Better than good. She was a sight for sore fucking eyes.
Her blonde hair was longer and curled around her shoulders in a way that made his fingers itch to bury themselves amongst the soft strands of gold and honey. And she smelled just how he remembered. Tony had heard it said that smells could trigger emotional responses, but fuck, he really hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of memories that assaulted him with just one whiff of her.
The jeans she wore moulded to her curves and the silky shirt was unbuttoned just enough for him to notice the pale skin below her throat. He wanted to bury his nose in the crook of her neck and breathe her in. Maybe then the hole in his heart might knit itself together.
“Tony,” she said and her voice brought with it another onslaught of memories, of the way she cried out his name breathlessly when he was buried balls deep inside her, her nails digging in to his bare shoulders.
“Trina,” he replied, stupidly, but he couldn’t find any other words to say. He knew he was liable to run into her around town, but he certainly hadn’t expected to literally run into her in the airport.
There was so much he wanted to say, so many things he’d left unsaid that ultimately contributed to their break-up. He’d been a fucking coward all those months ago and he’d let her walk out of his life. He should have gone after her and he didn’t and then she left the country, left him behind, and he’d had no other option than to just get on with his life.
He almost snorted out loud in disgust. What he was doing was hardly getting on with his life. He’d buried himself so deep in work for the last nine months that he barely saw his family. Now that his contract was up, he was home for good and the plan was to finally start getting on with his life. He was over Trina, wasn’t he? It had been nine months and surely that was long enough for him to nurse his broken heart and get on with living…except…
His eyes swept over her hungrily.
Yeah, it was patently obvious he was not over her.
Trina had changed, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what was different. Her hair, for sure, and the way she did her makeup. Her clothes were different too, but it was more than just her outward appearance. It was in the way she held herself, in the way she looked at him and not at the ground, the tilt of her chin and the straightness of her shoulders. He liked it. He liked the new air of confidence around her, but honestly, he’d always liked everything about Trina, even before they were a couple. He’d nursed a bit of a crush on his little sister’s best friend for a while before he finally got up the courage to do anything about it.
Now she was all grown up and he was crushing on her all over again, albeit a more adult crush than the teenage wet-dreams he’d had all those years ago.
But could it still be called a crush when he’d never really stopped loving her?
Fuck, he was a mess and they’d been standing, staring at each other for more time than was normal and the silence between them was uncomfortable and awkward.
Her phone beeped in her hand and she looked down at it, breaking the weird bubble that had surrounded them and bringing him back to earth.
“Good to see you Trina,” he said, hefting his duffle bag over his shoulder and walking away.
He wanted to look back, but didn’t. He swore he could feel her eyes on him as he kept walking, but still he didn’t turn around. What was the point? Trina had a whole other life now. Without him. He’d missed his chance with her, and she moved on. He knew because he stalked her Instagram account. He never commented or liked anything, but he was one of her six hundred thousand followers.
Yeah, six hundred thousand.
Trina had found her groove and it looked fucking awesome on her. Her lifestyle blog, Trinable, was going gang-busters and from what he understood, had paid for her travels over the last nine months. He was proud of her, and missed her like crazy. He’d only been kidding himself that he was over her. Clearly, he wasn’t, and he didn’t know if he ever would be.
Tony strode through the airport and toward the parking garage, stopping briefly to pay his long-term parking bill. He refused to give in to the desire to turn around and get another glimpse of her, as much as he wanted to.
He chucked his duffle bag into the tray of his truck and climbed into the driver’s seat. It wasn’t until the engine was rumbling under him and he was driving out of the airport that he allowed himself to take a full breath.
He knew why Trina was home. Zoë was getting married Valentine’s Day weekend. He was even invited to the blessed event. When he’d accepted the invitation, he hadn’t put all the pieces together. Objectively he knew Trina would be there, he just hadn’t realised what a mind-fuck it would be seeing her again. He hadn’t realised seeing her again would rip the barely healed scar off his heart and he’d end up bleeding out all over the place.
Tony slammed his hand on the steering wheel. He wasn’t ready to deal with this and he didn’t know if he ever would be. Maybe he’d been too hasty not renewing his contract with the mines? No, he shook his head to himself. His baby sister, Sutton, would kill him if he changed his mind and went back to the Pilbara. He was in Hope Springs to stay, the question was, was Trina? And if so, what did that mean for the two of them?
2
I Don't Remember Me (Before You) - Brothers Osbourne
Trina dumped her bag on the bed in cabin number six. She was home, finally. It wasn’t much, but it was hers, at least for the foreseeable future.
Windaroa was the farm that had been in Trina’s family for generations. Her dad, Samual, was the town doctor, her mother a nurse, and together they ran Windaroa as well. In its heyday, the farm had been a major beef producer, but since Samual had taken it over, it had become a holiday park for grey nomads who travelled the country in their caravans and motor homes. Windaroa still ran cattle, but nowhere near what it used to.
