by Kris Pearson
Her head knew that. Her heart now had very different ideas.
As she forked up her dessert she heard a text arriving. Well, it couldn’t be Kieran because he was blocked, and anyone else could wait.
“Yours?” Ollie asked, angling his chin at her bag.
“I’ll eat this first.” She took another mouthful. Baked fresh peaches, brown sugar, soft vanilla-scented cake. Even better than Jossy’s muffins from yesterday.
A few minutes later her phone rang and her scalp prickled. Please God it wasn’t bad news about her mother! Zhang Wei didn’t text, but her brothers certainly did. In a panic she laid down her fork, and checked the screen. Relief swept over her as she swiped. “Charlotte?”
“Mei – did you get my text? Did you read it? I’m so sorry.”
Mei swallowed. “Ummm, not yet. I’m out at dinner. What’s wrong?”
“I’m so sorry,” Charlotte repeated. “Laura and Pete broke up. She’s arrived back here with all her stuff and taken over the room again. The room you were going to have.”
“She can’t,” Mei protested as her head started to whirl. “I’ve moved out of my old place. I need that room.”
She closed her eyes, blocking out the enquiring stares from Ollie and Anna and Jason as her heart raced and the sick feeling of helplessness spread through her. She could bear a few more days in the super-small place she basically used as a wardrobe, but after that – what? There was no space there to hang up all her clothes, it was so close to Christmas it was a really bad time to try and find anywhere else, and anyway she was off to Buenos Aires in a couple of days.
“Okay,” she sighed. “Thanks for nothing. Thanks for letting me know, I guess. So will you refund my bond money or will she?” She pushed her chair back and paced slowly up and down the room, wrapping a hand across her waist and avoiding everyone’s eyes. “In fact, is this even legal? I paid that money in good faith. I don’t think she can just waltz back in like that.”
“But she’s done it,” Charlotte said, her voice tight with tension. “What chance do you think I have of throwing her out again?”
“What chance do you think I have of finding another place to live in a hurry?”
“Sorry,” Charlotte said for at least the third time. “I’ll transfer it back into your account right away. Bye.” And she’d gone before Mei could say anything else.
Mei returned to her seat and faced three sets of enquiring eyes. Now the delicious cake sat like a lead weight inside her and the rest of the wine in her glass may as well have been acid for all the attraction it held. “Not a good night,” she grated. “Kieran’s not the worst of it, after all.”
Ollie reached across and took her hand. “You can stay on at the new house?” he suggested.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” practical Anna said. “Kieran’s around. And she’ll have no transport. She needs to be back in the city.”
Jason flicked a glance at Anna. “Your apartment?” he suggested. “When the baby comes, if you end up in town I’ll stay with your parents. I don’t mind. They’ll survive. It’d solve the problem.”
Mei’s spirits dropped even further. She was being rescued yet again, although now it was really welcome seeing she was out of a home and out of time.
“Yes,” Anna agreed. “Good idea.” She smiled at Mei. “Don’t turn this down. I have a one-bedroom apartment on Mount Vic. It’s basically unused now I’m out here at Scarlet Bay. I’ve only kept it for occasional city visits, or for family and friends to overnight in.”
“And to appreciate in value in the current property boom,” Jason added. “It was a good buy, but yeah, it’s sitting there doing nothing.”
“I was planning on selling it sooner or later,” Anna continued. “It seems to have become ‘later’, so if you’d like it, it’s yours until you get resettled.”
Mei felt a flicker of relief, and her spirits rose a little. “It’s furnished?” she asked. “I don’t have furniture.”
“Furnished enough. I lived there full time before meeting Jace. A good bed, storage for clothes, some comfy chairs, and a TV.”
Ollie let go of Mei’s hand and leaned back in his seat. “It’d be great for you.” He turned to Anna. “How much do you want, cuz?”
“Family rates. Twenty-five bucks a night, plus you replace any groceries you use. That’s the deal.”
