So much for having to pretend to be interested in each other as she and Maya had planned. The waitress had to ask them twice if they were ready to order—neither she nor Max had even noticed she was there. Such bumbling spies they’d turned out to be. More interested in each other than in analysing the menu and service in the interests of Big Blue. She would have to do better on the spying front. But not just yet. Being with him had suddenly become the overwhelming interest in her world. She kept reliving that unexpected kiss. Wanting more.
Max was holding her hand under the table. In fact he’d scarcely let go of it since they’d kissed outside the restaurant. ‘How are we going to eat when our meals arrive?’ she murmured.
‘One-handed?’ he suggested. ‘You with your right and me with my left.’
She laughed. ‘I guess it’s possible.’
He leaned closer to her. ‘I don’t want to let go of you. I have to keep touching you to reassure myself you’re still here with me.’ There was an undertone of surprise to his words that she totally related to. This thing between them had flared up so quickly. And could burn out as quickly, she reminded herself. It wasn’t something she could place any trust in.
She entwined her fingers with his even closer. ‘I feel the same,’ she said, her voice a little wobbly with wonder.
‘I have to pinch myself that you actually said that.’ He lowered his voice. ‘You know, I didn’t think you were interested in me at all.’
‘I couldn’t allow myself to be. Not when we’d been so singed by the scandal I dragged you into. Not when I’d been the bride and you the best man.’
‘But now we’re two people without ties and—’
‘Are you? Without ties, I mean,’ she said. ‘I wondered. After all, I’m talking to the guy voted sexiest man alive.’ How could he be single?
He groaned. ‘Don’t remind me of that stupid title. I’ll never live it down. You should hear what my father and brother have to say about it. There’s nothing like the ribbing of two blokes from the bush to keep a guy from getting a swelled head. Though I think my mother was secretly tickled. But in answer to your question, there’s no one. Hasn’t been for a long time.’
Nikki realised she’d been holding her breath for his answer. She let it out on a silent sigh of relief. ‘I see,’ was all she managed to say.
‘After the accident I was totally focussed on getting fit enough to play again. Obsessed. There was no room for the distraction of dating. What about you?’
‘No one. I... I think I’d have to know a guy for ten years before I’d trust him enough to date.’ Her comment was meant to be light-hearted but she couldn’t help a note of bitterness from slipping through.
His brows raised. ‘Really? Ten years?’
She nodded. ‘The thing with Alan was that bad. To find out someone I’d believed in had lied to me about something so fundamental caused serious damage.’
Max’s other hand went to his nose, once again, the slightly crooked bend showing in the evening light, as evidence of his encounter with Alan’s fist. ‘Bad for you too,’ she said. ‘If it’s any consolation I think the new-shape nose suits you. It adds a touch of edginess. Make you look even...even more handsome.’ She was going to say sexier but thought better of it. Not when she was clueless about where this was going. But she had tonight.
‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ he said.
‘Please do,’ she said. She would like to kiss that nose if she got the chance. Oh, yes, she’d like to kiss him, taste him, explore him. Now that she’d had her first taste of intimacy with Max she wanted more.
The waitress brought drinks, an aptly named sunset cocktail for her, a local beer for him. Still Max didn’t let go of her hand and she didn’t free it. Instead he demonstrated how well he could pour a beer using his left hand. Picking up her glass with her right was hardly an achievement as she was strictly right-handed. But it was fun. He was fun.
‘Did you ever see me play tennis on television?’ he asked after the waitress left.
‘Yes,’ she said, wondering where he was going with this. ‘I enjoy watching the tennis. And it would have been difficult to avoid seeing you, reading about you. The entire country was behind you when you kept winning those big tournaments. And of course you were so hot you turned a lot of besotted young women onto tennis.’
‘The more fans, the better. Good for the game.’ It would be false modesty if he tried to deny his celebrity status. She was glad he didn’t. ‘So when did you first see me?’ he asked.
‘I think it might have been when you first won Wimbledon.’
‘Men’s singles. I was twenty-two.’
‘I was twenty-one. Finishing uni and starting my own business.’ Still with Ray, the high-school boyfriend, thinking they were headed for marriage when he’d been cheating on her for six months with the woman he eventually left her for. Ray, her first big fail when it came to men.
Max let go her hand, made a show of counting on his fingers. ‘By my calculation, you’ve known me eight years.’
‘What?’ His statement was so audacious, she had to laugh. ‘You have got to be kidding me.’
‘I could be.’ He shrugged. ‘Or I could be seriously suggesting you take that first time you watched me on television as our introduction. Eight years ago. Two more years to go before you could trust me.’
‘There’s something seriously flawed in your logic.’ She tried to sound serious but couldn’t help laughter infusing her voice.
‘Makes sense to me,’ he said.
‘Except for the fact you didn’t actually see me unless you could somehow beam vision from the centre court at Wimbledon to my house in Sydney.’
He grinned. ‘Maybe. Maybe not.’
‘I think we’ll go with “maybe not”,’ she said, laughing again. ‘As far as I recall, the first time you ever laid eyes on me was at the wedding rehearsal. By my count, that makes nine and a half years to go before—’
He sobered. ‘Before you could trust me. Or any other man.’
