Authors: Eliza Redgold
He opened his eyes too.
‘Anything’s possible,’ he said softly.
Dianella’s body thrummed.
‘There are some other amazing plants in this garden,’ she said. ‘The best time to visit is at night. Aroma is always enhanced when its cooler, in the evening.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Of course, the best time to see the orchids is in the early morning. I like to come here at about five or six am.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Morning glory?’
‘Something like that.’
A black and white butterfly danced past as she watched. The species of plants that emitted the delicate fragrances also attracted butterflies and other insects.
In her stomach too, butterflies were going crazy.
‘Why are flowers fragrant?’ Wade grinned. ‘I should have listened more in biology class.’
‘Scent makes plants more attractive.’ She hoped her warm body didn’t emit too much tell-tale fragrance at that moment.
‘Birds and the bees like fragrance, right?’
‘Floral scents are actually a mixture of volatile molecular compounds.’ Dianella took refuge in some flower facts as her body heat rose even more. ‘No two scents are exactly the same, so they attract different pollinators. Bees like sweet scents. Beetles like fruity scents. And moths like flowers that emit their fragrance at night.’
He slid along the bench. ‘So it’s a mating ritual.’
‘Sweet smelling plants are used in traditional medicine and aromatherapy too, of course.’
‘Aromatherapy.’ Wade rolled out the word. ‘Are there any fragrant orchids in this particular garden?’
‘We can try and look for them.’ She glanced around the bushes. ‘One of the scented orchids that grow well in Singapore is the
Cymbidium bicolor
. It’s two-toned, maroon and gold coloured. Then there’s the pink
Cymbidium
…
Wade grabbed her hand and pulled her closer on the wooden bench. ‘It’s okay.’
He put his lips close to her ear. ‘Nothing in this garden smells as good as you. I told you. I’ve got
orchidmania
.’
‘So you’re still experiencing symptoms?’
He placed her hand on his chest. Through his white t-shirt she could feel the warmth of his skin.
‘A fast beating heart,’ he said. ‘Is that a symptom?’
‘It might be.’
‘A racing pulse?’
‘Hmm.’
‘What about feeling hot?’
Dianella leapt up and pulled Wade off the seat. ‘I know what you need.’
For such men orchids are a blessed relief. Fancy has not conceived such loveliness, complete all round, as theirs—form, colour, grace, distribution, detail, and broad effect.
About Orchids: A Chat—Frederick Boyle, 1893
‘This isn’t quite what I had in mind.’ Wade grinned. ‘But I’m not complaining.’
Dianella stirred her drink with a straw. ‘No?’
He tried to ignore the adorable creases between her fine dark eyebrows as she attempted to appear innocent.
‘Singapore Slings sure are pink.’ The concoction tasted sweet too. Gin. Cointreau. Fruit juice. Some kind of cherry liqueur. Grenadine. Not really his kind of drink, although it had quite a kick. He’d order a Tiger beer next round to go with the hamburger he’d nearly devoured.
He’d built up an appetite in the Fragrance Garden.
‘
Yum seng
!’ Dianella raised her glass.
‘
Yum seng
.’ He clanked his glass against hers. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It means drink to victory and success. Officially.’
‘And unofficially?’
She giggled. ‘Lots of Chinese phrases are double entendres.
Yum seng
also means bottoms up.’
He drained his drink in one gulp.
Dianella’s mobile phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen.
‘It’s a message from Dewei.’ De-ah-we-ay, she pronounced it.
On the flight from Australia to Singapore they’d filled in a few gaps in each other’s family histories. He knew she had one younger half-brother, from her father’s second marriage. They’d grown up in different countries, but were as close as they could be. She had aunts and cousins in Singapore too.
He’d watched her relax in the Botanic Gardens. He’d planned to be a friend to her on this trip after she’d told him the reason, but the connection between them had built to fever pitch.
Hot. Steamy. He could swear he was running a temperature.
Could he really have
orchidmania
?
‘Is your brother coming to join us for a drink?’ Wade wanted to meet her family. Almost as much as he wanted to have her all to himself tonight.
Almost.
As Dianella tapped in a text message she shook her head. ‘Dewei’s still at work.’
Yum seng
. With his Singapore Sling glass he made a silent toast to his victory. The evening was theirs.
‘People work long hours in Singapore,’ he commented.
‘Day and night. The city comes alive in the evening when it’s cooler.’
