by Mandy Magro
‘Oh, I was going to give her a call to do that myself today.’ Katherine grinned. ‘Isn’t that something you could do over the phone too?’
Dallas shifted uneasily. ‘Well, yeah, I suppose I could do that.’
Katherine grinned. ‘I’m joking, love. You go and get your woman.’
Reg beamed from ear to ear as he held his coffee cup in the air. ‘About time you came to your senses. Off you go then, and make it snappy, otherwise some other bloke will snap her up real quick.’
Dallas held his hands up as if a gun was being held to him, chuckling at the same time. ‘Okay, righto.’
Katherine clapped her hands. ‘Ooh, I’m so excited.’ She leapt from her seat and made a beeline for Dallas, her arms wide. She yanked him into a hug, her head resting on his chest even though she was on her tippy-toes. ‘Oh love, you’ve just made me one very happy mum.’
Dallas hugged her back. ‘Yeah, well, don’t go getting too excited yet. She might have gotten back with her dickhead husband.’
Katherine stepped back while still holding onto his arms. ‘She wouldn’t be that stupid.’
Dallas pulled a dunno face. ‘Only one way to find out.’
Katherine hightailed it over to the microwave. ‘Let me slap this bacon and the egg between two pieces of bread, and then you’ve got yourself a sandwich to eat on the way.’
Dallas started putting on his boots by the door. ‘Cheers Mum.’
Less than two minutes later, Katherine had the sandwich wrapped in alfoil, along with a bottle of water, a can of Coke, an apple, two bananas and a packet of Kingston biscuits packed into Dallas’s lunch esky. She held it out. ‘Here you go, enough food to get you to Sydney.’
Dallas peeked inside. ‘Thanks Mum, but it’s only a four hour drive.’
‘Yeah, well, better to have too much food than not enough. At least this way you won’t have to make any unnecessary stops along the way—making you get there quicker.’ She pranced on the spot.
Dallas laughed at her enthusiasm. ‘Am I allowed to have a loo break?’
‘By the sounds of it, nope, just hold on to it,’ Reg said with a chuckle.
Dallas put the esky on the bench, his smile fading as he took his mum’s hands in his. ‘Thank you for being so happy for me, and thank you for gently persuading me to forgive Charlize, even before you knew what she’d do with Vivien’s information. And thank you for helping me to release some of the anger and blame I felt at losing dad the way we did. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Mum. You truly are the salt of the earth.’
Tears filled Katherine’s eyes as she gave his hands a squeeze. ‘Aw, thank you.’ She sniffled and gave his arm a gentle slap. ‘And I don’t know what I’d do without you either.’
A sniffle came from the table. They both turned to see a tear rolling down Reg’s cheek. He smiled as he wiped it away. ‘Oh stop it you two, you’re making my eyes leak.’
Dallas smiled. ‘And the same goes for you too, Gramps. I couldn’t imagine where I’d be without you.’
Reg waved his hand through the air, his chin wobbling as he tried to curb his trembling lips. ‘Stop it before I cry like a baby.’
Katherine wandered over and wrapped her arms around her dad. ‘Go get her, Dallas, and let me know as soon as you’ve seen her. I’ll wait to call her until you’ve had time to talk.’
And with that said, Dallas gave them a wave and headed out the back door. Levi came bounding up the back steps and met him, his tail smacking the verandah rhythmically as he gave his master a doggy smile. Dallas gave him a quick pat. ‘I’ve got to go to the big smoke today, buddy, so you’ll have to hold the fort here, okay?’
The screen door squeaked open behind him, pulling his attention over his shoulder. His mum smiled back at him. ‘Let Levi in here, love. He hates it when he can’t come with you.’
Levi didn’t need any more of an invitation as he shot through the door, and Katherine’s legs, to the chortles of Reg.
Katherine chuckled and gave Dallas a wave. ‘Good luck, not that you’re going to need it.’
Taking long strides down the garden path towards where his LandCruiser was parked, he stopped briefly to pick a few of his grandmother’s roses, hoping if he arrived with a gift it might help break the ice.
