Meet Me in Bendigo

by Eva Scott

She caught sight of flashing lights in her rear-view mirror.

  ‘Oh, no,’ she groaned as she checked her speedometer. In her rage, she’d managed to exceed the speed limit by ten kilometres. More than enough to land her in hot water.

  Dutifully, she pulled over and waited, her hand moving to touch her locket. The police officer who came to her window was none other than Mel’s husband, Garry.

  ‘Hello, Annalisa,’ he said with his formal policeman voice. ‘Are you aware of the fact you were speeding?’

  ‘Yes, officer.’

  ‘May I ask if there was any reason you were exceeding the speed limit today?’

  She sighed. ‘You can and there is, but it’s not the kind of reason that’s going to matter.’

  ‘Right. Sorry, but I have to ask you for your driver’s licence.’

  She dug it out of her purse and handed it over, waiting silently while Garry punched in the details which would result in a speeding fine.

  He handed her back her card.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he asked in his normal off-duty voice.

  ‘I just found out that this … man I’ve been seeing … well, not seeing exactly but was interested in … is not who I thought he was and I’m driving out to give him a piece of my mind.’ Fresh anger surged through her as she brought Garry up to date.

  ‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘All I’m going to say is don’t drive angry, okay? Speed kills. You know that.’

  That she did. A speeding driver had taken Ben from her, ending their life together. Chastened, she hung her head. ‘I’m sorry, Garry.’

  ‘Take it easy, tiger.’ He tapped the roof of her car. ‘I’ll see you around.’

  ‘Say hi to Mel for me,’ she called as he walked back to the police car.

  She waited until he drove off before continuing her journey. Now she had further reason to be embarrassed and it was all Ed Carpenter’s fault. Not only was he going to cost her Cappelli’s Hardware, he’d cost her a point off her licence and a fine too. Insult to injury in her book.

  By the time she pulled into the driveway of the old farm where Carpenter’s Warehouse was now located, she’d of course re-engaged with her anger and it was burning pure and hot.

  She spotted the portable site offices parked up like two beached whales side by side in an otherwise empty field. The biggest shock was the missing farmhouse, the outline of the old foundations resembling a scar. Men in high-vis shirts bustled about the place like many ants building a nest. She searched for Ed Carpenter amongst them, finding it impossible to tell one worker from the other. He must be here because his ute was parked in front of the site office.

  Annalisa turned off the engine and sat watching the activity, unable to believe the speed with which change had occurred. She’d driven past the property not so long ago and the old farmhouse had still been here. And today, it was as if it had never been, all the stories and life it had contained removed forever.

  With self-righteous zeal, she walked over to the site office with the white Hilux parked outside and pounded on the door, causing the whole thing to vibrate.

  The door opened immediately to reveal Ed Carpenter. A half-naked, very sexy Ed Carpenter. He had a towel in his hands and his damp hair told her he’d probably got caught in the rain earlier.

  ‘Annalisa.’ He looked surprised to see her. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘Really? You’re going with innocent?’ She whipped out the newspaper and thrust it towards him.

  ‘What’s this?’ He frowned as he took it, his face changing as fast as the Victorian weather as he read the front page. ‘Shit.’

  The pressure of everything she needed to say constricted her throat as all the words competed to escape.

  ‘I meant to tell you before this came out,’ he began. ‘I can explain everything.’

  ‘Sure you can. Explain to me why you snuck into my shop and pretended to be someone you’re not.’ There, the fight had begun and the relief gave power to her feelings.

  ‘Hang on, I never said I was anyone I’m not.’ He became defensive, which she’d expected.

  ‘Pretending by omission. You never told us who you really are. You came in all charm offensive, got us to trust you.’ She pointed at the picture of him smiling and looking more handsome than any man had a right to be, the memory of his kiss tingling in her mind. ‘Then you turn out to be … to be … the devil.’

  He let out a bark of laughter. She hated him for the way her eye was drawn to the wide expanse of his chest, the way his biceps and shoulders curved as if sculpted from marble. Her head wanted to yell, her heart wanted to cry for what could not be and a fire had started between her legs, demanding to be quenched. Damn this man!

