Nobody but Him (37 page)

At the sound of heavy footsteps on the wooden floorboards in the hallway she called out to the movers.

‘I’m doing a coffee run to Lygon Street. What do you guys want?’ Julia reached into her handbag for her purse and plucked a note out of, shoving it into her jeans pocket.

The slow footsteps stopped and then there was silence. She looked up.

‘Ry?’

Still the most gorgeous man she’d ever met, he stood in the empty space that had been her living room, with a bunch of flowers in one hand and the handle of a small wheelie bag in the other. A camel-coloured trench coat topped black jeans and a black jumper and he was wearing her favourite black boots.

She wanted to jump his bones right then and there.

Launching herself at him, Julia threw her arms around his neck, planting kisses on his cheek, and it took just one touch for her to realise how much she’d missed him. She felt a pang of disappointment — only for half a second — that his unexpected arrival had ruined her carefully planned surprise but it disappeared in a heartbeat when she saw his beloved face. She leaned up on tiptoes and planted a huge, wet, adoring kiss on his mouth, which was grimly set in a line. He didn’t kiss her back and she slowly let go of him.

He was as stiff as a board.

‘Ry, what are you doing here?’

He looked down at her with a hard stare. ‘What’s going on, JJ?’

Julia followed his gaze around the room, at the stacked boxes, the naked windows, the rolled up rug by the fireplace. In an instant, she could see what he was seeing.

‘Ry, I—’

‘You going somewhere?’ His voice was deep and gruff.

She tried to swallow the smile that was bursting to escape her lips. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact I am.’

‘A bigger house? A flashier suburb. What?’

‘They’re pretty flowers. Are they for me?’ She clasped her hands behind her back and nodded to the bunch in his hand, beautiful irises about to bloom, surrounded by strappy leaves and wrapped in masses of white paper tied together with raffia string.

He shoved them in her direction without a word.

‘Thank you, they’re lovely. But there’s a problem. I don’t seem to have anything to put them in.’

Ry took a long glance around the room. ‘So I see.’

‘Ry, listen. Let me explain.’

‘No.’ He met her gaze. ‘There’s something I came here to say.’

‘But I need to tell you—’ Ry silenced her with a finger to her lips. His piercing sapphire eyes had locked onto hers with a fierce determination and she couldn’t move. He took hold of her shoulders and pulled her close. The flowers dropped to the floorboards with a crinkle, and she moved into him willingly, pressing herself against him, feeling the heat from his body through his clothes. She splayed her fingers on his hard chest and the thrum of his heartbeat silenced her.

‘Julia Jones, the only place you should be moving is back to Middle Point, with me. I’ve been crazy about you since I was twenty-years-old. I’ve tried to forget you. I even tried hating you for a year or two. But I have never, not for one day, stopped loving you.’

Julia looked into the face of the man she’d never stopped loving either and would have pinched herself if she could tear her hands away from him.

‘You tried to hate me?’ she said as she smoothed her hand up his chest and over his bristled jaw, loving the rough feeling of the stubble on her palm.

‘That’s what you remember from what I just said?’

‘Well … did you really try to hate me?’ She caressed the small scar on his left cheek, and let her fingers wander to the hair at the back of his neck, tangling her fingers in it.

‘I tried hard. It didn’t take.’ He brought his cheek to hers, his lips just a breath away from a kiss.

‘Thank God,’ she whispered.

He released a huge shuddering breath. Pulled her tighter.

‘I love you, Julia. It’s always been that simple.’

As she looked deep into his eyes, she realised the tumultuous tangle in the pit of her stomach wasn’t nerves at all. It was love. Aching, blinding, love for this man.

‘JJ, look what we’ve lost. Both of us. Your parents. My dad. We nearly lost Dan. I won’t lose you too. God, do you know how excited I was when I thought you were pregnant? Life, babies, a future, forever. I’m ready for it. All the success I’ve had means nothing if I don’t have you to share it with.’

Finally Julia was able to speak, despite the tears welling in her eyes and her bursting heart.

‘Well now you’ve gone and ruined everything.’ Her voice caught on a sob and then a laugh.

‘I tell you I love you and I’ve ruined everything?’

‘Now that you’ve made your big confession, it’s time for mine.’ Julia reluctantly let him go, and turned away. In the kitchen, she found her handbag and walked back to Ry. She handed him a small card.

‘What’s this?’

