Road Trip with the Eligible Bachelor

by Michelle Douglas

  But he couldn’t let that happen.

  He wanted more than one night with this woman. That had come to him swift and sure as he’d watched her make polite conversation with perfect strangers tonight. Quinn mightn’t have wanted to attend the party, but not a soul would’ve guessed it. Meeting her parents had sealed the deal. Despite the pain it would cause his mother, he wanted to keep Quinn in his life.

  Although she didn’t know it, she held his heart in her hands. One misstep from him and she would drop it cold. And instinct warned him his heart wouldn’t bounce. It would take a long time to get over her and he didn’t want to have to try.

  He deepened the kiss, wanting her aching so hard for him that she couldn’t turn and just walk away. She tasted of champagne and coffee. She fizzed in his blood until he felt as if he were riding the biggest, most perfect wave of his life. Bracing one hand against the wall, he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, nibbled it, laved it with his tongue. Her hands flattened against his chest and started to inch up towards his shoulders. Her tongue tangled with his and she made a mewling noise that angled straight down to his groin.

  He broke free. ‘Thank you for coming to the party with me this evening.’ He didn’t try to hide the hoarseness of his voice.

  ‘Aidan?’ Her hands slid against his chest and she made no move to hide the glitter in her eyes or the need in her face.

  He backed up a step. Her hands fell to her sides. Her eyes dimmed. Disappointment flared in their depths...and relief. The relief kept him strong. Until she wanted him as unreservedly and unashamedly as he wanted her, he wouldn’t let things go any further.

  He could do this!

  ‘I’ll collect you and the boys at ten in the morning.’

  ‘But...’ She opened the door wider in silent invitation.

  He shook his head. ‘Goodnight, Quinn.’

  He turned and walked away. He shoved his hands into his pockets and clenched them. He gritted his teeth and placed one foot in front of the other, pulled in one breath after the other.

  * * *

  They spent the following day on the Harbour. Aidan had booked a lunch cruise—family friendly—and he couldn’t have ordered more perfect weather. The sun shone, but not too fiercely. A fresh breeze played through their hair, caressing their skin in a way that made it hard for him to think of anything but Quinn naked and his fingers trailing across her flesh. And hers trailing across his.

  A burst of laughter from the children on the deck below snapped him back to himself. The colour on Quinn’s cheekbones had grown high and he knew she’d read the direction his thoughts had taken. And if the pulse pounding at the base of her throat was any indication, she might have in fact added her own embellishments to the fantasy. His groin started to throb in time to the beat of her pulse.

  ‘Why didn’t you stay last night?’ The words shot out of her as if some resistance had been breached. They sat alone at a table overlooking the foredeck, but she kept her voice low.

  He leaned towards her and he didn’t try to temper his intensity. ‘Because I want you to want me with the same fire I want you.’

  Her lips parted. She swallowed and her tongue snaked out to moisten them. ‘Do you doubt it?’

  He forced himself back in his seat. ‘Are you telling me you didn’t feel a thread of relief when I walked away last night?’

  She glanced away. It was all the answer he needed.

  ‘Aidan, neither one of us needs this kind of complication in our lives at the moment.’

  He took a sip of his soda, but his eyes never left hers. ‘Here’s a newsflash for you, Quinn, but I don’t consider you a complication.’

  Her arched eyebrows told him what she thought about that. It might’ve made him smile a week ago.

  ‘I like your father.’

  He let her change the subject. ‘I do too.’ She laughed, as he’d hoped she would. He wanted to banish those lines of strain around her mouth forever. ‘He likes you too.’

  She glanced at him and quickly glanced away again. She tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘He said you’re making the break from politics.’

  Thanks to her, he’d found the courage to be honest—to himself and to his family. ‘Yes.’

  ‘How’s that working out for you all?’

  ‘Very well so far. I’m taking some time off to sort out where I want to go from here, while my mother is still going into the office to sort out everyone else. My father watches us both indulgently from the sidelines and tries to fit in as many games of golf as he can.’

