The Kissing Season (4 page)

“Thank you,” she said, “I’d appreciate that.” Secretly she was a little disappointed.

* * *

M
ATT
HADN
’
T
BEEN
joking when he said he didn’t like shopping, but Hannah didn’t just make it bearable, she made it fun. And he supposed pottering from craft stall to quirky art tables wasn’t exactly the same as a day spent at a high-rise shopping center. The atmosphere tonight was more like a fair with the Christmas carols, bright lights, and kids dashing madly in every direction, high on sugar and the excitement of Santa’s imminent arrival. It was hard not to catch the disease.

“Here, hold these a second, will you?” She thrust the bags laden with knickknacks she’d bought at him.

“Sure.” He followed her to a stall selling bright, multicolored handmade garments. A number of people milled about oohing and ahhing over the gorgeous tie-dyed patterns on the various materials.

“Oh, look at these!” Hannah eyed a rack of tiny T-shirts, suitable only for babies or small children. “Have you ever seen anything so adorable?”

You
, he thought but managed not to say this out loud. He’d promised to behave and planned to do so for at least half an hour, long enough to lull her into a false sense of security. But if she thought he was giving up, she had another think coming. “Cute, indeed. Do you know anyone small enough to buy one for?”

She was silent a moment and then screwed up her nose. “I suppose they might fit James and Sari.”

“Who?”

“My best friends’ kids. They’re around here somewhere tonight. Cute as pie.”

“Are they the kids you were with at the movie last night?” He wasn’t really into children, but even he had to admit those two had been adorable. All golden hair, chubby cheeks and mischievous grins.

“Yep.” She smiled but it looked forced.

For some reason the baby clothes seemed to have darkened her mood. He wanted to see her smile again, see her laugh. “Here, how’s this look?” he asked, grabbing a beautiful pink and purple silk scarf off a stand and quickly wrapping it around his neck.

He got the laughs. Not simply from Hannah, but also from the ten or so other people milling around the stall who obviously thought the fancy scarf and his board shorts were a hilarious combo. The elderly woman behind the counter looked quite worried.

“That scarf is for women. How about this T-shirt instead?” She held up a shirt, mostly navy blue but covered with orange, green and red splats. Not his style at all.

“No, no.” Hannah dug in her pocket for a wallet and then pulled out some cash. “We’ll take the scarf. Pink and purple are his favorite colors.”

His audience snickered and he glared at her, hoping to convey the message that he planned to get her back. Then, as he fought the urge to tear the whimsical garment off his neck, his gaze snagged on the stall next door—an absolute plethora of Christmas novelty hats. Hannah was still laughing at him when he stopped her in her stride.

“And this would look absolutely perfect on you.” He plucked the tallest hat he’d ever seen off a stand and plopped it on her head. It immediately fell down and over her eyes, but he hitched it up, resting it on the tops of her ears to balance it. “There, just right.”

Only she could look that adorable in a hat that looked like a snow-covered chimney with Santa’s fat legs poking out the top. He grabbed her shoulders and gently turned her so she copped a view of herself in the stall owner’s mirror. She burst out laughing and the hat fell over her eyes again.

“I have the same hat in a smaller size,” said the guy behind the counter. Within seconds he’d conjured it from a box beneath his table. “Here.”

“Perfect.” Matt took the oversized hat off a still-giggling Hannah and replaced it with the smaller one. “I dare you to wear this for the rest of the night.”

“Only if you wear the scarf,” she countered.

“I’ll be boiling.” He feared it was already causing a rash on his skin. Even though it was light, wearing such a thing in an Aussie summer was insane, but right now he’d do anything she said. Besides, he’d never been one to turn down a dare. “All right, deal.”

He offered his hand for her to shake.

She slipped her soft fingers into his and he found his grip tightening of its own accord. She felt good and, dammit, he didn’t want to let go. Her gaze met his and then slipped to where their hands remained joined. Had she felt the same jolt of chemistry he had when they touched each other? If only the weather were cooler and he could make some silly excuse about wanting to keep her hands warm.