“Ridiculously cheap,” Mei said. “And I’m not family.”
Anna raised a brow. “Ollie’s girlfriend counts as family.”
“I’m not Ollie’s girlfriend.” She glared around the table.
“Yes, you are,” Ollie said. “Yesterday, today, and for as long as I can swing it. You know that’s what I want.”
Mei huffed her indignation out through her nose.
“Dragon Lady’s annoyed?” he teased, lips quirking as he reached over and forked up a bite of her deserted cake. “I know you think there are problems. I know I think the problems can be overcome. Who’s going to win?”
She shook her head, very slowly. “You can’t just insist and make it happen, Oliver.”
“So… what are the problems?” Jason asked, splitting his attention between them. “My mother ran out on us, my dad’s practically the town drunk, I lost out on the contract for the Wynns’ new house, and I still got the daughter. You think I didn’t have problems?”
“The daughter,” Anna murmured. “Is that how you saw me?”
He sent her a fond grin. “Worse than that. You overheard me referring to you as ‘a spoiled little bitch’.”
“So I did,” she agreed. “Not a great start, was it?”
“We got there.” He turned to Mei. “So what’s the worst problem?”
She clenched her jaw and said through gritted teeth, “I’m Chinese.”
“No! I never noticed that, my little friend.” His eyebrows rose and he turned toward Ollie. “Seriously?”
Mei shook her head, looking down at her half empty plate. “Not his family,” she muttered. “Mine. They’re very traditional. And my father has never… been very polite about Ollie. Even when we were really young.”
Ollie pressed his lips together. “I’m still wondering what I did to deserve that.”
“Don’t know.” She shrugged. “He used to be pretty rude about your dad, and you got tarred with the same brush I think.”
“Rude about Uncle James?” Anna asked. “What on earth for?”
“We should ask your mother when we see her tomorrow,” Ollie said. “If there’s anything to sort out, I’d like to do it.”
Mei’s throat constricted and she poked at the remains of her cake. “My mother is too sick, Oliver. “I need to see her, but she won’t want other visitors.”
To her surprise, he leaned across and kissed her hair. “Okay. Maybe I can have a word with your dad instead. He’s always there. He won’t be able to escape.” To Anna, he added, “The apartment’s a great idea, and thanks for the offer of ‘girlfriend rates’.”
She nodded. “You’re welcome. But I don’t want it tied up indefinitely, so how about until the end of January? Will that be long enough?” She patted her non-existent waistline. “We’re not going to be taking this one sightseeing in the city for a while.”
Chapter 13 – A Visit to Yu Yan
“So,” Ollie said, as they took off their crash helmets in the garage, “Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”
“He absolutely didn’t hurt me,” Mei insisted. “You were so quick with that knife he didn’t have time to.”
Ollie hung up the helmets, generous lips pressed together, and eyes searching hers. “I’ll be pleased to know you’re away from here after seeing that. If anything happened to you now, it’d kill me.”
She laid her hand on his arm. “Nothing will happen to me. Another quiet visit to my mother, and unless she… dies… that’ll be all until Jossy and Cam’s wedding.”
“And I’ll partner you there.”
“I won’t need that, Oliver.”
&n
bsp; Why did he think she wanted a guard? She pulled her hand off his arm and glanced up at his face. Hurt. Damn. “It’s kind of you to offer,” she added, “but it’s a wedding. He won’t be anywhere near. He won’t be invited.”
Ollie raised his chin and squinted down at her. “Can you just believe for a minute that I find you totally gorgeous? Have for years. Your face, your body, your bravery. I’m a lot further along in this thing than you are, and I warn you, I don’t give up when I want something.”
Mei blew out a long, slow breath. He was too good to be true. She shouldn’t hope. If ‘now’ was all there was, then now was wonderful, but it would have to be enough.