Wade had noticed that. In the Long Bar the tables and booths were crowded, mainly with tourists, it seemed, from all corners of the globe, talking different languages, sipping Singapore Slings and throwing peanut shells on the floor.
Outside, the sun had set, the air cooling in the dusk.
The best time for aroma.
That’s what she’d told him.
As he leaned towards her, he had to agree. Had she applied more of her amazing perfume? She still looked amazingly fresh in the short pink dress that showed off her legs, and her tiny waist.
‘Dewei says I have to go to the new floral displays at Garden by the Bay before I go back to Australia, so I’m meeting him there tomorrow.’ She tapped on her mobile phone again. ‘It’s been built on some reclaimed land, down by the river. It’s fairly new to Singapore, so they’re adding new plant species all the time.’
‘Another garden?’ For her, he’d go. He didn’t plan to leave her side. ‘Will there be orchids?’
She grinned. ‘You really have become an
orchidmaniac
, haven’t you?’
He’d become some kind of maniac, for sure. He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’d better watch out.’
She gave him another of her pseudo innocent looks. ‘The Sling hasn’t helped?’
‘It’s helped.’ Wade reached out and grabbed Dianella’s hand. ‘But I think I need to lie down. Now.’
***
In the hotel room Wade pulled back the sheer curtains.
Dianella gasped. ‘Wow. I’ve lived in Singapore and I’ve never seen a view like that.’
‘Not bad, is it?’ Wade grinned.
Dianella stared through the wall of glass. The rainbow lights dazzled her. Soaring sky scrapers lit up the night sky. Hotel and shop banners beamed neon bright. The amazing shapes of the space age buildings were outlined in white light. Down at street level, fifty floors below, chains of lights twinkled on the streets, car headlights and street lighting. Like an enormous fairground attraction, the Singapore flying wheel twinkled below. The glassy river shimmered with reflected light, and on the side of the river bank the latest addition to Singapore glistened, a huge hotel with an oval boat-shaped disk on top, as if a space ship had landed.
‘It’s fairyland.’
‘And I’ve captured a fairy.’
Wade switched off the hotel room’s overhead lights and took her in his arms.
On the tips of her slides she reached up to run her fingers through his hair. She breathed him in.
In the Long Bar she’d made a decision. While Wade bought their drinks, she’d texted her brother and told him she couldn’t stay at his apartment.
Dianella wanted a night with Wade Hamilton. It didn’t have to be any more or less than that. She’d been trying to fight their connection, but she didn’t want to anymore.
Rules were made to be broken.
‘Your cologne smells so good,’ she managed to mutter, straightening her shaky legs.
His white teeth gleamed in the darkness. ‘I don’t wear cologne.’
In the circle made by his arms she nuzzled his neck. ‘But I can smell tea tree. And aloe vera.’
‘That’s Baxter of California aftershave balm.’ His voice husked. ‘So you like it?’
She let the tip of her tongue touch his skin. ‘I do.’
His throat contracted under her mouth. ‘What else can you smell?’
‘Sunshine. Soap. Menthol.’
And you,
she nearly added. The deep musk of his desire that let her know how much he wanted her too.
His lips were on her neck, nuzzling down into the crevice of her pink dress. Past the collar. Between the buttons. Her breasts peaked under his searching lips. She wanted more.
‘Your clothes smell like airplane.’ She tugged his t-shirt out of his trousers. ‘They need to come off.’
His smooth chest was even broader than she’d imagined when he tore the t-shirt over his head, not how she’d ever pictured a techie to be. He surfed and swam, his muscles revealed.
‘Your dress has a bit of an airplane scent too.’ He gave a low chuckle. ‘Well actually, it doesn’t. All I can smell is vanilla. Will that disappear if you take off your dress?’
‘You tell me.’ Dianella kicked off her slides. Slowly she unbuttoned the pink dress, and stood in her lacy white underwear. Bikini briefs, the bra no more than a scrap of lace.
He slid his hands over her curves. Leant between her breasts and breathed.
‘It isn’t your clothes that smell so good. It’s you.’ His fingers investigated under the edge of her knickers. ‘Yep. It’s all you.’
Lifting her up, he placed her on the edge of the bed and kept investigating her with his hands. ‘You’re tiny.’
Ripples shimmered through her. She could hardly catch a breath as she reached out to stroke the hardness of him through his trousers. ‘You’re not.’
