Zoe's heart thumped wildly when Jonas turned his head and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, before turning back to the salesman. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes.
How the frigging hell was she going to be able to stand three hours in a helicopter with him? The throbbing between her thighs was getting dangerously out of control.
Swinging around, she pushed open the door and strode out into the sunshine.
I will not think lusty thoughts, he is a man who can't keep it in his pants and had no problem cheating on me. He certainly doesn't deserve to occupy my thoughts anymore than necessary.
Folding her hands over her chest she looked around the heliport and wondered which of the machines was going to be her ride home. Anything to keep her thoughts from sex to get her through the next few hours.
The back of her neck prickled.
"Right, let's go. I have things to do back home."
"Where is that exactly these days, Jonas?"
He looked at her, his eyes deep and dark. "Where do you think Zoe? I would hardly invest millions of dollars and stipulate the major shareholders had to live on site and not follow my own rules, would I?"
"You are fucking kidding me." Zoe clutched at her throat. Stars were spinning across her vision and she knew she was going to start hyperventilating soon. She tried to get a grip but the shock was just too much. "You can't do that." Her throat closed over and she gasped for air.
Jonas grabbed her arm and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her and talked quietly. "Just breathe through it, Zoe. Christ, I seriously thought you would have outgrown this by now. You changed considerably since I saw you last. It's a shame you haven't lost that little quirk. You need to calm down before I take you anywhere near a helicopter." Her face tucked into his chest and he stroked her hair gently. The expensive cotton was soft against her cheek. His smell was the same one she remembered underneath the cologne he was wearing. Closing her eyes, she breathed him in and relaxed, ignoring the fire between her thighs.
When her breathing was under control, Zoe pushed him back. Lifting her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, she glared at him. "Why?"
"Why did I buy the shares or why did I move in?"
"Both."
He looked as though he might refuse to answer her for a moment. Then he shrugged his shoulders. "Your folks were good to me and Bran has always been my best friend. We kept in touch over the years and your Dad even asked my advice now and then." He gave her a wry smile. "When they died I was as gutted as you were, believe it or not. And I was in a position to buy shares in the place. My years of hard work paid off. I'm a rich man now, Zoe, with interests in many different ventures. This one is special for obvious reasons." He turned from her, pulling his silk tie loose and clenched it in his hands. "Look at it like this if it makes it easier for you. It's a great business that just needed a decent capital input and some reorganizing to bring it back to what it was."
"And it just happened to be you, Johnny on the spot? Why don't I believe that you have no ulterior motive here?"
"Because you only ever believe what you want, Zoe. If it doesn't suit your plans then you turn your back and I know what that feels like. Why don't you do the same to me again?" He glared at her. "I'm a big boy now and you can't hurt me. Believe what you will."
He picked up her suitcases and strode over to a smart little red helicopter in the middle of the tarmac. Opening the door, he jammed her bags behind the seat and turned back to her. "Hurry up or I'll leave you behind."
Jonas walked around to the pilot's door and opened it. He undid his jacket and shrugged it from his shoulders throwing it carelessly behind the seat. Jumping in, he ignored her and fitted his seatbelt. He took a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put them on. When she climbed in Jonas was fiddling with the panel of gauges flicking switches. He put on his headset and talked to the control tower.
Zoe did up her seatbelt and sat back, looking at everything except the man beside her. When the rotor blades started to turn she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Thinking she should keep her opinions to herself while they were in the air for safety reasons if nothing else, she reached into her handbag and took out her iPod. She untangled the earplugs, fitted them and listened to music all the way home.
****
"Why didn't you tell me, for God's sake?" Zoe glared at Brandon. She had tersely thanked Jonas for the flight home and run straight up to the house to confront her brother. "You could have told me that you guys had been in 'constant touch' all this time."
"I thought that you would have known that. Hell, we've been best friends all our lives." Brandon shook his head. "Why would we stop being mates just because you fell out of love with him?"
"I didn't fall out of love. We were never in love, remember? It was all in my mind according to Mum."
