Outback Ghost (20 page)

Naked
.

The thought of Adam naked made her woozy. She took three steps backwards and crashed down onto the bed before her knees gave way beneath her. She lay there for who knows how long, staring at the ceiling, wondering if she was treading dangerous water hanging out with Adam but mostly trying to get the image of him naked out of her head. Problem was she'd already seen him dripping wet and shirtless and had a pretty good inkling that anything more would seriously jeopardise her ability to get a good night's sleep ever again.

‘Mum.' At Heidi's call from the bathroom, Stella took another deep breath and forced herself off the bed.

‘There in a minute,' she called. Then, before she could start overthinking everything again, she strode back to the wardrobe and all but wrenched a summer maxi dress from the railing. It was pale lemon and made of a soft T-shirty material. She'd ordered it online and hadn't yet found an occasion to wear it, but it might just be perfect for this evening. Not too dressy but a little more special than T-shirt and shorts. ‘And there you go overthinking it again,' she said to herself.

With a shake of her head, she laid the dress on the bed and headed into the bathroom to rescue Heidi.

‘Adam coming tonight,' Heidi said as Stella entered the bathroom.

‘I know.' Stella grabbed a big fluffy towel from the rack and gestured for Heidi to pull the plug.

‘I'm talking to Lily-Blue,' Heidi said rather indignantly as she looked past her mum towards the toilet.

A chill ran down Stella's spine. All the warmth that had built up inside her while thinking about Adam vanished. Did Heidi know Adam had once had a sister with the name Lily-Blue? She swallowed, the hands holding the towel shaking slightly. Should she use this opportunity to ask Heidi more about her new friend? To find out if this was really just some crazy coincidence or…

She dismissed the thought, worried that whatever Heidi said might hinder her ability to act normal around Adam this evening. If only the imaginary friend would take a hike.

‘Come on, time to get out,' she said a little tersely. ‘You're already turning into a prune.'

Heidi looked down at her wrinkly fingers and giggled. Her smile lit her face as she obeyed her mother by pulling the plug out and standing carefully. Stella helped her out as the water gurgled down the plughole. She rubbed the little girl dry, hoping Heidi would refrain from mentioning her ‘imaginary friend' over dinner. ‘Let's go get you into your pjs.'

Heidi shook her head. ‘Want to wear dress.'

Stella raised an eyebrow. ‘You hate dresses.'

But Heidi was hearing none of it. She was excited about having company for dinner and wanted to look good for Adam. Stella couldn't blame her. She dug through her daughter's clothes and found a pretty pink broderie anglaise dress she'd bought in the hope Heidi might one day grow out of her shorts and T-shirt obsession. They dressed together and then Heidi sat on the end of the bed scrutinising Stella as she applied more make-up than she'd usually wear for dinner with a friend.

‘What's that red stuff?' Heidi asked, her chubby little finger pointing accusingly at the lipstick in Stella's hand. ‘Why you putting it on mouth?'

Stella shrugged. The truth was she wanted to look her best when Adam arrived but she didn't want to admit this to Heidi any more than she wanted to admit it to herself. ‘My lips are a little sore, this softens them.'

‘What's that black stuff?' Heidi's questions were a testament to how often Stella made the effort to spruce up.

Finally, Stella decided she was ready (hopefully not too over-the-top), so she and Heidi moved onto the next task. For Stella that involved a lot of banging and clanging in the kitchen, glancing at the clock every five seconds and sipping white wine to try to calm her ridiculous nerves. For Heidi it meant watching
Giggle and Hoot
on ABC Kids, chattering away as she did so. Whiskers lounged luxuriously on the couch beside her and Stella chose to believe her daughter's words were for the cat and not for something she didn't know how to explain.

‘Hello? Can I come in?'

At the sound of Adam's voice wafting through the open front door, Stella almost burnt her hand on the tray of pumpkin as she checked it in the oven. Cursing under her breath, she dumped said tray on a wooden chopping board, wiped her hands against her apron, ripped it off, shoved it in a drawer and then smiled as she called, ‘Sure, I'm in the kitchen.' Smiling while she spoke was a trick she'd learnt years ago to make herself sound happy and carefree. Because she was. Totally. She straightened, ran her hands through her hair and then leaned back against the bench.

