Leaving at Noon (8 page)

“
My wife left me.” His
gaze was unwavering. “I figured we had shit to sort
out.”

Her belly lurched and she began to tremble
uncontrollably.

Still grappling with the idea he was here,
in Noosa, a million other thoughts crowded her mind, starting with
the fact she hadn’t left him, she’d just needed space, and ending
with the awareness of a pulse beating frantically in her neck.

She wanted to laugh and cry and shout and
whimper all in the same breath. She wanted to throw her arms around
her husband, hold him tight and never let him go—almost as much as
she wanted to get the hell away from him. Turn around and run for
her life.

The need to yank him close, tear off those
boardies and fuck him until they were both too exhausted to move
wrestled with the equally demanding need to slam one fist in his
stomach and the other in his nose. If making love to Theo could
reel him in and bring him back to her, she’d do it, in a heartbeat.
Just like she’d punch him. Make him suffer like she’d suffered
these last nine days without him. And the last few months with
him.

Bamboozled, she picked through every thought
and instinct until she found one she could express without falling
to pieces—or bursting into tears again. “But…but how did you get
inside the building?”

Yes, it was arbitrary, but it was as much as
she could deal with right now.

“
Fiona gave me a
key.”

“
She knows you’re
here?”

Theo hooked his elbow over the edge of the
glass railing behind him and nodded.

“
She never told me you
were coming.”

He shrugged.

“
When did you
arrive?”

“
Last night.”

Oh. Wow.

Okay, so maybe she hadn’t been hallucinating
when she thought she’d seen him in the bar and in the street. Maybe
the men she’d mistaken for Theo had, in fact, been…Theo.

She narrowed down her question. “And the
pool? When did you get here?”

“
An hour ago. Maybe
more.”

He’d been there all this time, and she
hadn’t known?

She’d phoned him, and he’d been sitting
behind her?

She’d thought about him, and he’d been
meters away?

She’d cried over him, and he’d been right
there?

“
W-where are you
staying?”

He lifted his face, pointing with his chin.
“French Quarter.”

The furnished apartments a block away. “How
long are you staying?”

“
As long as it
takes.”

For what?
Zoey pressed a trembling
hand to her chest, an ineffective attempt to slow her heart
rate.

She picked through more thoughts, weeding
out the ones like,
God, I love you
and
I’m so pissed at
you right now
and
I miss you so much, it hurts
to the
less emotional and more easily voiced, “What about work?”

“
My concentration is crap.
No one objected to my taking time off.”

“
Your boss?”

“
Didn’t have a problem. I
fucked up every deal I touched last week.”

Zoey struggled to believe that. When it came
to the stock market, Theo’s instincts were too well honed to fuck
anything up.

“
Lost money and pissed off
clients in the process.”

“
I… I’m sorry.”

He narrowed his eyes. “For what?”

“
You had a bad
week.”

“
That’s all you’re sorry
for?”

Zoey shifted in her seat. Her skull seemed
to squeeze her brain until she thought it might burst from the
pressure. “No. I’m sorry you pissed off clients and lost money
too.”

“
You’re not sorry for
coming here?”

She couldn’t lie. “No.”

Theo rubbed the scar on his wrist, something
he did when he was tense. Or worried. Or upset.

Zoey inhaled deeply.

Why? Would arming herself with oxygen
protect her heart? “We’re floundering, Theo. Drowning in our
marriage. I’m barely keeping my head above water. It was sink or
swim. I chose to swim.”

“
And left me to
sink.”

She closed her eyes momentarily against the
pain in his voice. “No. I left you in the hope we’d both find our
footing.”

The pain changed to blame. “You ran
away.”

“
Staying would have ruined
us.” Zoey believed this with every fiber of her being.

Theo regarded her silently for a long time.
“Are you happy to see me, Zo?”

Was she? Her hands shook so badly she had to
fold them in her lap so he wouldn’t notice. Her heart banged around
uselessly, and her lungs burned with every breath. As for her
belly, it somersaulted so many times, she figured it would become
permanently twisted. Did that translate to happiness?

“
I’m confused.”

Theo inhaled sharply, and silence drifted
between them.

Unsure how to breach it, Zoey focused on his
clothes. “Those boardies look good on you.” Really good.
Rip-them-off-his-body-and-jump-him good.

Theo glanced down at them. “You bought them
for me.”

“
I remember,” she
whispered.

“
There was a time you
enjoyed seeing me in them.”

“
There was a time I
enjoyed taking them off you more.”

His gaze heated then cooled just as quickly.
“Is that time over?”

“
God, Theo.” Zoey pinched
the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know.”

He nodded, as though her inadequate answer
were enough. Then he turned his back to her, resting his hands on
the edge of the glass railing. He spent long minutes staring out at
the ocean. Minutes that seemed to stretch into hours as Zoey
waited, wondering what he’d say next, what she’d say next and where
they’d go from here.

Her stomach still twisted violently. That’s
how damn anxious she was to see her own husband.

The silence was overwhelming. Nerves
twitched through her arms and legs, and the very act of sitting
still almost killed her. She needed to move. Walk, Run. Either away
from Theo or to him. She wasn’t sure which.

Just as she decided she couldn’t take his
silence for one more second, Theo turned back around. “Would you
like to go for a walk along the beach?”

She’d like to do anything that got rid of
the nervous energy, but a walk on the beach wasn’t quite so
innocent as it sounded. Not with their history.

She let her gaze drift over his shoulder,
memories assailing her. “We walked along the beach on our first
date.”

They’d walked from one side of Bondi Beach
to the other and back again, before heading to a restaurant across
the road for a long, leisurely dinner. They’d shared their first
bottle of red that night. A Hunter Valley cab sav that quickly
became their favorite drink.

The date hadn’t ended with the meal. It
ended the next afternoon.