CHAPTER
34
Circling the block for what felt like the hundredth time, Dallas cursed beneath his breath—the city traffic was driving him up the wall. He’d made it to Sydney in record time, but had since spent over thirty minutes driving around looking for a park. Give him a wide-open country road over this chaos any day. He could feel his stress levels rising by the second. The map on his mobile kept telling him he’d reached his destination, but then there was nowhere to stop outside the skyscraper that housed The Insider.
Up ahead, a car pulled out, and he begged out loud for no other bastard to take it. He hurrahed when nobody did, but then spent the next five minutes trying to manoeuvre his four-wheel drive into a park made for a mini, with a few swear words thrown in for good measure.
Turning off the ignition, the immensity of what he was about to do hit him like a freight train. He likened it to the nervousness he felt before riding a bull, and took a few deep slow breaths to ward it off. Slipping on his wide-brimmed hat and grabbing the four red roses from where he’d placed them in front of the air-conditioning vent, he stepped out onto the footpath and headed over to the parking machine. Ten dollars later, he strode back to the LandCruiser and chucked the parking receipt on the dash, pressed the central locking button on his key, and he was good to go.
People bustled all around him, the men in suits and ties and the women in their designer labels, most of them with their heads buried in their phones. Sad that life was too busy to stop and say g’day, or to even offer a smile. He could never survive in this hectic world. Looking back at his mud-splattered four-wheel drive wedged between a gleaming red Ferrari and a silver BMW, he laughed at the sharp contrast. He could only imagine how much he stood out in his western clothing.
He looked up at the skyscraper towering over him—counting his lucky stars for getting a park right out the front. The angels were looking down on him today. The thought put a spring in his step as he stepped from the hazy heat of the city street into the cool opulence of the building’s foyer. A middle-aged man in a snazzy black suit greeted him, the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt issuing static. The man silenced it.
Dallas shot him a smile. ‘G’day.’
‘G’day back,’ the man said with a genuine smile. ‘How can I be of assistance?’
‘Um … I’m fairly right for assistance, but thanks.’
The man’s smile broadened. ‘Let me put that another way. Who are you here to see?’
‘Oh, Charlize Dawson, she works at—’
The man nodded. ‘The Insider. Yes, I know her well. Do you have an appointment?’
‘Do I need one?’
‘Usually.’
‘Nope, no appointment, I’m just here to deliver these.’ Dallas held the roses up, noting they were beginning to look a little worse for wear after almost five hours without water. ‘I want to surprise her.’
‘Right.’ The man grinned as he looked him up and down. ‘I’m gathering you’re from out of town.’
‘Spot on.’
‘Well, I’m not really allowed to let you up there without first letting Charlize know you’re coming.’
‘Oh, bugger.’ Dallas shrugged. ‘Well, I suppose you have to do what you have to do. I don’t want to go getting you into any trouble.’
‘But … from the way you’re dressed, and the fact you’re standing here with flowers, I’m guessing it was you Charlize was telling me about the other day.’
Dallas couldn’t hide his shock. Charlize had been talking about him? ‘What was she saying?’ He held his breath.
‘I’m not at liberty to discuss it.’ The man looked around, as if checking nobody was listening to their conversation
. ‘Let’s just say I’ll break the rules this once and let you up, but secret squirrel, okay?’
Clearly, whatever Charlize had been saying to this man had to be good. Dallas began to breathe again. ‘Thanks mate, my lips are sealed.’
‘Follow me then.’ Calling the lift down, the man stood with his hands clasped behind his back. When it arrived, he motioned for Dallas to step in and then joined him. Using a card hanging from around his neck, he swiped it across a security code box and then hit the button for the top floor.
Dallas was impressed. ‘Hey, all the way to the top.’
‘Yes, sir.’
The lift began its ascent and Dallas enjoyed simple chitchat with the man, learning, to his surprise, that he was originally from Wagga Wagga, a country town west of Grenfell.
‘It’s a small world,’ Dallas said as the lift reached the top floor.
‘It sure is, Dallas.’ The door slid open, and the man winked. ‘Say hi to Charlize for me.’