Cabin number six was one of six cabins the Farradays had built on the property alongside the caravan and camping sites, toilet and shower facilities, and laundry block. Trina had moved into the cabin when she broke up with Tony. They’d been living together at the time and Trina hadn’t wanted to move back into the house with her parents. Living in the cabin was an easy compromise.
When Trina took off overseas, she’d packed up all her personal shit and stored it in the shed so the cabin could be used for other guests. There had been the niggling worry in the back of her mind that her parents might insist she move back into the big house, but thankfully, with the wedding just around the corner, the house was full. Even Zoë and Blake were in a cabin, although Trina was pretty sure that suited the lovebirds just fine.
Trina took another look at her bags and then shoved them off the bed onto the floor. She would unpack tomorrow or in a week’s time when she woke up. Julia hadn’t forced any mandatory family time on Trina and after the initial welcome home cuppa and the hugs and gifts were distributed, she’d been released to go and sleep off her jet lag. Trina had honestly thought it would be harder than it was to extricate herself from the family, but she wasn’t going to argue about it. She would deal with the family later, when her brain wasn’t so scrambled.
The bed cushioned her fall as she flopped onto it, staring up at the ceiling. Zoë had chattered away happily all the way from the city and if she noticed Trina’s uncharacteristic silence, she didn’t say anything. Zoë probably thought it was jet lag, but Trina knew it was more than that. It was a six foot two blonde hunk of man who had turned what was left of her brain to mush.
Even now, the memory of him, the hardness of his chest when she crashed into him and the familiar smell of him, left her gasping for breath and fighting to make sense of her emotions.
Trina rolled over and buried her face in the pillow, screaming her frustration into the cotton and memory foam. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that and he wasn’t supposed to have the last word.
None of the words she wanted to say found a way to her lips and then before she could even recover from the shock o
f seeing him, he was walking away. And what did she do? She watched that fine arse of his walk away. She couldn’t even find enough self-preservation to tear her eyes away from his retreating back. She tortured herself by watching him like a creeper until he was lost in the crowd and she could no longer see him.
Trina really thought she’d come further than that. She’d thought her time away had given her the distance and perspective to deal with seeing him again. She’d also thought she’d freed herself from any remaining attraction to him. Of course, there was going to be that melancholy feeling when she saw him again, but what she felt pressed up against him was a hell of a lot more than melancholy. Her hormones had raged to life like they hadn’t done in the nine months she’d been away. Trina hadn’t been a nun in the time they’d been apart, and she suspected Tony hadn’t kept it in his pants either, but she hadn’t felt that instant attraction and desire for anyone she’d dated while she was in Europe. In fact, she hadn’t felt that instant attraction to anyone since she and Tony were an item.
“God-fucking-dammit!” she cried into the pillow.
“Whoa, is this a bad time?”
Trina flipped over to see her other sister, Cassie, standing in the doorway.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” Trina said, rolling over and sitting up.
“Mum sent me up here to see if you wanted food.”
“What time is it?”
Cassie checked her watch. Yes, her perfect oldest sister wore a watch and not one of those fitness watches either. This was the real deal with a clock-face and everything.
“Little after nine.”
“At night, right?” Trina asked, looking out the window to the dark sky.
“Yeah, at night,” Cassie said, rolling her eyes.
“And you’re still awake?”
“Ha ha, very funny. Things have changed since you’ve been gone.”
Trina eyed her pregnant belly. “Yeah, they have. You look ready to pop.”
Cassie grimaced, coming into the room and lowering herself to the bed beside Trina. “If this kid doesn’t come soon, I think I will pop.”
Trina smiled and hugged her sister. “I can’t wait to hold my little niece or nephew. You’re still not going to tell me what you’re having?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether you’re staying in town or not.”
Trina huffed. “I haven’t decided,” she replied. “Now come on, I’m hungry. Is your gorgeous husband and delicious daughter with you?”
“Yeah, Mum talked us into staying the night,” she replied, pushing up from the bed. “But Kaila’s already in bed, so don’t wake her.”
“But I have gifts for my favourite niece.”
“Then she can just wait until the morning.”
“Fine,” Trina said, linking her arm with Cassie. Despite their rocky relationship, Trina really did miss her older sister. The problem came when their mother started comparing the two of them and Trina always came up wanting. “Why did Mum send you up to get me, anyway? You should be sitting down with your feet up, especially in this heat.”
“Ugh, don’t you start. All I seem to do is sit down with my feet up. I needed a walk and the heat’s not that bad now the sun has gone down.”
“Was Mum getting on your case?”
“When isn’t she on my case?” Cassie whined. “Ever since you left and Zoë went back to the city, I’ve had no one to run interference. I forgot how overbearing she could be.”
Trina laughed. In the past those words would have caused another wedge between them, but Trina had grown past the petty squabbles and jealousy that had previously dominated her relationship with her sisters. She wouldn’t say she was a completely evolved and mature human being with no hang-ups or rejection complexes, but she was a whole lot better than she had been before she left.