  ‘The devil? Seriously, that’s what you’re going with?’

  ‘You think little businesses like mine don’t matter, that you can come in and take over. People like you crush small holdings and you couldn’t care less about the hearts you break.’ Let’s make this about business and not about her heart.

  ‘Don’t tell me what I care about.’ A flush had stolen over his cheeks, flagging his anger at her accusations.

  ‘Don’t tell me you care,’ she hissed. But it was about her heart.

  He looked past her. ‘You’d better come in and … we’ll continue this conversation inside.’

  ‘I will not. I don’t have anything to hide, not like you. I don’t care who hears what I have to say.’ She planted her gumboots in the fresh mud, her arms crossed, aware that she was channelling Nonna.

  ‘I’m not worried about anyone hearing us either,’ he said as the sky opened up and rain began to fall. ‘I got caught in the downpour earlier and got wet through.’ He held his arms out to show his damp, half-naked self, like he was inviting her to go get wet and join him. ‘I was only thinking about your comfort.’

  She glared at him, gritting her teeth and willing herself to stand her ground. The fat drops of freezing rain began to seep through her shirt and chill her scalp.

  ‘Oh, alright then. I’ll come in.’ Accepting with grace was not an option.

  ‘Can you take off your muddy boots first please? There’s a box just under the steps where you can put them so they won’t get wet.’ He sounded like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, which only served to make her madder.

  She stood on the steps of the mobile home and wrenched her gumboots off, tossing them in the designated box, while the raindrops continued to soak her clothes. Bedraggled wasn’t quite the presentation she’d planned. She’d have to work with what she had.

  Closing the door behind her, she turned to face Ed who held out a towel.

  ‘Here, you need this.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said begrudgingly as she took it and patted her hair, knowing she had a limited time before it dried frizzy, effectively removing the last of her credibility.

  ‘You’re welcome. Let’s see if we can have a reasonable discussion, shall we?’ He stood with his arms crossed over his bare chest, his eyes intense with an emotion she couldn’t pinpoint. He didn’t look like he wanted to be reasonable.

  ‘I am being reasonable. You were spying on me.’ She rubbed vigorously at the back of her neck.

  ‘I was not spying on you.’

  ‘So explain why you kept coming over. Always hanging around, being nice and never once letting on that you were the …’

  ‘Devil?’ He quirked an eyebrow.

  ‘You’re threatened by us.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Ed looked surprised. ‘The reason I came by was to see if you were open to a buyout deal.’

  ‘Which clearly I am not,’ she spat, as her breath came shallow and fast.

  ‘You should be. What’s your annual turnover? I bet it’s forty thousand a year. Less running costs, I bet you barely pull a wage from that place.’

  ‘How did you know that?’ she gasped. He had her on the back foot, knocking her anger down a gear to make way for shock.

  ‘My family are in the hardware busin
ess.’ He looked so damn smug that her palm itched to slap his face.

  ‘No, my family are in the hardware business.’ Her hands, balled into fists, were pressing into her thighs to the point where they hurt. ‘You know Carpenter’s can’t stand up to the level of customer service we give. We have roots in this community while you have …’ Even as the words flew out of her mouth, she knew she wasn’t arguing about hardware stores. This conversation would only ever be a euphemism for how used she felt. She wanted to hurt him as much as he’d hurt her.

  ‘A vast selection of goods which we can buy in bulk, therefore enabling us to pass on the discount to our customers?’

  ‘I was going to say no integrity. You crush people’s livelihoods without a backwards glance and all you offer in return is a lousy discount.’

  ‘What we give in return is a chance for employment in a region where people struggle to find work. We get involved in community projects. We raise money for local charities and sporting clubs. Do you want me to keep going? Because I can. Carpenter’s might represent all you hate about corporations but we give back big time, and I for one am proud of that fact.’

