Meet Me in the Middle (Wattle Valley, #2)

by Jacquie Underdown

  ‘So that’s it, guys, if you want to try my beach make-up look for yourself, I’ll post the link down below. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss a thing. Also, if you haven’t seen my Instagram account, I post lots of content I think you’d enjoy, so please, check me out there. And, of course, Twitter. Thanks again, Anders, for joining me today, and thank you all for watching. I’ll see you next time.’

  ‘Bye,’ Anders said.

  Neve ended the recording and smiled at him. She parted her lips to speak, but her phone buzzed on the desk. Jager’s name flashed on the screen. ‘Hang on a tick. I better answer this.’ She lifted the phone to her ear. ‘Hi, Jager, what’s up? Yeah, I finished shooting a funny video. Oh, okay. On the kitchen table?’ Her eyes darted to Anders’, wide and frantic. ‘How far away are you? Okay, I’ll see you in five minutes. Bye.’

  She hung up. ‘Jager forgot his wallet. He wants me to run it out to him when he swings past to pick it up.’

  ‘So, I better get out of here?’

  She winced but nodded. ‘I think that’s best. Don’t you?’

  He hated hiding and not being allowed a few moments to talk about where they were headed, but, at this stage, it was best for him to leave. ‘I do.’ He kissed her lips. ‘Thanks for showing me what you do.’

  She smiled, but there was nervous energy behind it. ‘My pleasure.’

  He stood. ‘I’ll talk to you soon.’

  She nodded quickly.

  And he strode out of the room.

  Chapter 13

  ‘What’s up with you?’ Jager asked after he and Neve had finished their dinner of spaghetti bolognese in the front of the television. He was still dressed in his football training gear, his fork resting in his empty bowl.

  Neve shook off her daze. ‘Nothing. I’m fine.’

  She had been in a semi-dream state all afternoon—her attention focused on memories of her morning spent with Anders. Every time she remembered her body pressed hot and hard against his, her belly twanged with renewed desire.

  No denying now that this was a mutual crush. And no denying from their scorching kiss that they had a labful of sexual chemistry.

  ‘You’re … quiet.’

  ‘I didn’t notice.’

  He frowned. ‘You worried about Mum?’

  The last impression she wanted to give Jager was that she was concerned about Mum. Of course she worried about Mum in the background of every single day, but, at the moment, nothing out of the ordinary.

  Jager always tried to take on her emotional pain and worry for her, even though he had just as much to deal with. But that was the type of guy he was—the protector, the caregiver, the man who stepped up when their mother, through no fault of her own, had to step out.

  She loved him dearly for that. Without him, she had no idea where she would be. After her car accident, she spent nearly two months in hospital recovering and then had two operations for skin grafts on her face and arm in the months that followed. Work was sporadic, if not impossible.

  Her credit card debt grew and, in the end, Jager offered she live with him until she was financially stable and healthy again—no matter how long that took. Sadly, it had been eighteen months so far and she still had a few more payments to make until her debt was eliminated.

  ‘It’s not Mum,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I guess I’m worried that I might be getting under your feet here.’ Not that he ever gave her that impression. Maybe the reason she was feeling this way now was because she could see that this living arrangement would make starting a romantic relationship difficult. ‘You’ve been single for twelve months now. I hope I’m not getting in the way.’

  ‘Believe me, you’re not the reason I’m single.’ His brow furrowed as he shook his head. ‘And if this wasn’t working any longer, I’d talk to you about it.’

  She nodded, knowing that he was right—he wasn’t the type to hide how he felt.

  ‘What’s brought his on?’ he asked.

  ‘No reason. I was thinking, that’s all.’

  ‘I’ve told you before and it’s still true—I’m more than happy to see you get things on track.’

  She smiled. ‘I really appreciate it. Maybe I don’t say that enough.’

  ‘You don’t have to say that at all. We’re family. Family looks out for one another.’

  She got to her feet, went to him and cuddled him hard. ‘Thank you.’

  He grinned up at her.

  ‘I might have a shower and head to bed early. I think I’m tired, that’s all.’

