Niall smiled a little.
‘I’m scatty.’
‘Cute.’
He bit his lip and eyed her through a narrowed gaze.
So cute.
‘I get lost in surfing and forget to turn up to dates.’
Carli laughed. ‘I remember that.’
‘Well, I’m glad you find it all so charming because none of them did.’
Carli reached over and touched his arm for a moment. ‘You’ve just described you. That’s the you I remember.’
He met her gaze. ‘It’s not the me they wanted.’
‘It’s the you I couldn’t forget.’
‘Fuck, Cass.’ He looked away, like her words hurt him. ‘Stop. You’re killing me here. You’d soon have grown sick of me if we’d been living together or something. Being like that when you’re a kid is one thing. Having to have your business partner constantly harangue you to do things when you’re meant to be running a company is another.’
‘Okay, I’m sorry for glamourising the past. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not happy about the way things ended for us, and it never quite made sense. All I’m saying is, you’re not all bad and maybe those girls weren’t right for you.’
‘Oh, there’s no doubt about that.’
‘Or maybe you’re doing other things wrong.’
‘Like what?’ This got Niall’s attention.
‘I dunno.’ Carli feigned uncertainty. ‘Kissing. Sex.’ What was it about Niall? She couldn’t help but flirt with him.
‘Hey! Come on now.’ His voice was injected with sudden energy. ‘You always said I was a great kisser.’
‘Yeah.’ She drawled with nonchalance. He wasn’t wrong; Niall had been an astounding kisser, the kind of kisses you craved because they were so good, another thing that had never been surpassed by any other guy, not that she would tell him this quite yet. ‘But things change,’ she teased. ‘Maybe I was propping you up. Plus, you can’t root like a sixteen-year-old for the rest of your days.’
Niall’s laughter echoed through the campsite. ‘I don’t root like a sixteen-year-old.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘I dunno. Because I make an effort.’
‘Oh, you do?’
‘Aye, I do. I happen to have found this copy ofThe Joy of Sexin an op shop, and I keep it by my bedside and when women come over, I ask them what they’d like to try.’
Now Carli laughed hard from her belly. ‘You do not!’
‘Of course I bloody don’t. But I wasn’t lying about making an effort. It’s important that it’s not only me getting off. That’s one of a few things I put my all into.’
‘Okey dokey,’ she teased. ‘I’ll take your word for it.’ Boy, did she want to take more than his word for it. She was walking right into asking for evidence of this committed lover he professed to be, to start with one of those soft little pecks that were his prologue, then tenderly be swept into the passionate first chapter and have her heart and soul captivated entirely by the story of his kiss.
‘Niall,’ she said, when the atmosphere between them had settled a little. This might be a bad idea, but she wanted…needed physical connection with him again and had an inkling of what could be a safe way to go about it. A halfway house between awkward nothing and a kiss.
‘Aye?’ There was expectation tinged with uncertainty in his face.
‘Can I give you a hug?’