  She’d never been so angry at anyone in her life. He stood there, in his half-naked glory, thinking he knew her and her town, that he knew what people wanted. He thought he knew better. ‘Do you think any of that helps the people whose business you’ve crushed? You care more about the profit you make than you do about actual people.’

  ‘Ah, that’s right.’ Ed slapped his forehead. ‘I forgot. We’re just the DIY supermarket that sells cheap tools. So, of course I was sent here to make sure the real hardware store was crushed like a bug, just in case its superior integrity might put Carpenter’s out of business. Absolutely nothing crazy about that theory.’

  ‘You already demonstrated some of that Carpenter superiority, and if that’s the best you have to offer, then I’ve got nothing to be worried about.’

  ‘Really?’ He took a step closer, his eyes blazing. Suddenly, the mobile home got a whole lot smaller and something had happened to the air supply because Annalisa found she couldn’t breathe properly. ‘Perhaps I didn’t make my demonstration clear enough.’

  ‘Oh, it was plenty clear.’ She wanted to get him back for calling her crazy. ‘It just wasn’t up to par.’

  ‘I’m warning you, if you don’t leave right now I’m going to kiss you,’ he growled.

  She swallowed hard, in no doubt that this kiss would be rather different from their first. This kiss would be hard and passionate. This kiss would be fire, and there would be no going back.

  She wanted to stay angry. Knowing who Ed truly was took him from some gorgeous guy who wandered into her shop to someone wealthy and prominent and out of her league. Knowing he was a Carpenter changed everything.

  Yet she couldn’t get away from the way their first kiss had felt luxurious, like being wrapped in warm velvet. The promise of what could be hung in the air.

  Her hesitation gave her body time to put forward a compelling argument for being kissed. The sage and sea salt scent intoxicated her and the heat coming off his body matched the heat building between her thighs. Her fingertips itched to touch him.

  The brutal truth was Annalisa wanted another kiss, even though the timing was all wrong and she still had things left to yell. She had to stay angry for a little while longer. ‘I’ll go when I’m finished here and not a minute before.’

  ‘Fine, have it your way.’

  She let him take the lead as he moved in close, his fingers reaching for her T-shirt to tug her the last few inches until she was indeed pressed up against him, his lips so close all she had to do was lean forward and …

  Her tongue, acting on its own behalf, ran lightly across her lips as if preparing them for what was to come. His eyes followed the motion, reflecting her own hunger back at her. Before she could register the moment, his mouth descended upon hers. Hot and all consuming. Right there and then, her heart cast its vote in favour of her body and she gave in to the molten desire pulsating deep within her. She wanted him, every last bit of him.

  Her hands slid along the smooth contours of his flesh and he grabbed her bottom with both hands, pulling her against his hips so she could feel the evidence of his arousal. He wanted her too.

  God, to give in and let him take her to bed! She wanted to feel the whole naked length of him, to touch him and have him touch her …

  He’s the devil in disguise. Nonna’s words echoed in her head and she jerked her lips away from his.

  ‘Oh no you don’t,’ she said, her voice husky with desire. ‘You don’t get to seduce me into giving up my store.’

  ‘That is not what I was doing.’ Ed stepped back and ran a hand through his still damp hair, his chest rising and falling with his rapid breath. She couldn’t take her eyes off it.

  Anger. She needed her anger, like a talisman against him. While her body refused to let go of its red-hot lust, her head lurched into action.

  ‘You are the worst sort of person, Ed Carpenter. Do not come anywhere near my store again. You are dangerous.’ Her voice shuddered as she tried to pull herself together. She needed to get far away from this man before she did something she’d regret.

  ‘How am I dangerous?’ he called after her as she flung open the door and jumped down into the rain, running for her car. ‘Hey, you left your boots behind.’

  She didn’t care. She could always buy new boots. The mud squelched up between her toes as the rain cooled her skin, its sting bringing her back to common sense. She’d done the right thing. Annalisa had barely managed to heal her heart after losing Ben; she couldn’t afford for it to be broken again so soon. And that was the only way this story could end.