  ‘I won’t be far after you. The race towards the finals is hammering my body.’

  She went to the kitchen and rinsed out her bowl. On her way up the hall, Jager called out to her. She stopped.

  ‘You’d tell me if something was bothering you, right?’

  She forced her voice to sound bright. ‘Of course.’

  ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  ‘Yep. Good night.’

  A little later, she climbed into bed with a good book in her hand. She was almost at the point where her eyes couldn’t stay open any longer when her phone vibrated on the bedside table.

  A gentle tug in her belly. She knew who it would be.

  ANDERS: You awake?

  NEVE: Nope. Sound asleep. ;)

  ANDERS: Is it too late to call you?

  She rolled onto her side and rested her head on her hand, elbow bent.

  NEVE: Not at all.

  His call came through immediately and she quickly answered it so Jager wouldn’t hear it from out in the living room.

  ‘Hi,’ she said, voice hushed.

  ‘Hi,’ he said, voice equally soft and she grinned because it wasn’t essential he was quiet too.

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about what happened today, and I feel like we never got a chance to … talk.’

  Her cheeks flushed with heat. All this from hearing his voice and knowing that he had been thinking about her. ‘I’ve been thinking about it too. Your make-up skills have left me slightly traumatised.’

  He laughed, and she giggled softly. She knew he wanted to be serious, but she needed to work her way up to that. After all, barely a month ago, they would never be having these clandestine conversations and certainly not kissing.

  ‘I hate that I had to run off as I did.’

  ‘I think we both understand it was the only thing to do.’

  ‘I know. But it doesn’t sit well with me to have kissed you and then left so abruptly.’

  ‘It would have been … I would have liked …’ She found herself tongue-tied.

  He chuckled. ‘I feel the same, Neve.’ A noisy exhalation. ‘There’s something going on between us that we can’t ignore. I don’t want to ignore these feelings.’

  She closed her eyes and rolled onto her back, phone still pressed to her ear. She could stay silent and keep her own feelings trapped inside or she could speak her thoughts and allow for some rational conversation about how to navigate this crush.

  Neve drew on her courage, squeezed her eyes closed and whispered, ‘I can’t ignore this chemistry either.’

  A relieved sigh. ‘Good. We’re on the same page. That’s a start. So how should we move forward?’

  ‘Slowly,’ she said a little too quickly.

  ‘As fast or as slow as you want. You set the pace.’

  ‘It can’t ever be serious between us, Anders. We have to face that fact.’

  Silence. ‘I could handle Jager—’

  ‘No. Not yet.’ Jager wasn’t really the main obstacle, it was her own mind. The trauma of her past taught her to be gun-shy when it came to love.

  Sure, falling in love was easy, that wasn’t the problem; it was the immense pain when love was lost. Having lost love twice in quick succession, firstly with Mum, then with Joshua; she knew too intimately how breath-stealing and life-altering that pain was.

  To love anybody was a risk; it wasn’t something to be hurried, nor
taken lightly. And while her heart remained battered, she remained hesitant.

  Not that her feelings for Anders were in the vicinity of ‘love’, but there was always that potential. ‘Let’s see how we go first. We may not even have to tell him. Ever.’

  ‘I’m not the type of guy who goes around lying to my best mate.’

  ‘I know. I’m not either. But, please, I want to see where we stand with each other first.’ While she was still gun-shy, there was no point bringing her brother into this.

  ‘You want me to be your dirty little secret?’ he asked with a taunting lilt.

  She was grateful to him for trying to lighten the mood. ‘Exactly.’ And despite the light-hearted direction their conversation had taken, thinking of Anders as a dirty little secret had her belly fluttering.

  ‘When can I see you again?’ he asked.

  ‘I’ve got a busy schedule tomorrow, and I’m going to see Mum on Saturday morning.’

  ‘Come to watch my game on Saturday afternoon. I’ll meet you afterwards.’

  She smiled as excitement swelled. ‘Sounds good.’

  ‘I wish I was there to kiss you goodnight.’

