chapter FIVE
GEORGIE spent all the free time she had over the next few days cooking. Cooking normally helped her to clear her head but it wasn’t having its usual calming effect this time. She alternated between trying to keep her mind off Josh and trying to work out why she was so affected by him so she could figure out how she was going to deal with it. But when he arrived to collect her for the drive to Tully she still hadn’t come up with a solution.
He was wearing a grey polo shirt and camel shorts. He had good legs for shorts, muscular without being bulky. She glanced over at him where he sat in the driver’s seat. His thighs where she could see them emerging from his shorts were tanned and covered with light, sandy blond hair. Strong and masculine.
She should have kept her eyes to herself because now she had to sit on her hands to stop herself from reaching out to touch him.
She concentrated hard to hold normal conversation as she tried to work out what it was about him that stirred her senses. She felt alive, alert and aroused. She realised he made her feel like a woman. It wasn’t necessarily because of the way he treated her but more in the way she responded to him, to his masculinity. She was totally aware of him and, in response, she became aware of her own desires.
She’d have to accept that was how it was and deal with it. Ignore it. She certainly wouldn’t act on it. She was taking a break from dating and she certainly wasn’t about to date a colleague.
She managed to keep her hands to herself and her hormones in check until they reached the meeting point for the white-water rafting company. They left their car at the end point of their ride and were taken upriver by bus. At the launch site they were kitted out with lifejackets, aqua shoes and helmets. Josh took off his T-shirt and stood before her in his board shorts before he put the lifejacket on over his bare chest. Getting through that display without licking her lips was test number one. Test number two was when he helped her fasten the chin strap on her helmet and his fingers brushed against her throat, sending her heart rate soaring. She swallowed but managed not to hyperventilate. So far, so good. She hoped she’d get through the rest of the day as easily.
‘I thought you said this was safe?’ she said as she straightened her helmet and flicked her plait over her shoulder.
‘It’s just a precaution,’ he replied. ‘The company has an impeccable safety record. I checked.’ He reached out to help straighten her helmet and her heart skipped a beat. ‘You’ll have fun, I promise.’
Georgie looked around at their group and suppressed a smile. The helmets they had to wear were most unflattering but she guessed she looked as bad as everyone else. The participants had been divided into four small groups and she and Josh followed their guide as he led them away for the safety briefing.
Their group, like the others, mainly consisted of young backpackers, but fortunately most had enough command of the English language to be able to understand the instructions. Once they’d covered the basics regarding the commands, how and when to paddle or not to paddle and how to approach the rapids, they were allocated a position in the inflatable raft. Their guide, Darryl, sat in the rear, Josh was given the front position and Georgie found herself given a spot towards the back of the raft near Darryl. That wasn’t quite where she wanted to be but she knew the raft need to be balanced and they couldn’t choose their own positions.
Before they launched their raft Darryl instructed them to practise their war cry.
‘Our what?’ Georgie asked.
‘Our war cry,’ Darryl explained. ‘Each raft has their own war cry. There are spots on the river where we compete to get to the next set of rapids and our war cry is part of the challenge,’ he explained before he let loose with his catch cry. ‘All for one…’
‘And one for all,’ his team responded.
From along the bank the other teams responded with their own cries and the bush reverberated with noise.
‘You didn’t warn me about this,’ Georgie muttered to Josh.
He laughed. ‘What’s the matter? It’s just a bit of fun. Just think of it as a team-building exercise.’ Georgie’s response was one raised eyebrow. ‘You must have done things like this before?’ he said. ‘What about when you went to Greece, did you join any backpacker tours? Some companies are notorious for these types of stunts.’
‘I went to Greece with my cousin and we stayed with relatives. I was barely allowed out of the house without a chaperone, so there’s no way I would have been permitted to go off with a group of random twenty-somethings.’ She looked at the backpackers sitting all around her in the raft and thought how different her overseas experience was from theirs. But it was what it was.
