by Zana Bell
“Oh, man!” But she laughed despite herself. “Can I point out, though, that I’m soaked? That’s a problem.”
“But is it really?” He glanced her way and she saw his expression was teasing, not triumphant as she’d expected.
The rain was warm as it ran down her face and made her clothes cling to her. But at the same time there was something wonderfully free about getting wet, letting it happen. Enjoying it. “I guess not.”
In fact, this surrender to the elements made her feel like a child again and, laughing, she opened her mouth and tried to catch some of the drops.
They’d slowed to a jog again and went as far as the next bay, watching how the rain rippled and pitted the harbor waters in a world of muted grays and greens. Then a lance of sunlight sliced across their path.
“Sun shower!” cried Jake.
“I haven’t seen one of those in years.”
“You must get them in New York?”
She shrugged. “I’m indoors a good ninety percent of my life, and of the other ten percent, most of that is early in the morning or late at night.”
“It’s not much of a life.”
She threw him a look. “Hey, watch it, buddy. It’s my life and I enjoy it, okay?”
“Okay.”
They began running back, and while she’d rather choke than admit it out loud, it sure beat the old treadmill. The rain stopped as suddenly as it had started, and rays of sun pierced the shredded clouds. As Jake and she made their way to the pā, a rainbow encircled the peninsula, one foot resting in the waves, the other in Aroha Bay.
“My God, that’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, we’ve got the best rainbows in the world because we get so much sun and rain. Sometimes even double ones.”
“Really?” The idea enchanted her. “I hope I see one before I go home.”
“They’re special,” he said. “You have to earn them.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
By the time they reached the pa, the sun was surprisingly warm. The grass and trees steamed around them as they stood on the crest of the small hill. Sass was usually meticulous about warm-up and cool-down stretches. Having failed to do the former, she was determined not to skip the latter. Jake propped against a tree and watched as she began doing side bends.
“So tell me about the pā.” She swept one hand over her head and leaned, reaching as far out as she could, then straightened, doing the same on the other side. She wasn’t going to let on that she’d already done a considerable amount of research on the topic.
Jake indicated the terraces banding the hillside. “Those were defenses. The Māori perfected trench warfare long before it was introduced in Europe. They threw up stockades and dug trenches to ward off enemy attacks.”
“Who attacked? The English?” She leaned over to touch her toes and felt his eyes go to her butt.
“Well, later, yes. But the Māori have always been warriors and fought each other, too. They were legendary fighters. Early explorers were terrified of them.”
Feeling nicely stretched, Sass perched on a nearby rock and stared at the hill. It was swathed in a gauzy veil of raindrops, which glinted, bright as diamonds, on the brilliant green grass. She recalled Manu’s face from the night before, with his strongly defined bones. “I can imagine.” And again she felt glad to have the man on her side.
Jake pulled his T-shirt off, then came to sit at right angles to her on the rock. She could feel his warmth down the left side of her body. If she leaned back just an inch, they’d be touching.
“I hate clinging clothes,” he said, “on myself, that is.” He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes dropped briefly to the T-shirt plastered to her body. “Feel free to strip off, too.”
“No, thanks. One porn star is enough for any pā.”
He laughed and she lifted her shirt away from her body, shaking it. “So what did the Māori fight about?”
“The usual. Land, power. Much like last night’s meeting, in fact.”
Sass refused to take the bait, and changed the subject instead. “So where did the name come from?” She stretched her legs out, flexing her feet.
“What name?” She saw Jake’s eyes travel down her legs, then up again.
“Aroha Bay.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.”
He was clearly distracted and she suppressed a smile. “Well, it comes from a myth about two young lovers from warring tribes—all very Romeo and Juliet. It ended up with them both drowning.”
“That’s so sad.” For a minute Sass stared out over the ocean. It was beautiful and romantic, the perfect setting for a love story. For star-crossed lovers. She gave herself a shake. “A myth, did you say?”
“Yeah, though it’s probably based on truth. A lot of the Māori stories were.”
“I see.”
And she did. Sass fancied she could feel the whisper of lovers’ vows in the soft wind, the sighs of lost love in the wash of the waves.
“Seems real on a morning like this, doesn’t it?” said Jake, and she turned her head sharply. His green eyes met hers and he laughed self-consciously. “You won’t believe this, but I sometimes feel their ghosts at dawn or twilight, when I’m paddling out.”
The hairs on her arms rose, but Jake, seeing this, drew different conclusions. “You’re cold. We should head back. Besides, my butt’s going to sleep on this rock.”
He stood up, and Sass did indeed suddenly feel cold without the solid warmth of his back so close to hers. He put out a hand to pull her up and, as she rose, she flashed back to four days ago, when he’d pulled her to her feet at paintball. His broad, tanned chest was suddenly very close. He tugged her closer, but she quickly slapped her palm against one solid pec. Under her fingers, she could feel his nipple tighten.
“No, Jake. I made myself clear last night.”
“Yeah. Well, I didn’t get much sleep, so got to thinking. This attraction is in the way, sidetracking us, so we should just sleep together and get it out of our systems.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s such a male solution to the problem.”