  ‘I wish you were too.’ Her words were breathless, and the way her skin was warm and her blood was flowing hotter, there was no doubt it was the truth. She wanted to say that she couldn’t wait until Saturday, but she stopped herself.

  Slow and cautious steps, Neve. Protect your heart.

  ‘Good night, Neve.’

  ‘Good night.’

  She hung up and placed the phone on her bedside table. How could she possibly sleep now?

  Chapter 14

  Coming off a loss didn’t feel great. Especially when the difference in the scoreline came down to five points.

  In the locker room after the game, the team was deflated, but Anders reaffirmed them of the positives—that the opposition was top of the ladder, and they almost beat them, which made winning the grand final more than possible.

  He then blasted his team for losing effort in the last ten minutes of the game—not good enough. But, mostly, his anger was self-directed for not leading his team to a win at the most crucial time of the season.

  As he showered and changed, he reminded himself that he was going to be meeting up with Neve, and that made the loss much more bearable. The last two days had been intolerable—trying to forget about a kiss like the one they shared was impossible.

  Outside the front of the change room, Michael strode quickly to catch up with him. ‘What are you doing tonight? Want to stick around for a beer?’

  Jager was a step behind them. ‘Yeah, man. I’m in. Got nothing else planned.’

  Anders scouted his thoughts for a believable excuse. ‘I’m feeling a bit sore to tell you the truth. I might head home.’

  ‘Sore and sorry.’ Jager pressed a hand to Anders’ shoulder. ‘Come on, Ando, you’re too hard on yourself. Our loss was a team effort, and you’re right—our work rate in the last quarter wasn’t good enough. We’ll get them next time.’

  ‘Or we’ll die trying,’ Michael said.

  Anders nodded. ‘All right. One beer.’ He looked around the footy grounds for Neve. He found her striding towards them from the clubhouse and his bad mood was forgotten. He smiled.

  She lowered her head, but not before he saw her grin.

  ‘Didn’t realise you were coming to watch the game today,’ Jager said to Neve when she joined in step beside him. ‘I would have got you to drive me in.’

  ‘I decided at the last minute. I’m scared I’ll miss something.’

  Michael chuckled sardonically. ‘Could have skipped today’s match.’

  ‘A loss, yes, but probably the most exciting game of the season,’ Neve said. ‘I don’t think I sat down the entire game, I was too busy cheering.’

  ‘And scalding, I’m sure,’ Jager said teasingly.

  Neve grinned. ‘Sometimes.’

  ‘I’m fucking tired,’ Michael said, shaking out his arms.

  Jager put a hand on Michael’s shoulder and edged him forward. ‘Let’s go get this cold one and take a seat.’

  ‘You all going to have a drink?’ Neve asked.

  All three men nodded. Until now, Anders had tried to remain out of the conversation, lest he give Jager the wrong (right) impression.

  ‘Mind if I join you?’

  Jager put his arm around his sister. ‘May as well commiserate with us.’

  Anders continued to watch the ground as they strode to the clubhouse. When almost there, he couldn’t help but cast a glance at Neve only to find her sneaking a sidelong look at him too.

  He smiled.

  She grinned back and his heartrate galloped—her beauty amplified every time he saw her.

  Inside the clubhouse was comparatively warmer to the cold afternoon air. Tables and chairs were full of rowdy supporters and players from the matches throughout the day. An AFL game played silently on the TV screen in the corner but was no match for the banter, laughter and deep murmurings of conversation. The scent of beer and spirits wafted.

  As they strode in, frowns of commiseration were offered. As captain, he couldn’t help but shoulder a sense of obligation to the supporters and the club. It was his team winning that drew juniors to the club and kept the supporters coming each week and spending money here.

  Yes, it was the smallest of losses today, score-wise, but it was still a loss. They had to do better next week.

  ‘Go grab a table, I’ll get the first shout,’ Jager said.

  Anders followed Michael and Neve to a table.

  ‘I’m going to head to the toilet,’ Michael said and strode away.