‘In that case, you’ll just have to trust me,’ Josh was saying. ‘Let yourself go and yell, it’s quite empowering.’ To prove his point, he joined in with the rest of their group in a raucous ‘And one for all’ following Darryl’s next command as they pushed off the bank and entered the water. Georgie had no option but to do as he said. The only way out of there was downriver and to reach the end they had to work together. She dug her paddle into the water, let go of her inhibitions and yelled with the best of them. Her reward was a big thumbs-up from Josh and a huge smile. The effort was worth it and made her determined to enjoy herself.
From her vantage point she could see Josh working hard, digging his paddle into the water, pulling strongly, his biceps flexing with the effort. He looked completely at ease. It was obviously something he’d done before and he seemed to relish the activity. She could imagine Josh alongside her brothers—they would enjoy rafting too. They were always on the go, always challenging each other to silly contests, always active. Josh was a lot like them, full of the joy of life.
She kept Josh in the corner of her vision as she concentrated on paddling and following Darryl’s instructions. The section of the river they negotiated before lunch was relatively easy but they were still soaked when they stopped for a barbecue on the river bank. They dried out as they devoured the burgers but once they’d eaten Josh suggested taking another dip in the water.
‘We’ve just eaten. What if I get cramp and drown?’ Georgie protested.
‘I’ll save you.’ Josh grinned as he reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet. ‘But if you don’t trust me, put your life jacket back on and we’ll just float about.’
Georgie picked up her jacket and slipped her arms into it. The river was wide and shallow in this spot and some rocks had formed a natural pool, cutting into the main channel. Georgie waded into the pool and floated on her back, drifting with the current.
Josh floated beside her. He turned his head and grinned at her, his grey eyes flashing silver. ‘This is the life.’
She had to agree with him. This was perfect. There were no demands on her, there was nothing else she should be doing, and that was an unusual state of affairs. She was completely relaxed. And she had Josh to thank for that. She could be herself with him. He had no preconceptions about her. No knowledge of her as part of her large family. No knowledge of her as someone’s daughter or sister or girlfriend. He was spending time with her because he’d chosen to and she was enjoying his company. But all too soon they were called from the water and directed to climb back into the raft for the post-lunch trip.
Georgie’s confidence had increased and she was loving every minute of the experience. She laughed and yelled and occasionally screamed and she was still grinning and yelling encouragement as they approached the final rapid.
She couldn’t believe how quickly the day had flown by. On the other side of this last rapid was the car park and kiosk that marked the end point of the day’s excursion. One rapid remained to negotiate before the day was over. She couldn’t believe how much fun she’d had. She’d expected to be totally out of her comfort zone, her sheltered upbringing and girls’ school education hadn’t prepared her for this. Perhaps she was really an adrenaline junkie. Perhaps, thanks to Josh, she’d discovered something about herself today.
They were neck and neck with one of the other rafts as they headed towards the final, narrow opening.
‘Paddle hard, all for one,’ Darryl yelled at them.
‘And one for all,’ they responded as they dug their oars into the water and tried to inch their nose in front of the other raft.
‘Left side only,’ was the next command, and those sitting on the right took their paddles out of the water, but their reaction time was slow and the other raft shot past them, taking first place into the final rapid.
As they emerged from the rapid in the wake of the first raft they could see the victors celebrating downstream. They had their paddles raised above their heads and were chanting their war cry. In the excitement of the celebration one boy stood up and his movement unbalanced the vessel. Because everyone had their hands and paddles in the air, no one was holding onto the ropes that ran around the inflated sides of the raft. As it tipped three rafters fell overboard into the river.
The raft righted itself as the weight distribution corrected and continued to drift down the river. Two heads emerged quickly from the water and those boys struck out for the raft where eager hands waited to pull them back on board.
The river wasn’t particularly deep and the water here was relatively calm but the third boy hadn’t reappeared. They all scanned the water, searching for him.
There. Georgie saw the red of the boy’s lifejacket pop up behind a boulder. She pointed in his direction as she saw him trying to grab hold of the rock but the boulder was smooth and slippery with no purchase.
‘I’m going in,’ Georgie heard Josh yell to Darryl even as he was already slipping over the edge of the raft and into the river.
‘What the—?’
