Heat Wave (2 page)

‘That's lovely. Thank you.' Wanting to show him how genuinely grateful I was, I reached out my fingers to touch his arm. Instead, he reached for my hand and enveloped it inside his rough one.

The waitress wrote down the order. ‘No worries, guys, I'll bring those out soon.'

‘Oh, miss? You have tomato sauce or something on your face, just here.' I pointed to my own lip. As a messy eater, I hated it when I walked around for hours with food in my teeth or on my clothes, and no one told me.

The waitress cut her eyes at me viciously. ‘I have a cold sore—thanks for pointing it out.' She stormed away.

Mortified, I called after her, ‘Sorry! It's not really that noticeable! It looks fine!'

I could have sworn she gave me the middle finger as she ran through a staff-only door.
I probably deserved that.

‘Still the smooth Maddie I knew all those years ago.' Tanner's voice was filled with gentle amusement.

I tried to loosen my hand from inside his so I could bury my face in it. ‘You have no idea. It's like everything I do always turns out wrong. I don't think I should go out around people anymore. Maybe I should just move to Antarctica and be done with it.'

Tanner didn't let my hand go; he squeezed it tighter. ‘Nah. You could never handle the cold. Remember that time we had a cold snap and you were sick for a month?'

‘How about a desert island then? Just sun, sand and tropical drinks. Maybe I'll invest in a talking parrot to keep me company …'

Tanner laughed. ‘It might sound like paradise, but I just left an island like that, and it wasn't everything it was cracked up to be.'

‘Yeah? Tell me.' I deflected, desperate to get the attention off my catastrophising and myself. ‘What are you doing these days? Why are you here? Do you still have the ranch?'

He nodded. ‘Sure do. Tanner Senior is gone, rest his soul, but the ranch is doing well.'

‘Oh, Tanner. I'm so sorry about your dad.' I remembered the older man fondly—a leathery Southern gent with a deep love for his son, his land and his dog. Blue had been his canine shadow, following the farmer all over the property during the day, then resting by Tanner's bed at night. I didn't have the heart to ask about the dog, which must have been long buried.

‘Thank you. He always liked you. In fact, he said to me a few months before he died, “Junior, that Australian gal, she always made me smile”.'

I smiled sadly. ‘I'm glad. I liked him too.'

‘How about your mom and dad?'

Shrugging, I tried to act as if it didn't still hurt, looking down at my heeled ankle boots. ‘My dad ditched us about a year after we left Texas. I haven't heard from him since.' As an eighteen-year-old, I couldn't believe that my father, who I'd loved and looked up to and followed around the world, could leave us so callously.

Wherever we went, Dad was known as ‘the grass man,' an expert on turf. We'd been in New Orleans as he'd advised the Super Dome owners on how to regrow their field after the Katrina flooding, and had spent time in the deserts of the fabulously wealthy Middle East, putting grass on their golf courses. In Texas, a rancher who owned grass-fed prime beef had kept Dad on a retainer for eight months, time I wished could have lasted forever.

Tanner still held my hand and he rubbed my thumb, sending trills of delight all over my skin. ‘Maddie, that's awful.'

‘Yeah, my mum was pretty broken over it, but at least it meant we could come home. I went to uni here in Sydney, and she married a nice man who has a construction company. They live in Dubai now.'

‘Dubai! That's a long way.'

‘You're not wrong about that.' I glanced up just in time to see the waitress returning. ‘Oh God! She's back. Do you think she spat in my drink?'

‘Only one way to find out,' said Tanner, grinning darkly. As she laid our beverages before us, he smiled winningly at her. ‘Excuse me, ma'am? I'm wondering something … and you don't have to answer, of course, but I'ma gonna ask anyway.'

The poor waitress was flummoxed with the heat of Tanner's gaze; the way he zeroed in on her must have made her feel like they were the only two people in the in the world. At least that was how I felt when he looked at me. ‘Oh! Sure. You can ask me anything.'

‘Tell me, pretty lady … are your eyes naturally that green? Because they are just about the most vibrant shade of emerald I've ever seen.'

‘They are, yes. Thank you for noticing!'