Reluctantly he loosened his grasp and she tugged her hand quickly from his. She looked away but not quickly enough to hide the blush that had crept up her neck and into her cheeks at their connection.

He couldn’t help a slightly victorious grin as he fished money out of his wallet and paid the stall owner for her hat. “Okay, girlfriend, where to next?”

“I’m not your girlfriend,” she said, although there was definite amusement in her tone.

“Figure of speech.” He scratched his neck where the scarf aggravated his skin and yanked at it to loosen it a little. He didn’t do girlfriends anyway, not long term.

“Okay.” She glanced toward the gaudy tree decorated with bright-colored decorations made by the kids from the local primary school. “Well, there are a couple of presents I still need to get, but maybe we should go find a seat. The carols are starting and Santa will arrive soon.”

She was right. He’d been too consumed with her to notice, but people were definitely filling the rows of plastic seats set up for the official part of the evening, and the air was brimming with out-of-tune Christmas carols.

“Good idea.” Not that he planned on singing any Christmas cheer.

They walked toward the middle of the park and were lucky to find a couple of free spots quite near the front. Matt dug out a packet of homemade Melting Moments from one of the bags—the only thing he’d purchased besides Hannah’s hat.

“Want one?” He offered the bag to his date.

“Sure. I know better than to turn down an offer of one of these.”

Yet she seemed quite determined to turn down the offer of him. He sighed and took a bite. As well as being a ball to hang out with, Hannah Elliot confused the hell out of him. He thought he was pretty damn good at reading the signs of the opposite sex, but the signals coming off her were very conflicting. One minute he swore she was as hot for him as he was for her; the next minute she turned stone-cold.

“So I guess you haven’t seen the Christmas tree for a while?” she said, after a mouthful of cookie.

He swallowed. “Not since I was a kid and Santa gave me a fireman costume when I wanted a policeman one.”

She laughed. “So, why is it you hardly ever come home?”

While he turned over in his mind what to tell her, she added, “And don’t give me that old line about being too busy with work. People can always make time for things if they want to.”

“Busted,” he muttered.

“So?” she asked, showing what he’d already guessed about her—that she could be stubborn and determined when she wanted to be.

He found himself telling her things he never told anyone. “As you probably know, Sarah’s husband wasn’t my father. My dad, Leo, came to town while backpacking around Australia and swept Mum off her feet. She was only nineteen and neither of them was ready for commitment. My father was an excellent dad but he never did manage that committing-to-one-woman thing.”

“Past tense?”

“Yeah.” He swallowed the lump in his throat that formed whenever he thought of Leo. “He died five years ago. I lived with him in Melbourne when I was a teenager and we were close. I miss him.”

“I’m sorry.” Hannah reached over and took his hand in hers, the first time she’d made a move on him—except it wasn’t the kind of move he’d hoped for.

“Don’t be. I was lucky to have him for as long as I did. Even luckier that he gave me an out when Mum married a jerk.”

She flinched slightly and he realized he’d raised his voice. “Sorry,” he whispered, looking around in case his mum had heard him. “Tony and I didn’t get along. He never let Mum see it but he resented the hell out of me, hated the fact that he had to feed me and put a roof over my head when I wasn’t even his, and made sure to tell me every chance he got.”

“Bastard,” she all but hissed.

“That’s putting it nicely, trust me. But for some crazy reason Mum and the girls adored him. It was just easier if I paid for her to take the odd holiday to see me and made excuses about work.” Unlike Hannah, his mum had bought every excuse about being too busy negotiating deals to come home—at least she’d pretended to believe them. Maybe she was only keeping the peace.

“So we might see a bit more of you around Wildwood now?”

He thought he detected hopefulness in her tone but decided not to call her on it; he didn’t want to get her on the defensive again. “Maybe a bit more,” he said instead. “What about you? You said you’ve done a bit of traveling yourself?”

She nodded. “Unlike my brothers, I never really knew what I wanted to be or do when I left school, so I kind of drifted from city to city, taking whatever casual jobs were on offer. I’ve been to Europe and, recently, America.”