‘Just read it,’ she said softly.

Ry lifted it closer to his eyes, studied the fine print.

‘ “Middle of Nowhere Consulting. Director Julia Jones”.’ He gazed at her, a question furrowing the space between his eyebrows.

‘You quit your job?’

‘Uh huh.’

‘And starting your own business. In this economic climate.’

‘Yep.’

‘Good luck with that.’ A flash of anger crossed his face. Julia couldn’t leave him hanging any longer, no matter how much delicious it was to see him fume.

She sighed. ‘Look at my business card. Doesn’t that give you a clue about anything?’

He simply glared at her.

‘For fuck’s sake, Ry. This was all supposed to be a surprise. I’m not moving to another house here in Melbourne and I’m not starting my new business here. I’m coming home.’

Ry’s forehead creased in confusion and his eyes narrowed. His big hands gripped her shoulders, pushing her back slightly so he could see her face, trying to judge if she was joking.

‘You mean … home to Middle Point?’

‘Yes. Home to Middle Point but, more importantly, home to you, Ry Blackburn.’ And the words tripped joyously from her lips. ‘Because I am crazy in love with you, too.’

He broke into a gorgeous smile, a take-her-breath away, heart-poundingly-sexy-as-hell smile.

‘You’re giving up Melbourne,’ he said, incredulously. She could see the fierce love in his eyes. All for her.

‘I am. And it’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I always thought I had to leave Middle Point to do something important with my life. But I realised the most important thing I’ve ever done was to be there for the people I love when they really needed me. When I weighed that up against living and working here, it was a no-brainer.’

‘Where will you live?’

‘I’ll move back into Mum’s place until it’s sold. It could take a while.’

Ry shook his head, closed his eyes. ‘There’s a slight problem with your plan, sweetheart.’

‘What are you talking about?’

He brought his hands to her hair, twisted her dark curls in his fingers, tucking a strand behind her ear. ‘You won’t be able to move back into your house because you’re about to sell it.’

Julia tried not to scoff. ‘I know you’re a property guru, but that’s being a little optimistic. Kevin said it could take months and months to find a buyer.’

Ry cocked his head to check his watch.

‘He’s about to get a call from the prospective new owner. And my new neighbour. Dan McSwaine.’

Julia’s gasp echoed in the empty living room.

‘Seriously?’

‘Yep.’

‘Dan wants to buy my house?’

‘I can’t figure it out either. It’s a dump.’ The look on Ry’s face told her that behind the joke, he was thrilled with the idea.

‘God. That’s totally unexpected but wonderful. It’ll stay in the family.’ A peaceful feeling settled over her at the thought of that. Family.

‘Yeah,’ Ry’s eyebrows danced and he teased his fingers through hers. ‘Bad news for you, though. Looks like you’ll be homeless.’

Julia rolled her eyes theatrically. ‘Lucky for me, I’m a crisis management consultant. I’ve already come up with a solution to that particular predicament.’

‘You have? You sure think quick on your feet.’

‘I figure I’m just going to have to move in with you.’

Ry met her eyes and looked back at her with laughter and desire and love.

‘If you’ll have me, that is.’

He quirked his eyebrows and grinned. ‘I’ll do better than that, Julia Jones. I’ll even marry you.’

Julia’s heart beat fast and strong and she let out a breath she’d been holding in for fifteen years. ‘That will definitely solve my other crisis.’

‘Which was?’

‘How I was going to live the rest of my life without you.’ She reached up and pressed her mouth to his. Ry reacted instantly to the invitation, pulling her close, holding her tight.

‘So I take it that’s a yes?’ Ry whispered into her lips.

‘That’s a hell yes! On oh yes! A you-bet-your-arse-yes, Ry Blackburn!’

And with her declaration, Ry lifted her in his strong arms and swung her around the room, her whoops of laughter joining his in a blissful echo. When his lips met hers again, he slowly lowered her to the floor.

His teeth tugged at her earlobe and he moaned in her ear.

‘They haven’t packed the bed, have they?’

Julia nodded.

‘Life’s a bitch.’

‘No,’ Julia replied, beaming up at him. ‘Life’s just perfect.’

‘Wow. That’s a lot of zeros.’ Julia couldn’t quite believe how much money was sitting in her bank account. She was curled up on one of the chamois-soft white leather sofas in Ry’s house, which was also her house now, her legs crossed in front of her, studying the screen of her iPad. The sale of her mother’s place was finally complete and settled. It was official. The Kinsella place was sold.