‘Hey.' Adam appeared in the doorway juggling a bottle of wine, a plate covered in al-foil and flowers.

Oh
. Flowers
. Her stomach flipped, shooting tingles right down to her toes. She couldn't recall the last time someone had brought her flowers. Had anyone
ever
brought her flowers?

‘Geez, let me take some of that,' she said, rushing forward to help him unload.

‘Thanks,' he laughed. ‘This is from me.' He indicated the wine as he dumped it on the kitchen table. ‘And this is from Mum.' He put the container next to the wine. ‘If we know what's good for us, we'll chuck it in the bin and lie when she asks us how it was.'

Stella laughed, but she really wanted to ask who the flowers were from.

As if reading her mind, he glanced down at the bunch of bright flowers, wrapped simply at the stems with a plain white ribbon, and offered them to her. ‘And these are from both of us.'

‘Oh?' She took them and bent her head to inhale the gorgeous summer aroma.

He nodded. ‘To be honest, I think Mum has some grand ideas about you and me getting together.'

‘Hah.' She threw back her head and giggled as if this was the funniest notion she'd ever heard. Adam obviously thought so, and she guessed it wasn't just the fact he lived in Bunyip Bay and she in Perth that had him wanting to keep his distance.

‘She suggested the flowers and I thought why the hell not? Just because this is simply a celebratory dinner between two friends, doesn't mean you don't deserve a bit of colour. I hope you like them.'

‘I love them.'

He grinned. ‘You look gorgeous, Stella. I love that dress.' And although he offered an appreciative sweep of his gaze down her body, she knew he didn't have any expectation.

‘Thank you,' she replied, fighting the urge to brush off his lovely compliment. He looked gorgeous too – his hair still damp from a shower, his strong muscular body beautifully encased in dark jeans and a white cotton shirt. If she were an artist, she'd want to paint him. Heck, she could barely draw stick figures for Heidi and she wanted to paint him.

She held up the flowers to distract herself. ‘I'll pop these in a vase and then start dishing up. Hope you don't mind but Heidi is used to eating early.'

‘Not at all. I'll go say hi to her now.' Adam turned to go and Stella was grateful for the moment to stare at the beautiful flowers and let her imagination run away. No harm in dreaming, right?

She retrieved the vase from her bedroom, filled it with water and arranged the flowers in the middle of the table. They did give the place a brighter feel and, looking at them, she couldn't help but grin. The timer for her pasta pinged and she stopped gazing at the flowers to throw the chicken, pumpkin, pasta and other ingredients together. When it was ready to serve, she went in search of Heidi and Adam. She heard their voices coming from the bathroom.

‘I think the decorations you made are awesome,' she heard Adam say as she came to a stop in the doorway.

‘Thanks,' came Heidi's reply.

Stella's heart squeezed tightly at the sight before her. Adam and Heidi standing alongside each other at the basin, scrubbing their hands in readiness for dinner. She had to swallow the ball of emotion that formed in her throat. They looked so normal. Heidi got along with almost everyone but she'd never had a close relationship with a man and for the first time Stella wondered if that meant she was missing out on something.

‘Have you washed your hands, Stella?' Adam's eyes sparkled as he looked into the mirror at her reflection. Their eyes met and she hoped he couldn't read minds.

‘Of course,' she scoffed. ‘Would I make dinner with dirty hands?'

Heidi laughed, dried her hands on the towel and grabbed hold of Adam. ‘Come on, eat time.'

Stella dished up their dinner, Adam cracked open the wine and poured some juice for Heidi and they sat down to eat. Heidi barely gave them a chance to talk – too busy relaying a detail by detail account of her day with Esther – but that was okay. Nothing made Stella happier than seeing Heidi in her element. Some people found her larger-than-life personality hard to handle but, like his mother, Adam embraced it.

It felt so normal in so many ways – like Adam was an old friend who came round for dinner regularly – but simmering underneath the normalness was a heavy undertone of awareness between their every interaction. Whenever Heidi said something funny, Stella found her eyes meeting Adam's and the smile they exchanged held more than simple amusement. When he'd passed the butter, their hands had accidentally brushed in the process and she'd almost cried out at the desire that zapped her at the interaction.