"You know you loved him, Zoe. He was all you could think about, talk about when you were young.
Brandon grinned at her and she softened. "Puppy love, brother of mine. Not the real thing." She wrapped her arms around him to hide the lie in her eyes and pulled him close. "I missed you so much."
"You could have come home anytime, you know. No one ever said you didn't belong here." Brandon swept a lock of hair from her face and smiled down into her eyes. "I always wanted you home, kid."
"Well I'm here now. I don't know for how long, but I'm here until we can sort something out since Jonas ordered me back."
"I don't think that was a bad thing either, to be perfectly honest."
"Did you have something to do with this, Bran?" A shiver ran down her back. He wasn't the sneaky type. If he’d wanted her home, he would have called and said so.
"Um, no. I mean, yeah I wanted you home but the bit in the contract was all Jonas's doing. Now where are your bags?"
"Oh crap, I left them in the helicopter."
Brandon watched her with a grin on his face.
Turning on her heel, Zoe stormed out of the kitchen and headed down the stairs intent on going back to the helipad. She pulled up short at the gate. Jonas was walking toward her with a suitcase in each hand. The breath caught in her throat as she gazed at the long denim clad legs sauntering her way. With each step his hips rolled and the muscles in his legs stretched and hardened as his feet hit the ground. Zoe's imagination went wild as she dreamed of stripping the denim from his body, freeing his sexy tight butt for her hands and mouth to savor. A quiver went through her thighs and her gaze travelled up to his chest. The buttons on his shirt were undone at the throat and her fingers longed to tug at the tuft of dark hair.
Lifting her gaze a little more, her palms itched to cover the square chin beneath his full sexy lips. Zoe swallowed and lifted her gaze higher to meet his. A flood of shame rolled over her body. He knew the effect he was having on her and she was mortified.
"Thanks." She reached out to take her bags. "I was just coming to get them."
Jonas walked past her, through the gate and into the house, a small smile playing over his lips.
She gritted her teeth and followed him. Plastering a smile on her face, Zoe followed him. "Thanks, Jonas, I appreciate the lift home. I don't want to keep you from anything so I'll say goodbye now." Zoe held her hand out and waited for him to take it.
Brandon coughed and looked away.
"You haven't told her yet have you, Bran?" Jonas looked at him, hands on hips as he stood between brother and sister.
"Um, no, I never got that far actually. Why don't you do the honors?"
Zoe stepped back, her butt banging into the kitchen bench. She leaned back and gripped the edge of the counter with her hands, dreading where this was going. At the same time her pussy was clenching dangerously and her naughty girl voice was screaming with joy in her head.
Jonas dropped the cases and turned to her, that knowing smile of his almost doing her in. "I live here."
"Why? What's wrong with living in the city like you usually do and commuting? Seriously, I don't mind if you don't adhere to the rul
es you put in place for me and Bran. You could easily bunk out with the guys in the sheds, you know if you have to stay here. I'm sure there is plenty of room for you."
"I love it here. Always have as well you know, Zoe." He raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you know where I spend my time anyway? Stalking me, are you?"
"No bloody way!" She crossed her arms and pointedly looked at her brother standing behind Jonas with a big grin on his face. "Thanks for the heads up, bro." Putting on her best nonchalant pose, she continued. "Actually, Jonas, I read the papers, especially the Sydney Morning Herald. It's how I keep in touch with what is happening in Australia while I'm overseas. It's hardly my fault if you always seem to be squiring some starlet around town and make the news hounds happy, is it?"
"You say that as if it mattered to you, Zoe."
"Hardly. What you do stopped being important the day I found you in the hay with that little slut."
"It might been to your benefit if you'd actually let me explain what happened. But it was easier to run wasn't it, than to get the story right?" Jonas's eyes were dark and stormy.
"Okay, enough you two," Brandon said stepping in between them. "Look guys, if we're going to pull this company up and improve it, we have to let personal issues slide."
