Page 59 of Outback Secrets
Chapter Sixteen
Liam needed his head read. That’s what he decided as he drove out of the car park and turned into the main street towards Dolce’s end of town. The lights on all the shops made it feel as if they were driving through a silent disco and did not help the tension building in his head at all.
What had he been thinking agreeing to let Henri come with him? He didn’t need her help and last night had been torturous enough. Now in the closed confines of his ute, he was struggling to think, and struggling to keep his eyes on the road when her practically bare-naked legs were only centimetres from his. A fake relationship was proving to be all-consuming and just as infuriating as a real one could be, only without the benefit of sex. His fingers twitched around the steering wheel, but he resisted the urge to reach out and place his hand on her thigh. How many days were there until Christmas? How many days until the decorations and flashing lights all around them could be taken down? Till Henri would leave again and things could go back to normal? Liam honestly wasn’t sure how long he could keep it up. His thoughts about taking things further were getting stronger each moment they spent together. Right now, his cut lip wasn’t the only part of him throbbing.
You simply need to remember that this is all an act!
But the problem with fake was that sometimes it felt very damn real. And sometimes when she looked at him, he wasn’t so sure that she wasn’t harbouring the same illicit thoughts as him. She’d ordered Sex on the Beach for crying out loud!
Maybe he should just ask her? Come right out and lay his cards on the table. See if she wanted to turn their charade into a summer fling? But if she didn’t … how awkward would that make things between them? More to the point, why did he care?
Dammit, why was he losing his head over this? Until a week ago, he hadn’t even known she existed.
Usually, sexual attraction was simple. He met someone he thought was hot, made sure they felt the same about him and didn’t have lingering ties to anyone in town—then made his move. They enjoyed each other’s company for a night (two max) and then both moved on.
The problem with Henri was she did have ties in town, and he already felt like he knew her better than he ever allowed himself to know any of his liaisons.
He felt like maybe they were becoming friends.
Friends.Even in his head that word felt alien. He couldn’t say he’d had a proper one since leaving America. Sure, he still occasionally communicated with his childhood best friend Simon and his wife Holly, but it was mostly surface stuff. They emailed him pictures of their cute kids and liked the posts he put on the pub’s Facebook page. In the early years they’d made noises about coming to visit him, but it was a long way and they didn’t have the funds. He could have helped with that, but seeing them would have brought back too many memories of times when life was good. Watching Simon, Holly and their children together would only remind him of everything he’d lost.
‘Wow!’ Henri shrieked, jolting Liam from his thoughts as he turned into a residential street that was lit up even more than the main one, if that was possible.
He tried to ignore the tightness in his chest as he slowed the car. He should have waited a little longer until all the lights had been switched off, but as usual, with Henri around, he wasn’t thinking straight.
‘Everyone’s really gone to town this year,’ she added.
He could barely manage a nod as he surveyed either side of the road. The houses were overloaded with flashing coloured lights and front lawns littered with big blow-up decorations swaying a little in the sea breeze. The Bradys even had Santa, his sleigh and six white kangaroos on their roof. Eileen didn’t like to be outdone. Still, it was only a fraction of what you’d see this time of year in the States. And without the snow and the frost, it didn’t quite have the same effect. Thankfully.
As if reading his mind, Henri said, ‘Whenever I see lights like this, it always reminds me of the houses you see in Christmas movies. I remember watching Home Alone as a kid and being so jealous of the snow and sparkling lights and wishing we went to more effort down under, and now it seems we do. Did people go all out decorating their houses where you come from?’
‘Huh?’ He barely heard her question, the sound of his heart thumping too loud to register anything else. This was why he steered clear of Christmas decorations.
‘In Colorado, where you come from, are the houses all decked to the nines for Christmas?’
‘Yeah,’ he managed. ‘They are.’
‘So where is that?’
He glanced at her quickly and frowned. ‘Where is what?’
‘Where you come from?’ she said, her tone bemused. ‘What town?’
‘Ah … right.’ He’d never told anyone in Bunyip Bay the name of his hometown, well, almost no one. The old sergeant, O’Leary, had checked him out not long after he’d arrived because some people had apparently been asking questions. He could guess who they were. But aside from the cops, he didn’t want people to be able to google his name and the town and put two and two together, so he’d remained vague whenever anyone asked.
‘Are you all right?’ Henri touched his hand gently as he slowed the ute to a stop in front of Rex’s house.
As Liam had suspected, his most faithful patron’s house was one of the few that was not lit up like the Rockefeller Plaza at Christmas.
He switched off the engine and the headlights. ‘Silver Ridge … that’s where I come from.’
‘Sounds pretty.’
He could hear the smile in her voice as he turned to look at her.
‘It is.’ And she was too, he thought, as he met her gaze. So pretty. Vowing to focus on the task at hand, he cleared his throat. ‘Come on, let’s get this show on the road.’
They both climbed out and crept to the back of the ute. She kept watch while Liam untied all the knots.