Hold On to Me by Victoria Purman

side, a rocky rounded outcrop, and the west, a café, Norfolk Island pines, the memorial garden to fallen soldiers of World War I, the surf lifesaving club and the cliff tops she liked to walk every morning. The sun was low in the sky and all the landmarks she knew so well were already casting long shadows. She goose bumped: the temperature had dropped. It had been a long day. It was time to go home.
    â€˜Stella?’

CHAPTER
10
    Luca was jogging up the sand from the water, dripping wet, looking like he’d just stepped out of a Dolce & Gabbana advertising campaign. Every muscle was moving in perfect rhythm. His black swimming shorts were clinging to his thighs, and his dazzling smile lit up his face and sent a jolt of heat right through her.
    â€˜I thought it was you.’ He stopped a metre in front of her. Droplets of water drizzled down his sculpted torso. And damn it, there was a tattoo. Of course there was. That’s what young people did these days, right? Some kind of vine snaked its way from his hip to his armpit on his right side. She dragged her eyes to his face. His eyelashes looked like a supermodel’s and his brown eyes smiled down at her.
    â€˜Long time no see,’ she said with a forced laugh.
    Someone, or something, was testing her. Maybe it was Summer and her damn angels.
    First, her shop.
    Now, her very womanhood and professionalism were being challenged. How on earth could she look Luca in the eye and have a regular conversation when he was standing in front of her, wet, half naked and looking like a football player who’d been dipped in a café latte?
    Two milliseconds and her pulse quickened.
    â€˜It’s fantastic out there, isn’t it?’ He was slightly breathless but looked completely energised at the same time. ‘Did you swim?’ He looked down at her black swimsuit. It was a one-piece but Stella knew the very low cut of the fabric between her breasts took it squarely out of sensible and into sexy. And she noticed that he noticed.
    She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She knew what that did to her breasts and suddenly didn’t care. Perhaps she was challenging him too. ‘Me? No, I just floated. I’m too exhausted to swim and I needed to cool off. What about you?’
    â€˜I walked up there on the path and dived in from the jetty, swam right across Horseshoe Bay.’
    â€˜Oh. That’s quite a swim.’ And it explained his build. There were no tan lines on his upper body. His muscled arms led to strong shoulders and there was dark hair in the dip between his pecs. He wasn’t beefy, more defined and toned. He was clearly built for endurance, not speed.
    Put the young man down.
    Except she really, really didn’t want to.
    â€˜It’s been such a hot day. It’s nice to cool off before you drive up to Adelaide, huh?’
    He met her gaze, direct and inviting. ‘I’m staying down here during the week while I’m working on your place.’
    Stella really didn’t need to know that. ‘You are?’
    â€˜I don’t think I mentioned it. I’m crashing at Anna and Joe’s place at Middle Point during your job. It’ll save me time. It’s only five minutes away and they’re up in the city during the week, so it’s empty.’
    â€˜It’s a nice place.’ Stella knew it. Joe and Anna’s weekender wasn’t beachfront property, like the enormous houses along millionaires’ row on the beachfront. Joe’s childhood home was a few blocks back from the esplanade, but it was up on the rise and had incredible views up and down the south coast, from the Coorong to Victor Harbor. Built in the 1970s, it more closely resembled a suburban home than a beach shack, but it clearly suited Anna and Joe as they commuted back and forth to the city.
    Luca looked up the beach to the houses overlooking the bay. ‘You live nearby?’
    Stella noticed he still