Just in Time (Escape to New Zealand Book 8)

by James, Rosalind

  “It’s all right,” he said, his hand stroking over her hair. His voice wasn’t steady, but it didn’t matter, because she needed to know that he cared, too, that it was all right to grieve. “Shh, now.” The tears had risen in his own eyes, a few even making it down his cheeks, but for once, he wasn’t feeling the pain for himself. He was feeling it for her, for the girl who’d been left alone.

  “Better?” he asked when she’d quieted at last, when the racking sobs had eased into hiccups and her fingers had loosed their spasmodic grip on his jacket.

  She nodded and raised an arm to scrub at her face, and the childishness of the gesture pulled at his heart. She was a young woman, and she was still a girl, too, who had lost her father and her grandfather, and couldn’t afford to lose one more person.

  “You’re a beautiful girl.” He bent to kiss the top of her head, that vulnerable spot where her part shone through the thick dark hair. “You have so much to offer.” Don’t give it to somebody who doesn’t deserve it, he wanted to say, but he didn’t, because he’d got a bit smarter, maybe, these past few days. “I want to see you more,” he said instead. “I want to be your big brother again. I hope you’ll give me another chance to do that.”

  She nodded, wiped at her eyes one more time, then headed up the path again, and he kept pace with her, shut his mouth, and waited. He might not have talked enough to her. But mostly, he hadn’t listened.

  “I knew you paid for things,” she said at last. “But I didn’t know—I didn’t think about it. I’ve never said thanks.”

  “You don’t have to say thanks.”

  “Yeh. I do. And so does Mum.”

  “You can’t do anything about Mum. That’s not your job.”

  “She thinks you’re like Dad,” she said with a sidelong look at him.

  The dull kick to his gut was nothing but familiar. “Yeh. She does. Surprised you know that, though.”

  “I’m the youngest. They say things, because they don’t notice me.”

  He put an arm over her shoulder, and they walked on for a minute in silence. “You’re not like Dad, though,” she said. “I don’t think so.”

  “You don’t know. You don’t really know me.”

  “You’re wrong. I do. Because I don’t know him. He left, and he didn’t come back. He didn’t take care of us, and you did.”

  “Think you’re giving me too much credit,” he said over the lump in his throat.

  “No,” she said, sounding so much older than fifteen. “I don’t think so.”

  He was the one looking into the trees now. “We need to stop talking,” he told her.

  She twisted in his grasp to stare at him. “What?”

  He grinned crookedly at her. “Because you’re about to make your big brother cry.”

  She laughed, and he did, too, and that was so much better. “Time to go back?” he suggested. “Give you a lift home?”

  “No. I’ve got my bike.”

  He nodded, and they turned to retrace their steps. “Going to watch the ABs play tonight,” he said after a minute. “Faith’s going to need somebody to explain the game to her, since you know I’ll be packing a sad about not being there, praying that Coops doesn’t miss his kicks, and that wee nasty bit of me inside praying that he does. Think you could watch with us, give her a bit of a footy education?”

  “Yeh.” She sounded shy again. “I always watch.”

  He sighed. “It’s definitely true. I haven’t given you nearly enough credit.”

  She laughed, and he grinned, and he walked back up the track with his sister and felt like a brother. And maybe even like a friend.

  Maid Service

  Faith bent, hefted the heavy mop bucket, and set it down at the edge of the carpet that marked the delineation between the house’s living and dining areas. She gave a final few pushes of the mop across the last of the acreage of heavy stone flooring, then jumped and turned at the hand on her shoulder.

  “Oh! Hi.” She pulled the headphones out of her ears even as she felt the hot color rise.

  Will grinned at her. “Can’t believe you’re blushing. All I’m doing is looking at you.”

  “I know,” she said with chagrin. “So stupid. It’s just…new, I guess.”

  He bent to kiss her, one hand resting beside hers on the mop handle, the other on her shoulder. “New’s good,” he said when he’d stood back again. “New’s brilliant.”

  “Yeah. It kind of is, isn’t it?”