  Grateful for a few moments alone, Anders sat beside Neve and looked into her blue eyes. ‘Sorry, but your brother roped me into a few drinks. I couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse he’d accept for me not to.’

  She shrugged, smiled. ‘That’s okay.’

  He lowered his voice. ‘But I want to spend time alone with you.’

  ‘Me too,’ she whispered.

  He glanced at Jager who was still up at the bar and then behind him—Michael was on his way back. ‘I’ll have a couple of beers then I’ll leave early. You could stop by my place on your way home?’

  She managed a nod before Michael was sinking onto the stool beside him.

  ‘Got any plans this weekend?’ Michael asked the both of them.

  Neve shook her head. ‘Nothing concrete. Might just take it easy, I think.’

  Anders nodded. ‘I think I’ll be doing the same. What about you?’

  ‘Marissa wants to take the kids to the snow tomorrow. So we’re driving up to Nicola for the day.’

  ‘Sounds like fun. Don’t go breaking your bloody ankle, though. We need you fit and healthy out on the field stopping goals.’

  ‘I know. I won’t be skiing. I’ll be supervising the kids instead.’

  ‘Good. And at least you can be sure in the snow you’re not going to run into any grasshoppers.’

  Michael smiled bashfully. ‘I’m never going to live that down, am I?’

  Neve and Anders chorused, ‘Nope.’

  Everything seemed so tedious when all he wanted to do was spend time alone with Neve. He wanted to kiss her again so much, he could barely sit still.

  When Jager came back with their drinks, they eased into a casual conversation, but the topic of today’s game soon popped its head above the parapets and they each took aim. The mood lowered considerably.

  Anders was conscious of boring Neve with AFL talk—his girlfriends in the past hated sport and their eyes glossed over when the subject was raised, which was difficult when football was what he did for a living—but Neve was right in there with them, talking shop, and just as passionate and knowledgeable as his teammates were.

  As they chatted, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. When she spoke, he listened intently, wanting to learn as much about her inner-workings as he could.

  So strange that he still didn’t
know her well, considering they had been in each other’s lives since he first moved to Wattle Valley fifteen years ago. Deep regret filled him for not having paid attention to this obviously intelligent and beautiful woman simply because she was his best mate’s sister.

  Not that he did that in an arrogant way, as though he was somehow better than her, but more so because he had subconsciously set firm boundaries—she had always existed in sister territory, not someone with whom he was itching to be intimate with.

  Another teammate, who was at the barbeque last week, came over with his girlfriend and another woman Anders hadn’t met before.

  ‘Mind if we join you?’ Connor asked. He was a midfielder, one of the shorter men on the team, though he could outsprint anybody over any distance.

  ‘Pull up a seat,’ Anders said. ‘Good to see you, Winnie.’ Winnie had gone to school with Jager and Anders. She was Anders’ first ever girlfriend when they were thirteen. First kiss too—not that a closed-mouth, embarrassed peck on the lips in the middle of the basketball courts before they both blushed, stammered and walked quickly away, was what he could classify as a real kiss.

  No, his first real kiss was with Julia Murphy while at a school camp in Ballarat. He had kissed her on the bus with no embarrassment whatsoever and all the eagerness of a fourteen-year-old boy.

  Winnie pulled up a chair beside him and asked Michael to move one seat down so her friend could take his seat. Michael obliged.

  ‘Great game today, Anders,’ Winnie said, then frowned. ‘Shame about the result.’

  Each time the scoreline was mentioned was like a boot to his guts. ‘Yeah, it was disappointing, for sure.’

  She smiled somewhat bashfully. ‘Let me introduce you to my cousin Samantha.’

  Samantha was sitting tall in her seat and grinning. He could see the familial similarities—long brown hair, same tall, slender build.

  ‘Hi, Samantha,’ he said, reaching across and shaking her hand. ‘Good to meet you.’

  ‘Samantha just moved to town, so I’m trying to bring her up to speed on all the goings on and people.’

  ‘Welcome to Wattle Valley. Where are you from originally?’

  ‘Brisbane.’

  ‘Queensland. You must be finding the difference in weather a shock then?’