****
Jonas pursed his lips and nodded his head. "You're right Bran. It's been years and we were stupid kids in love with love so I really don't see the validity of that statement now, Zoe." He took a deep breath and looked over at her. Zoe was no longer the plump little tomboy he'd fallen in love with. She was lithe and supple, her cheeks now defined where once they’d full. He admired the muscles in her arms, not over the top but a subtle show of strength. Years of being a personal trainer and then the owner of a chain of gyms had been kind to her body. The geeky little tomboy had turned into the svelte swan he never would have imagined.
She had paled and was holding her arms across her stomach. She still had the ability to make him want her. That hadn't changed in the years that she had been away.
"So, maybe we need to set a couple of ground rules then if we are all going to be living together. What do you think, Zoe?"
"Um, yeah I guess so." She looked over Jonas's shoulder to her brother.
"Okay by me," Brandon said.
"Alright then," Jonas said. "For starters, the past is just that, past. If I can let it go, so can you. Also my private life is my own."
"Fair enough. Goes for me too then," Zoe agreed.
"Bran?" Jonas turned to him.
"Sure, as if I care anyway. It was always the two of you who were lusting after each other, no one else."
He ducked when Jonas playfully swiped him on the shoulder.
"So, which is your room, Jonas?" Zoe looked at him with wide eyes.
"The guest room. No one has touched your folk's room, if that was what is worrying you."
"Thanks." She bowed her head but not before he saw the pain in her eyes and the unshed tears.
"I'll just take your suitcases to your old room. Then I have to go and see the boys about getting the muster roster sorted. See you out there, Bran." He picked the bags up and walked down the hallway, leaving brother and sister together. Jonas listened to Brandon talking to Zoe in a calm voice, no doubt soothing her ruffled feathers. It had never taken much to get her going, even as a kid. Little-Miss-Fly-Off-the-Handle-Zoe.
He dropped her cases inside the door. The room hadn't been touched since Zoe had fled after their break up. Jonas gazed around the room. The feminine bedspread was the same one she had as a teen. Patchwork print squares in pink and green. Not frilly but certainly girly enough. He gazed at the French doors that opened onto the veranda where she used to sneak out at night to meet him. It didn't look that was on the cards again the way she was firing up being around him. But by the same token, he knew her body reacted to his when he picked her up. There might be a chance yet he could win her over. He would give himself until his move back to the city to woo her and if he didn't then he would have to let go of his childish dream of a reconciliation.
Certainly the pulsing in his cock let him know his body wanted that to happen. He shook his head and left the room. Walking past Zoe in the kitchen he nodded his head at Brandon and went down the back steps.
"Right with you, Jonas."
Brandon caught up with him before he swung open the gate. They walked together down to the farm manager's office.
"Pete, how's it going?" Jonas sat on the edge of the desk and looked over the farm manager’s shoulder.
"Good as, I reckon. I just want a minute to get this finished." He tapped away on the keyboard and then leaned back with a sigh. "Done. The roster for mustering. Let me print you a copy."
He touched a couple of keys and waited for the machine to spit out the roster. Taking it from the printer he held it out to Jonas.
"Thanks." Brandon leaned over his shoulder and cast a glance over the names.
"Uh, you missed Zoe, Pete. She arrived home today. I brought her back with the new chopper."
"Are you sure, Jonas? You don't want to give her time to settle back into it? It's been ten years since that one's been on a horse, out here at any rate. Um, looking at her when she came back for the funeral, I don't know if she would be happy working with you guys anymore. Bit more of a lady, hey with her painted fingernails and done up hair."
"She's a partner the same as me and Bran. She has to pull her weight too." He thrust the sheet back at Pete. "Adjust it and print out copies for everyone and I'll make sure she gets hers. Can't have her sleeping in on her first day."
With that he turned on his heel and walked outside. Damned if I'll let her laze around the house playing ladies. She needs to get back to her roots and do the things we used to enjoy doing together, pretty make up or not.
Jonas headed for the stables with Brandon shadowing just like when they were kids. "Let's make sure all the horses are up to scratch. Is Zoe's horse still around, the one she had before she left?"
