Downunder Heat (4 page)

Jenny and Gretchen met them at the café, and the forty minutes or so passed in a flurry of small talk. Kitty’s hasty departure from the pub was raised again.

“I drank more than I usually do,” Kitty confessed. “I just wanted to go home and sleep it off.”

“Fair enough.” Jenny shrugged. “Next time ask for a soda or something. No one will mind. ”

“I think I’d be better avoiding the pub altogether,” Kitty said.

“Give it one more go,” Gretchen said. “This week most of the engineers are out, so the rounds will go a lot slower.”

“Where are they?” Jenny asked.

“Some big conference in Western Australia,” Gretchen replied. “They flew out this morning. The senior engineers didn’t go, but they never come to the pub anyway.”

Kitty wasn’t aware of how tight her shoulders were until the tension left them. Zakk
had
to be one of the engineers at the conference. Which meant there was no chance of accidentally bumping into him anywhere around the steel works or anywhere else. On Friday night, Jenny, Gretchen and Rachel would see there had been no problem the week before. Her point would be made and there’d be no reason to ever go to the pub again.

The rest of the week passed in blessed banality. With the absence of the engineers—Zakk in particular—confirmed, she relaxed, stopped looking over her shoulder and tensing every time someone strolled into the office.

* * * *

On Friday night, she strolled into the pub, paying more attention to Rachel’s wicked impersonation of the visiting head office accountant than to her surroundings.

“Kitty.” The deep voice from the corner of the room snapped her head around as if it were attached to a bungee cord. She’d taken three steps back toward the door before she was aware her feet were moving.

Zakk surged up from the chair where he’d sat facing the door and covered the distance between them before she’d completed the final step she needed to escape.

“You’re not leaving,” Zakk said.

Kitty couldn’t tell if it was a question, or a command. Her mouth opened and shut, but no words came out.

Zakk grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle shake. “Kitty? Is everything okay?”

“I, er. Yes. I’m fine. I mean… I was fine. Then. And now…”

“I didn’t expect to see you here tonight, Zakk,” Rachel said, saving Kitty from completely making a fool of herself. “I thought you were in WA.”

Zakk blinked and turned his head. “I was. Most of the guys stayed over in Perth for the weekend.” The pressure on Kitty’s fingers increased. Her heart raced and her breathing stuttered. “I caught a flight back. I had something I wanted to do here.”

Rachel looked at Zakk, then at Kitty, then down to their linked hands. Her eyes widened. “I’ll join Jenny and the others in the Lounge,” she said, backing away.

“No!” Kitty said, so loudly that several patrons turned their heads. “That is, I’ll come with you.”

“
We’ll
come with you,” Zakk confirmed. “In a minute. I’ve been waiting here to catch Kitty and I’d like a word with her first.”

“Take all the time you want,” Rachel said, and walked away.

“Let’s sit down for a minute.” Zakk led her back to a corner table.

Like an automaton, Kitty allowed herself to be seated. Her mind was a whirling torrent of images, ideas and fears, and she couldn’t pull one coherent sentence out of the mass.

“Why did you leave like that last week?”

Kitty looked at him and saw genuine concern reflected on his face.

“I was worried.”

“I’d had a bit too much to drink and it caught up with me.” That much was true. There was no need to stray into areas definitely best avoided.

“You should have waited,” Zakk said firmly. “I’d have gone with you. Made sure you got home safely.”

“You can’t always be rescuing me from my own stupidity,” Kitty said. “I was fine. I got a taxi right outside the door.”

“I know,” Zakk replied. “I followed you. I called out to you. Didn’t you hear me?”

Her conscience whispered,
Tell him the truth
.

Her lesser self said,
Yeah. Right. Like you want to have
that
conversation.

The inner coward won. “No, sorry. I didn’t hear a thing. I was busy telling the taxi driver where to go.” Ignoring the disgusted snort from her conscience, she continued, “I’m a grown woman. Used to looking after myself. It’s kind of you to be concerned, but there was no need.”

“Independence is a good thing,” Zakk said, standing and holding out his hand to her. “But no running off tonight, okay?”

He pulled her to her feet and they walked into the Lounge to join the others. He kept his hand wrapped around hers. Kitty had no idea why he hadn’t let go and she was tired of trying to second-guess his motivations. Instead she just enjoyed the warmth of his calloused fingers wrapped around hers.