  She’d wondered, when she’d woken up to find him gone, what to expect. Whether it would be awkward when she saw him again, whether he would be sorry, or whether she should be.

  She hadn’t meant to do it. She’d had every intention of not doing it. She was pretty sure there was some major heartbreak ahead for her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. It might have been the wrong choice, but it hadn’t felt like a choice at all. When he’d held her, when he’d kissed her, she’d been no more able to resist him than to deny the pull of gravity, and looking at him now, she knew it was still true.

  “So…” He glanced at her bare feet, at the forgotten mop in her hand. “You’ve been busy yourself. Not quite how I was expecting to find you.”

  “Saturday morning’s cleaning time, apparently.” She brought herself back to earth with an effort. “And since Talia wasn’t here, and I’m going for points with your mom anyway, it seemed like the thing for a houseguest to do.” She wrung the mop out one last time, then hefted the bucket and headed for the garage.

  “I’ve got it.” He took it from her and carried it to the laundry sink. “So is that it? You done?” he asked hopefully after he’d dumped the dirty water and rinsed the bucket.

  “Not hardly. This is one big house.”

  “Downside, eh. Never thought of it that way. I’d better help, then, because I’ve got plans for us today, and they’re not mopping the floor.”

  “Well, my next job is cleaning a couple bathrooms. That sound any better?”

  He laughed. “Not so much.”

  “It’s what I’m doing, though. Want to join me, big shot?”

  “Reckon I’d better,” he said with a sigh. “If I were with the squad right now the way I’m meant to be, I’d be looking for something lovely and relaxing to do before the game. Be watching TV, walking by the sea, making the time pass until it was time to get taped up. I never thought of cleaning the bathroom.”

  “Live and learn,” she said cheerfully. “How to behave yourself so you don’t get yourself demoted to toilet duty.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. It’s had its compensations.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  He followed her up the stairs and along to the big master suite and into the bathroom that his mother and grandmother shared between their bedrooms, and waited while she dug under the sink for supplies.

  “Want to do the tub?” she asked.

  “I don’t mind,” he said, then stood and looked at her expectantly.

  “What?” she asked.

  He shrugged a bit sheepishly. “You may have to tell me how.”

  “You’re kidding. You’ve never cleaned a bathtub?”

  “Well, not to say cleaned.”

  “What, you just live in filth? I was in your house. I don’t believe it.”

  “I’ve had cleaners for a good long time now, though. And before that, when I lived with mates—well, maybe we just…let it go. You’re standing up anyway, aren’t you. And there’s water running.”

  “That is disgusting. Why even have a toilet? There’s water running anyway.”

  He laughed. “Now who’s disgusting? And that’s why I don’t live with my mates anymore. There’s a reason I never sat in the tub, let’s put it that way. So come on. If you don’t want me to be disgusting anymore, show me how to clean it. In case I fall on hard times and have to rely on my own resources.”

  She gave him instructions and got him started, even though it made her want to laugh. “Put some of that muscle into it,�
�� she told him. “You have to scrub. Get all the walls and everything. Top to bottom.”

  “Why? They’re not dirty.”

  “Because they got cleaned last week, that’s why they’re not dirty. You don’t clean when you can see dirt. You clean so you can’t see dirt.”

  “Right.” He started in, and she had to smile. Her big tough rugby star, scrubbing his grandmother’s bathtub.

  “So how did you spend your morning?” she asked, starting on the toilet. To her, unlike Will, this was familiar territory. “That was a long gym visit.”

  “Wasn’t, actually. It was a couple other things.”

  She set the brush back in its holder, flushed, and began to work on the sink. “Tell me,” she said, because something in his voice told her it was important.

  “Well, first I went by that bloke Chaz’s house and told him he was done.” Will was still scrubbing. “Can’t believe I didn’t do that yesterday.”

  “Yesterday? What?”

  “I saw Talia with him, down at the lake. And I didn’t do too well.”

  “You didn’t tell me that. Was that why you—grabbed me?”

