Catch (23 page)

And Tamsen walked out, leaving the two of them gaping in her wake.

"Matthew, that woman is atrocious.
 
What in the world do you think you're doing with her?"

"Mother, be quiet.
 
Tamsen's only out in the car - she'll hear you."

She was shrieking now.
 
"Hear me!
 
I don't care if that excuse for a lab-rat hears me. Didn't you hear how she spoke to me?
 
She's got absolutely no respect for me at all."

He was tired of fighting.
 
"And you think you showed any respect for her?
 
It was pretty obvious you weren't prepared to give her a chance so you can hardly be upset at the way that she spoke to you." His voice rose an octave, anger constricting his throat.
 
"You looked like you wanted to disinfect your hand after she touched you."

He turned and stormed out of the room, worried sick about how Tamsen would be and desperate to get out of the toxic waste dump his home had become since his mother’s arrival.
 
His home
,
he reminded himself as he ran away yet again.

What was it he'd read somewhere? Taking the same action and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
 
He might not be insane, but at moments like this he felt fairly close.

Climbing into the driver's seat, he noticed Tamsen staring straight ahead - into nothing it seemed.
 
He sat beside her with no idea what to say, prepared to wait forever for her to say something.
 
Anything.
 
He was tired of his mother getting in the way of the good things in his life, and for the first time was prepared to fight for something that meant a lot to him.

"I'm sorry."

He looked at her in amazement.
 
"
You're
sorry?
 
Tamsen - " he was finding it hard to keep a conversational tone; he wanted to scream like a lunatic " - there is absolutely no reason for you to be sorry."
 
He could feel his rage stalking him and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.
 
"If anyone should be sorry it’s me."

She turned to look at him. Were those tears collecting in her eyes? They had a glassy, liquid look, turning them an iridescent green. "You haven't done anything wrong."

"Other than expose you to my mother."
 
He slapped himself on the forehead.
 
"The woman drives me nuts.
 
I really don't know what I've done to deserve her."

"Maybe you were evil in a former life?"

Her impious grin was infectious.
 
"Maybe I've just been wicked in this one."

She leaned over, planted her lips on his and forced them apart with her probing tongue.
 
In a moment he was hard, all his frustration and emotion concentrated in an immediate, lustful desire to take her again.

She pulled away, smiling.
 
"You have no idea how much you turn me on."

He switched on the ignition and the engine roared into life.
 
"Baby, I think I'd better get you out of here before you have the chance to find out just how much you turn me on."

As they drove back into town, Matt realized later, the silence that fell between them wasn't a difficult one, but a comfortable one.
 
A silence suggesting an intimacy and trust he'd never experienced with a woman.

The scene with his mother had been unsettling, but even more unsettling was Tamsen's reaction.
 
He'd not been witness before to anyone who had the courage to take his mother on at her own game, never mind come out on top.
 
He'd sorely underestimated this girl.
 
Here he was believing he'd be the big man while she was out there slaying dragons.

"So.
 
Are you serious about coming to Wellington with me?"

The question took him by surprise and he nearly drove into the barrier arm of the car park building.
 
"No, not really."
 

He looked across at her; she was biting her lip, a look of bitter disappointment on her face.
 
He could have kicked himself for toying with her in this way.
 
It was a habit he'd developed to punish Angie, an automatic reaction to feeling vulnerable.

"What I meant to say was I'd rather take you to Melbourne for a holiday.
 
I need a break and I think you'd love it."

A smile lit her face in immediate response.
 
"Do you?
 
Really?"

"Yes, I do, really."
 
He couldn't resist popping a quick kiss on her glowing face.
 
"I quite fancy catching a show at The Globe.
 
It's terribly civilized and it'll be great taking you shopping.
 
My treat."

"I'm not taking handouts."
 
She got that obdurate look he'd begun to love.

"You'll take what you're given, my girl."
 
He felt sinful.
 
"And enjoy it too."

He saw a shiver dance up her spine and her obstinacy give way to a look of anticipation.

"When shall we go?"
 

He shut down the engine, having carefully maneuvered them into his car park.
 
The way she’d said "we" touched him.

"I don't know.
 
How soon can you get away?
 
It's reasonably easy for me to block a couple of days out of my schedule.
 
But your fish - don't you have to do regular rounds or something?"

She tipped her head sideways in that delicious way and he could almost hear her thought patterns.

"Hmm.
 
I'll have to check my diary, but I'd blocked time out in a fortnight to go away with Gina - " a wave of despair crossed her face, gone as soon as it arrived, a passing cloud almost " - so I'm sure I can just rearrange a few things if you want to go. Not this weekend, but next?"

"Sounds perfect to me.
 
Why don't I check my diary and give you a ring tonight?
 
We can compare notes and then I can get the whole thing booked."

"You'll get the whole thing booked, huh?"
 
That you think you can push me around look was back on her face.

"I will."
 
He couldn't resist the challenge.
 
"Have a problem with that, do we?"

"We might."
 
She ran a perfectly manicured fingernail up the inside of his thigh.
 
Even through the material the touch disturbed him. "But we might not too."
 
Her tone was playful and any misgivings he had about her - or the trip - vanished into the ether.

He picked up the hand that was still idling on his thigh and clamped his teeth around the firm, fleshy part of her thumb.
 
She squealed and vainly tried to wrench it from his mouth, all the time playing tag with his tongue.