  Ed watched her go until the cold reminded him that he hadn’t put a shirt on. He shut the door and found a sweatshirt. Damn. He couldn’t fathom what he’d just done and found himself turning around several times, like a dog trying to settle; he would have paced up and down if there’d been room. The raw shock of the kiss was too fresh.

  Then, the agitation subsiding, Ed flung himself down on the couch and contemplated the mess he’d made. Rain was pounding above, a low roar, and through the window he could see that the work had ceased onsite. He was completely alone with his thoughts.

  There was no denying things. Ed had kissed her. Just like that. One minute she’d been yelling at him, telling him how terrible he was and then the urge to kiss her hit him with undeniable force, as if kissing her was the only thing in the world that made sense.

  And he’d been right. That glorious moment when their lips had met and she’d answered his passion with heat of her own, when they’d become lost in each other, that moment was worth enduring all the upcoming grief. It was so different from their first kiss. This one revealed the depth of the passion that had been simmering between them from their very first meeting. It had shown him what might be.

  Ed shut his eyes, remembering the way her waist curved beneath his fingertips and how her butt had fitted perfectly into his hands. Her hair, wet and wild, had tumbled around them both like a curtain of black satin. If she never spoke to him again, at least he had those memories.

  But he shouldn’t have given in and kissed her. She’d gone and made him so damn mad standing there, giving him a lecture on her superior integrity. Something he was already aware of, thank you very much. Her barbs struck at his own insecurities. She called him dangerous, but he was beginning to suspect things were the other way around. Annalisa Cappelli got under his skin.

  The big question was whether she’d ever talk to him again, especially after the things he’d said. What had possessed him? He’d defended Carpenter’s Warehouse like he’d founded the business, a business he’d never felt passionately about. If he could take the words back, he would. Unfortunately, what had been said could not be unsaid.

  He had to find a way to make peace with Annalisa, to get her to see he was genuine. She had to like him enough so that when she found out he
was really GardenerGuy94 she wouldn’t throw him out of her life. Things did not look good when she clearly had trouble with him being a Carpenter in the first place. What on earth would she say when she found out he was GardenerGuy94 too? What a mess.

  Hell, how had he let this situation unravel like this? He shouldn’t have come to Wongilly. He should have insisted Jeremy came instead. That way his online relationship with GoldfieldsGirl would’ve remained intact and if sometime in the future they’d wanted to meet … well, it would have amounted to the same messy, and dangerous, end. Who was he kidding?

  He had to find a way to tell her the truth, and soon. One thing he knew for sure was that today was not that day. No way was she ready to hear what he had to say.

  Ed ran a hand through his hair, surprised to find it still damp. It seemed like he’d got drenched hours ago, maybe even in a whole other life. His heart only now had begun to slow down.

  Ed had crossed the borderline by kissing Annalisa again and now found himself in a new territory, one he did not have a map for. What he needed was a plan.

  GardenerGuy94 WED @ 4:15 PM

  Sorry, I’ve been busy. How are you?

  GoldfieldsGirl WED @ 4:19 PM

  I behaved badly today. I bet you never behave badly.

  GardenerGuy94 WED @ 4:22 PM

  I can’t imagine you ever behaving badly. I bet you imagined it.

  GardenerGuy94 WED @ 4:23 PM

  PS. I behave badly on a regular basis. I believe it can be good for your soul.

  GoldfieldsGirl WED @ 4:25 PM

  LOL. You always make me feel better. Rest assured I crossed the line. I yelled at the man who is making my life hell.

  GardenerGuy94 WED @ 4:28 PM

  Clearly he must have deserved it. I’m sure he’s a big boy and he can take it. Are you okay?

  GoldfieldsGirl WED @ 4:30 PM

  I’m fine. Just ashamed of myself. No matter what he’s done he doesn’t deserve to be yelled at. On second thought, maybe he does.

  GardenerGuy94 WED @ 4:33 PM

  How is he making your life hell?

  GoldfieldsGirl WED @ 4:34 PM