She prayed there’d be no need to come back for a funeral too soon. She was both looking forward to and dreading the visit to her mother the next day, hopefully once Kieran was out of the way. Also dreading anything that might happen with her father and Ollie, because who knew what could transpire between two men of opposing but firm opinions when there was bad history?
“We’d better try and get some sleep,” she said. “Build up our strength for tomorrow.” She saw him draw a sharp breath and straighten his shoulders. Good… he wasn’t nearly ready for bed yet – or not to sleep, anyway.
He unlocked the door through to the house and curved a hand around her bottom as she swayed through on her high pink heels. “Have you any idea what this outfit’s been doing to me all evening?” His voice was quiet and husky, laced with need.
She turned and looked pointedly at the front of his jeans. “All evening?”
He was definitely pumped to maximum by the look of that big bar of flesh behind his zipper.
Deep inside her, muscles twitched and trembled. The raging need was definitely two-sided. “All evening?” she whispered, running a hand over his jeans too softly to give him much pleasure or relief.
Ollie closed his eyes.
She smiled to herself and hooked a finger into his waistband. “Not sure there’s any room left in here,” she said, sliding her other hand down behind the denim to grasp him and squeeze him and give him a couple of nice tight jerks.
Ollie snatched a breath and then expelled it. “Bed. Now.”
“So we get a good night’s sleep before the rest of the furniture work?” She very slowly withdrew her hand, looking up at him and biting her lip in an effort not to smile.
“So we get a good night’s sleep after the work we do in bed.” He gathered up her hair – a big bunch in each hand – and held her head steady with it as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Mei murmured her pleasure as his lips descended, softly at first, but soon with more pressure and passion. Then she felt him lessen the intensity of his kisses and start edging her toward the bedroom. Not quite the ‘best pussy-cat behavior’ Anna had promised. Ollie might come across as easy going and uber-casual in his ripped jeans and big boots and scruffy, rapidly growing beard, but he was focused on exactly what he wanted, and right now that was her.
He moved leisurely, pushing her along with both big hands cupping her face, dropping tender kisses on her lips, her cheeks, her eyelids. His impressive body bumped her backward in small increments, and Mei shuffled in tiny steps, trying not to overbalance in her high boots, and desperate for every point of contact against him. Her breasts pressed against his hard chest, and every step he took gave her nipples a little nudge until they stood so tight and sensitive inside her pretty lace bra she could hardly bear it. His lips lifted, realigned, settled again on new and even more delicious angles. His tongue swept into her mouth to dance with hers. Wine and peaches, caramelized sugar. He looked so tough but tasted so sweet. The contrast was intoxicating.
Mei grabbed him around the hips, groaning as his long, steely-solid cock bumped against her belly. In an instant he’d bent his knees and scooped an arm under her butt, never letting go of her hair with his other hand, or lifting his lips from hers, but now he had her pressed hard against him and the slightest movement sparked sensations that raced from her scalp to her toes. Or indeed from his magic cock to somewhere deep inside her that needed him as though it was a matter of life and death. She clamped her legs around his hips and raised her arms to his shoulders, burying her fingers in his short hair, kneading to and fro over his scalp, scraping her nails down his neck and up again. Flames licked everywhere as he picked up speed toward the bedroom, laid her on the bed, and joined her.
“God, you have no idea what it did to me, seeing you in danger like that.” He gazed down into her eyes, then closed his, rocking against her as though they were already naked.
Mei tugged at the hem of his T-shirt, smoothing her hands up his long back, and sighing. The combination of Kieran’s attack, Ollie’s rescue, Charlotte’s catastrophic phone call cancelling the new accommodation, and then Jason’s suggestion of Anna’s apartment had all combined to strip away her usual energy. “Feels so nice,” she murmured, eyes half closed.
Ollie opened his. A corner of his mouth quirked into the grin she loved so much, and he stroked the backs of his knuckles down the side of her face. “Poor little dragon, you’re almost asleep. Let me do some work and we’ll see if I can wake you up.” He rolled off her and crossed to the window to lower the blind.