  “Nah. I grabbed you because you were naked, and I snapped. And all right, maybe I was keyed up, and the naked part tipped me over the edge. And after that, you may have got me distracted enough that I forgot to mention about Talia.”

  “Well, I’m not sorry you grabbed me. But I’m sorry if things didn’t go well.”

  “All good now, I hope. Or at least on the way, because this morning, when I woke up, it seemed pretty obvious that it was the thing to do.”

  “To tell him he was…done. And that was it?”

  “It’s all in how you say it. No worries. He’s done.”

  “You didn’t beat him up or anything, did you?” she asked in alarm. If he’d been suspended for some pictures, what would actual violence do?

  “Nah. Didn’t have to, did I. Pussy.”

  She had to laugh at that. “Really? That’s great. Boy, sometimes I wish I was a guy.”

  “Well, if I get an opinion, I’m glad you’re not.” He’d finished scrubbing. Meticulously, she’d noticed, getting into all the corners. When Will decided to do something, he did it right. “What do I do now?” he asked.

  “Spray it down,” she said. “Wash all that cleanser off. I know you know how to do that. Just pretend I’m in there.”

  He grinned at her. “Yeh. I’d say you do know. Do we get to do our shower next? Because that could be an idea. Might work even better if we stripped down and attacked it from the inside. Much more efficient, eh. I’m thinking men might do more housework if women were willing to get naked doing it. Every fella loves a team sport. Specially if there’s contact.”

  “Hmm,” she said, fighting a smile. “We’d never get through the whole house, I have a feeling.”

  “Oh, I dunno. I think we could. The whole house? Yeh. Bet we could. If you were hoovering naked, especially. I’d watch every bit of that. Or scrubbing the floor.” He sighed. “That one would be good. Course, then we’d have to take a break. You could be right at that.”

  “I notice I’m doing all the housework in this scenario, and you’re watching.”

  “I could do the baths, now that I know how,” he suggested, and she laughed. The terrible thing was, she wanted to do it. To scrub the floor naked, on her hands and knees, knowing Will was watching her, and then to have him take…a break.

  “That sounds like a pretty good morning’s work, though.” She did her best to keep to the topic. “Of course, I wonder how Talia will take it.”

  “Well,” he said over the sound of the spray, since he was wielding the shower nozzle with some gusto, “I had a wee chat with her too, actually.”

  “Oh, really?” He sounded much too casual. “How did that go? What did you say? You didn’t threaten her, did you? Were you careful?”

  “Not sure about careful. Maybe not so much. But we talked, about our Koro and all, and about our dad, too, and Mum. Didn’t talk about that Chaz at all, come to think of it, but I think it was all right anyway. And then she cried. Sounds bad,” he went on hastily, “but I don’t think so. It was more…good. I hope.”

  “Sometimes crying’s exactly what you need.” Her heart was swelling a little now. She hadn’t been wrong about him. She hadn’t been wrong at all. “What did you do when she cried?”

  “Just held her, I guess. Didn’t know what else to do. She seemed to—it seemed all right. What, was I meant to do something else?”

  “No.” She smiled at him. “No, that was right. I’m betting that was right. You did all that today? You are such a good man,” she went on impulsively, because the words were there, and they needed to get out.

  “You really…” He stopped, cleared his throat, then made a business of putting the shower nozzle back into its holder and straightening the hose.

  “And I’m wondering,” she said. “This house. Exactly whose is it?”

  “What d’you mean, whose? It’s my family’s, of course.” He’d tossed the sponge onto the counter and was leaning against the wall by the tub, frowning at her.

  “Is it yours?” It was the question that had been uppermost in her mind from the moment she’d seen it. It was none of her business, she knew it wasn’t, but she needed to know. “You said your dad wasn’t…in the picture. And your mom works at the i-Site, and your grandparents must have been too old, and your sisters are in Australia. Was it your dad, though, who bought it? Or your sisters, somehow? A group effort? Or was it you?”

  “I bought it,” he said, “if that’s what you mean. Of course I did. Why?”

