Dating the Rebel Tycoon by Ally Blake

the distance barely altered the gentle curve of the horizon.
    The world was whisper-quiet, bar the shoosh of the wind. And above? The moon was hidden behind patchy, leopard-print cloud, and delicate, multi-coloured stars beamed intermittently through the gaps.
    A wall of warmth washed against her back. She tensed and turned to find Cameron, his face lit by the quiet moonlight. ‘Everything okay?’
    ‘Fine,’ Cameron said, in such a way that she knew it was not. She knew it was about his dad. The moment heaved between them. She itched to ask, to know, but the truth was for her the less she knew about him the better. That always made it easier when the time came to kiss cheeks and walk away.
    ‘So what do you think of the view?’ he asked, sliding a crate next to hers.
    She hugged her knees to her chest and wrapped her floatydress tight about her. ‘Apart from it giving me a case of adult-onset vertigo?’
    He laughed. ‘Apart from that.’
    ‘The view is…lovely.’
    ‘Just lovely ? Not magnificent? Not unmatchable? This floor will be rented out for so much money it makes me almost blush.’
    ‘It’s pretty. But kind of unreal when surrounded by so much concrete and steel. You really want to see something? Stars so bright, so crisp, so shiny and perfect, that you just want to hug yourself to keep all that beauty locked up tight inside of you.’
    As her little flight of fancy came to a close she realised he was watching her with that inscrutable intensity that swept her legs out from under her. Lucky thing she was sitting.
    ‘Where, pray tell,’ he asked, ‘Can a man see such stars?’
    ‘You’re mocking me.’
    ‘I am. Only because it makes you blush, which is a view to match even this one.’
    She thanked her lucky stars that he was yet to figure out her blushing had nothing to do with his words, and everything to do with his…everything. As his eyes searched hers, she looked back out into the night.
    ‘Around three a.m. is best,’ she said. ‘At exactly this time of year. Five-hundred metres down the road from where I live, there’s a dirt track leading to a plateau where the land drops away on three sides into Samford Valley. If you look to the south-east you can see the city in the distance. But you won’t; you’ll be looking up. And you’ll truly understand why it’s called the Milky Way.’
    He breathed deep. ‘You’ll be there tonight?’
    ‘I’m there every night. Though I must admit, I lasted about an hour this morning before I fell asleep.’
    His deep, warm voice skittered across her skin as he asked, ‘Tired you out, did I?’
    ‘Hardly. I’m just not as gung ho as I used to be.’
    She glanced back at him, and regretted it instantly. The guywas like a strong drink: just one taste and the effect on her body, and mind, was debilitating.
    He asked, ‘And what are you hoping you might find up there in the sky to be out so late at night?’
    She nudged her chin against her shoulder. ‘I’m not hoping to see anything. I saw what I needed to see long ago.’
    His voice was low as he asked, ‘What did you see?’
    ‘That my trifling concerns don’t matter all that much to anyone but me.’
    ‘Hmm.’ Cameron closed one eye and squinted at her with the other. ‘I was brought up believing my family was the actual centre of the universe.’
    ‘You do know the geocentric model went by the wayside around the sixteenth century, right? You’ve really got to see one of Adele’s shows at the planetarium.’
    Cameron laughed, and Rosie did too. The sounds joined for the briefest of moments before being carried away on the air.
    ‘Until then, take this home with you—the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.’
    Cameron waited a beat before saying, ‘Where have I heard that before?’
    ‘Eleventh-grade Shakespeare.’
    He blinked blankly.
    ‘Now, come on, you can’t tell me you never compared some poor, lovestruck and less-rigorously-educated young