‘Will do.’ Dallas stepped out into a lavish reception area, realising only as the doors closed behind him that the bloke knew his name. Before he could wonder why, a perfectly made-up young woman looked up from a marble desk, the words THE INSIDER in huge letters behind her. She gasped, and then covered her mouth. ‘Oh. My. God. It’s you.’
Dallas spun around, thinking she must be talking to someone behind him. But there was nobody. He turned back, noticing a blush had risen on her cheeks.
She shot up from her chair and ran around her desk. ‘You’re Mister April.’
Had this woman lost her marbles? He smiled. ‘I have no idea what you’re …’ And then it hit him. ‘Oh, the calendar.’
She ran her hand down his arm. ‘Your guns are so much bigger in person.’ She jiggled on the spot. ‘Are those flowers for who I think they are?’
‘I’m not sure. Who do you think they’re for?’
‘Please tell me they’re for Charlize so you can put us all out of our misery. She’s been moping around for days, telling us all how wonderful you are.’
‘Really?’
The woman nodded. ‘Aha.’ She grabbed his arm and almost dragged him down the corridor. ‘Come on, I’ll take you to her.’
Dallas felt all eyes upon him as they half-raced through a massive room filled with desks and people. He gave a quick wave, and tugged his hat in greeting. He wished he could hear what some of the hushed voices were saying. But before he had time to worry if it was good, or not, the receptionist halted at a door that read CHARLIZE DAWSON MANAGING EDITOR.
He had no idea she was managing editor. Very impressive.
‘Here we are.’ She gave the door a brief knock.
‘Come in if you’re good looking.’
Charlize’s vivacious voice felt like warm fingers trailing over Dallas’s skin.
The receptionist opened the door and Charlize looked up from her desk, her jaw almost hitting the floor when she saw him.
Beaming, the receptionist excused herself.
CHAPTER
35
Charlize had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. ‘Dallas?’ The pen she was holding tumbled to the floor.
‘That’d be me.’ He stepped forward and held out the roses. ‘Just wanted to come and thank you in person for doing what you did, or didn’t do more like it.’
Charlize couldn’t believe it. Not only had her dream man just shown up in her office, he came bearing gifts, and roses of all things. This was a good sign. Hope filled her. She pushed her chair back from the desk and ran to his side, gratefully accepting the flowers that looked as though they were begging to be put in some water. The scent of Reg’s home-grown roses mixed with the hint of leather lingering from Dallas made her moan and roll her eyes in pleasure.
‘Don’t do that in front of me.’
‘Do what?’
‘Roll your eyes and moan like that.’
She grinned sassily as she leaned against the desk, her pencil skirt hugging her thighs perfectly as she did. ‘Why?’
Dallas’s lips twitched as though holding back a wayward smile of his own. ‘You know why.’
She playfully fluttered her lashes. ‘Do I?’
His eyes seized hers, and what she saw there—the hunger, the longing, the need—would have sent her to her knees if she hadn’t been resting against the desk. A sigh escaped her. The atmosphere sparked and sizzled, the coolness of the air-conditioning like ice against her scorching skin. Her heart hammered in her chest.
‘Are you and Alistair over?’
‘Yes.’
‘Have you told him?’
‘Yes.’
Without warning, Dallas reached out and pulled her to him, his lips meeting with hers, softly at first, but then fierce and hard as if fuelled by an impatient craving he was desperate to satisfy. Her eyes flickered shut as she savoured the sensation of his touch. Stars burst behind her eyelids and liquid fire coursed through her veins. Their breathing quickened. He wrapped his hands around her arse and lifted her onto the desk while his tongue circled hers in the most erotic of ways.
Then she remembered that anyone could walk in on them.
Dragging her lips from his she pulled back, and to her surprise, she saw the glint of tears in his eyes. She reached up and touched his cheek. ‘What is it? Do you want to stop?’
Dallas shook his head. ‘I’m sorry I hurt you so badly before you left. It almost killed me knowing you were crying because of me.’
‘No, don’t you dare apologise. It should be me doing that.’
He seized her mouth once more, gentle but oh so toe-curlingly demanding, then ran his lips over her ear and down the side of her throat, sending shivers all over her.