He grinned. “What? Practical and pleasurable?”
“No. Really dumb. I’ve told you already, I don’t mix business with pleasure.”
“And is this pleasure?” His voice was very soft, very low.
“Yeah, though it burns my butt to admit it.”
He still didn’t move, either closer or farther away. She should take her hand from his chest, but it seemed to have fused to his body. She could feel the strong beat of his heart, and her own seemed to falter, then fall in with his rhythm.
“We can’t keep pretending it isn’t there.”
“That doesn’t mean we have to act on it.”
“Too late.”
“That was a mistake, like I said at the time. We can’t complicate things.”
“Again, too late. It’s already complicated.”
She found the strength to pull her hand away, step back from him. “We can’t complicate them any further, then. It wouldn’t work, don’t you see. Men pretend they like to play the field, but they always get possessive in the end. You’ll end up confusing personal issues with the resort discussions.”
Jake balled up his T-shirt. “Look, Sass, I can understand blokes getting possessive over you, but frankly, lawyers aren’t my type. If you can separate business and relationships, let me assure you, so can I. It’s simply that I haven’t had sex for twelve months and here you are, an attractive female living in my house and distracting the hell out of me. It’s nothing more than that.”
“A year? Are you kidding me?”
“No.”
Sass took another step back and planted her hands on her hips. “How come?”
Under her scrutiny his face flushed, but he tried to shrug it off. “It’s nothing.”
She thought of Alison and knew there was no way celibacy had been foisted upon him. “On the contrary, it’s pertinent to this conversation. Why?”
&nbs
p; Jake ran a hand through his damp curls. “I didn’t like the person I was a year ago, so decided to change everything. I’d also been accused of having commitment issues so…no more casual sex.”
“Then what the hell are you offering me now?”
He laughed. “A respite from your rules and mine! There’s an attraction, but as we both know, it’ll never go anywhere. So we can kick back and enjoy it for the brief time you’re here.”
Everything in her brain screamed Warning! Every other part of her body thought Jake Finlayson was offering a perfectly reasonable deal. Strange, though, how she’d flinched when he’d said it would never go anywhere, when of course she didn’t want it to.
“No, it wouldn’t work. You macho guys are always the ones who become the most possessive.”
“In my experience it’s the woman.”
Sass shrugged as she began walking back along the path. “You must go for clingy sorts,” she said over her shoulder. “I’m not at all like that.”
In two strides Jake was beside her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. His face very close, his eyes filling her field of vision. “Afraid?”
Somehow she found the strength to pull out of his grasp instead of leaning into him. “No, I’m not afraid!” she said, but even as she spoke, she felt an unexpected sliver of fear. “It would just be a really dumb thing to do.”
“C’mon, Sass.” He moved closer still, his voice soft and wheedling. “The attraction between us isn’t going to go away. The more you resist it, the bigger deal it will become. Whereas if we just go with it…” He shrugged eloquently.
She was tempted, she really was, but couldn’t let him know that. “Nice try, surf boy, but it’s simply not going to happen.”
Jake pressed his finger to her lips. His voice, still soft, was very, very sure. “Don’t you believe that, Miss Pain-in-the, don’t you believe that at all.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FOR THE NEXT COUPLE
of days Sass made sure she was never alone with Jake. It wasn’t difficult, for the days were very busy as she met with all the different interest groups to get her head around the issues. Jake was pretty busy, too, always off in one direction or another. Of course, they had to see each other in the evenings as, true to her word, Sass took over the cooking, much to the boys’ noisy appreciation. She enjoyed chatting with them when they came home from school, and couldn’t stop herself from checking on their progress with assignments. Her close interest acted as the spur she hoped it would, and they did knuckle down more to their studies—except for Brad. He was charming but slippery when it came to evading schoolwork. After dinner it was fun to kick back with the guys to watch a movie or play video games. She couldn’t do the racing games, but found she had quite a talent for Guitar Hero. This minor success gave her a peculiarly warm glow.
During this time, Jake never once made a move on her. Had probably thought better of it, she decided. Good. She was acutely aware of him whenever he walked into the room, even felt she could somehow sense him a second before he arrived. But he gave no sign he was similarly attuned to her. Neither he nor the boys could resist giving her a hard time about her American ways. She didn’t mind. Quite the contrary, it made her feel part of the family. Not that they were a family as such, but somehow Jake made them seem as if they were.
Sass was in a good mood when she drove into Whangarimu on Friday morning to meet with the ABORD group. At the town meeting, Manu had impressed her with his intelligence and humanity, and today he’d brought along supporters with their own stories and reasons for being pro-development.
“It’s about jobs,” explained Eloise, a woman in her forties in a twinset and faux pearls. “We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.” Her eyes dropped to her clasped hands as she added, “My husband killed himself after twenty months’ unemployment.”
Everyone fell silent, digesting what she’d told them.
“If the country doesn’t want me to be a dole bludger,” Neill, a pimply young man, finally said, “then it needs to give me a job. I’ve never had a real one.”
Sass could see his belligerence stemmed from deep-seated frustration, and remembered, with a stab, the same sullenness in her brothers.