Ry moved in next to her, two glistening flutes of pale-yellow champagne in his hands.

‘To celebrate,’ he said and then met her eyes with the sexy smile she loved. ‘Our very best Australian bubbles for you, Julia Jones. None of that inferior French plonk.’

She laughed at the memory of the second time they’d met.

Julia and Ry clinked their glasses and when he kissed her, she could taste the wet sweetness and the bubbles on his lips.

‘You okay?’ he asked.

Julia nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. She pondered the question and was surprised when she didn’t feel quite as despondent about selling the house as she thought she might. The place was most definitely going to stay in the family and someone she’d grown to care about would soon be moving in. It would always be the place she grew up in, the house in which she’d been so loved by her parents.

But were all her memories within those four walls? She realised they weren’t. They were on the burning hot, white sand of Middle Point on a sizzling summer’s day. They were in the relentless grey-blue waves that scooped her up and catapulted her bodyboard to the sand as she squealed with glee. They were in the winter winds that howled and buffeted the cliffs and the coast. And they lived on in the gigantic blue Australian skies that brought rain and sun and light to her life.

‘Yeah, I’m okay. I’m really happy for Dan.’

Dan had teased Ry by claiming he was going to keep the house exactly as it was. Not for him a glassed palace. He wanted it pure and simple, a beach shack. A no-bullshit house, he’d called it.

Ry rested a hand on her thigh and she covered it with hers. ‘It’ll be nice to have him next door. Although I bet he’ll be in here all the time drinking my wine.’

Julia took another sip of champagne and let the chilled bubbles tickle her tongue. She looked up to find Ry gazing at her and her heart skipped. Ry loved her and she loved him with everything she had. There was no greater feeling in the world, she decided, than loving and being loved in return.

Being loved in Middle Point was simply the icing on the cake.

‘I must be the luckiest woman in the world.’ She didn’t want to move, ever, from the warmth and love of his embrace.

‘You most definitely are. I’ve seen the size of your bank account.’

Julia felt the laughter rise up inside her chest and then it exploded out of her. She collapsed with giggles and Ry loosened his hold on her just long enough for her to dig her fingers into his ribs.

Ry quickly got rid of the two flutes and sprang into action, gripping her wrists and pushing her back down on the sofa. He nipped at her neck and kissed his way to her lips, while effortlessly forcing her hands above her head. He half lay on top of her, his strong thighs urging her legs apart.

‘Something’s digging into me, Ry,’ she murmured.

‘Yeah, baby.’ He was already hard and thrust towards her.

She laughed again. ‘No, not that.’ She wriggled underneath him and Ry grinned, reluctantly releasing her hands. Julia splayed her fingers on his chest, revelling in the strong muscles under her hands, and searched for it, taking the chance to feel every muscle, every sinew, every rock hard ab in her quest.

‘There, that’s it. What’s that?’ Something hard and square in his breast pocket. Ry pushed himself off her and sat up, a sly smile lighting up his face. He reached into his pocket.

‘You mean this?’ Ry’s fingers slowly unfurled and there it was. A small, white box. Julia gasped and simply stared. Her heart couldn’t take much more of Ry Blackburn. It was about to explode from happiness and love. His eyes were full of hope.

‘So you’ve finally got me a ring.’ She narrowed her eyes and smiled.

He laughed. ‘What do you mean
finally
?’

‘Well, you did ask me to marry you four whole weeks ago. I was wondering when you were going to get around to getting me some bling.’

‘You want it?’ He held out his palm, the white box balancing on it. Julia reached over to grab it but he snatched his hand away.

‘Ry! Let me see!’ He held his arm high away from her, holding her back with this other hand. Julia giggled and tried to climb over him, half on the sofa, half on his lap.

‘You’re going to have to work for it, sweetheart.’ Julia recognised the teasing tone in his voice. He wanted to play and she was going to give him her best game.

She slowly eased herself next to him, taking time to graze her breasts across his chest as she slid across his lap. With one leg rested across the zip of his jeans, she lay back, flipping her hair out from under her so it created a curly pattern around her head. Arching her back, Julia smoothed her hands across her breasts and reached slowly for the trim of her red cashmere cardigan. Ry’s eyes flamed as she reached for the first button.