Catch (5 page)

Tamsen was neither.
 
She had to constantly reassure herself that it couldn't be much fun making love to a table leg, although a number of Gina's girlfriends didn't seem to have a problem with the concept.

Grateful that working for herself meant she could duck the morning crawl over the harbor bridge into the city, Tamsen picked up her journal and began to write.
 
Something she did every morning, allowing the nonsense that accumulated in her brain a chance to discharge itself onto the page.
 
She could never be sure whether the words would be rants or thanks until pen hit paper.
 
Either way, it was cathartic.
 

Some mornings she just wrote, 'nothing to write, nothing to write,' until she found her truth point, usually midway down the second page.
 
A point where she was unable to hide from herself any longer.
 
Written truth serum.
 
Who needed drugs?

Matt backed the Audi out of the tea-tree lined driveway, careful to avoid the ponga logs that were blocking half the entrance.
 

He would have to talk to the gardening contractors, he thought. It was bad enough he couldn't turn the car around by the garage for their bark, topsoil and plant supplies, but having to play dodge-the-log in the driveway was more than he could cope with at this early hour.

Not for the first time this week he was running late and he'd promised to pick Danni up on the way.
 
Throwing the Audi into a right-hand bend, he was nonplussed at meeting banked-up traffic for what seemed like miles into the distance.
 
Anxiety rising in his stomach, he speed-dialed Danni.

"Hey, it's me."

"Morning, boss.
 
You sound as if you're talking from inside a rubbish bin."

He cast his eyes around the inside of the car; she had no clue how close to the truth she was.
 
A valet service wouldn't go amiss, he thought.
 
"The traffic's hellish.
 
Didn't want you to worry I'd forgotten you."

"Not a problem, Matthew.
 
The radio said there'd been some sort of pileup on the motorway.
 
I'll just wait for you at the top of the driveway.
 
You know where Mum's is?"

"Presumably the same place it was the last time I picked you up."
 
Teasing Danni had become an occupational hazard.

"Right.
 
So I'll see you in about five?"

"Hours maybe.
 
It could be faster to walk in, you know.
 
Then you could have a nice long black waiting for me on my desk."

"Ha-de-ha."

This was no way to be starting the day, Matt thought as he disconnected.
 
He needed everything to go smoothly this morning - for some reason he felt riddled with anxiety about lunch with Tamsen.
 

A sudden surge came in the traffic, brake lights parting like the Red Sea. It seemed a good omen.
 
Saying a quiet thank you to God, Matt sped through the divided vehicles, grateful that for some reason everyone else seemed to be going in a different direction than his own.
   

Why so many problems with the road today? The weather was beautiful, one of those clear antipodean spring mornings.
 
The sort of morning he used to miss so much when he was working in London.
 

The big OE hadn't been at all to his liking.
 
Living in close quarters - damn near squatting in damp and dreary concrete apartments - and supposedly having the greatest time.
 
He couldn't get back to good old clean and green Aotearoa fast enough.

Danni waved from the pavement. Pulling the Audi over, Matthew was immediately assailed by an irate motorist's horn blast.
 
Rush-hour traffic turned perfectly sane people into raging lunatics, he decided.

"Moron."
 
Danni slammed the door and rearranged a beige pencil skirt around her shapely legs.
 

It was going to be one of those days; he alternated between loathing and loving that skirt.
 
It had an impossibly long split up the back, tempting his eyes all day to follow the curve of Danni's legs to areas off limits.

"I see you're in fine spirits this morning."

"Pardon?"
 
Danni looked puzzled.

Matt took a moment to wave thanks to a kind woman for allowing him to rejoin the crawling mass of traffic. "Good morning, Matt, would have been preferable.
 
But if you think I'm a moron..."
 

"I was talking to the dick in the land cruiser who seemed to think just because he was driving a three-ton truck on a residential road we should all get out of his way."

"Ah, four-wheel-drive issues then?"
 
Matt wasn't fond of them either.

"Something like that.
 
My brain-dead brother-in-law's just bought one.
 
I mean, he lives in Ponsonby, for God's sake. You can hardly swing a cat down those streets."

"Not much call for off-roading either, is there?"

"I suppose parking on the sidewalk doesn't count?"

Matthew laughed.
 
He'd grown to love Danni's quirky sense of humor.

"How's your mum holding up?"

"Not too bad - the doctor says she'll be right as rain in a couple of weeks. It's amazing how quickly she's recovered from a hip op.
 
I thought it'd be months."

"So you'll be back home with Glen before he knows where he is?"

"At the weekend, actually. My seven days are up and my sister, bless her little cotton socks, is coming up from the South Island to have a couple of weeks with Mum, so I'm off the hook."

They turned onto the motorway, the traffic still crawling.
 
"Great, so I've only got another two days of the diversion from hell to deal with."

Danni looked perturbed. "Honestly, Matt, I really can take the bus into work if you want to get in earlier - or later...I mean, I know how much you hate this."

He smiled. "It's not really been a problem, and it's woken me up to how the other half lives.
 
I'd forgotten just how lousy it was trying to get in and out of town at peak times.
 
The privilege," he teased, "of being the boss and able to work a 60-hour week in your own time."

"So who is she then?"

Startled, he asked, "I'm sorry?"

"The woman you're having lunch with?"

"What makes you think I'm having lunch with a woman?"
 
How could she know?

"Your diary."

He hadn't put anyone's name in his diary for lunch.
 
"It just says lunch."

"Exactly." Now Danni sounded smug.

"Why would that make you think I'm having lunch with a woman?"

"It's a man?
 
You're coming out?"