  She grinned—one of those loving life grins that could transport him to a better place. ‘That’s excellent news.’

  He reached out and ran a finger across the back of her hand. ‘Can we talk about your parents for a moment?’

  Her hand clenched and then she moved it out of his reach. ‘If you want.’ Her words came out reluctantly and his heart burned for her. ‘But if you’re thinking there’s a chance for any kind of reconciliation, I’d counsel you to think again.’

  He ached to hug her. ‘Unfortunately, sweetheart, I agree with you.’

  She blinked. Though whether at his words or the endearment, he had no way of knowing.

  ‘Until they realise they’re the ones who should be asking your forgiveness rather than the other way around, they’re lost causes as far as I’m concerned.’

  Her eyes filled and something snagged deep in his chest. This woman deserved so much more. She deserved to be loved and cherished.

  And occasionally challenged.

  ‘That’s not going to happen. They have very rigid views about life and how it should be lived and anyone living outside of that box is given a wide berth. It’s as if they’re afraid it will pollute their ambition.’ She drew a smiley face in the condensation of her glass. ‘Their status at their universities and within their research communities is what matters to them. It’s how they measure their success and happiness. They love their jobs and their institutions.’ She scrubbed out the smiley face. ‘What they haven’t realised yet is that jobs and institutions can’t love you back.’

  Her parents lived in a rigid, narrow-minded world. The same world he’d been in danger of locking himself into.

  ‘What was it like growing up with them?’

  ‘Oh, I had all the privileges any girl could want.’

  ‘It’s not what I asked, Quinn.’

  She glanced down at her hands. ‘Lonely,’ she finally said. ‘It was lonely. My parents worked long, hard hours and when they were home their favourite thing to do in the evenings was work some more.’

  He swallowed back the acid that burned his throat. When he’d been growing up his father had had to put in the hard yards, but it hadn’t stopped either of his parents from finding time for him and Daniel. And he couldn’t forget that for all of his childhood he’d had Danny as a playmate and companion too.

  ‘So when Phillip and I started dating I fell hard. So did he.’ She shrugged. ‘For a while.’

  He understood that completely, but...

  ‘C’mon, out with it.’

  He grimaced. It was lucky he had a poker face in the courtroom because it was obvious he didn’t have one around Quinn. He drummed his fingers against the table. ‘Look, I understand your resentment towards your parents.’

  ‘Resentment?’ She shifted. ‘Oh, Aidan, so much of that is just water under the bridge. All I want to do now is protect my kids from that kind of influence.’

  ‘By turning your back on a whole way of life?’

  She frowned.

  ‘It’s why you’ve shunned university, isn’t it?’

  Her eyes flashed. ‘That was their dream, not mine. I’m living my dream.’

  But she wasn’t, was she? The childhood sweetheart was no longer at her side, helping her to negotiate parenthood’s tricky waters or sharing love and laughter and all of those other things that made life worth living.

  He wanted all those things for her. He wanted to share all o
f those things with her.

  ‘And, quite frankly, I don’t know why you have to keep rabbiting on about it.’

  ‘Because, in a way, you’re in danger of becoming just as narrow-minded as your parents.’

  She gaped at him. ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’

  Nor he. He had to be crazy. This was no way to woo a woman. But in his heart he knew he was right. Until Quinn fought to lead the life she wanted—the life she deserved—she’d never be truly free to love him. And he wanted her to love him. He wanted that with everything good he had inside him.

  ‘Shunning university and a chance for a better life; is that a way of punishing your parents? Or do you believe that if you reject everything your parents value that you’re giving validity to your current life?’

  In a twisted way he could see how that might make sense.

  ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake!’ she snapped. ‘I’m not eighteen any more. I know that not everyone who has a degree is as inflexible or as detached as my parents...or as selfish as Phillip.’

  She did? Then why wouldn’t she even consider exploring her passion for science further?