He groaned.
‘Too big for you?’
‘The right size, I think.’ Her laugh came out throaty. ‘I’ve got another orchid fact. When planting orchids, it’s important to use the right sized pot.’
With one hand she undid his zipper. The other she slipped inside, when over his shoulder exploded the first blast of light.
She leapt to her feet. ‘Wade. Look!’
Outside the window lights blazed across the sky, shooting out from the top of the oval disk on the new hotel across the river. Fountains of fireworks flared up from the river.
Wade joined her at the window, clasped her from behind. ‘Lasers.’
For a moment she stared at streaks of colour flaring across the neon lit sky. The river below became a rainbow. She leant against his chest.
Strong. Reassuring.
Close.
‘It’s our own private light show,’ Wade murmured in her ear. ‘We’d better not waste it.’
Dianella reached a hand behind her to find him again.
‘
Yum seng
,’ she whispered. ‘Bottoms up.’
***
Inside the Flower Dome, Wade stared around in amazement. The huge, shell shaped conservatory brimmed with trees, plants and flowers, exotic species from all over the world.
‘Are we on another planet? Or are we in heaven?’
‘Heaven, I think.’
Dianella Lee was heaven, Wade thought, and his body agreed. He’d wondered if they’d ever manage to leave the hotel room that morning after he’d joined her in the shower. She’d opened to him, like a morning flower. As though the humidity made her petals unfurl.
Steamy Singapore. He could acclimatise.
‘Last night I thought we were in fairyland. You’ve shown me a different city than I’ve ever seen before.’ He stroked her smooth thigh under the hem of her floral print skirt. ‘When I visited Singapore previously, I only saw concrete and office blocks. Now all I see is rainbows and flowers.’
Her sweet, warm smile sent another power surge through his body. Was it possible to have a vanilla scented smile? If so, she had one. ‘Plants are everywhere, if you know how to look. Growing through cracks of the pavement, up the sides of buildings, on construction sites. Even orchids will find a way. Borrie always says: Bloom where you’re planted.’
‘Bloom where you’re planted,’ he repeated. ‘I like it.’
Within the enormous transparent dome, the air seemed pure and fresh. And cool, too, compared to the humidity outside. They sat at a table at the restaurant in full view of the plants. An assiduous waiter had brought drinks and some pre-lunch snacks. Wade had worked up quite an appetite. By the number of french fries she was putting away, so had Dianella.
‘Hi.’
‘Dewei!’ Dianella leapt up and hugged the slim young man who had appeared in front of them. ‘It’s so good to see you!’
He beamed. ‘You too, Mei-Hua.’
Wade stood too. It was good to hear Dianella’s Chinese name said with such obvious affection. Her half-brother was much taller than Dianella, and well dressed in a collared shirt and shorts with leather loafers.
She reached up and tugged her half-brother’s ear. ‘You’ve grown!’
‘You haven’t.’ He laughed. He turned to Wade. ‘Welcome to Singapore.’
They shook hands. The younger man gripped firm and sure, his gaze direct. Wade liked him instantly.
‘Thanks. It’s great to be here. I’m Wade.’
‘And I’m Dewei. My English friends call me Dewey.’
‘Does everyone in Singapore have a Chinese name and an English name?’
‘Many people do. When we’re speaking English we tend to use our English names.’ He gave Wade a friendly smile, but a serious question was in his brown eyes. ‘If you come to Singapore often enough, we’ll give you a Chinese name.’
Wade answered the unspoken question. ‘I plan to visit often.’
Dewei smiled. ‘That’s good to know.’
‘I miss being called Mei-Hua while I’m in Australia,’ Dianella admitted as Dewei sat down at the table.
Her wistful expression tugged at Wade’s heartstrings. She had grown up caught between two worlds. Two cultures. Two families.
‘It’s too long since you’ve been here,’ Dewei said. ‘Now you’re only here for a weekend. I didn’t dare tell the aunties and cousins you were in Singapore. They’d want to throw a party. It must be something important.’
‘It is.’ Wade gripped Dianella’s hand as she took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry I can’t stay for long. I’ll come again soon, I promise, and visit everyone. But I needed to ask you something in person.’
Falteringly, she explained the situation at the Go Native Wildflower Nursery. It made Wade furious to hear the story again. How could Dianella’s mum be so selfish? To turn her own mother and daughter out of their home?