Part 6 (2/2)

She stopped stretching and looked him in the eye. Attraction hovered between them like a soap bubble, beautiful, light and with a limited lifespan. Just the way he liked it.

'I could do with walking some of that off.' Cameron patted his flat stomach. 'You game?' He held out a hand.

She stared at it. Then she wiped her hands on her jeans and, after a moment's hesitation, put her hand in his.

Holding hands made him feel like he was seventeen again. But, then again, the fact that he couldn't remember the last time he'd held a woman's hand unless it was to help her out of his car made it feel far more grown up than all that.

As Rosie strolled beside Cameron down the length of South Bank, they talked movies, politics, religion and work. She made fun of him loving a sport that managed to keep a straight face while giving a man a job t.i.tle of ”silly mid-on”, while he utterly refused to admit he believed man had ever really set foot on the moon.

But she couldn't get her mind off the elephant in the room; Cameron and his father must have had some kind of falling out. She'd never heard about it in the press or on the grapevine. Yet he'd confided in her. She was caught between being flattered, and being concerned that what had started out as a fun date had become something more complicated so very quickly.

It would be okay so long as she remembered who she was and perhaps, more importantly, who he he was. He might have fled the nest but he was still a Kelly. He walked with purpose even if that purpose was simply to walk. He had that golden glow that came with the expectation of privilege, while she knew what it was like to struggle, to trip over her own feet and her own words, and to feel alone even in a room full of people. They were manifestly wrong for one another. was. He might have fled the nest but he was still a Kelly. He walked with purpose even if that purpose was simply to walk. He had that golden glow that came with the expectation of privilege, while she knew what it was like to struggle, to trip over her own feet and her own words, and to feel alone even in a room full of people. They were manifestly wrong for one another.

They dawdled along the curving path. Moonlight flickered through the bougainvillea entwined in the open archway above. A group of late-night cyclists shot past and Cameron put an arm around her to move her out of their way. Once they were free and clear he didn't let go.

Against her side he was all bunched muscle and restrained strength. His clean scent wrapped itself around her, and it took everything not to just lean into him and forget everything else.

To reforge the natural boundary between them, she asked, 'So, what is it like being a Kelly?'

'What makes you think there is only one way?'

'I'm not sure. Terrible instincts. Stumbling about in the dark only to find the electricity has been cut off. No, wait-that's how it is to be a Harper.'

His steps slowed until they came to a stop. 'Right. Let's stop talking around the real question, shall we?'

Rosie bounced from one foot to another, wondering what can of worms she'd inadvertently fallen into now. 'And what's that?'

'If you were such a poor unfortunate in your youth, while I was given every opportunity, how did did you work out twenty percent faster than I did?' you work out twenty percent faster than I did?'

Her head fell back as she laughed into the night. She bobbed her head in the general direction of the Red Fox, wondering briefly if everyone else had made it home to their nice warm beds. 'Don't beat yourself up. Spending time with that lot, how could you not revert to your teenage IQ?'

His eyes narrowed. 'I'm not entirely sure that was in the slightest bit complimentary to any of us.'

She looked him dead in the eye and said, 'Well, colour me surprised. You're not as slow as you seem.'

His cheek slid into the kind of smile that would melt the icy crust of the moon Europa. No wonder she couldn't stop moving. He was always so switched on, he made her feel like there were ants in her shoes.

'So, how did a smart mouth like you end up in such a dry field as astrophysics?' he asked, lifting his foot to lean it against a log on the edge of the garden beside them.

Rosie clasped her hands together behind her back. 'I used to wish upon every star I saw. When I didn't get a trip to Disneyland for my eighth birthday, I gave up on them.'

'Stars?'

'Wishes. Stars I couldn't let go of quite so easily. So, while you hunkered down in your seat shaking like a little girl at the animated wormholes on your planetarium visit, I paid attention. I learnt about Venus, about how she always appeared alone, separate from all the other planets, and only at the most beautiful times of day, sunset and sunrise. That afternoon, I sat in the kitchen window of our apartment block and there she was-bright, constant and unblinking. A free show, for anyone in the world to see. That was the beginning of a beautiful love affair that has lasted til this day.'

Rosie came back to earth to find Cameron standing very still, his eyes dark, intense, with the kind of absolute focus she was certainly not used to being on the receiving end of. She'd been balancing on her toes. She bounced back to her heels with a thud. It didn't help. Those deep, blue eyes looked just as hot from a lower angle.

She started walking again; no dawdling any more. a.s.suming he'd follow, she said, 'Did you know Venus is the only planet in the solar system named after a woman?'

'I think I'd heard that.' His voice told her he was close.

'And, with a few exceptions, all surface features take their names from successful women.'

'That I did not know.'

'And that, if you weighed one-hundred kilos on Earth, you would weigh about ninety on Venus?'

'I feel like you're trying to sell me an interplanetary timeshare.'

She glanced back and wished she hadn't. When she looked into his eyes she forgot herself. Forgot that their time together was one of the universe's crazier anomalies. And she found herself wis.h.i.+ng again. Just for the briefest moment, but each and every time.

He asked, 'So are any other planets allowed a look in, or is this an exclusive relations.h.i.+p?'

She looked up, and the tightness in her chest ebbed away. 'I'm a one-planet woman. Earth and Venus are the most similar in size of the planets in our solar system. They came into being around the same time with nearly the same radius, ma.s.s, density and chemical composition. But she has clouds laced with sulphuric acid, a surface hot enough to melt steel, and her surface pressure is equivalent to being a kilometre under the sea.'

'She's one feisty broad.'

'Isn't she?' Having built up a safer distance, she spun to face him, and, walking backwards, said, 'Sorry you asked?'

'Not in the least. So, how long have you been working at the planetarium?'

She fell into step beside him, figuring it best to keep her eyes on the path ahead. 'I don't. I've known the manager there-Adele, who you met yesterday-since uni, and she lets me camp out in the observatory whenever I like. I travelled a lot after school, and now, being back, having the observatory on hand means I can mix things up.'

'And it's a living?'

She shot him a sideways glance. 'As Australia's pre-eminent Venus specialist, I've given talks at international conferences, guest lectured at universities, and even talked on TV about her. And I've worked freelance for NASA for yonks. So, yeah, I do just fine.'

'You're a humble little thing, aren't you?'

'The humblest.'

He moved alongside her, close enough she could feel the whisper of air from his swinging arm brus.h.i.+ng her jacket against hers. Their footsteps found a rhythm; her heart on the other hand felt like it was skittering all over the place. It was a feeling she'd never experienced before, comfortable and s.e.xy all at once. She wondered if he felt that way all the time, if being with him she would too.

Rosie slid her arm out of Cameron's grasp, feigned having to unhook the back of her shoe from her heel, then walked on with a good foot's distance between them.

They hit the end of a row of cafes at the southern end of South Bank, then veered around in a one-eighty-degree arc and headed back towards the Victoria Street Bridge. Towards their cars.

Towards the end of the night.

And Rosie's relief and disappointment at the thought of their date coming to an end ran pretty much neck and neck.

On the other hand, Cameron was feeling strangely content. He would have expected by now to be over the elation that came with revelation, and to have moved on to disappointment with himself for giving into a moment's weakness.

But instead his mind was completely filled with the fact that he was out on a stunning winter's night with a beautiful woman. And, having given up so much of himself, he found himself wanting more from her. To restore the balance? That was the reason he was most comfortable admitting to.

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