  She leaned towards him. ‘You really want to know why I haven’t considered furthering my education? It’s because I don’t want my children growing up lonely like I did.’

  He saw then, in a light all too clear and blinding, the full effect her lonely childhood had had upon her. ‘Oh, sweetheart.’

  ‘Don’t you Oh, sweetheart, me.’ She batted his hand away. ‘You don’t understand how many hours I put into my schoolwork. It was something intelligent I could discuss with my parents.’ She gave a harsh laugh. ‘Oh, they trained me well. Those were the only times when I had their full attention and approval. And nobody could accuse me of being a slow learner. It got that I studied almost obsessively just so I could get a pat on the back from one or other of them.’

  She’d learned to throw herself into her studies in the same way her parents had thrown themselves into their careers.

  ‘My boys deserve to have a mother who is fully focused on them, not poring over some dusty old tomes in the library during their soccer games and forgetting parent and teacher evenings.’

  He finally caught hold of the hand that had been making agitated circles in the air. ‘Quinn, honey, you already have more life experience than either of your parents. You haven’t been constrained by the narrowness of their world for nine years. You just told me you’re not eighteen any more. And you’re not. Nor are you going to turn into your parents. Ever. Regardless of whatever else you decide to do with your life.’

  She stilled. Beneath his fingertips, her pulse pounded like wild surf.

  ‘Quinn, these days your life is full and rich. It’s better than the kind of life you’d be leading if you’d followed your parents’ path, yes?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘You no longer need to find something that will plug up the loneliness, do you?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Then why don’t you believe that you can reinvent your old dreams into the life you’re living now? Why don’t you trust yourself to make it work?’

  She stared at him as if in a daze, as if what he was proposing had never occurred to her before.

  ‘For some reason, your parents couldn’t manage to be good scientists and good parents. Phillip hasn’t been able to manage that leap either. But you’re better than all of them. If you want to, you can make it work.’

  Her chin came up. He wondered if she realised how tightly she gripped his hand. ‘What makes you so sure?’

  ‘Your love for your sons.’

  She bit her lip.

  He squeezed her hand and then he released it. ‘You showed me I had to fight to live the life I was meant to be leading. You showed me I had the right to that life. Exactly the same goes for you.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  QUINN GLANCED UP from the kitchen table when she heard a car pull in behind the house. Aunt Mara’s sturdy farmhouse was set well back from the lane, hidden in among the olive groves like a house in a fairy tale. The driveway was marked ‘Private’ so it was rare for tourists to accidentally wander down this way, though it did happen.

  Mara had left for the shop over an hour ago. Quinn had manned the shop yesterday so today she and the boys were having a traditional lazy Sunday morning. She marked her spot in the university prospectus and moved to peer out of the door, ready to offer directions to whoever might be lost.

  A man unfolded himself from the car. She blinked. What on earth...? Aidan!

  Her heart hammered up into her throat, making her head whirl. She clung to the doorframe, unable to drag her gaze from the long clean lines of an athletic male body that filled her with a vigour and energy completely at odds with lazy Sundays.

  After last weekend she hadn’t thought she would see him again. She’d spent a ludicrous amount of time during this last week silently detailing all the reasons why that was a good thing. Absurdly, all she wanted to do now was jump up and down and clap her hands. Which was exactly what Robbie and Chase did when they caught sight of him from where they played in the side yard.

  They bolted up to him and he hugged them both as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He grinned as if he were truly delighted to see them. And then he glanced to where she stood and he grinned as if he were truly delighted to see her too and her stomach twisted and turned like a purring cat weaving around its beloved owner’s legs. Before she was even aware of it, she was across the veranda and down the back steps. ‘Aidan, what a surprise.’

  He bent to kiss her cheek. ‘Not an unwelcome one, I hope.’

  His scent and the touch of his lips woke her up more effectively than a strong shot of espresso. ‘Of course not.’

  ‘We can show Aidan everything!’ Robbie said.