"Yeah, old Midnight is still full of beans too. He will be fine for mustering." Brandon stopped at Midnight’s stall and stroked his hand over the horse’s nose. "I hope you're prepared for some fire from her, Jonas. You know she is going to spit when you tell her that she has to go out tomorrow with the rest of us."
"She'll be fine, Bran, you worry too much. She's a country girl at heart and we both know it. If it wasn't for my fuck up and her stubborn pride she never would have left."
"Your head, my friend."
Brandon opened the stall and walked in, his hand on the dark horse. Sliding his hand down the rear flank, he picked up the back hoof and checked it. "Shoes are fine. He should be okay once she gets back on him. The boys have been keeping him fit but he's always been a handful for anyone but Zoe."
"A good run out with the others will calm him soon enough," Jonas said. Let's hope the same can be said for your sister.
Chapter Three
Zoe smiled and turned toward Jonas. She sighed and lifted her breasts up toward him, her nipples budding up with anticipation. Running her hand down her body, she slipped her fingers under the elastic of her pajama bottoms. She groaned when her fingertips found the damp heat pooling between her thighs. She clenched her legs together trapping her hand while she pleasured herself waiting for Jonas to touch her.
He shook her shoulder. "Zoe, wake up damn it. You've slept in."
Her eyes shot open and she looked around the room. She was in her own bed alone and Jonas was standing above her, fully clothed. She withdrew her hand from her pajamas and groaned. Luckily her blanket covered her waist but the movement was duly noted if the look in his eyes was anything to go by.
"Fuck off, Jonas." She grabbed the blankets to her chest and rolled over.
"You have five seconds before I pull the covers off you Zoe. Work today, remember?"
She wanted privacy to finish the job she'd started in her sleep. Her clit was throbbing and she was so close to pulling him down and ripping his clot
hes off. Her body was shaking, bare seconds away from release. Her climaxes were few and far between and she wanted to finish this one.
"One, two, three, four—"
She groaned and threw back the covers before rolling out of bed the opposite side to where Jonas was standing. "Happy now?"
"When you get your butt in the saddle I will be. You have ten minutes before briefing. Make sure you're there. It won't look good if the boss is slacking off in bed enjoying herself while the workers get the job done, will it. Oh and excuse the pun." He stood looking down at her with a smart grin on his face.
"Get out," she screamed with frustration
His footsteps faded away and then her bedroom door slammed. Her shoulders slumped.
He had seen her playing with herself. Fuck how bad was that? Should she finish the job in the shower or would that be pushing her luck. Damn it, she had time and didn't need to spend the rest of the day in the saddle so horny with each movement threatening to send her off the edge. Zoe quickly went to her bathroom and stripped off.
***
She grabbed her old hat from the hook at the backdoor, an apple from the bowl on the kitchen bench and ran down the back steps. The men were milling around the barn in a group when she arrived. Greeting them and swapping pats on the back, she made contact with old friends. After a few minutes of 'my how you've grown up Zoe,' and 'looking hot,' comments, Jonas snapped.
"If you have quite finished with the meet and greet, perhaps we can get on with it. Everyone has been waiting for you, Zoe." Jonas stared at her.
"Sure, knock yourself out, Jonas." She smiled at the snorts of laughter that met her comment.
"Okay, this is the first year we’ll be mustering with a helicopter. That in itself will give us a bit of grief until we all get used to a different way of working." Jonas looked around and nodded when murmurs of agreement met his announcement. "To make things easier we will be working in teams and each team will have a radio so I can keep in contact with them. Pete has a list of the guys and who is to lead that team. I’ll be in the air doing the search and spot." He paused for breath. "This year the mustering should be easier on all of you. I'm going out shortly with Bran to do a quick recon of the area so you have an idea of where you are headed tomorrow. I need all of you to make sure your gear and bedding is ready for you to start out. Any last minute things need to be dealt with today." His gaze found Zoe's. "If I hear any weak excuses for not being ready to ride tomorrow, you're fired, understand?"
Outback Thunder Page 2