He nodded as if in understanding. He wanted to ask her about Vegas, but the local fire engine’s siren sounded loud and clear, signaling the imminent arrival of Santa Claus. The band halted the carol-playing and the chatter hushed around them.

Matt leaned back in his seat, resisting the urge to do the old yawn-and-stretch-his-arm-around-her-shoulders. In front of the Christmas tree, the local shire president stood and welcomed the town and tourists, making a big deal about the kids sitting on the grass in front of him.

Although this wasn’t the kind of evening he’d have planned for their first date, he had to admit that watching a hundred-plus kids run up to Santa and receive their presents under the tree had a feel-good effect on everyone. He’d been living in the city for a long time, and in all his years away, all his time traveling, he’d never seen a Christmas tradition like this one. The local community center raised money throughout the year so that they could purchase a special present for each child who lived in the town. Santa always arrived on the fire engine and while the kids tore around the park playing with their presents, adults spent the rest of the night talking, singing and drinking Christmas cheer.

“Oh no, here comes another one.” Laughing, Hannah turned her head toward him and hid her face against his shoulder as a toddler screamed and kicked while his mother tried to press him onto Santa’s lap long enough for the obligatory photo.

Matt shook his head, looking on as the determined mother refused to give up. He and Hannah had taken to guessing which children would scream and which ones would smile nicely.

Finally, when all the presents had been distributed, the carols part of the evening officially kicked off. Matt couldn’t say he had a problem with carol-singing, but neither would he list it as one of his top one hundred ways to pass a night. Still, tonight he’d be quite happy if “Silent Night” and “The First Noel” went on forever. He had a feeling that as soon as the crowds started to disperse, Hannah would retreat back into herself, and he didn’t want that.

From the moment he’d arrived that evening, he’d been on the lookout, ready to pounce. Now the night was drawing to a close and he wasn’t ready to part with his special companion just yet.

But when the last lines of “Six White Boomers” rang out, people started to stand and gather their things. It was as if the magic had worn off and everyone suddenly realized how late it had become and decided they needed to get their rug rats home to bed. Matt wouldn’t mind being in bed right now either, only he wished Hannah would join him.

As if reading his mind, she jumped to stand and turned to face him as if he were an opponent she needed to battle. She picked her bags up and smiled, but it wasn’t the easy smile she’d offered him throughout the night. This time, he could almost see the shield she’d put up between them. “Thanks for a lovely evening, Matt. I’ll see you around.”

He took a step toward her and grinned, determined to override her sudden formalness. “I’m counting on it. How about we make plans for a second date right now?”

She raised one beautiful brow and he could tell she was covering a smirk. “This was
not
a first date.” From the tone of her voice, he didn’t know whom she was trying to convince more. Him or her.

“It felt like one. I bought you dinner, you asked me twenty questions—” He took another step.

She opened her mouth to object but he cut her off.

“Just so you know, I never sleep with a woman on the first date.”

“Those questions? I was merely being polite.” She raised her chin a little and looked him dead in the eyes. “And just so
you
know, I never sleep with charmers, so it looks like we’re both safe.”

In reply, he leaned forward and kissed her.

She moaned a little, the bags dropped to the ground, and he felt her body go soft against his. Placing his hands against her butt, he dragged her closer against him than was perhaps appropriate in public and deepened the pressure of his mouth against hers. One slide of his tongue and she opened up, every bit the participant. The kiss in the Elliot’s showroom had been good, but this one reminded him why he hadn’t given up when she told him she wasn’t interested. She tasted of chocolate and cookies and sweet-to-heaven goodness and he never wanted to pull back, but he could tell he was on borrowed time. It was only a matter of seconds before she realized what she was doing, remembered her declaration that she wasn’t interested and tore away from him, pretending to be offended or annoyed.

Summoning all the willpower in his body and ignoring the pounding pain at his groin, he broke contact first. “As I said, Hannah Elliot, I’ll be seeing you soon.”

With that promise, he turned and walked off to find his family without a backward glance.

