Some Girls Don't (Outback Heat Book 2) (19 page)

She shrugged. “For you.”

He shook his head as he took a step back, recoiling from the information. “Oh no. I
never
asked you to quit your job for me, Selena.”

“I know.” This time she did take a step forward.

“Then why?” he demanded. “I thought it was what you wanted?”

“So did I. But it turns out … I didn’t want it bad enough after all.”

“Oh really?” He shoved his hands on his hips.

“Oh I love it, don’t get me wrong. It’s exhilarating and challenging and interesting. I like the people I work with. I think I’m good at what I do. But …”

She took another step forward and was relieved when he held his ground.

“I saw you on the funeral footage tonight, you defending Marcus, looking all big and fierce and beautiful … so good and strong and sincere … so
you
. And I’d never felt
emptier
. I mean, this is what I wanted, right? What I’ve been working towards for so many years, but I realised it meant nothing without
you
. That you were here and hurting and I was there and couldn’t put my arms around you, and I didn’t want to be
there
. I thought this job would make me happy but … I’m not. Because only
you
make me happy the way I need.”

Selena moved forward another pace and she was now, indeed, close enough to be hauled into his arms and stripped naked. But he didn’t make any such move. In fact he crossed his arms, his frame erect, his gaze about as distant as the mountains behind them.

“And what exactly are you going to do with your life now, Selena?”

“I don’t know. But I want it to be with you.”

“Oh right,” he snorted. “You think this is going to work between us if there’s always this
thing
where you gave up your career ambitions for me? How many years do you think it’ll take before that clanger finds its way into an argument between us? How long before we’re at each other’s throats like Grandy tells me your parents were?”

Tears threatened as Selena shook her head. “No. I’m not my mother, Jarrod. I guess I’m like her in a lot of ways, but there’s one major difference. I’m thirty-two. I’ve had a great job and I’ve travelled extensively. I’ve
lived
. I’m not a teenage mother frustrated and depressed by unfulfilled goals or trapped in an isolated environment by an emotionally selfish man.”

Selena slid her hand onto Jarrod’s forearm. The warm muscle tensed beneath her palm and she mentally prepared herself for his rejection again. It didn’t come, but he didn’t soften towards her either.

“I know I don’t deserve another chance, Jarrod. I’ve been blind and selfish. I’ve yanked your heart around on a chain and put you thorough ten kinds of hell trying to outrun a ghost I actually outran years ago, and I’m never going to forgive myself for that. For being so blinkered and …”

Her voice cracked. Jarrod looked so impenetrable, and she feared she’d really blown it. “Stupid. I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you and if I have to I will get down on my knees right now and beg you to take me back.”

“Oh God, Selena,” he groaned, his voice thick as he slid a hand onto her cheek. “Don’t cry.”

She blinked away the moisture in her eyes and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “For everything.”

“Fifteen years ago when you left I wanted to come after you and people told me I shouldn’t. Your grandmother. My mother. They asked me to let you live your life and I respected that. But I shouldn’t have.” He paused, the husky drag of his breath doing funny things to her pulse. “I should have gone after you back then.”

Selena’s pulse skipped. Isn’t that what she’d hoped for all those years ago? Secretly. Deep down? That he’d come for her. Even though it had been all kinds of fucked up to feel that way. Even though
she’d
left
him
.

“Don’t,” she whispered, slipping her hand over top of his. “You did the right thing.”

“Yeah. But if I had, would you have come home with me?”

Selena nodded without hesitation. She’d always been one unguarded moment away from getting on a bus and going back to Jumbuck Springs. “In a heartbeat.”

He searched her face and Selena held her breath, her heart slowing right down. When he slid his hand to her nape and pulled her into his arms she melted against him, her pulse tapping a mad dance in her chest. The soft fabric of his shirt smelled like him and she sucked in a big deep breath.