Rachel sat at a table with Jenny, Gretchen and Celeste. Jenny sat between the only two empty spots.

Kitty quickly slipped her hand free of Zakk’s grasp and slid into the seat on Jenny’s right. With Jenny between her and Zakk, maybe her heart rate would return to normal—or as close to normal as it could get when she was in the same room as Zakk.

She sagged against the padded backrest.

Then snapped upright again.

“Be an angel and move up one, Jen.” Zakk was right there, clearly intent on sitting next to Kitty. And equally clearly not caring who knew it.

“No worries,” Jenny murmured at the same time Rachel said, “Told you so.”

“Yep,” Jenny replied. “Who’d a thunk it?”

Kitty pressed her palms to her cheeks to try to cool the heat she knew was turning her face bright red. Zakk dropped into the seat Jenny vacated and slid and an arm around her shoulders.

Rachel’s eyebrows took a trip toward her hairline. Celeste flicked a glance from Kitty to Zakk, then traveled back along the line of his arm. A wicked smile lit up her face. “Kitty! Way to go.”

Zakk leaned back, a broad grin on his face. Damn it, the man looked like the cat that got the canary. A very handsome cat, and an utterly confused canary.

His fingers lightly stroked the base of her neck. It was a good thing he was a lifesaver. If she had a heart attack, and from the way her heart raced that had to be a possibility, at least he’d be there to give her CPR. Chest compressions. Mouth to mouth.

A groan rose to her lips and she slammed them shut to prevent its escape.

Zakk stood up. “I’ll get us some drinks. What will you have, Miss Kitty?”

Miss Kitty
? He had a pet name for her?

Her reply was semi-coherent. “Wine. White.”

“White wine it is. Anyone else?”

The others all claimed to need nothing, and Zakk sauntered off to the bar. Kitty watched him go, his buttocks flexing with each step. Whatever was going on, nothing prevented her from enjoying the view.

“Kitty. Wow.” Jenny’s voice broke through Kitty’s lust haze.

Kitty reluctantly turned to face her.

Jenny’s gaze, however, was still firmly fixed Zakk. “Looks like you get the jackpot.”

“What jackpot?” Kitty shook her head, trying to clear it of images of Zakk, so she could focus on what her co-workers were saying.

“The Zakk jackpot. You’re the first woman from work he’s ever shown an interest in.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’s interested in—”

Her words were cut off by hoots of laughter. Celeste rolled her eyes. “Girl, he is
so
interested in you. Any one could see it.”

“But that’s the thing,” Kitty said, leaning forward earnestly. “I’m not a girl. I’m a woman. A woman who is obviously older than Zakk. He
can’t
be interested in me.”

“You’ve got to be kidding, right?” Rachel asked. “He wants you. If I were a betting woman I’d put my house on it.”

“Play your cards right,” Jenny added, “and you could be playing with way more than cards tonight.”

“You really think that I… That he… That we…”

The women around the table all nodded. Sheer panic drove Kitty’s next words. “Oh, my God. What am I going to do?”

“You need to ask?” Gretchen giggled.

“Seriously,” Rachel said. “You do whatever you’re comfortable with. I told you before. Zakk’s a good guy. He wouldn’t push you.” She sighed. “Any one of us would be happy to be in your shoes. Enjoy.”

Kitty drew a deep breath. So what if she didn’t really understand why any man who looked like Zakk and moved like Zakk would show an interest in her? Tonight, she was going to enjoy whatever he was offering. Friendship or flirtation. It didn’t have to mean anything and he’d be certain to back off before it got anywhere near serious.

Zakk returned with her white wine and she took a cautious sip. It was one thing to decide to go with whatever was happening. It was another thing altogether to get drunk and embarrass herself—and Zakk.

The talk was general, the laughter frequent, but when Gretchen stood and said, “Time for me to head out,” and Rachel, Jenny and Celeste said, “Us too.” Kitty reached down to grab her bag.

“Wait,” Zakk said. “The bistro does a good meal. How about we go and get something to eat?”

The three women exchanged a look and Jenny said, “We’ve got to get home to our families, but Kitty doesn’t have anyone at home so she should stay.”

“Oh. I…”

Zakk took her hand again. “Take pity on a poor, lonely man and don’t make him eat alone.”