CHAPTER FOUR

O
H
L
ORD
, H
ANNAH
couldn’t believe she’d fallen into the trap of a date, because no matter what she’d said to Matt, tonight had been as date-like as if he’d whisked her off in a limousine to a candlelit dinner at a five-star restaurant. And she’d enjoyed it far more than she’d have enjoyed such a scenario. And oh, that kiss... If they weren’t in public, she would have yanked him closer to her and started ripping off his clothes.

Jeez.
What kind of game was she playing?

Shaking her head as he strode off into the night, she bent to pick up her bags and the hat that fell off as she did so, and then tried to still the wild and inappropriate beating of her heart. She shoved the stupid hat under her arm and vowed to toss it in the first garbage bin she saw.

“Well, well, well, quite a show you put on there, sis.” At the approach of Luke and Nikki, her chance of escape evaporated.

Hannah closed her eyes and fought the urge to drop her head into her hands and wail. Of course it was too much to ask that none of her family had borne witness to her fall from grace. Not that she’d actually had very far to fall, but still.

“Evening, Luke. Hi, Nikki.” She forced a perfectly saccharine smile for her brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law. “Enjoy the night?”

“Not as much as you, it seems.” Luke gave her a look as if he’d caught her rampaging through the houses of old ladies.

“Leave her alone,” Nikki said, giving him a stern look. “Hannah’s an adult. She can have some fun if she wants to.”

“Thank you, Nikki.” Hannah felt pleased she’d taken the time to choose Nikki a funky handbag for Christmas and not gone with a box of boring soaps.

“Hey, I think it’s great,” Luke said.

“You do?” asked Hannah and Nikki together. As the oldest sibling, Luke usually sided with their father. They both believed her too easily led astray by inappropriate men.

“Yes. Matt is a good, smart, savvy businessman. He’d make a good husband for Hannah, not like that flake she married.”

“Luke, don’t start,” Nikki warned.

Hannah didn’t know Luke was acquainted with Matt, but that wasn’t the point she wanted to make.

“You never even met Larry.” She practically spat the words at her brother—probably because he was spot-on and she hated his being right. “And I’m not looking for another...actually, just
no
. I’m not talking about this with you or anyone right now.”

Before Luke could respond, Hannah stormed off to find Shaun and Melissa and beg them to take her home.

* * *

T
HE
NEXT
DAY
she was still in a foul mood—angry with her family but even angrier with herself and her hyped-up libido, which hadn’t allowed her a wink of sleep. Despite being physically exhausted from early pregnancy, her mind brimmed with thoughts of Matt’s lips teasing hers. She couldn’t get the idea of sleeping with him out of her head. Hell, she couldn’t get the idea of
him
out of her head. She’d never felt this way about Larry. Then again, she’d married him within twenty-four hours of meeting him, so there’d been no thrill of the chase there.

Frustrated in more ways than one, Hannah dragged herself out of bed, indulged in a long, hot shower and followed up with a large cup of coffee, the first she’d had since she’d seen the positive on the pregnancy test. She hoped the little bundle would cope, but some sins were necessary—this was the lesser of two evils.

Sitting at the kitchen table, she stared at her reflection in the window and decided she looked ready to head down to Elliot’s for a day of schmoozing potential clients. But looks could be deceiving. Hannah already knew her head would be up in the clouds all day trying to lure her over to the dark side in which she relented and let the Italian show her a little festive cheer.

“Oh.” She moaned out loud at the thought and quivered at the rush of warmth flooding her body. Wasn’t it the second trimester when her sex drive was meant to ramp up? And it wasn’t as if she’d been in a drought for long. She had absolutely no excuse.

“You okay, honey?” Her mum chose that moment to waltz into the kitchen.

“Yeah. Fine.” She swallowed, trying to summon moisture to her mouth, stood and crossed the room to dump her mug into the sink. “Just realized I’ve forgotten someone’s Christmas present.”

“Hope it’s not mine,” Emily chirped.

“No, ’course not. See ya, Mum.” With that, she pressed a quick kiss against her mum’s cheek and fled the house.

