Second Chance in the Outback - Chapter 2
A rush of joy enveloped Jamie like a thick fleecy blanket. The exuberant warmth wrapped around him like a hug—like the kind of hug he’d always wished his mother would give, and never had. Even at the age of sixteen Grace had given hugs like that.
He registered the shock in her eyes, quickly followed by dismay, and the blanket slid off his shoulders leaving him feeling cold and exposed. What did you expect? That she’d be jumping for joy if she saw you again?
Fitz glanced between them. ‘You know each other?’
Intimately. But that had been fifteen years ago when they’d been hormone-riddled sixteen-year-olds. And like typical sixteen-year-olds they’d screwed things up, because that’s what sixteen-year-olds excelled at. It hit him now that a part of him had always ached to go back and fix things, to make them right. Could this be his chance?
Another glance at Grace’s face had that hope dying an early death. Clearly she’d have been happy to never see, speak or hear from him again. Not that he blamed her.
Fitz frowned when neither of them spoke. ‘Is this going to be a problem? Do I need to bring someone else in to—’
‘No!’
Panic flitted across Grace’s face, and Jamie clenched and unclenched his hands. Fitz was her boss. He couldn’t let her look bad in front of him. He owed her that much at least. ‘Nah, mate.’ He slid Fitz a grin. ‘This is a godsend. It’ll be great catching up with Grace again.’
Grace shook herself upright and sent them both a grin, one that completely discombobulated him. ‘I have to say, though, I wasn’t expecting to come face-to-face with my sixteen-year-old self today.’
He turned back to Fitz and forced himself to pick up the thread of the story. ‘Grace and I first met when I stayed here that time. You’d gone off on some hiking trip, and Tom was the only one home.’ And had immediately donned the role of older brother.
‘Right.’
‘Mum was here doing the annual round of vaccinations and running a couple of first aid courses,’ Grace said. ‘I tagged along.’
Her mother had been a district nurse. Grace stuck out a hip, and he tried not to stare, but in the intervening years, Grace’s curves had become…curvier. Something hot slid through his veins. A hard insistent ache settled in his bones. They might’ve only been sixteen, but the passion they’d unleashed in each other had been unmistakably adult.
She kinked an eyebrow. ‘What was it I promised you? Undying love until the world stopped turning and all the seas had drained away.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Cliched much?’
Jamie snorted. ‘Ha! I believe I memorised a Shakespearean sonnet.’
Fitz’s lips twitched. ‘Which one?’
He mock-groaned. ‘Mine eye hath played the painter and hath stell’d thy beauty’s form in table of my heart.’
Fitz hooted out a laugh. ‘Wait until Tom hears this!’
Jamie gave another groan but grinned at Grace. ‘It’s nice to see you again, Grace.’ And then he did what he’d been dying to do. He bent down and kissed her cheek.