She pushed off the box and walked back to her car.The others were at the end of the lookout, pointing out some late season whales who were frolicking off shore.Oliver glanced back and when he noticed her, he strode towards her.
Damn it.
Could she get into her car in time?No, they’d made eye-contact.She couldn’t ignore him.What she had to do was pretend her heart didn’t ache with longing when she saw his easy smile.
“Leaving already?”
“I need to get to work.”
“Sorry about before.”He seemed genuinely apologetic.“We meant to get here early, but Tom is pretty slow to get going in the morning.”
Oliver used to take his time in the mornings as well.There’d always been distractions.She pushed away those particular memories and asked, “What made you come today?”
He rubbed the back of his head.“I mentioned it yesterday when they were talking about things they could do in their down time.Suzyn was keen and encouraged the others, and only Andrew said no.”
She stiffened.“You suggested it?”He couldn’t have possibly known she was coming here.Unless someone had tapped her phone.
“Yeah.I remembered how nice the lookout was when you brought me here.”His warm smile stirred her insides, made her want to step closer, into his bubble.
Did he also remember it was where they’d agreed to move to the next stage of their relationship?She wouldn’t ask.“It is nice.”She gave a polite smile.“I have to go.”
He shifted aside so she could get in the car.“I’ll call you this afternoon.”
She nodded.“See you later.”
It wasn’t until she turned onto the main road that her hands relaxed on the steering wheel and her heart rate slowed.Oliver had always had a magnetic quality.It had been that way from the first moment they’d locked eyes across the room at a party.He’d made a beeline towards her, and she’d believed in kismet.Everything had seemed possible when she was with him.
They’d spent almost every night together, either at his place or hers until she’d graduated and Nhiari had got the job in Carnarvon.Then she’d turned down the job she’d wanted to stay with him and he’d accepted the position on the expedition team overseas.
The betrayal had eviscerated her.
The proof her love wasn’t enough.Thatshewasn’t enough reason to stay.That he didn’t care enough about her to discuss it before he’d said yes.
When he’d left, it had been like losing a part of herself.
Her hands clenched around the wheel again and she exhaled, relaxing her hold.When she was with Oliver, she had to remember this feeling.Remember those days when getting out of bed had taken all her willpower.He had dumped her without a second thought, and would do so again if she let him in.
She wasn’t going through that again.
Chapter 8
Oliver exhaled slowly as Dot drove away, and he rubbed the ache in his heart.That moment when he’d turned and seen her walking back to her car was so like the moment he’d first seen her.He’d been pulled towards her and hadn’t been able to resist this time any more than he had the first time.She magnetised him.The moments they’d had together rushed over him like a flashback in a movie; dancing with her at a nightclub, the way her head tilted back as she laughed; wrapping his arm around her while she cried at the cinemas; walking hand in hand along the beach at sunset after a nice meal out together.
And she’d walked away from it all, as if none of it had mattered.
“Somebody’s got a crush.”Suzyn’s sing-song voice shocked Oliver from his memories.
“What?”
“You’ve been gazing after the sergeant since she left,” Suzyn said.“Are you going to ask her out?”
Heat rushed to his cheeks.“I’m focused on the shipwreck and keeping you lot out of trouble.”He grinned and gestured to the bus.“Get in.We’ve got work to do.”
He went around to the driver’s side, but her words resonated with him.She was right.He wasn’t as over Dot as he’d thought.He couldn’t ignore the yearning to take her into his arms, or ask her about her day.This emotion swirling inside of him spoke not of indifference, but of want.
Suzyn sat in the front seat and the two guys sat in the seats behind him.“She seems nice,” Suzyn continued as if he had said nothing.
“She’s pretty cute as well,” Tom added.“A bit short, maybe.”
