“Good idea.”
Tarryn unwrapped her wrap and took a huge bite.
Allie tried to concentrate on the road and not on how Tarryn wiped a speck of barbecue sauce from her mouth with her little finger.Concentrate!
“These are so good. Soft wrap, double bacon, free-range egg, crispy potato. And Kirra has to deal with idiots who complain they’re not as cheap as that big chain we all know on the highway. There’s no comparison.”
Allie turned onto the main road, and once she was up to speed held out her hand. “I agree. But maybe I need to check again. Just in case Kirra’s cooking has slipped.”
Tarryn handed over the wrap. “No chance of that.”
Even after driving it for a couple of weeks, Sophie’s SUV still felt unfamiliar. It was too big, too lumbering, and it swayed alarmingly on corners, but on the highway, it felt safe enough. She bit into the wrap. “Just as good as I remember.”
Tarryn finished hers and chased it with a sip of coffee. She balled the wrapper into a tight shape, squashing it between finger and thumb. “Can I ask you something?”
She gripped the steering wheel and flicked Tarryn a glance. “Sure. Is everything okay?” Was Tarryn about to say she was uncomfortable with Allie’s kisses? It was a workplace situation after all, and she may have felt pressured. Coldness seeped into her chest.Please, not that. Not with Sophie’s business on the line.
“I’m sure you don’t need another complaint from me about this whole fake wedding thing.” Tarryn sighed. “So I won’t give you one. I just have an awkward question I shouldn’t ask, but I’m not the sort of person who can wait and see. I need to know.”
Allie fixed her stare on the road ahead, and her grip tightened on the steering wheel enough that her knuckles went white. Not good for vehicle control. She made a conscious effort to relax. As long as Tarryn didn’t start talking about workplace coercion, she could get through this. And she had wanted to find out Tarryn’s problem. She just hadn’t expected her to raise it in the first fifteen minutes. “What do you need to know?”
“The kiss. I’m wondering…” She rested her arm on the sill and turned to face Allie. “That is… I don’t know where I stand with you. We were getting along, then you got all salty about organisation, and then you kissed the hell out of me to the stars and back. I remember you said it’s been a while since you kissed anyone, and I know we were acting in a way, pretending for the fake wedding, but… Hell, Sophie. That kiss was dynamite. To me, it seemed…real. As if you wanted to take things further. And if you were anyone else, I’d be upping my seduction game, but I don’t want to step out of line here. I don’t give a rat’s arse you’re supposedly my boss. You’re not really, not in any lasting way, and you’ll be back in Sydney in a few days. So did I read this right?”
Allie dragged a slow breath through her open mouth. The simple answer was yes, Tarryn had read her right, and they should forget going to look at wedding clothes and instead do a U-turn back to Quandong and find somewhere private with a bed.
Her mind fizzed. Was that what she wanted? The answer settled into her head like soft spring rain: yes, it was. But that didn’t mean she would act on it. Flings weren’t her thing, and that’s all it would be with Tarryn. This time next week, she’d be back in Sydney, caring for Sophie, trying to pick up the pieces of her professional life and find herself a new job. She didn’t need any distractions, not even Tarryn-shaped ones. Even if she did have gorgeous skin that made Allie’s fingers itch to touch, even if her metal-grey curls were a striking frame for her expressive, handsome face. No. There was only one answer she could give.
She flashed Tarryn a quick smile and returned her stare to the road. “It was acting. Trying to make it look real. After all, we want people to believe in the romance of love. A stilted peck on the lips wouldn’t give that impression. We want them to sigh and melt inside and wish they, too, could have part of the romance we’re portraying.” She flexed her fingers on the wheel. “Sure, I enjoyed the kiss—who wouldn’t? You’re a great kisser. But I’m not up for a fling, Tarryn.”
Tarryn was silent for a moment. “Pity. We could have had a lot of fun together in the last few days.”
“Maybe. But it’s not what I’m looking for. Let’s keep the kisses for the festival.” She looked across in time to see Tarryn’s lips twitch into a smile.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Allie let the silence stand for a moment, then said, “And while we’re checking in on each other, I wanted to ask if you’re okay too. You didn’t seem too comfortable at the rehearsal yesterday.”
“I wasn’t.” Tarryn lifted a shoulder. “But I’ll get through it. I’ve committed, Sophie, and once I’ve done that, I don’t go back on my word. I hope I’ll be better on the day.”
Allie nodded. “We’ll get through this together.”
* * *
Tarryn eyed the dresses the wedding hire assistant was showing them. Sure, they were lovely, if that’s what you wanted. Sure, they were everything most brides would dream of: everything from elegant gowns to sexy skin-revealing sheaths to fun and flirty. But although Sophie was oohing and aahing, Tarryn’s request to see something with pants, a tux or a suit, had so far been ignored.
Sophie picked up a couple of the fun-and-flirty dresses. “I’m going to try these. Have you seen anything you like?”
“Not yet. I think I’ll look at the male side.”
“I’m sorry,” the assistant said. “I know you asked for something with pants—like we have in our brochure—but we’ve had a run on those clothes, and there’s very little left in stock. People are definitely moving away from traditional.”
Tarryn went over to the other side of the store and started browsing the racks of suits. She pulled out an aubergine-coloured one and held it up. Too drab? She set it to one side and kept browsing.
The assistant hovered. “We have white suits.”
Tarryn stifled a gasp of horror. She’d look like a drug lord. “Sophie’s looking at colours—it would be better if I stayed away from white as well.”
“Fair enough.” The assistant tapped her collarbone as she thought. “Your girlfriend’s trying on pink hues. Do you want to match?”
