Zane said, “Would you stop thinking you know what I’m going to say before I say it?” She flinched, and he ran a hand through his hair and said, “Sorry, but you’re driving me mad. Would you pleaseexpectsomething?”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what to do with her hands. They felt too big and clumsy as she stood there in her flowered date clothes. “I thought this was how it worked. The booty call thing.”
He sighed. Then he stepped forward, put his hands on the small of her back, and kissed her mouth. Gently. Sweetly. Of course, after that, he went back to “rugby captain” mode by saying, “Communication rules, then.”
“Uh … OK.” She liked the holding part. She put her head against his shoulder, because it was right there, and it was so solid. “Go.”
He had a curl between his fingers, was rubbing it, tugging a little, and she looked up at him again as he said, “Say what you mean, and so will I. If we don’t know, we ask. So: would you like to have a lovely relaxed Sunday brekkie with me and the kids, stretch our date night out a little more? Unconventionally, with six kids and those grandparents, but still. We have to eat, after all.”
“Yes,” she said. “I would. Relationships are tricky, though. All these rules I don’t know. Like, for instance, how to dress. Obviously.”
“I’m a pretty simple bloke,” he said. “No kind of sophisticated aesthete.”
“Aesthete?” She had to laugh. “That’s some vocabulary, boy.”
He scowled at her, but she thought it was for effect. “I’m not actually illiterate. I know the word, but I’m the furthest thing from it. I like sex. I like naked women. I like to sweat and run and tackle, and I always have. I spend my days and too many of my nights with a bunch of big, hairy blokes who fart too much and always leave the seat up. I read books about Roman history and World War II and steer clear of the ones with a bird or a feather on the cover. You thought you had to be fashionable for me, for some reason. I don’t know anything about fashion, and I care less. If I’m wearing a buttoned shirt, that’s about what I’ve got to offer. And if you turn up wearing something pretty that lets me look at … oh, any part of your body at all, I’ll be happy. I like you, and I want to be with you as much as I can, which won’t be often enough. All of that sound OK to you? Have anything to add?”
She considered that. He waited while she did it, which was nice. “Yes,” she said. “Is this a one-way street? I mean, are you the only one who does the asking? And who, uh, starts things up? Sexually?”
“What do you want it to be?” He was paying full attention, at least.
“Oh, boy.” She had her hands in her hair, then remembered it was in a pony and she was messing it up and took them down. “I don’t want to feel like I’m waiting by the phone, but I also don’t want to feel like I’m stalking you. I really,reallydon’t want to feel that. I keep thinking of all the women who must pursue you, and I just cringe. So I think we need some guidelines.”
“OK.” He sat on the bed and patted it. “Come sit by me.”
She did. Because it made sense, not because he’d orderedher to. He took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers, and that was nice. Grounding. He said, “I’m not interested in those women. Put those women out of your mind. This isn’t that.”
“Well, it could be abitthat,” she admitted. “As I’m pretty attracted to you out on the field. Which makes it confusing.”
She got direct eye contact then. From his good eye. “That why you want me, then, you reckon? If I’m not doing this, you’re not interested?”
“Of course not. You’re more than that. You’re a dad. A … aperson. But that’s what’s so confusing! I wish youweren’tdoing this, at least that you weren’t an All Black. That you weren’t going to be gone so much. I know it’s too soon to have feelings like that, but I do anyway. You said honest communication, and this is me being honest. So, yes, I love watching you, because you’re strong and you’re good at it and you’re a … a leader. But I lovethosethings, not the rugby. I think,” she added, because honesty.
“OK,” he said. “And you like that I’m a bit on the dominant side, at least I think you do.”
“Just a bit?” She had to laugh, though, which made him smile, so that was easier. “Yes. Pretty obvious. You excite me, all right? I can’t help it. But I also want to be able to ask if you want to … come over with the kids for a meal, I guess. Or do something like this. I mean, I’d ratheryouasked, so I was sure you wanted to, but I’d like theoptionto ask.”
“You’ve got it,” he said. “And if you want to jumpmybones at any time, you’ve got that, too. Is that it? All good? And if we wonder, we ask?”
“All good,” she said, then had to pull his head down and kiss his mouth. “I like you so much.”
“Me too,” he said. “So let’s go see our kids and eat some breakfast, because I’m bloody starving.”
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as that.
41
OBJECTIONS ARISE
She ended up giving Zane a lift to the team hotel, which was indeed only a couple of minutes away. “I’m surprised you didn’t just arrange to meet me here,” she said, circling the block to find the carpark. “Or weren’t there any rooms?”
“I didn’t want it to seem like a hookup, Meeting the boys in the lifts and all.”
“Oh.” She digested that as she pulled to the curb. “That was sensitive of you.”
“Don’t act so surprised,” he said, and opened his door. “I’ll wait for you at the bakery. You can choose treats for your whanau, and it’ll be easier to walk into my house together, I’m thinking.”
He was halfway out of the car, but she said, “Wait.” He turned, and she leaned over the center console, got a hand on his cheek, and kissed his mouth. “I’m going to say it again. I like you so much. Thank you for thinking of that.”