“Come on, sis,” she said, walking with Cassie toward the big house. “Let me run interference for a while and give you a break.”
“This is why you’re my favourite sister,” Cassie replied with a squeeze.
Sutton was waiting for him when Tony pulled into the driveway of his home…house. It hadn’t really felt like a home since he moved into it, despite all the renovation work he’d done.
He dropped his bag in the foyer and caught his sister as she launched herself into his arms.
“Whoa, squirt,” he said, taking a step back so he didn’t topple over. “Miss me much?”
“God, no,” she replied, hugging him tighter. “There’s just a spider in the bathroom I need you to get rid of.”
He laughed and gave her a squeeze before setting her back down on her feet. Technically, Sutton still lived at home with their grandparents, but she always house-sat for him whenever he worked away.
“So how is everything? No dramas?”
“Didn’t you hear me? There’s a spider in the bathroom.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll get it. What did you do when I was away? Or do the spiders only find their way into the house when I’m home?”
Sutton shrugged and looked away from him. “You know, I dealt with it.”
Tony shook his head and strode through the house to the main bathroom. He pushed the door open and saw eight hairy legs scuttle under the vanity. This bathroom was yet to be renovated and was the next on the list. The ensuite was done and Tony wasn’t exactly sure why Sutton was using this bathroom instead of the ensuite, but whatever. He needed to liberate the huntsman before Sutton went to find the bug spray.
He scooped the spider up into the dust pan, using the brush to stop it from escaping and dumped it outside.
“Be free,” he said to it and watched it scurry away. “There. Happy?” he asked, turning to his sister who was hiding behind the door.
“Yes,” she said. “Now what did you bring me?”
“Am I supposed to bring you a present every time I come home?”
“Yes,” Sutton replied indignantly, as if it was common knowledge and he was a moron for not knowing.
He shook his head and held his arms out wide. “I’m home for good, isn’t that a good enough present?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you really, though?”
He nodded, letting his arms drop to his sides. “Yeah, I’m done,” he breathed. “I start back at Mike’s in a couple of weeks.”
Mike’s Garage. Tony was a mechanic by trade and he was looking forward to getting back into working with regular vehicles rather than the monsters used in the mines.
Sutton grinned. “That’s great,” she replied and then hugged him again. “I still want a present, though.”
He laughed again and stepped out of her hug to grab his duffle bag. He searched through his things and grabbed a wrapped package, tossing it to her. She caught it and tore the paper off to reveal a snow globe he’d found in a little tourist shop in Perth.
“You don’t have that one, do you?” He asked.
She shook her head as she shook the globe and watched the glitter rain down over the dolphin. Snow globe was a bit of a misnomer since it didn’t snow in Perth, but what else were you supposed to call them?
“I love it,” she said, shaking it again. “I know just where I’ll put it.”
Sutton had been collecting snow globes since she was a kid. Their parents had given her her first one and then when they died, she’d collected them as a way to feel close to them. They’d both been young when the accident happened and had been raised by their paternal grandparents in the years since. If he was honest with himself, he barely remembered them and Sutton was even younger than him when they died, so he doubted she had any memory of them at all…or at least, any memory of them that hadn’t been told to her by someone else.
“Are you going to the B&S ball?” Sutton asked.
“God, no,” he replied, dragging his hand through his hair. The B&S ball, or Bachelors and Spinsters ball, was an excuse to get drunk and hook up. Not something he was keen on doing.
“Are you even listening to me?” Sutton asked, poking him in the ribs.
“I tuned out after you said B&S ball,” he admitted. It didn’t matter how long he and Trina had been apart, he wouldn’t be able to even think about the B&S ball without also thinking about the two of them and the B&S ball when they finally got together.
“Come on, Tone, it’s time for you to put yourself out there again and besides, this year’s B&S ball is raising funds for the rural bushfire brigade. You know how desperate they are to get some new equipment. This last fire season hasn’t been kind.”
Tony huffed out a breath. “Can I just make a donation? I’ll buy a ticket, but I don’t want to go.”
“You know they make more money from the alcohol they sell than from the tickets they sell.”
“So? I’ll buy a ticket and donate some money, then.”
Sutton stared him down and then shook her head, screwing her lip up in disgust. “You’re not over her, are you?”
Tony sighed. He didn’t know how to answer that question. Twenty-four hours ago, he would have said, yes, he was definitely over her, but now…
“And you still haven’t made up with her, have you?” he shot back.
“Stop avoiding the question.”
“Sutton, she was your best friend. I hate that what happened between me and Trina got between you and her too.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You know she’s back in town, don’t you?”
“I figured she’d be home soon with Zoë getting married.”
“So, you’re going see her around town and you’re going to have to deal with her.”
“That’s exactly what I was going to say to you,” Sutton snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “And if you’re not over her, then that is going to be a problem.”
Be Mine: Valentine Novellas to Warm The Heart Page 66