"I love it when you play rough." He smiled, still not releasing her.
 

"You've no idea where that thumb's been."

"I know exactly where it's been and I'm already planning where it's going."

"And on that smutty note, I'm on my way." She opened the door and he got a clear view down her top as she reached back into the car to collect her purse off the floor.
 
He could hardly wait to get her on the plane.

This is the second Tuesday night Gina's refused to have our usual dinner.
 
Tamsen's despondency increased as she wrote the words in her morning pages.
 
Nothing's been the same since she stormed out of Matt's office and I'm at my wits end.

The ocean was an iridescent shade of aqua blue.
 
Fresh salt-laden air filled her lungs as Tamsen pondered the prospect of two more days of work and then four away with Matt. Anticipation hung on the horizon, a jewel tantalizingly close, hers for the taking.
 
She could barely contain her excitement; it was like waiting for Christmas to come, only better.

"Suppose you're writing more lovey-dovey shit about that anal wanker you're going away with?"
 
From the tone of Gina’s voice it was obvious she was hung over - again.

"You didn't come home for dinner.
 
That's two Tuesdays in a row.
 
Do you want to talk about it?"

Gina planted herself in the chair opposite.
 
Tamsen decided her flatmate’s eyeballs looked like a map of France, trails of mascara and kohl rimming them like an oil slick.

"Are you still going away with that prick?"

"Yes."

Gina took a drag on her cigarette; it seemed to be all she had for breakfast these days.
 
"Then there's nothing to talk about, is there?"

"Gina, I really miss you."
 
Compassion was about the only thing left to feel.
 
She was way past being angry and it didn't seem to help.
 
"I can't believe how fast you've gone downhill since you quit your job.
 
Look at yourself.
 
You're a mess."

"Well, whose fault would that be?"
 
Defiance flashed in Gina’s eyes.

"Yours."

"I said there was nothing to talk about."
 
Gina stubbed out the rest of the cigarette and stared insolently out to sea.

"There's the matter of the rent.
 
Your share hasn't gone into the account this month."

"I'll get it in today."

"For God's sake, Gina, how?
 
You haven't worked-"

"It's my problem. I'll get it solved."
 
She stood up, her beady-eyed stare making Tamsen feel as if she were something revolting stuck to her room flatmate's shoe.
 
"Besides, you've made it patently clear that you're no longer going to help me solve my problems - that I'm on my own."

Gina turned and stalked off in the direction of the bathroom.

With a sigh, Tamsen turned her attention again to her diary.

The thud of a bucket landing at her feet made Tamsen jump.

"What's this?" She looked up at Gina, wondering again who the stranger was standing in front of her.

"Call it a peace-offering."

A small forest of aquatic plants swayed in the water, inside a bright yellow bucket.

"Where..." Did she really want to know?

"Don't ask - " Gina almost smiled " - just say thank you."

Reaching again for the half-drunk coffee on the smoked-glass table in front of her, Tamsen hoped it would wake her up after the flight. She sank back into the soft leather armchair and took a moment to take in the awe-inspiring surroundings of Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt.

The atrium windows, crossed with...what?
 
She didn't know, but it reminded her of masking tape used on glass during old war movies. The glass seemed to climb for two or three floors and she had ridiculous thoughts about how the poor sucker must feel who had to clean them.
 

"You'd think they could hurry it up, wouldn't you?"
 
Matt's irritation that their booking had been mislaid washed off him in waves, like the slow, destructive movement of lava.
 
She'd only witnessed his temper a couple of times, but the thought of him exploding in such beautiful surrounds behoved her to act.

She decided to try agreeing with him.
 
"You'd think with five hundred-odd rooms they'd be able to rustle one up for us now, wouldn't you?"
 
It might work until she could work out a way to jolly him.

"You would."
 
His foot was jiggling against the small glass table.

She put one hand on his quivering knee.
 
"Suppose I go and suggest that I shower in the fountain in the foyer.
 
You think that might get them moving?"

It worked.
 
He broke out a broad smile.
 
"Dunno, but it might relieve some of the tedious boredom I'm feeling at the moment.
 
Sex in the fountain."
 
An evil glint appeared in his eyes.
 
"Now there's a cool concept."

"I never said anything about sex."

"I wouldn't be able to look at your nakedness without thinking about sex."

"Who said anything about being naked?"
 
She winked at him and got up, heading toward the flustered looking blonde on the reception desk.
 
"You've got a mind like a sewer, Mr Solomon."

Ensconced in their room at last, Matt felt so much better.
 
"What did you say to the concierge to get us in here so quick, or shouldn't I ask?"

Tamsen shrugged.
 
"Just told her we'd had the day from hell and that you were threatening gratuitous sexual activity in their fountain."

He was mortified.
 
"You did not!"

"You'll never know now, will you?"

"You are such a tart."

She giggled.
 
"But a scheming, lovely one."

He threw himself on the bed.
 
"That's my problem.
 
Come here."
 
He patted the silky coverlet next to him.
 
It reminded him of the soft caress of her skin.
 

He ached to touch her and he hadn't realized how much until a stirring in his loins reminded him they were alone, finally. "Come here, you.
 
I won't ask again."
 
He was acutely aware of the length of time he'd been in close proximity to her, but unable to touch.

She looked at him, desire registering in her eyes.
 
Certainly she was one of the most alluring souls he'd ever known.
 
If he had his way, he thought, she could very likely be the last alluring soul he would ever know.