  Aidan took them all in with one comprehensive glance...and that oh-so-beguiling smile of his. ‘So you’re all still enjoying your new home?’

  He had a way of asking a question that made it seem as if he really cared about the answer. Both boys nodded vigorously.

  ‘You can meet Auntie Mara and see the shop!’ Chase said.

  Chase had fallen under the spell of both, to Quinn’s delight.

  ‘And we’ll take you down to the dam. We’ve got ducks!’ Robbie added. ‘And then we’ll show you all the olive trees and—’

  ‘Boys,’ she hollered over the top of them when they both started to shout out their plans, ‘let Aidan catch his breath first. You must’ve left at the crack of dawn to get here by ten.’

  One shoulder lifted. A lean, broad shoulder that made her mouth water. ‘I’m an early riser.’

  She shook herself. ‘Coffee?’

  ‘Love one.’

  It wasn’t until they were seated with their coffees that the urge to run hit Quinn. She couldn’t explain it. It might’ve been the way those clear amber eyes surveyed her. It might’ve been the way they widened when they registered the university prospectus sitting on the table. It might’ve been the way his presence seemed to fill the kitchen. Whatever it was, it had her wanting to back up and run for the hills. Of course her inner vamp called her an idiot and dared her to sit on his lap instead. The idea left her squirming in her seat.

  ‘Are you here for the whole day?’ Robbie demanded.

  ‘If that’s okay with your mother.’

  Three sets of eyes swung to her. ‘I...’ She swallowed. Why was he here?

  He sent her a winning smile. ‘I’ve heard so much about the place that curiosity got the better of me. I had to see it with my own eyes.’

  ‘We can show you our new school too,’ Robbie said.

  ‘And where my friend Andrew lives,’ Chase said.

  ‘And the olive presses!’

  ‘And—’

  ‘Boys!’ She clapped her hands. ‘You’re going to give Aidan half an hour to catch his breath after his long drive, while I make him something to eat.’

  ‘Aw, but—’


  ‘No buts.’ She shooed them outside. ‘You can make up an itinerary for the day.’

  Robbie’s face lit up and he grabbed Chase’s arm. ‘Will we start with the dam or the shop?’

  She turned back. ‘Eggs on toast?’

  ‘I couldn’t possibly put you out like that.’

  ‘It’s not putting me out at all.’ It’d give her something to do, other than sit at the table and stare at him. ‘Scrambled okay?’

  ‘Perfect.’

  She busied herself with breaking eggs into a bowl.

  ‘It’s not that far, you know?’

  She glanced across at him. ‘What isn’t?’

  ‘The drive from Sydney. It’s two hours of mostly good road.’

  ‘Oh.’ She didn’t know what else to say and the silence started to grow. She tried to focus on not burning anything—the eggs, the toast or herself. Eventually she slid a plate of scrambled egg and toast in front of him and hoped it’d ease the itch that had settled squarely between her shoulder blades.

  The smile he sent her and his, ‘This looks great,’ only made her itch worse.

  And the silence continued to grow.

  ‘You were right,’ she suddenly blurted out, slapping a hand down on the prospectus.

  ‘I wasn’t going to ask. I figured I’d hassled you enough. But I’ve been sitting here dying of curiosity.’

  He grinned. She absolutely, positively couldn’t help it. She had to grin back. He paused mid-bite to stare and those amber eyes of his darkened. Her heart stopped. Heat scorched her cheeks. She dragged the prospectus towards her and tried to focus beyond the buzz in her brain.

  ‘Food technology is incredibly interesting,’ she babbled. ‘And can you believe it? Here I am, living on an olive farm and the processing of the olives is far more complicated than I ever thought it could be. Not only that, but there’s the potential for us to expand our operations from providing just table olives. We could make our own olive oil too. And, I mean...’ She knew she was jabbering, but couldn’t help it. ‘Obviously, that’s down the track a bit, but...’ She shrugged and forced herself to stop.