Her gaze dropped to his lips, and suddenly the air felt electric, every movement charged.
‘Totally okay,’ she said, and then, before she could overthink it any further, she closed the gap between them.
11
Spencer shut the truck door, placed his coffee and donut on the seat beside him and sat there in Clem’s car park. Should he drive off as planned and get the hives where they needed to go, or jog back to the cafe and kiss Clem Crossley silly?
He knew which idea he liked better, but she’d broken the kiss and rushed inside, emerging all business-like with his order, as well as a bump on her head.
Whatever had made her kiss him, he certainly wasn’t complaining. In fact, it was the sexiest move anyone had made on him in years, which was kind of ironic considering he’d not long finished filmingLove on the Land.
He pressed a hand to his lips, still feeling the tingle from Clem’s kiss, and took one last look at the cafe.
Nope. No sign of her.
She might be attracted to him, but she was probably coming to realise that he was a whole lot of messy.And rightly so, he thought, turning over the truck engine and shooing Dolly away from the donut.
Reality dating shows, a wife who had passed away, in-laws who were more like parents, not to mention he was one of themain committee members of the theatre group she’d signed Harriet up to. Plus, he worked at her daughter’s school.
This whole thing was getting messier by the minute. It wouldn’t be good if things were awkward between them when school camp rolled around in November.
He drove out of Penwarra, past the wineries and vineyards.
But she’d been the one to kiss him, and it wasn’t like he’d pushed her away. Even after that first, unexpected kiss, she hadn’t pulled back and grimaced. Nope, they’d drawn back together like magnets, her lips parting as the gentle sweep of his tongue found hers.
It was one thing having Clem’s soft body pressed against his when he’d comforted her at the hospital, and again when they’d crashed into one another, but it was another kettle of fish to have her against him knowing she wanted him in an altogether different way.
He was struggling to drag his mind away from the memory of her hair in his hands, his thumb stroking her neck and her hands tugging him closer, but the sound of paper rustling pulled him up quickly. He looked away from the road to see Dolly scoffing the donut.
Serves you damn right.
He banished the kiss from his mind for the rest of the drive, but as he lay in the motel bed that night, aching and tired after unloading pallet after pallet of hives at a stone fruit farm, his mind returned to Clem Crossley.
She’d looked amazing in the skirt covered with pictures of parrots, and that look of joy on her face when she’d told him her best-selling dishes contained South Giddi Giddi honey … well, that was something else.
He loved that her reactions seemed straight from her heart, just like her cooking—nothing contrived, no hidden meanings or motivations, just a genuine interest. And the way that shelistened, really listened, warmed his heart. And even as his mind conjured up excuses, Spencer knew this feeling wasn’t just because she looked a little like Belle, or because she was poles apart from the girls he’d met onLove on the Land.
It was because he liked her.
Clem had a blissful few minutes when she first woke on Monday morning, and hadn’t yet remembered the way she’d thrown herself at Spencer Hawkins two days earlier.
But as Harriet crashed around the kitchen, making goodness knows what with every noisy appliance they owned, Clem’s recollections came flooding back and she felt like burrowing under the quilt and hiding.
Idiot.
Idiot.
Idiot.
What had come over her? Was it a full moon? The start of school holidays? The news about Harriet’s role in the pirate play? Or had she completely lost the plot because she was so lonely, she was prepared to force herself on the first bloke who had held her in forever?
Would she have snogged any other unsuspecting male customer if he’d stamped on her foot and nearly knocked her head off?
Clem pulled her sleeping mask off and stared at the timber ceiling. She could only imagine what he must think of her. Maybe she could blame it on hormones, or the pain of their collision.
It had only been nine months ago that he’d taken the role at Harriet’s school. Even though she’d met him as a casual acquaintance through Mia, she could have sworn that he’d actively avoided her in all previous situations.
He’d always been polite, and Harriet worshipped the ground he walked on, but there hadn’t been a spark. In fact, now that she thought about it, he’d always been aloof to the point of distant.