It was a short walk to Elliot’s from home and one she didn’t need to take because any one of her brothers would have picked her up, but she relished time alone to think and the opportunity to work off some of her pent-up frustration. The solution to her little problem appeared loud and clear once she was in the fresh summer air—she should sleep with Matt and get him out of her system.

There. A simple plan with only a couple of potholes.

Quite aside from the fact that she’d been vocal and definite in her refusal of him, she was pregnant with someone else’s baby. Even if he did only want a fling—and by his words and actions, she concluded that was the case—the pregnant thing made her an unlikely candidate. She had to admit she was tempted not to tell him, to indulge in one last hurrah before she got serious about life and motherhood, but the more sensible option was to tell him.

If he was a typical male, she’d only need to say the word
baby
and he’d run a mile.

* * *

H
AVING
PICKED
UP
the keys to his mum’s Christmas present from the real estate agent early, Matt headed to the house to wait for the arrival of the new furniture from Elliot’s. He contemplated stopping in at the emporium under the guise of checking if everything was ready to be delivered, but forced himself to ignore the urge. If Hannah was there, the real reason for his visit would be obvious and although he wasn’t exactly playing hard to get, neither did he want to cross into stalker territory.

Just the thought of her had muscles tightening all over his body and his blood rushing south. He’d have sworn after he’d pulled back from that kiss last night that she’d have run after him. Never before had his kisses failed to leave a woman begging for more, but Hannah wasn’t falling at his feet.

Instead she was confusing the hell out of him.

Usually if a girl didn’t seem interested, he wouldn’t push it, moving on to another prospect instead, but he couldn’t get Hannah out of his head. She was his every thought when he was awake, and during the night he dreamed of her. It had to be because she was playing so difficult to get. There were plenty of pretty girls in Wildwood Point, many of whom he guessed would jump at the chance for a holiday fling with an out-of-towner, others who were merely passing through themselves, but if he couldn’t have Hannah, he wasn’t interested.

This was a shock to his system.

Parking his rental car on the hilly driveway, he climbed out and took a moment to survey the scene in front of him. The house was as close to perfect as you could get—not too big, not too small, a combo of mod and historic with the sweetest view of the ocean in town. At least he knew he’d be making one woman happy this Christmas. He let himself in with the key and began switching on the lights. Vacant for months, since the previous owner had passed away, the house felt stuffy and he decided the first thing to do was to get the windows open. If the sea breeze didn’t do the trick, there was always the air-conditioning.

As he opened the curtains in the front lounge room, he saw a large truck with Elliot’s Emporium scrawled on it in a fancy font park on the driveway. For one stupid second he wondered if—hoped—Hannah would be part of the delivery team, but as two brawny blokes leaped out, his heart sank. Heading back to the door, he racked his brain to find a way of running into her today. He’d been lucky at the movies, and the whole town went down to the park for the tree and carols so last night had been a sure bet, but he didn’t think there was anything special on tonight. Nothing he was invited to, anyway. And although she’d likely be in church tomorrow night for the Christmas Eve service, he didn’t fancy waiting until then.

“Hi,” he called to the Elliot’s delivery team as he opened the front door. They were already nearing the house, carrying an ornate hand-carved headboard between them. Matt’s mind flickered back to a few days ago in the showroom and his groin immediately tightened again with the thought of kissing Hannah. Yep, no way was he waiting until tomorrow night.

“Afternoon,” said the man Matt guessed was in charge. They carefully laid the headboard on the front veranda, giving Matt the chance to read his badge. He recognized the name Shaun as the youngest Elliot brother. He had the same curly brown hair as Hannah and the oldest brother, whom Matt recalled playing football with the year before he’d moved to Melbourne. “Have you decided where you want all your furniture to go?”

Matt realized Shaun was talking to him and that, no, he hadn’t given any thought to such a thing. “Yeah,” he lied. “Do you want me to give you a hand?”

“Sure, that’d be great,” Shaun replied with a grin. “The quicker we get the deliveries done, the quicker we can knock off and start the festive drinking.”