Rachel made no attempt to hide her smile. “Laying it on a bit thick, Mansfield.”

“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” He grinned. “But seriously, Kitty, please stay.”

“Yeah. Stay, Kitty. We’ll see you at work on Monday.” Rachel turned to go.

“And don’t think you’re wriggling out of lunch either,” Jenny added. “We’ll have a lot to talk about.”

They whisked out of the door before she could think of a reply.

“Coming into the bistro?” Zakk asked. “Or we could go somewhere nicer if you’d like.”

“No,” she said, before her courage deserted her. “Here will be fine.” Because she really didn’t think she could stand the awkwardness of moving to another venue. Here, she could pretend it was just convenience, just a way to extend an agreeable night.

They ordered and ate. Zakk asked her preferences for wine.

“I don’t know much about Australian wines. Could you choose?”

He chose a white, though she was too on edge to tell if it was good or not. That edginess also helped to explain why the first glass went down a little faster than she’d intended. Throughout the meal, Zakk plied her with questions about life in the UK and seemed genuinely interested in her answers.

From their table they heard the in-house Friday night band start up.

“Oh, I like this song,” Kitty said.

“I like the band,” Zakk replied. “They do Golden Oldies, Swing, Classic Rock. I love all that stuff. Not so keen on modern stuff like Rap and R&B.”

“Nor am I.” Kitty shrugged. “Of course, that might be because I’m almost a golden oldie myself.”

“You and me both,” Zakk said.

Kitty gave him points. He was gentlemanly, if not very truthful.

He stood up. “Come on. Let’s go show these young ’uns how to dance to real music.”

His comment was so ridiculous it made Kitty laugh, and she was still laughing as they made their way onto the dance floor. The song was a catchy seventies favorite.

Kitty loved dancing, and so, it seemed, did Zakk.

Suddenly she was full of energy and enthusiasm and damn it, she felt like a kid again, with a whole world in front of her.

Then the music changed to a slow ballad and Zakk pulled her in close. The house lights went down and he slipped his arms around her. Her tense muscles relaxed and she let her head settle onto his shoulder. Their legs brushed together in the back and forward shuffle. The unmistakable ridge of his erection rubbed against her when she arched into him. Heat pooled in her groin and for an instant she considered pulling back. But he wasn’t doing anything wrong, wasn’t thrusting or being aggressive. He was just dancing, and he wasn’t hiding the evidence that he was aroused. By her, by the night or by the music. It didn’t matter. Her attraction to Zakk and the warmth of being wanted was enough.

Zakk’s arms tightened a little more, and his lips brushed lightly across her hair.

Without her conscious volition her head lifted bringing their mouths closer. Zakk bent over her until their lips aligned. The kiss was a soft, dry touch of skin to skin. Hard to explain then, the showers of silver sparks that exploded behind Kitty’s eyes. Impossible to ignore the electric jolt that sizzled where they touched.

When Zakk lifted his head a moment later his breathing was choppy and his eyes were heavy-lidded. He brushed a strand of her hair away from her mouth. “How about we get out of here?” He stroked down the side of her chin.

Without breath in her lungs, she could only nod. They walked, hands linked, through the door. Outside, cold, rain-washed air hit her like a slap. All her insecurities came rushing back. “I should go home.”

“If that’s what you want,” Zakk said. “I’ll drive you. My place is just down here a couple of hundred meters. We’ll get my car.”

“I’ll get a taxi,” she murmured. Her heart still raced, but her head was beginning to function again. Every impulsive thing she’d done since she’d landed in this country had resulted in near disaster. “I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“It won’t be any trouble,” Zakk replied. “I’m not letting you go home on public transport.”

“It’s not that late,” she protested.

“Late enough. Come inside, have a cup of coffee, and if you still want to leave, I promise I’ll drive you straight home.”

He turned to her and smiled, and Kitty’s head threw its hands up in defeat.

“Coffee. Yeah. That would be—lovely.”

Zakk drew her closer, and they walked, their steps surprisingly in sync, until Zakk stopped in front of a basic red-brick, box-shaped building. “This is me.”

He led her up a flight of stairs and into his flat. Zakk opened the door and ushered her in—to his apartment—late at night—for reasons that might have been obvious but which probably weren’t. There was no way she could just come out and ask him. At the moment, she couldn’t even work up the courage to look him in the eyes.