it. When we both know you can. You can have exactly what you want, exactly as hard and fast or slow and easy as you want.”
“That is quite enough!”
He paused, looked at her for a moment with such close attention she almost quailed. Almost. Then she returned him stare for stare. He wore no glasses so his blue eyes were perfectly visible, as clear as the sky. Not that she felt it helped her read him at all.
The moment stretched out, then eased as a certain tension went from him, he banked the fires in his gaze and relaxed into a new direction.
“Do you surf at all? With an athletic figure like yours you must do something very active.”
He reclined back on both elbows, bunching up the muscles of his shoulders into a riveting collection of bumps and hollows. Quite magnificent.
Her heart was beating faster. She could feel it thumping against the inside of her chest. She thought she could smell the faint, clean masculine scent of him on the air. She was really longing to touch him.
The idea filled her with confusion. She had no frame of reference for this desire, this, yes, hunger to be close to a man, skin to skin. She was frozen, suspended in the moment, torn between the habits of many years to move away, reject, hide from or simply fail to connect with men her age, and this new urge.
So she did nothing. Of course. As always taking the safest route. Found a courteous social smile and pasted it on.
“I do a little bit of everything,” she finally replied.
“Everything?”
“Oh you know. Water sports, cycling, tramping. The usual round here.”
“Hey Suzanne! Howzit?” came a loud voice to her left. She swivelled her head to the sound.
“Hi Kyle,” she called back to the slender island man whose six-year-old daughter was in the class she taught at Okiwi School. “Missed you at the school board meeting.”
“Yeah, sorry ’bout that. I fell asleep on the couch after dinner and no one woke me up until eight. I reckon it was probably too late by then.”
“Marieka working you too hard? Keeping you up at nights?”
“Yeah, no rest for the wicked, eh? Hey Justin, if you wanted that dive I’m heading out about now with the boys.”
“Do you two know each other?” asked Suzanne, surprised.
“I met Kyle at the bar a couple nights ago,” answered Justin. “He was telling me about his boat. Bragging about the size of his catch.”
“No bragging, mate. Pure fact. You can come too if you like, Suzanne,” said Kyle. “We’ve got space if you bring your gear.”
“Where are you going diving?” she stalled, caught off guard by the whole situation.
“Out of Fitzroy. The cuzzies have had the boat round there. Looking for crays and whatever else.”
She hesitated a moment. Should she refuse? Would Justin think she was choosing to spend her afternoon with him if she said yes?
Damn him! If he wasn’t here she would say ‘yes’ in a heartbeat. An afternoon of diving and a dinner of magnificent fresh seafood? She never turned that down. And she wouldn’t let him put her off her usual pursuits. She often went diving with Kyle and his family. They were careful and conscientious divers, minding their safety precautions and only taking as much as they needed to feed themselves, and never more than quota.
“Hmmm. Crayfish huh? Don’t know if I can say no to that offer.”
“So I’ll see yous guys at Fitzroy? At about one? Or you wanna meet here and I’ll give you a lift?” Suzanne considered his question with a little doubt. Kyle’s car was tiny, and she doubted it would fit more than Kyle, his two teenage boys and their diving gear. She had better take her own car.
“I’ll drive us both to Fitzroy, meet you there at what time?” said Justin before she could reply. Her brows snapped together as she opened her mouth to contradict him.
“Sweet as bro, see you at one, eh? That’ll give us time to get a feed at the burger place. See ya.” With a hand uplifted in a casual farewell Kyle