Fixed Up by Maddie Jane Page B

tomorrow.’
    Suddenly the thought of her life resuming as normal seemed sucky. It also occurred to Harper that she didn’t know what Luke’s normal was; what he did when he wasn’t lounging around in the back of her classroom. ‘What’s your normal Tuesday then?’
    â€˜Depends what’s going on,’ Luke said. ‘My construction company is closed until the end of the week. We always close for three weeks after Christmas, and normally I’d be away at the beach.’
    â€˜At your ritzy holiday house, somewhere in the Coromandel, I suppose?’
    â€˜It’s not that ritzy. But it is in the Coromandel. You should come with me some time. Do you surf?’
    â€˜Surf? No. Do you?’
    â€˜Yeah. Any chance I get.’ Luke’s fingers toyed idly with the stem of his wineglass. Harper’s gaze fixed on them. Long, strong fingers on squarish hands. Her gaze moved up his forearms, tanned skin roughened with dark hair. She tried to stop her gaze roving to his broad shoulders and to stop her imagination as she pictured him running up the beach in board shorts. Athletic body, sun-kissed skin. She’d thought his eyes were the colour of a moody southern lake, but tonight with the candlelight reflecting in them she could see the wild blue-grey of the sea, sunlight sparkling across it.
    A deep-buried longing, a pang in her chest, surprised her with its intensity. Surprised her, but for once didn’t terrify her. Luke reached across the table to casually lift her hand and she didn’t jerk away as she once would have, but enjoyed the caress of his fingers as he angled her wrist to look at her watch. His hand lingered, sending tiny pulses of sensation into her, each pulse a furtive reminder that something electrifying was happening between them. Whether she wanted it or not.
    She shifted in her seat, her feet colliding with Luke’s under the table. This time neither of them moved and she imagined her legs tangling with his. She could feel the hard bone of his shin, the muscled calf, the solidness of him against her own leg.
    â€˜It’s ten o’clock,’ said Luke. ‘We should head off or you’ll be knackered tomorrow.’
    He was right, but she still didn’t want the evening to end. She wasn’t ready for tomorrow to come.
    â€˜And if you so much as whimper about paying the bill, you’re walking home,’ he said.
    They drove back to Harper’s house in an easy silence, enjoying the soft music playing from the car’s speakers. Harper closed her eyes and let the moment wash over her. She might even have dozed off for a second, as next thing she knew Luke had pulled into her driveway, switched off the engine and was sitting back in his driver’s seat looking at her. She stared back, not sure what to do next. Not sure what he was going to do next. She knew she wanted to kiss him but didn’t know how to go about it. Should she get out of the car, invite him in, or just go for the dive-bomb lip lock right now?
    She rubbed her slightly sweaty palms up and down her jeans. Swallowed. The light-headedness might have been from the wine, but her sneaking suspicion was it had more to do with the slow smile he gave her as he reached across to push her hair back behind her ear. The light lingering touch of his finger stirred a craving, a slow burn that had been building all day.
    Harper flushed under his close scrutiny, heat spreading through her body. Her heartbeat pounded loudly in her own ears and when she swallowed again it seemed too exaggerated. Too much heat, too much saliva, too many breaths. Her body gave her away and all the while he smiled that smile. The x-ray smile that said he could see right through her. Through her clothes, her thoughts and her bullshit.
    On any other day of the year she’d have got out of the car and run as fast as she could, slamming her shabby front door behind her. Locking him out. But today