Suddenly Expecting Read Free Page A

she’d rather swim with a pod of sharks than rehash her supreme stupidity that involved that night.
    God, could it get any worse? With false bravado, she clicked off her car alarm and then crossed the last few meters to open the door.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked, resisting the urge to lay a hand on her belly. Instead, she tossed her bag into the passenger seat.
    “We need to talk.” His unique voice—a sexy mix of French and faint Italian accents—never failed to make her shiver, but now she shoved her hair back behind her ear and steeled herself to face him. The bright security lights slashed across his face, revealing a serious expression that made her heart thump. But instead of giving in to the panic, she swallowed and crossed her arms, tilting her head.
    “About?”
    “We can talk on my boat.”
    She sighed. “Look, Marco, it’s late and there’s a cyclone approaching. Can’t this wait another day?”
    “You’ve been avoiding my calls, so no. And the storm’s not due for hours yet.”
    He glanced up at the dark sky and narrowed his eyes at the barely discernible wind that had picked up.
    “I’m tired.”
    He stared at her, irritated. “Phone calls. Avoiding.”
    She blinked slowly. “You’re not going to give up until I agree, are you?”
    “Non.”
    She sighed. “Fine. But be quick about it.”
    He eased off her car, moving into her personal space, and instinctively Kat took a step back, which only prompted him to frown. “You’re not going to stand me up, are you?”
    “No, I am not. Girl Guide’s honor.”
    “Good.” With a firm nod, he walked past her, got in his car and drove off.
    She watched his taillights blink as he turned left out of the parking lot before she had time to fully comprehend what her acquiescence really meant.
    We need to talk. Those four little words lay heavy with meaning, conjuring up a multitude of awkward scenarios from her disastrous past. Ten weeks ago, they’d not only crossed that line between friends and lovers, they’d burned it to the ground, and part of her wanted to run home and hide under the bedcovers. The other part wanted this awkward situation over and done with.
    With a sigh she got in her car, fired up the engine and drove out of the car park. She couldn’t run from him forever. It was time to suck it up and face whatever consequences that one night had wrought.
    * * *
    The marina was alive with activity, crowded with people securing their boats and belongings in preparation for the oncoming storm. Kat parked and headed down the wooden platform, eyeing the foreboding water as the dark waves lapped against the jetty. In a few hours’ time, a category-four cyclone would sweep across the coast, and everyone knew all too well the devastation it would bring. The city had only just managed to recover after Cyclone Yasi had slammed into North Queensland some years before.
    Marco’s boat was moored at the end, a sleek, shiny thing he’d gone into great loving detail about when he’d first bought it. The only thing she remembered from that conversation was not the horsepower, the dimensions or the fuel consumption, but rather his little-kid excitement. It had made her heart flip then, as it did now when she recalled the three-year-old memories.
    He stood on the deck and offered his hand as she stepped across the gangplank. Without thinking she took it.
    It was weird—she’d held his hand a thousand times before, and yet right now this one simple gesture was making her jittery, as though her whole body had been put on alert and was awaiting the next eager move.
    Which was stupid. Ridiculous. And highly inconvenient.
    Dammit, that was what came with sleeping with your bestie. Because now she couldn’t stop the memories of those same hands roaming all over her body and doing things that had gotten her all hot and panting.
    As they walked aft, she managed to surreptitiously slip her hand from his, avoiding his sideways glance by