The High Price of Secrets

He let his hand slide down her arm, his fingers tangling with hers. She didn’t resist and he couldn’t help but feel a surge of triumph that she didn’t pull away.

“C’mon, let me show you where I’ve pegged out the chalets and main buildings. It’s not far from the jetty over there.” He pointed with his free arm. “My dad and I built it and it’s still solid. We used to have so much fun here at the lake. That’s what I want to give the families that come here. A chance to play together again. To create good memories.” He wanted desperately to give her good memories of her time in New Zealand—something to take away the sting of the situation with Ellen. But would she let him?

* * *

The sun beat down on them as they walked the perimeter of the proposed respite center and Tamsyn felt a trickle of perspiration run down her spine. Jeans had obviously been the practical choice for the quad bike ride and walking in the long grass but, oh boy, did they make a person hot. She lifted her hair off the back of her neck, allowing the breeze to cool her ever so slightly. The lake looked cool and inviting.

“Thirsty?” Finn asked, as if he could read her mind.

“Yeah, although I wouldn’t say no to a swim either. Shame we didn’t bring bathing suits.”

“We don’t need suits.”

She snapped her head around to look at him.

He gave her a nonchalant look in return. “It’s totally private here. I can’t even see this edge of the lake from my house, so if you want to take a dip, go for it.”

“But…”

Whatever she was going to say flew from her mind as he tugged his T-shirt loose from his jeans and yanked it up over his head. Her eyes were drawn like magnets to his naked torso, to the play of muscles across his chest and lower. He reached down to undo his trainers and slid them and his socks off before his hands went to the waistband of his jeans.

“What are you waiting for?” he asked, a cheeky gleam in his eyes. “Last one in is a rotten egg.”

The band of his boxer briefs was already showing. Not one to be left behind, Tamsyn slid her tank top off and toed off her runners while rapidly undoing her jeans. Jeans and socks came off in a smooth movement and she shoulder-barged him as she went past, putting him completely off balance and sending him to the ground in a tangle of jeans and limbs.

“Cheat!” he called after her.

He was only seconds behind on the wooden planks of the jetty and she squealed as she heard his rapid footsteps gaining. She was about a meter from the end when she felt his arms close around her waist, felt him lift her in the air, take another long step and twist to fall back backward into the lake.

Freezing cold, the water closed over her head and shocked the air out of her, but she didn’t panic, didn’t squirm. Instinctively, despite everything, she knew she was safe. Finn’s arms were locked around her like a band and she felt his strong legs kick them back toward the surface. And that wasn’t all she felt. His body was responding to hers and he wasn’t trying to hide it.

Their heads broke the water and he released her.

“Man, that feels good,” he said with a grin that went ear to ear.

She couldn’t help but agree. The sweltering heat that had made her so uncomfortable before had been driven out of her body. But rather than chilling her to the bone, the water felt like silk stroking against her skin—making her aware of each of her nerve endings as they responded to the sensation, and to the nearness of the almost-naked man treading water beside her.

“Sometimes during the school holidays, when Dad would come back to the house at lunchtime, we’d race each other off the jetty. I lived for those moments. Mum would bring a picnic lunch for us and we’d all sit together afterward until he had to get back to work.”

“It sounds like you guys had a great relationship,” Tamsyn said, adopting a lazy breaststroke to swim in circles around him.

“We did. I’m lucky. Even though he died, I still have so many great memories. You missed out on that, didn’t you? Doesn’t seem from what you’ve told me that your father took time out with you kids.”

“No, he didn’t, but we didn’t miss out altogether. We grew up with our cousins, Judd, Raif, Cade and Cathleen. We were always off on one adventure or another, when we weren’t working on the estate somewhere.”

Although she’d quietly envied her cousins their mothers while she was growing up, she’d still had a pretty carefree childhood. Ethan had seen to that. Protective, inclusive—he’d been her rock, and still was in so many ways. And her dad had been there, too, in his own gruff workaholic way, along with her uncle and aunts. But there had still been that vital component missing for her.