  “Oh, nothing.” The happiness was bubbling up inside her. “I just wondered why you wouldn’t have mentioned that you’d bought a house for your family. One of Talia’s friends said that going to university was your family’s thing, too, and that made me wonder some more, because how does that happen?”

  “Well…me. Of course me. Who else?”

  “Uh-huh. And you started playing rugby when?”

  “What, professionally, you mean? Nineteen. Soon as I left school. Soon as I could.”

  “Right. As soon as you could. You said you went to Australia for money, like you’re some kind of playboy. And to the U.S., too, I remember that. For the money. But it wasn’t really for that, was it? You went for your family. You went for this. For the house, and the university.”

  “Maybe,” he said cautiously. “Maybe I did, partly. Why?”

  “Don’t you see?” She was still wearing her yellow rubber gloves, and he was standing there with his wet hands, but it didn’t matter at all. “My mom told you that you were chocolate cheesecake, and you sat there and took it like you knew it, like you believed it. How could you believe it? Do you really not see how much more you are than that? Do you really not realize that you’re the real deal?”

  “Me?” he said, sounding nothing but surprised. “No. I’m no hero. The last thing from it, in fact. My Koro…yeh. Maybe. But not me. I didn’t do anything anybody else wouldn’t do. I just did what had to be done.”

  “Oh, Will,” she said, the tears pricking behind her eyes. “Don’t you get it? That’s what heroes do.”

  Change of Venue

  He knew it wasn’t true, and he didn’t know what to say. So he decided to kiss her instead.

  She squeaked a bit in surprise when he shoved off the wall and took hold of her, and knowing that he could do it—that was nothing but sweet satisfaction. His mouth closed over hers, he felt all that heat, all that softness as she opened for him, surrendered to him, and he lost it a little. There was nothing for it. He had to put his hands on her waist and lift her up to sit on the counter.

  “Will,” she said with an unsteady little laugh. “At least let me take off my gloves.” She was stripping them from her hands, tossing them into the sink even as he was stepping between her legs. She wasn’t saying no, not a bit of it, so he reached a hand around to unfasten her hair and sent the plastic
clip after the gloves.

  “Ah,” he sighed, wrapping a hand through that soft mass, “I love this.” He pulled her head back gently, exposing her throat, and set his mouth to her. When he grazed the skin beneath her ear with his teeth, she shifted against him and moaned, and just like that, he was gone. His hand was tightening in her hair, and he was pulling a little harder, biting with a little more force, and she was wriggling under him, making some soft, urgent noises that were only making it worse.

  He had to slide his other hand inside her neckline then, didn’t he? Because there she was, all soft and round and sweet and needing to be touched. Her slim, vulnerable neck definitely needed his teeth, too. That hollow just above her collarbone, especially, where she was arching away from him. That needed him most of all. So he did it, and she was grabbing his shoulders and whimpering, and he was sliding right down that slippery slope, because this was only going to end one way.

  “Ahem.”

  The cough came from the doorway, and Faith jumped beneath him. It took a moment for the message to get through the insistent drumbeat in his head, but he turned at last. And then he pulled his hand out from under her shirt.

  “If you’re all done here,” his mum said, “I could use the loo.”

  “Oh. Sorry,” Faith said. She scrambled down, stumbling a little in her haste, and he put a hand out to steady her. “We’re all finished.” She was shoving the cleaning supplies back under the sink, then reaching for her hair clip and gloves. “Sorry,” she said again. “We’ll just…go do our bathroom.”

  “Reckon I should be glad you did mine first,” Will’s mum said dryly.

  Since that was about as close to a joke as she’d got since Faith had arrived, Will grinned at her and said, “Reckon you should. We may not get to ours for a bit, actually, but no worries, we’ll do it tomorrow, now that Faith’s taught me how to clean the bath and all.”

  “She has, has she?” His mum shot a glance at Faith, who was, of course, turning a delicious shade of pink. She was trying to smooth her hair while being inconspicuous about it, as if his mum wouldn’t have known exactly what they were doing, and that made Will smile some more. Faith thought she was so naughty, when she was nothing but sweet.