Dorothy, at least seventy and a startling sight with bright purple bangs, nodded. “We’re losing too many young people. We need to use what we’ve got—and that’s scenery.” She tapped the tabletop with one purple-tipped finger to make her point.
“We’ve seen what the tourist dollar has done for Rotorua,” Manu continued, “and we’d like to bring some of that cash up here. Give our young folks opportunities.”
“And with the tourists coming in,” Dorothy added, “our arts community will do better. We’ve a lot of artists living here but there’s no one to buy our work.”
At the end of the meeting Manu clasped Sass’s hand in his. “It’s been a pleasure meeting with you,” he said sincerely. “You’re not at all what we were expecting. We really appreciate the way you’ve listened to us. However—” he looked directly at her “—you haven’t said whether you’ll support us when the time comes.”
Sass looked straight back at him. “Manu, I’m really glad to have heard ABORD’s point of view, but I’m still collecting all the facts. Obviously, my company is keen to make the resort work. I will not publicize my recommendations yet because it’s up to Paradise Resorts to make the final decision, but please know I will make every effort to evaluate the situation objectively and not be swayed by any one individual or group.”
Manu smiled. “That’s some comfort. Jake Finlayson can be very persuasive.”
For a brief, appalling moment, Sass remembered their kiss so vividly she could almost feel his lips on hers. She laughed lightly. “Don’t you worry at all about Jake Finlayson.” Her voice was strong and confident enough to fool anyone. She almost bought it herself. Looking around at the committee, she added, “I’ve so enjoyed meeting y’all today. Please believe me when I say that I’ll do my utmost to find a win-win solution.”
At that, they all burst out laughing.
“Win-win, that’s a good one,” Dorothy said.
“Fat chance!” Neill declared.
“Oh, dear,” said Eloise, but when she wiped her eyes, it was to mop up tears of laughter.
Manu leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I promise you, Sass, that if you find a win-win for this, we’ll invite you back to run for mayor.”
SASS HAD AGREED TO MEET Jake at Rob and Moana’s after her meeting, to discuss the party they’d all been invited to Saturday night. As she drove through the streets, which even in this short time were beginning to look familiar, she thought about ABORD and was filled with a sense of purpose. She could help them, help the community. This was what she loved about her job. The resorts not only provided holidays, but also jobs. It was sad about the terns, but they were only talking seven birds here. And as for Jake and his preposterous propositions—well, he could just forget it. She wasn’t some teenager, slave to her hormones. She was a rational, intelligent woman.
She pulled up behind Jake’s beat-up Jeep and got out of the car. There was a high mechanical whining in the air, but she paid it little attention as she looked at the two vehicles. Her small car seemed jaunty and shiny and well, yes, sassy, behind Jake’s rugged monster, covered in dust and dings.
Briskly, she clipped up the garden path in the high heels she’d succumbed to that morning, having missed elegance these past few days, and knocked on the front door with three sharp raps.
Moana opened the door, Jacob perched on one hip, and Sass could now clearly hear the screaming buzz of machinery.
“Hey, Moana, what’s going on?”
“Sass, come in. The men have brought down the old pine and are chainsawing it into firewood.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Want to see muscle in motion? It’s quite a sight.”
Sass laughed and followed Moana through the house and onto the back porch. There in the gard
en was a toppled tree, now mostly dissected into logs. Jake, with a safety helmet jammed over his curls, was wielding a chainsaw with controlled, graceful movements while Rob cleared the severed tree limbs. Their steps seemed almost choreographed as they moved together in unspoken understanding. The smells of wood chips and machine exhaust filled the air.
“They’re nearly there!” shouted Moana. “Just as well. It’s a pretty sight but the noise is awful.”
“Jacob doesn’t seem worried about it!” Sass shouted back, stroking the baby’s head as he watched the action, fascinated.
“Chainsawing is hardwired into the Finlayson psyche. Matt had them out cutting wood almost before they could walk. Oh, good, looks like they’re finishing. We can stay outside now and enjoy the sun.”
But even as she said it, the phone inside rang and, grimacing in apology, Moana disappeared inside. Sass perched on the steps of the deck and watched as, after the final branches came free, the brothers straightened and Jake switched off his saw. The sudden silence seemed to heighten all Sass’s other senses. Jake laid his chainsaw on the ground, then unbuckled his chaps to reveal boardshorts underneath. Both brothers threw off their helmets, rubbing their heads. Next the T-shirts were pulled off to reveal tanned backs glistening with perspiration, and they stretched to ease their shoulders and back muscles. Both were lean, but Jake had a surfer’s powerful shoulders and biceps, thighs packed with muscle.
Rationally, Sass knew feminine appreciation of raw masculinity was nothing more than DNA left over from the Stone Age. Rationally, she acknowledged that this quicksilver excitement was little more than a prerecorded response to a certain stimulus. Rationally, she knew she was a sports car and he was nothing more than a beat-up Jeep. But just as rationally, she could suddenly see some of the beauty of his logic. If it were all nothing more than DNA sequencing, why then…
Jake turned, wiping his forehead with his arm, and saw Sass. “Hey,” he said, sauntering over with a smile that made her heart skip. “How long have you been here?”