Theo nodded. “We did.”

“
You told me…” Her voice
caught, and she had to swallow down the lump in her throat. “You
told me you loved me while walking on Bronte Beach.” All of two
days after their first date.

Best. Walk. Ever.

His eyes crinkled. “You said yes on the
beach in Jervis Bay.”

Her chest squeezed at the memory of the
happiest moment of her life.

“
And,” Theo went on, “
I
do
on Coogee Beach.”

They’d gotten married four months after he’d
proposed, in a small, romantic and beautiful ceremony. Wearing a
white sundress and flowers in her hair, Zoey had walked, barefoot,
down the beach on Levi’s arm and back up on Theo’s. Her new
husband.

Zoey had never known life could be idyllic
until Theo became a part of hers.

Was it any wonder she’d avoided the beach
since she’d arrived in Noosa, choosing to spend her time by the
pool instead?

“
Yeah, Hughesy,” she said
softly. “I would like to walk.”

He nodded and opened the gate leading to the
beach.

Zoey plopped her wide-brimmed straw hat on
her head, her sunnies over her eyes and the thin wrap over her
swimmers. It covered her shoulders and dropped down to mid-thigh.
Necessary sun protection.

She left her towel, water and big pile of
unread books by the lounger.

Theo slipped on his own sunnies, hiding his
soulful eyes from her.

They crossed the footpath in silence. Hot
sand burned her feet when they reached the beach, and she quickened
her stride, racing to the water’s edge, where receding waves
soothed the sting. Theo stayed by her side the whole time.

In silent agreement, they turned left,
heading toward the Noosa River. The beach wasn’t busy. School
holidays were still a month away, which meant high season hadn’t
quite begun.

“
I phoned you,” Zoey said,
when the silence stretched out awkwardly.

Theo looked at her.

“
Earlier. Before you dived
in the pool.” She frowned at him. “Why didn’t you let me know you
were there? At the pool?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t know what I’d say to
you.”

“
You didn’t have a problem
telling me I’d get burnt.”

“
You always burn in the
sun. Thought I’d save you the hassle.”

“
I thought I was going
mad, imagining it was you when I knew it couldn’t have
been.”

Another shrug.

“
Thank you. For the
warning.”

This time he gave her a nod of
acknowledgement.

The sun beat down, and Zoey walked closer to
the water, letting the waves lap over her feet and ankles. They
didn’t cool her. Zoey’s increased body temperature had nothing to
do with the sun or the weather. She was overheating because her
estranged husband walked beside her.

“
You phoned?” Theo
asked.

“
Yeah. It, uh, went to
voice mail.”

“
The reception’s useless
here.”

“
Do you have a phone?”
Other than the shattered one on their bedroom floor.

“
Bought a new
one.”

“
An iPhone?”

“
Yeah.”

“
6?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Black?”

“
Yeah, Zo. I bought a
black iPhone 6. Are you going to tell me why you
phoned?”

She nodded, then swiftly lost her words. How
could she tell Theo about work if she didn’t know how to talk to
him anymore?

He came to a halt and turned to her.

Zoey came to a stop too.

He raised an eyebrow in question, and her
heart fluttered like crazy.

Just open your mouth and talk to him. It’s
not that difficult. You seemed sure you could do it earlier, when
you phoned.

“
Any time now,” he
said.

She tugged off her sunglasses and looked
into his pleadingly. “Jeez, Theo. I’m trying.”

“
Christ.” He rubbed his
scar while grimacing down at the sand. “I’m not going to want to
hear this, am I?”

She shook her head, needing to set him
straight but still not finding the words.

He looked at her with grim determination.
“Before you say anything, I want you to remember one thing.”

“
What?”

“
This.”

To Zoey’s surprise—which quickly turned to
astonishment, Theo didn’t say a word. He simply took hold of her
upper arm, pulled her in close and kissed her. Right there, in the
middle of Noosa Beach, with people milling around and the waves
trickling over their feet, he pressed his lips to hers and kissed
her.

As soon as his mouth touched hers, his lips
parted and his tongue demanded entry. So stunned was Zoey, she
opened up to him, letting him in. And boy, did he take advantage,
demanding complete control of her mouth and her mind, treating her
to a kiss so hot it scorched her all the way from her nose to her
toes. If not for the humidity, her hair might well have caught
fire.

How long had it been since her husband had
kissed her like this? Deep and hot and wet, with lots of tongue? A
kiss so velvety and seductive, it messed with her ability to think
straight.

How long had it been since her husband had
kissed her at all?

She kissed him back, because when Theo
planted a Scorcher on her, it was impossible not to respond.

On the Theo Hughes Scale of Hot Kisses, the
Scorcher rated one down from the Ultimate. Zoey had yet to
experience an Ultimate fully dressed. Theo saved them only for the
times when he and Zoey were naked or lost in each other’s bodies.
The Ultimate spoke volumes about the powerful level of intimacy
they shared while making love.

The Scorcher, however, was designed to get
Zoey naked. Or at the very least, designed to make her melt in an
aroused puddle at his feet. And this particular Scorcher was no
different.

The man could kiss. Zoey had spent the
better part of nine years enjoying the talents of his lips and
mouth. They still had the power to take her breath away. And leave
her squirming against him in the most delicious way imaginable. The
hair on his cheeks and chin might feel foreign and rough, but the
scrape of it against her skin sent goose bumps flaring along her
arms and back.

Her insides turned to liquid, her bones to
goo. She was melting in a puddle of exquisite sensation. By the
time he reluctantly drew his face away from hers, Zoey had burrowed
into his body, using his strength to hold herself upright. Her
knees were jelly, her joints useless and her hands buried in his
hair. If not for his arm hooked around her waist, she’d slide to
the sand in an uncoordinated heap.