“Marcus told me after the funeral today I should be happy. Actually he said,
be fucking happy
. Because he could see that I wasn’t.”

Selena tipped her head back, her chin resting on a firm pec. “I always liked Marcus.”

He smiled down at her. “But I don’t want it like this. Can you get your job back or did you burn that bridge bad?”

Selena pulled out of his arms. “No.” She shook her head, moving to the nearby railing, clutching it as she looked out over the night sky and the silent bush. “Your job, your family are all here.”

“Yes,” he insisted, coming up behind her and sliding his hands around her waist. “Listen to me. You have this job, your dream job, for
four
months. We can figure it out. I can see if there are any secondments to fire command in Brisbane. Jumbuck Springs and our families will only be two hours away.”

His body pressed against hers and her resolve started to fray as his heat and scent wound around her. “I’m more interested in
our
family,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to her ear. “You and me.” He dropped a kiss on her temple. “Wherever you are is exactly where I want to be. The rest will fall into place.”

He turned her in his arms and Selena went willingly, her breasts swelling at the delicious friction of his hard chest.

“You make me happy.” He kissed an eyelid. “You make me whole.” He kissed the other eyelid. “You make me complete.” He kissed her nose. “And I never,” he murmured, his lips bussing hers, “want to be without you again. Never. Ever. Ever.”

He stopped toying with her mouth then and kissed it properly. Selena opened to him without a second’s hesitation, conscious of the railing behind her as she went up on tippy toes, pressing her body into his, sliding her hands around his neck, kissing him back with everything she had, everything she was.

She was done denying herself the man that she loved. Done thinking she could fill her life with things that ultimately didn’t matter. She never, ever, ever wanted to be without him either and her heart filled up and flowed over with the knowledge. After fifteen years of denial it was their time to be happy. The rest, as Jarrod said, would fall into place.

They
would
work it out.

He broke the kiss and she moaned in protest, not ready to give up the delicious, heart-pounding taste of him.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He smiled down at her. “I love you too. But I think we need to move this inside now.”

She shook her head. “No. I want to be out here under our Jumbuck Springs stars.”

“Really?” he murmured. “Because I’m about to do a very indecent thing to you and while I am fine with going down on you in direct view of your grandmother’s kitchen window, and she does have a heart like an ox, I’d still hate her to think I was the kind of guy who would debauch her granddaughter in the open should she be up getting herself a drink of water or something.”

Selena’s breath hitched at his wicked promise. Her belly went into free fall. Her ovaries melted down.

“True,” she muttered, grabbing his T-shirt and backing him up a half-dozen paces until his ass hit the wall of the house. “She can’t see us here, though.”

He spun her around until her back was firmly against the wall. “No,” Jarrod grinned, “She can’t.”

Then he sank to his knees and reached for her zip.

The End

Outback Heat

If you enjoyed
Some Girls Don’t
, you’ll love the other Outback Heat stories!

Book 1: Some Girls Do

Buy Now!

Book 2: Some Girls Don’t

Book 3: Some Guys Need a Lot of Lovin’

Book 4: Some Girls Lie

Multi-award winning and USA Today bestselling author
Amy Andrews
is an Aussie who has written fifty romances from novellas to category to single-title in both the traditional and digital markets for a variety of publishers. Her first love is steamy contemporary romance that makes her readers tingle, laugh and sigh. At the age of 16, she met a guy she instantly knew she was going to marry. She just smiles when people tell her insta-love books are unrealistic because she did marry that man and, twenty odd years later, they’re still living out their happily ever after. Amy works part-time as a PICU nurse and spent six years on the national executive of Romance Writers of Australia where she organized two national conferences and undertook a two year term as president. She loves good books, fab food, great wine and frequent travel – preferably all four together. She lives on acreage on the outskirts of Brisbane with a gorgeous mountain view but secretly wishes it was the hillsides of Tuscany.

More from Amy:

Visit her website at
AmyAndrews.com.au

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