Matt chuckled and rolled up his sleeves. For the next hour, he helped Shaun and the other Elliot’s employee heave furniture into the house. So many times he caught himself imagining that this was his house and he was moving home to settle near his family.
Settle?
He hadn’t thought about settling in years—hell, he’d never even dwelled on the concept before—but it sent a strange warmth gushing through his body. That wasn’t the scariest thought, though—he also found himself picturing Hannah in this house with him. He could see her watching a movie in front of the roaring fire, inhaling a morning coffee in the kitchen, and worst of all, as he helped Shaun position the bed in the master bedroom, he could visualize snuggling here with Hannah after a long day. All these ideas were alien and unsettling. He wasn’t used to one woman taking up all his headspace. It was a good thing moving furniture required hard manual labor, because he needed something to help expend the tension and frustration building up inside him.

He hadn’t had such an honest workout in years and decided the kind thing to do was to offer Shaun and his sidekick a beer at the end of it all. Thank the Lord his mum liked beer and he’d had the forethought to buy some for her fridge already.

He was sitting on the front porch enjoying a well-deserved cold one with the delivery guys and still contemplating how to engineer another meeting with Hannah when he looked up to see her stepping out of a car.

“What are you doing here?” Shaun called out to his sister.

She leaned over to say something to the driver and Matt found his body going even tighter at the sight of her ass sweetly encased in fitted capris. He couldn’t help but think about kissing her again, about doing much, much more, and he wished like crazy her brother and the other bloke would miraculously disappear.

She waved as whoever had dropped her off drove away, then turned, smiled and called back to Shaun, sashaying up the driveway toward them. “You left your phone back at the shop and I know how pathetic you are without it.”

Shaun raised his eyebrows, took another pull of his beer and said, “You shouldn’t have bothered. I didn’t even miss it.”

Matt glanced between the siblings. Could he dare to hope the phone was just a ruse to give Hannah an excuse to drop by?

“Well, Melissa has already sent you five messages, so I thought I’d do you a favor to keep you out of the doghouse.” Stepping onto the veranda beside them, she nodded to Matt and the other man, then tossed Shaun his phone. “Haven’t you still got another delivery today?”

“Damn.” Shaun downed the rest of his drink and deposited the bottle at his feet. “I’d almost forgotten.” He turned to Matt. “Thanks for the drink, mate, but we’ve gotta rush. There’s an old woman practically in the next state who insisted on us delivering a rocking horse to her before tomorrow.”

Matt chuckled. “Thanks for hauling all my furniture around. Drive safe and I guess I’ll see you at Christmas.”

“Ah yeah, that’s right. See you then.”

As Matt thought of a way to keep Hannah with him, Shaun opened his mouth and presented the perfect opportunity. “Sis, you’ll have to come with us. I don’t have time to drop you back in town before this delivery. Is someone watching the showroom?”

Hannah nodded, her gorgeous brown hair swishing around her shoulders and over her breasts as she did so. “Yes, I’m on a lunch break. I can just call and say I’ll be a few minutes late.”

“No,” Matt found himself saying more forcefully than he intended. “I can drive you. I’ll just need a minute to lock up.”

“You sure?” Shaun asked.

“Fabulous,” Hannah said, smiling in a way that spoke straight to Matt’s desire. She took a step toward the front door, making room for the men to pass.

“Yes, it’ll be my pleasure.” He was already thinking about feigning a flat tire or something and luring her into his den.

They stood alongside each other and waved the truck away. Silence reigned for a few moments. Usually suave words came to Matt without much thought where women were concerned, but right now his tongue had twisted into a pathetic knot. It’d be much simpler if they didn’t need to talk, if he could just pull her into his arms and rely on body language instead.

“So,” she began after a little while, “how’s the house coming along?”

“Was bringing Shaun’s phone an excuse to see me?” he asked, regretting the bluntness of the question the second it was out.

She blinked and then a coy smile blossomed. “Usually I would say that was a presumptuous thing to say, but I’m sick of playing games. Yes. I am not in the habit of running after my brother like that. I wanted to see you.”

“Great.” His heart swelled but he managed not to smile. He didn’t want to scare her off. “Would you like to come in then? I can only offer you beer I’m afraid.”