‘That’s right,’ she said, thinking she’d dug herself into a ditch. ‘Though there could possibly be time reduced for good behaviour.’
He leaned closer to her, concern warming his eyes. ‘Why, Nikki? Why such distrust? It’s not just Alan, is it?’
‘No, it’s not,’ she said, unable to stop a hitch in her voice. ‘I had a long-time boyfriend and that didn’t end well. A few other disasters when I started to date again. But I don’t know that I want to talk about all that. It’s a bit heavy for a first date.’ She frowned. ‘That is, if this is what you’d call a date?’
‘It can be whatever you want it to be,’ he said. ‘I don’t much care for labels.’
‘We said one night only.’ Already the hours were counting down. One night wouldn’t be enough.
‘May I remind you I still have ten more nights on the island after tonight. We could make it ten nights. I can’t speak for after that—I don’t know where I’ll be. It wouldn’t be fair to say otherwise.’
‘I could be exaggerating about the ten years. But I’m not ready for a relationship. Not sure when I ever will be ready.’
‘I’m not in a position to offer one. I don’t even know where I might be living. Anyway, “relationship” is just another label.’
‘I’m glad you said that. Tag me in a relationship and it’s doomed.’
Nikki hated that she sounded down on herself. She was strong, intelligent, had everything going for her. She knew that. But she chose the wrong men. Trouble was she didn’t know they were wrong for her until she was already in too deep to easily extricate herself. Perhaps it was because she didn’t want to admit she’d made an error of judgement. Or perhaps she was too willing to try and see the best in people and forgive them when she shouldn’t. She got that trait from her mother, who had never said a bad word about her dupl
icitous father, right up to the day she’d died. Given Max’s reputation—perhaps he was a mistake too.
‘The media, they made a big deal about you and Ellen Trantor. That you...that you cheated on her.’
Max’s face set grim. ‘I was never unfaithful to Ellen. Ever.’
‘That photo...’ Nikki hated to dig when it so obviously made him uncomfortable. But she had to know.
‘That photo of me having lunch with a female friend was taken after I’d broken up with Ellen.’
‘But I thought—?’
‘That we were still together? The press certainly took great delight in pointing that out. Fact was we’d split weeks before. But Ellen was facing one of the most important tournaments of her career. She knew the media would make a song and dance about a break-up and asked me to keep it quiet as she didn’t want to be distracted from her game.’
‘Then they broke the story about your date with the other girl.’
‘Which made it look like I was cheating on my girlfriend. Ellen was furious on two counts. The adverse publicity put her off her game and she lost. Then she refused to believe that I hadn’t been dating the girl during our relationship. For the record, the girl I was lunching with was an account executive from the sportswear company that sponsored me. There was nothing romantic between us, and there certainly wouldn’t have been after that whole thing blew up. As the so-called “other woman” she was hunted by the press everywhere she went, even had paparazzi popping out of the flower beds at her parents’ house. She hated me.’
‘Wow. I’m sorry. I had no idea.’
His mouth twisted into a bitter line. ‘You can see why I despise press intrusion into my private life. That incident cost me several matches, too. I’ve never played so badly. It also lost me the friendship and respect of Ellen, a woman I had deeply cared for and a peer. Playing against her in a doubles match became a nightmare—every time a “grudge match” according to our media “friends”.’
‘And that other girl? The former girlfriend from your home town who gave that horrible interview in that magazine?’ She shuddered at the memory of those vindictive words.
He grimaced. ‘How did I get cast as the villain in that case? I was single, she told me she was single when we met up again on one of my flying visits home to see my parents.’
‘You mean you had ex-sex?’
‘No strings. By mutual consent. But she couldn’t have been single at the time because I was definitely not the father of her child.’
‘Yet you got branded as the love cheat?’ she asked, puzzled. ‘How did that happen?’
‘Turns out the father was a guy I’d known at school. Not difficult in a small school in a small country town. The media made out I was cheating on a friend.’
‘Then you were made out as doing the same thing with me—the best man betraying his friend the groom. Which was utter nonsense, of course.’
‘All of it utter nonsense. But the gutter press breeds on creating scandal. That kind of beat-up story gives their readers and viewers a temporary “ooh-ah” kind of thrill. Makes them think they “know” a celebrity. But it changes the lives of those involved and not for the better. Mud sticks. There are people who believe there’s no smoke without fire. Each time it’s happened to me, people I respected thought less of me.’ His eyes were clouded with disbelief that he should have been judged so unfairly for something he hadn’t done.
‘I think more of you for sharing that with me.’ He took her hand again. She tightened her clasp on his hand when what she really wanted to do was hug him and comfort him. ‘And I appreciate you want to take a chance on me, in spite of the consequences if we’re discovered.’
If the press who hounded him could blow up something as innocent as a lunch date, what might they make of the best man and the runaway bride ‘hiding out’ on an island six months down the track?
‘Why don’t we take it day by day?’ Max said. ‘One night at a time.’
