The limousine pulled
to a halt and Jonas quickly opened the door and got out. Zoe followed, vowing
to find the answer. She stood beside him and let him take her bags from the
back of the car. Turning on his heel, he strode to the building and walked in
through the automatic doors.

A smiling
bald-headed portly gentleman came rushing over before he could put Zoe's bags
down.

"Mr. Ward, a
pleasure to see you again." He guided Jonas to a seat in front of a
cluttered desk and beckoned him to sit down totally ignoring Zoe who chose to
stand just inside the door and watch them "I have your new toy fueled and
ready to go."

"I can assure
you it is anything but a toy, Mr. Wallace. Now if you have the necessary forms
for me to complete I would appreciate if we could get on with it. I have a busy
day ahead and need to get home."

Zoe hid a smile as
the salesman flustered around his desk trying to find the correct papers. She
knew Jonas was annoyed by the way he held himself in the chair. It was funny
how she could still read him after all this time. Words had not been needed
between them. A look or gesture had said it all.

Zoe's heart
thumped wildly when Jonas turned his head and looked at her with a raised
eyebrow, before turning back to the salesman. Taking a deep breath, she closed
her eyes.

How the
frigging hell was she going to be able to stand three hours in a helicopter
with him
? The throbbing between her thighs was
getting dangerously out of control.

Swinging around,
she pushed open the door and strode out into the sunshine.

 
I will not
think lusty thoughts, he is a man who can't keep it in his pants and had no
problem cheating on me. He certainly doesn't deserve to occupy my thoughts
anymore than necessary.

 
Folding her hands over her chest she looked around the heliport and
wondered which of the machines was going to be her ride home. Anything to keep
her thoughts from sex to get her through the next few hours.

The back of her
neck prickled.

"Right, let's
go. I have things to do back home."

"Where is
that exactly these days, Jonas?"

He looked at her,
his eyes deep and dark. "Where do you think Zoe? I would hardly invest
millions of dollars and stipulate the major shareholders had to live on site
and not follow my own rules, would I?"

"You are
fucking kidding me." Zoe clutched at her throat. Stars were spinning
across her vision and she knew she was going to start hyperventilating soon.
She tried to get a grip but the shock was just too much. "You can't do
that." Her throat closed over and she gasped for air.

Jonas grabbed her arm
and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her and talked quietly.
"Just breathe through it, Zoe. Christ, I seriously thought you would have
outgrown this by now. You changed considerably since I saw you last. It's a
shame you haven't lost that little quirk. You need to calm down before I take
you anywhere near a helicopter." Her face tucked into his chest and he
stroked her hair gently. The expensive cotton was soft against her cheek. His
smell was the same one she remembered underneath the cologne he was wearing.
Closing her eyes, she breathed him in and relaxed, ignoring the fire between
her thighs.

When her breathing
was under control, Zoe pushed him back. Lifting her hand to shield her eyes
from the sun, she glared at him. "Why?"

"Why did I buy
the shares or why did I move in?"

"Both."

He looked as
though he might refuse to answer her for a moment. Then he shrugged his
shoulders. "Your folks were good to me and Bran has always been my best
friend. We kept in touch over the years and your Dad even asked my advice now
and then." He gave her a wry smile. "When they died I was as gutted
as you were, believe it or not. And I was in a position to buy shares in the
place. My years of hard work paid off. I'm a rich man now, Zoe, with interests
in many different ventures. This one is special for obvious reasons." He
turned from her, pulling his silk tie loose and clenched it in his hands.
"Look at it like this if it makes it easier for you. It's a great business
that just needed a decent capital input and some reorganizing to bring it back
to what it was."

"And it just
happened to be you, Johnny on the spot? Why don't I believe that you have no
ulterior motive here?"

"Because you
only ever believe what you want, Zoe. If it doesn't suit your plans then you turn
your back and I know what that feels like. Why don't you do the same to me
again?" He glared at her. "I'm a big boy now and you can't hurt me.
Believe what you will."

He picked up her
suitcases and strode over to a smart little red helicopter in the middle of the
tarmac. Opening the door, he jammed her bags behind the seat and turned back to
her. "Hurry up or I'll leave you behind."

Jonas walked
around to the pilot's door and opened it. He undid his jacket and shrugged it
from his shoulders throwing it carelessly behind the seat. Jumping in, he
ignored her and fitted his seatbelt. He took a pair of sunglasses from his
pocket and put them on. When she climbed in Jonas was fiddling with the panel
of gauges flicking switches. He put on his headset and talked to the control
tower.

Zoe did up her
seatbelt and sat back, looking at everything except the man beside her. When
the rotor blades started to turn she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
Thinking she should keep her opinions to herself while they were in the air for
safety reasons if nothing else, she reached into her handbag and took out her
iPod. She untangled the earplugs, fitted them and listened to music all the way
home.

****

"Why didn't
you tell me, for God's sake?" Zoe glared at Brandon. She had tersely
thanked Jonas for the flight home and run straight up to the house to confront
her brother. "You could have told me that you guys had been in 'constant
touch' all this time."

"I thought
that you would have known that. Hell, we've been best friends all our
lives." Brandon shook his head. "Why would we stop being mates just
because you fell out of love with him?"

"I didn't
fall out of love. We were never in love, remember? It was all in my mind
according to Mum."

"You know you
loved him, Zoe. He was all you could think about, talk about when you were
young.

Brandon grinned at
her and she softened. "Puppy love, brother of mine. Not the real
thing." She wrapped her arms around him to hide the lie in her eyes and
pulled him close. "I missed you so much."

"You could
have come home anytime, you know. No one ever said you didn't belong
here." Brandon swept a lock of hair from her face and smiled down into her
eyes. "I always wanted you home, kid."

"Well I'm
here now. I don't know for how long, but I'm here until we can sort something
out since Jonas ordered me back."

"I don't
think that was a bad thing either, to be perfectly honest."

"Did you have
something to do with this, Bran?" A shiver ran down her back. He wasn't
the sneaky type. If he’d wanted her home, he would have called and said so.

"Um, no. I
mean, yeah I wanted you home but the bit in the contract was all Jonas's doing.
Now where are your bags?"

"Oh crap, I
left them in the helicopter."

Brandon watched
her with a grin on his face.

Turning on her heel,
Zoe stormed out of the kitchen and headed down the stairs intent on going back
to the helipad. She pulled up short at the gate. Jonas was walking toward her
with a suitcase in each hand. The breath caught in her throat as she gazed at
the long denim clad legs sauntering her way. With each step his hips rolled and
the muscles in his legs stretched and hardened as his feet hit the ground.
Zoe's imagination went wild as she dreamed of stripping the denim from his
body, freeing his sexy tight butt for her hands and mouth to savor. A quiver
went through her thighs and her gaze travelled up to his chest. The buttons on
his shirt were undone at the throat and her fingers longed to tug at the tuft
of dark hair.

Lifting her gaze a
little more, her palms itched to cover the square chin beneath his full sexy
lips. Zoe swallowed and lifted her gaze higher to meet his. A flood of shame
rolled over her body. He knew the effect he was having on her and she was
mortified.

BOOK: Outback Thunder
11.53Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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