‘We have to lock the door.’ She groaned, not wanting him to stop.
‘Let’s live dangerously,’ Dallas said with a sexy smirk.
She arched her head back as he trailed his lips slowly downwards, sucking, kissing, licking, biting, only stopping when he reached her silky top. Then button by button, he began to undo it, dropping it to the floor. In one swift motion, he unclasped her bra and let it fall, exposing her breasts to his hungry gaze. Bringing his mouth to her nipple, he licked and sucked and nibbled as she pushed herself harder into him. She hitched her skirt up, exposing her underwear. Dallas’s hand trailed from her breast down to her crotch where her wetness had soaked through the black lace. With skilful fingers he massaged her pleasure zone to the point she was teetering on the brink.
She couldn’t take this any longer; she had to have him inside her. She ached to be at one with the man of her dreams. Desperate, she found his zipper and looked at him while she slowly glided it downwards, inch by inch, and then pushed her hand between the denim of his jeans and the hardness of his erection. Pulling his jocks down she wrapped her fingers around it. Dallas’s head rolled back and his eyes drifted shut. He felt so damn good, and so damn hard, she couldn’t wait to feel him slide deep inside of her.
Dallas placed his hand over hers, urging her to take him in a firmer grip. And when she did, his body trembled.
‘You’re asking for trouble,’ he warned, his voice low and husky. ‘Are you sure?’
Charlize licked her lips, the desire within her smouldering. ‘Uh-huh.’ Removing her skirt and underwear so she was completely naked, she sank to her knees and tugged off his jeans, letting them drop to the floor. And then she removed his jocks as he removed his shirt. A longing to take him into her mouth overcame her, but she held back, wanting to pleasure him to the brink. She kissed his stomach, grinning as she heard his sharp intake of breath, her pleasure spot pulsing as he cupped the back of her head and guided the tip of his cock to her parted mouth. With her lips barely grazing him, she ran her tongue over the very tip of his erection, then breathed warmth over him. His legs shuddered.
And then she took him onto her mouth, slowly, teasingly, savouring every divine inch.
Grabbing her arms, Dallas brought her back to standing. �
��Lay back on the desk. I want to taste you.’
And so she did. Kneeling, Dallas brought his mouth down upon her. The sensation stole her breath. She arched her back and pushed herself into him as he dragged his tongue slowly upwards, stopping to flick and twirl it over her hard, pulsing erogenous zone. Bringing a hand up to her breast, he held it, pinching her nipple as he pleasured her beyond anything she’d ever imagined possible. Once again he brought her to the brink, until she could feel the hint of her release, and she gasped, her body tensing. She was so damn close, and then he stopped, leaving her aching for him. She had never wanted anything so much in her life.
Pulling her to sitting, he guided her closer to the edge of the desk. Seizing her eyes with his, he unhurriedly slid inside her, until every inch of him was deep within. And then he halted and brought his lips to hers once more. Their tongues twirling around each other, he began to thrust, hard, then stopped, then thrust again, then stopped, teasing her until she was begging him to make her come. He succumbed to her desires with strong powerful strokes, heightening every nerve until his body tensed and she knew, like her, he was near. As her breathing quickened and her body shuddered against his, he halted. ‘Look at me, I want to see you when you lose control.’
And she did. Her body tensed as ripples of ecstasy jolted throughout her, wave after pleasurable wave engulfing her, each one intensifying, until she was unable to breathe, and then they fell over the edge of bliss together. Blinding pleasure raced throughout her as Dallas wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as they climaxed. Then breathlessly, she rested her head against his beating chest.
Once she’d had time to catch her breath she spoke what was in her heart. ‘I’ve fallen in love with you, Dallas,’ she whispered.
Dallas placed his fingers beneath her chin and tipped her head gently upwards. ‘Tell me that again.’
She sucked in a breath. ‘I love you.’
He smiled. ‘I love you, too, Charlize, with everything I’ve got.’
Happy tears filled her eyes. ‘You’ve just made me the happiest woman alive.’ She grinned naughtily. ‘Now let’s get dressed so we can get out of here and do that again—this time in my bed.’