Her heart kicked up a beat. ‘Are we talking a fling? A no-strings fling? If so, I’ve never had a fling. I don’t know how—’
‘Just another label,’ he said.
‘So a no-label fling?’
‘If that’s what you want to call it. But I’d rather forget about labels altogether.’
‘No labels...no expectations,’ she said slowly.
‘Just enjoy each other’s company without worrying where it’s headed,’ he said.
It was a refreshing thought. She’d always worried about where a relationship was headed before it had really started. Here, away from her life back home, could be the right place to take a risk on something different. With a man so very different from anyone she had ever met before.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Get to know each other in the time we have.’
‘The clock has already started ticking on that time,’ he said. ‘There’s so much I want to know about you. So many questions I want to ask you.’ She was surprised at how urgent he made that sound.
‘Fire away,’ she said. ‘I’m ready to answer your questions. Like you answered mine. But there’s one thing I want to get out of the way first. I... I haven’t been completely honest with you about something important.’
* * *
Dread clutched Max deep in the gut. Just when he was allowing himself to relax into the real-life scenario of being with his dream girl in the blue dress. That kiss had taken his dream a whole lot of steps further from where it usually ended. Nikki. In his arms. Passionate. Exciting. Real.
A hundred hideous reasons for Nikki being dishonest with him churned through his brain. He had always placed great store on honesty and trust, even before he’d been played by the press. He let go of her hand, placed his on the table. Immediately felt bereft of her touch. ‘What do you mean?’ He braced himself for her reply.
‘I said I was dreaming up ideas for a new venture. Truth is, that venture is well and truly in the development stage.’
‘A business venture? And you didn’t tell me that because—?’
Her eyes flickered nervously. ‘It’s that trust thing again.’
‘So why confide in me now?’
‘Because I don’t think you look at me with dollar signs flashing in your eyes.’ She looked down at the table. ‘Like Alan so obviously did.’
He was so relieved he nearly gagged. ‘Dollar signs are not what I see when I look at you, Nikki, I can assure you.’ What he saw was a woman exceptional, not just in looks, but in nature. How could any man let her go? No wonder Alan had whacked him in the nose. Nikki underestimated herself if she thought a man would only be interested in her money. Even Alan must have been hurting at her loss from his life.
‘I also think you probably have enough of your own money not to be interested in mine,’ she said.
‘You’re right there. I’ve been caught too often by people more interested in what I have rather than who I am.’
Nikki nodded. ‘Just Max. Not Max the celebrity. Not Max the millionaire. The Max I’ve got to know and to...to like.’
‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘And I like you for the you I’ve got to know over the last days. Not just beautiful Nikki—that’s a given—but smart, clever, kind Nikki. I can assure you your personal wealth has no interest for me.’
I have more than enough for both of us. Max swatted the thought from his mind. He wasn’t thinking of a future with Nikki. He couldn’t. He was a single-minded kind of guy. Needed to get his life sorted before he could consider a relationship. He had to be careful he didn’t raise expectations of anything he couldn’t fulfil. Especially when he was beginning to realise the damage that had been done to her by unscrupulous men in her past. He didn’t want to be another man who hurt her.
‘So as far as wealth is concerned, we’re on an even playing field,’ she said.
‘And perhaps I’ve gained a few minutes�
� credit in the trust department?’ he said.
‘Maybe even a few hours,’ she said with a smile that made her eyes dance.
He wanted to kiss her, but fought the urge. Holding hands under the table was one thing in terms of possible exposure. Kissing in a crowded restaurant was another, even if most people’s focus was on the last minutes of the setting sun.
‘Tell me about your new venture.’
‘Private swimming clubs for women back home in Australia,’ she said. ‘Since I’ve been here I’ve been shocked at the number of people who can’t swim but want to enjoy the water or to keep their kids safe. Australian women from various backgrounds who didn’t learn to swim for one reason or another but are embarrassed to admit it. I think they’d value a safe, private environment where they could be taught. Not just to swim but to snorkel and dive, even surf. Remember you said to me, “I’m an Aussie, we swim?”’
Max nodded.
‘That’s not always the case. The Australian statistics on non-swimmers are quite alarming for a country where death by drowning is a real issue.’
He smiled at her enthusiasm. ‘Sounds like a worthy idea. But would it be profitable?’
‘I’m looking into that.’ Her eyes narrowed in an expression of concentration that was almost sensual in its intensity. ‘The clubs would be luxurious without being intimidating. Stroke correction as well as beginners’ classes for a wider customer base. A health and beauty spa. Branded swimwear. A swim travel company to take postgraduate clients to destinations like Frangipani Bay and Greece and Croatia for fabulous swimming tours.’
‘You thought of all that since you’ve been here?’
‘I would never have thought of it otherwise.’
He realised both her ideas for businesses sprang from a desire to help people, a generosity of spirit he admired in her. First her sister with her skin problems and now women who yearned to be able to swim. He could learn from her. His thoughts for his future had focussed on his needs, not the needs of others. Perhaps he needed to rethink that. Could he, after so long focussing on his need to win? Could he ever share his life with someone else?
Best Man and the Runaway Bride Page 10