*
“So when do you think the rest will arrive?” she asked next morning as they sat on the private back deck with coffees. They’d already showered and dressed and bundled Saturday’s packing materials into the big bags from the first mattress and spring base; plastic into one and paper and cardboard into the other. Mei had re-bagged all her clothes for moving – this time with less speed and more care.
“I could phone and ask for an ETA,” Ollie said, reaching for her hand and stretching his long legs out in the sun. “Soon would be good, but we’ll manage, whenever it happens. If you want to walk down and see your mother I can stay here for them.”
Moments later they heard a diesel engine rumbling outside. A big hiss of air-brakes followed. “Bet that’s the truck,” he added, letting her fingers slide away through his before getting up and investigating.
Mei sipped the last of her coffee. “Goodbye to my big dolls’ house, then,” she murmured as he loped away. “Nice while it lasted.”
Once the men had left – carrying the other large beds into the correct bedrooms once they saw the size of her – she distributed pillows and packets of high thread-count bedlinen while Ollie manhandled smaller mattresses onto the bunks and into the bedrooms labelled for single beds.
“We are not here to dress them all up,” he said. “If I know my mother we’ll never tuck things in the right way, anyhow.”
Mei grinned at that. Sounded familiar.
They positioned the sofas in the sitting area, added cushions to anything that looked a little naked, and carried the big TV screen and the smaller coffee table back to the living room. After gathering up the rest of the protective packaging, they were done.
Ollie texted Anna. Furniture all done. Taking Mei to her mum. Collect us 2.30?
You need lunch?
We’re fine thanks.
OK – 2.30.
“Bike or walk?” he asked Mei.
She pushed her hair back from her face. “Nice day for a walk if I tie this up.” She wound it into a high bun, watching as Ollie listened to another big wave crashing over and sweeping up the shore. “Good day for surfing?” she suggested, aware his attention had wandered.
He turned back to her. “No worries. There’ll be other good days. Ideal for fish and chips on the beach, you reckon?”
“As long as my father will cook for us.” She closed her eyes briefly. “No arguing with him or no lunch.”
“Wasn’t going to argue with him.” He rubbed his now very bristly chin. “Wish I’d brought a shaver though. I’m feeling scruffy. If there’s a situation between him and Dad, I’d rather look better than this while I try and sort it out.”
“I’ll go and get something for my hair,” she said, walking to the bedroom, securing her bun, a
nd touching up any bruises that showed on her face. The ‘situation’ was something she wasn’t supposed to know about, but the sounds of Zhang Wei’s anger had speared through the thin walls of the small house for year after year, and she and her brothers were left in no doubt how incensed their father had been. She hoped he’d be silent about it today. “Need to go to the campground store on the way,” she called through to Ollie. “See if they have bunches of flowers, maybe. Or something else she might like.”
A few minutes later they were on their way, walking along the beachfront road and attracting waves and hellos and the occasional raised eyebrow from long-time residents. Mei flicked a glance across to the house she’d shared with Kieran. No yellow car. Plainly his fingers weren’t too bad if he was able to drive to work. She could still too easily summon up the stench of alcohol on him as he’d clamped her in his arms and refused to let her go. Stupid of him to do it in front of witnesses. Stupid of her not to expect him to react that way, too.
Now she breathed in so her lungs expanded to full capacity. So good. Much as she loved her job, the pounding waves and the fresh salty air made her feel totally alive after the dead air on the big jets.
Ollie swung the door of the takeaway shop open for her. The familiar scents of garlic, hot oil, seafood, and sesame immediately swamped the spicy perfume of the carnations she carried, and her father looked up at the jangle of the bell. His initial expression of welcome faded as his gaze fixed on Ollie.
“It’s good to see you, daughter, but why did you bring this son of a thief?”
Just as well he’d chosen not to speak English!
“He has been very helpful to me, father. Please treat him with respect.”
“Respect! Did his father ever treat me and your mother with respect?”