Without looking away from her, Tanner lifted my drink to his lips. ‘They're truly amazing, if you don't mind me sayin'.'

A fleeting look of horror crossed her face. ‘Wait! That's not your drink!'

‘Yeah, I know. Thought I'd share a little.'

The waitress, as red as her crimson shirt, snatched the drink out of his hand. ‘Don't drink this one then.'

‘Why not, darlin'?'

‘It's … it isn't strong enough for two people to share. I see Owen whipping up a fresh Ruby Mexicana right now. Let me take this one back and swap it for you.'

‘Mighty obliged, thank you, ma'am.' Tanner tipped an imaginary hat as she scurried away, then turned to me, a proud look on his face.

‘Wow. That's some mad woman-wrangling skills you got there, partner.' I had to laugh at his blatant use of charisma to get his way. ‘What happened to the sweet farmhand who used to blush whenever he spoke to a girl?'

Tanner tilted his beer, and I admired his full lips wrapping around the bottle neck, as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. ‘He grew up. Got some experience. I've been doing a lot of dating lately.'

A spark of mad jealously burst in my chest, a hot irrational blaze at the thought of any other woman being with him. ‘Oh?' I attempted to say calmly. ‘How's that going for you?'

‘Not that great, actually.'

The waitress sidled up and laid a drink down. ‘There you are, sir.'

‘Well, thank you, cowgirl.'

She walked off, fanning herself.

‘Impressive. Hey, did you know your accent is only really strong when you play it up?'

‘I worked on it. I didn't want everyone to think I was just some dumb farm-boy, so I started practicing a more neutral tone. But you gotta admit … the cowboy thing does come in handy from time to time.'

Sipping my brilliant red, untainted drink, I had to agree with him. ‘So, you didn't tell me yet: what are you doing here?'

Tanner took another long swill of his beer. ‘I'm … following a business proposal, you could say. I was excited about it at first, but now …' He turned back to me. ‘I'm not sure if it's the best idea after all. What about you? What do you do for a crust?'

‘I'm an assistant director; I've been working on films all over the world for the last few years since I left uni.' Or at least I had been, right up until the incident on the set of
The Hobbit
that tanked my career and left me unemployable.

‘Maddie! That's amazin'! I know how much you used to love watching movies.'

Memories of the drive-in rose up from the depths of my consciousness, images of Tanner and I in the tray of his Ute, cuddled under a blanket, gently stroking each other as the projector whirred behind us. I shivered.

Tanner caught it. ‘What were you thinkin' about?' he said, with a savvy look.

‘Oh, nothing much. Just a certain theatre I used to visit back in the day.'

It was nice sitting opposite him because I got to watch his eyes cloud over with lust as he recalled it, too. ‘Goddamn, we had some good times.'

‘Yes, we did.' With a large dose of the strong cocktail inside me, I decided to be brave. ‘Actually, I've never been with anyone since who I cared about as much as you, Tanner.'

Swiftly, he stood, moving between my parted thighs and cupping his hands around my cheeks. ‘Maddie, I hated that we lost each other. I know it weren't nobody's fault, but I've been kicking myself for years. I should have fought harder for us.'

‘We were just kids,' I said, letting my face sink into the wide bowl of his hands. ‘Stupid kids.'

When we'd left Texas for London so Dad could chat with the guys who grew grass for the Wimbledon courts, my life had seemed empty without Tanner. England had been cold and grey compared to the brilliant green of Tanner's paddocks, or the rich blue of the Texan sky. I'd pined for months, sending letters to Tanner almost every day, and obsessing over his replies, memorising every word.

But, as is the way with teens, one day I'd woken up and hadn't felt the desperate burn to write a twenty-page sonnet. Then after a few more weeks, I'd felt good, even on days when I didn't get a letter from him. And when a cute Irish lad with pink cheeks had asked me out a month after that, I'd sent Tanner a final letter, saying that we should move on.

The irony was, when I'd received almost an identical letter from Tanner the next day, dated two weeks previous, I'd still felt betrayed.

‘I sure was a dumb kid,' he finally responded, and in his dark eyes, I could see the same swirl of memories. ‘Bethany-Lynn may have been Prom Queen, but she wasn't nothing on you.'