"No, you brat."

"Sorry, sir. Punching the homophobic buttons?"

"Not at all.
 
I've nothing against man on man."

"Just as long as it's not man on you, huh?"

"Correct."

Danni continued her line of investigation.
 
"If it was anyone other than a woman you'd have put a name, not just the word lunch."

Snapped.
 
"You ever thought of changing vocation?
 
I hear private eye jobs pay treble what lowly solicitors pay."

"Wouldn't be as much fun, I'm sure."

"Playing Peeping Tom all day instead of holding my hand?
 
I'm flattered."
 
The traffic began to speed up as they reached the extra lanes on the approach to the city.

"You should be.
 
So, who is she?"
 

"You don't give up do you?"

"No.
 
I thought you'd been too burned by Angie to go anywhere near another woman."

"So did I."

"So spill.
 
Who is she?"

"Not telling."

Danni's voice took on a playful tone. "Why not?"
 

"Because gentlemen don't tell."

"And she's someone in the office?"

Technically not, he thought.
 
"No."
 
He felt happy running with that little half-truth; he didn't need any more of his love life doing the rounds at the water-cooler.
 

Though the hostile beast who manned reception lived with Tamsen and could be a problem.
 
Matthew made a mental note to try to be nicer to Gina in future.

Danni punched him playfully on the arm.
 
"Don't worry, boss, I'll find out who she is - there's not a lot happening in your life I don't know about."

"Isn't that the sorry truth."

A red light made him pull up at the intersection by their building. Danni gathered her purse and unbuckled her seatbelt. "I’ll get out here, Matt. It's likely to take you another ten minutes to negotiate your way into your park, and I can have your coffee on your desk and the mail sorted by then."

He smiled at her. "How would I ever cope without you?"

"I'm sure you'd find some demonstrative female to beat you into line.
 
You usually do."
 
With that, she slammed the door on him and was gone.

Tamsen stood naked, five assorted outfits littering her bed, and mentally chastised herself.
 
Only lunch. Why the hell had it necessitated a complete search-and-destroy mission in her wardrobe?
 
She'd not been this nervous about what to wear for a very, very long time.

The morning had gone without a hitch and the new set-up at the health club across town had been a breeze.
 
If she hadn’t been so nervous about the impending lunch she might have taken her time.
 
Nothing more delicious in life than admiring gorgeous men working out.
 
All that taut muscle, tanned skin and body heat.

Visual delight equals primal lust.
 

It didn't matter that half the men working out were most likely gay; Tamsen knew gay men took pride in their bodies and their health.
 
Just because she looked didn't mean she needed to touch.
 

Besides, she was having lunch with one sexy hetero creature who also took pride in his appearance and she looked forward to maybe playing touch soon.

But what to wear?
 
Tan muslin dress with stretch lace sleeves?
 
No, too gypsy.
 
Chanel deep-blue suit?
 
No, she looked like she'd been dressed by her mother.
 
Sparkling cherry halter-neck dress?
 
No - it was lunch, not a club.
 
Beige miniskirt with black off-the-shoulder top?
 
No, she looked too eager.
 
This was getting worse; another four outfits joined the five on the bed.
 
Closing her eyes, Tamsen prayed and decided to wear whatever came out next.

"Thanks, Goddess."
 
She breathed a sigh of relief, pulling out a figure-hugging, forest-green, paisley print dress that finished just above her knee.
 
It had a neckline that didn't mean an eyeful for him all lunchtime, but would let him know she had breasts worth pursuing.

Bundling the reject pile together and thrusting them back in the wardrobe, she ignored the nagging thought that she must get it organized properly one day.
 
Today she didn't have time and she slammed the door on the mess before anything had a chance to fall out.

Checking herself out in front of the full-length mirror, Tamsen thought she could still lose a couple of pounds. Maybe she should put in a few more hours at the gym.
 
She mentally flagellated herself. This was lunch; being naked shouldn't even be on the menu.
 

However, to be on the safe side she selected a nice matching set of underwear.
 
Even if Matt wouldn't be seeing her silk-and-lace ensemble, this meeting felt important enough for her to need to be lovingly put together.

She shimmied into the tight-fitting dress, applied the lightest touch of makeup, her lips carefully outlined in lip pencil, then glossed over to make them shine.
 
The tawny brown pencil, one of her preferred choices, added to the earthy tone of her complexion.
 
Finishing with a dab of her favorite perfume on her pulse points, Tamsen checked the overall package and smiled; she looked gorgeous.
 
Now if the tide of anxious butterflies trying to escape her stomach would settle she'd be fine.

Matt sat in the garden watching the fish swim idly in the pond.
 
He wished he could be that calm - he hadn't felt this on edge in years. Every time he took a sip of his soda water he thought the glass might rattle against his teeth.
 
An inclination to order a scotch to calm his frazzled nerves made him laugh out loud; it was testament to his frame of mind that he even entertained the thought.

He sensed her before she arrived, a shift inside himself he couldn't explain - the same feeling he’d had upon waking this morning.
 
Casting his gaze across the courtyard, he saw her, a stunning figure in green, and his immediate thoughts were of a lush rainforest.
 

Standing to pull the chair out for her as she approached, he knocked his glass of soda across the table.
 
The small river ran toward her chair and pooled on the seat.

"Shit."
 
He looked up. "Sorry, I can be such a clumsy fool."
 

Tamsen smiled.
 
A dazzling warm smile that immediately set him at ease.
 
"Not to worry.
 
Why don't we just move?
 
I know you like the fish, but I look at them all day and I'd much rather be by the herb garden over there."