She didn't know how she was going to get through the night if he kept looking at her the way he was looking at her across the table but she didn't want him to stop. He'd almost finished his meal and even Heidi had given it a red-hot go, but Stella had been picking at her dinner like a fussy child. Truth was, she didn't want this splendid evening to end. It had been too long since she'd enjoyed dinner conversation so much.

‘That was delicious,' Adam said when he'd devoured his last morsel of pasta. He grinned at her. ‘I'll never be able go back to microwave dinners after that.'

She cringed. ‘Oh God, you don't really eat those horrible things, do you?'

‘Occasionally. I do try to cook myself something more substantial but there's not much joy in cooking for one.'

‘Don't I know it.' Stella looked to Heidi. ‘I usually end up eating something like beans on toast because I can't be bothered cooking two dinners.'

‘Baked beans good for heart, more you eat more you fart.' Heidi burst out into giggles at her delivery of this important information and Adam joined her.

‘Know any other good fart jokes, Heidi?'

‘Please, don't encourage her.' Stella tried to sound stern but she couldn't help smiling as Adam leaned towards Heidi conspiratorially. ‘Well, don't let me interrupt your fun. I'm going to clear up the dishes.'

She stood and started gathering their plates.

‘Heidi,' Adam said, ‘I've got a cracker of a fart joke for you, but I'm going to help your mum clean up first, okay?'

‘Oh, you don't have to.' Stella almost dropped the plates she was holding at the thought of standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the sink with Adam. She'd never thought of something as mundane as washing dishes as arousing before but she knew without a doubt that doing so with Adam would take it to a whole new level. She fought visions of him standing behind her, his body pressed against hers, his rock-hard arms coming around her and plunging into the water as he pressed mouthwatering kisses against her neck.

‘Nonsense.' Adam, seemingly oblivious to her fantasy, stood and began clearing the table.

‘Watch movie, Mummy?'

‘Sure, whatever.' It was heading towards Heidi's bedtime and she'd no doubt fall asleep in front of the TV but Stella didn't have the energy to argue right now.

‘
Up. Up. Up
,' Heidi chanted. ‘
Up. Up. Up
.'

‘Up?' Adam looked to Stella.

‘It's her favourite movie.' Although the first time they'd watched it together Heidi had bawled her eyes out – her empathetic heart going out to the poor old couple with no children – she'd grown to love it.

‘I see.'

‘Watch
Up
, Adam.' Heidi offered him her best puppy dog eyes, then added, ‘Puh-leese.'

He laughed. ‘How can I say no?'

‘It takes a lot of practice,' Stella said, realising any chances of Adam leaving straight after dinner had just flown out the window. ‘Come on, sweetie, I'll get the DVD on for you and Adam and I will be there as soon as we've finished in here.'

Happy with this arrangement, Heidi all but bounced through to the lounge room and climbed onto the couch. Her current film du jour,
Up
had already been watched once today and therefore all Stella needed to do was turn on the television and press play.

‘There you go, sweetheart, enjoy.' She leaned down and planted a kiss on Heidi's forehead, then headed back into the kitchen where she hoped her brain would win out over her desire.

*

Adam pushed up the sleeves on his shirt and plunged his hands into the soapy water. Staying to help with the washing up was one thing, a simple courtesy he believed, but staying to watch a kid's movie? Was he insane?
It's not the movie
, said a sensible voice inside his head and he knew that to be the truth.

The moment he'd walked into the cottage earlier that evening and seen Stella standing in front of him wearing that stunning yellow dress, he'd known sticking to his resolve of staying only till Heidi was in bed would be near impossible. Had he ever experienced such a visceral reaction before? It wasn't even that fancy a dress and it respectfully covered Stella's delicious legs but he had a good imagination. And what he imagined drilled a big hole of yearning deep within him. The last few days he'd been kidding himself she was just a worker, just a mate.

Just because he felt at ease in her company and laughed more with her than he could recall doing with anyone else, didn't mean she didn't also make him feel other things. Red-blooded male things. Things like lust and desire, things he hadn't felt in far too long because no woman had been able to get under his skin like she had.