‘Wait, that's who you dumped me for?' I slapped him lightly on the chest, leaving my fingers spread on his firm pec muscle.

‘Hey, you ditched me too!' He chuckled. ‘I tried to write again over the years, but I knew you'd left London, and I didn't know where to find you.' Tanner lifted a tentative finger and brushed my lips softy, causing me to tremble. ‘I even tried to Google you, but came up empty.'

‘I changed my name to my mum's maiden surname,' I said, drawing a pattern on his shirt with my nails, enjoying the way he shuddered. ‘You could never have found me. I thought about writing a million times, but what would I say?
Hey, there! Remember me? The weirdo Aussie you dated for five minutes in high school? How's things?
'

Tanner wrapped his hands behind my back and pulled me to the edge of the seat, pressing me to him. ‘That's exactly what you should have done. Except instead of weirdo, you should've said,
my first love.
'

By now, our faces were close, our breaths intermingling, and our lips open and ready. ‘Tanner,' I murmured, unable to pretend any longer that I could resist him.

‘Maddie.' He brought his lips to mine, kissing me as softly as the teenage boy I'd loved so long ago. He placed his hands on the small of my back, gripping me delicately as I snaked my fingers up into his hair, threading them through his blond locks.

My soul was weeping inside me; for years, I'd held regrets about losing the one guy I'd ever loved, and now, here he was. Moaning, I opened my mouth wider, inviting him in.

Slowly, he slid his tongue forward to meet mine, and the hot burst of pleasure tightened something in my belly. I crushed myself against him, trying to absorb into him as he let his fingers find the gap between my tight tee and my skinny jeans. When he touched my skin, I sizzled and he groaned.

I would have let him take me right there on the table overlooking the gorgeous harbour, but his common sense was much stronger than mine. Pulling back, he was panting, his mocha eyes like liquid lust.

‘Sweet Maddie,' he said, his voice throaty, ‘will you come home with me tonight?'

I answered instantly. ‘I will.'

Chapter 2

We practically threw money at the waitress and dashed out the door. The balmy Sydney night cloaked us as we walked along the waterfront, linked at the arm.

My voice shook slightly as I asked, ‘So, where are we going? We can catch a train to almost anywhere. Or there's the taxi option.'
Please don't say yes; I can't afford it.

Tanner crept his arm around my waist, cleaving me to his side. ‘Nah, we can walk from here. It's just a little mosey 'round the corner.'

I smiled at his use of
mosey
, trying to quell the flurry of excitement coiling in my body. ‘You know, I seriously wouldn't have recognised you without your hat. But I like seeing you this way too.'

‘Yeah, my hat is still a part of me,' he explained, ‘but I find these days it causes more trouble than it's worth when I'm out in public.'

‘Of course,' I said, giggling. ‘A gorgeous cowboy in his hat. Do you ever get asked for autographs?'

‘Um … you'd be surprised,' Tanner said. ‘Hey, listen, Maddie … if you work in production, do you watch much reality TV?'

‘Ew. No, I don't. I mean, I barely watch any TV, but definitely not that rubbish.
The Real Lives of the Internet's Most Famous Cats
,
So You Think You Can Sing
, and
Please Marry My Boy
? As if any relationship can last when you're both on screen pretending to be the best version of yourself.'

Tanner glanced at me, his brow tangled in distress. ‘You don't believe people can find real love on those shows? I got a couple of friends who met on one and are doing pretty well.'

Not wanting to destroy his belief in the on-screen romances, no matter how implausible they were, I tempered myself and said, ‘Look, I'm sure there are exceptions—people who are soul mates and just happen to meet on TV. But love isn't about sleeping with a person while you're off in some exotic location without any real world concerns. It's about still loving that same person when they steal your covers in the middle of the night, or drink the last of the milk without telling you.'

‘You seem to know a lot about good relationships.'

I shrugged. ‘Not from personal experience. But I've had friends who hooked up when we were all away on a film shoot somewhere beautiful, with catering and rooms that magically got cleaned every day. Whenever those same couples got home, it fizzled out after a month or so.'

Tanner gave me a sly look. ‘How about you? Did you ever knock boots with anyone on set?'