Georgie heard the confusion in Darryl’s tone. He was sitting near her, and she turned to explain to him. ‘It’s okay, he’s a doctor—an emergency specialist.’ She had every confidence in Josh’s ability to get the situation under control. She’d seen him do it before. In fact, watching him swim away from her now gave her a sense of déjà vu. There was something immensely attractive about a man who didn’t back away from a challenge, a man who was prepared to leap to the rescue and who had the skills to pull it off.
He’d reached the boy now. She could see Josh talking to him and, as Darryl and the other guide steered their rafts into the bank, Josh floated the boy on his back and pulled him to the shore but not out of the water.
‘We’ve got trained first aiders, I’ll get one from the office,’ the guide from the other raft called out to them as Darryl gave orders for disembarkation from his raft.
Georgie was agitated as she waited for the others to climb ashore before her. As soon as she was able to, she hurried off to assist Josh, though she knew he was perfectly capable of managing on his own. There was no doubting his skill and medical expertise. She couldn’t believe she’d joked about having to help him get up to speed with pre-hospital emergency medicine, he was totally in control of the situation, but she wanted to help. She wanted to be a part of it. It wasn’t in her nature to be a spectator in these situations.
‘Hi.’ He didn’t waste time with pleasantries. ‘We need to get him out of the water but we’ll need to be careful. I suspect he has fractured ribs and he’s twisted his knee. There doesn’t appear to be any spinal damage. His name is Ulrich.’
One of the rafting company’s employees arrived with a first-aid kit and a stretcher. Together Georgie and Josh rolled the boy onto the stretcher and with the help of the guides lifted him onto the bank.
Josh unclipped the boy’s lifejacket. The jackets were cushioned at the front and back but along the sides, under the arms, the fabric was only thin. Georgie could see a large bruise already forming under the boy’s left armpit. Ulrich grimaced in pain as Josh moved his arm but told them it was his chest that was sore.
Josh undid his own life jacket now that they were out of the water and slid it from his body. Georgie knew he’d want to get rid of its cumbersome bulk to give him freedom of movement.
He was bare-chested, his back tanned and smooth as he leant forward and extracted a stethoscope from the medical kit. He bent over the boy and placed the stethoscope on the boy’s chest. ‘Can you try to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth for me?’ he asked the boy. Ulrich did as he was asked but complained when he attempted a deep breath. He spoke perfect English but Georgie could detect an accent, possibly German, which fitted with his name.
‘I know it hurts but try once more for me,’ Josh instructed as he moved the bulb of the stethoscope.
‘Equal air entry,’ he said to Georgie. With fractured ribs she knew Josh would have been concerned about a pneumothorax but equal air sounds meant that was one thing the boy had escaped.
‘He’s not going to be going anywhere in a bus, you’ll need to call an ambulance to take him to Tully hospital.’ Josh was speaking to the rafting guide. He was issuing instructions, taking control of the situation, as Georgie had known he would, and everyone was running around doing his bidding, happy to have someone take responsibility.
Georgie helped Josh to sit the boy up so they could remove his wet lifejacket. She then carefully dried his upper body with a towel before covering him with a space blanket to keep him warm. Satisfied that the boy was able to breathe and hadn’t sustained any serious chest trauma, Josh moved his attention to the boy’s knee.
‘It looks as though you’ve just twisted your knee. Nothing’s broken,’ he announced as he finished his examination. Darryl arrived at that moment with the news that the ambulance had been called but would take half an hour to reach them. The boy’s friends trailed in Darryl’s wake.
‘Do you want anything for pain relief?’ Josh asked Ulrich. A thirty-minute wait with fractured ribs would seem like a long time. When Ulrich nodded Josh searched the rafting company’s medical kit. ‘There’s nothing really suitable, or strong enough, that won’t interfere with the paramedics when they arrive,’ he said to Georgie. ‘In my car is a medical bag and there should be an analgesic inhaler in there. Do you think you could get my keys from our locker and find it?’ Josh turned back to Ulrich. ‘You don’t have any medical conditions, do you? You’re not diabetic?’
Ulrich shook his head and Georgie went to find their things and retrieve the car keys. She was familiar with these inhalers. They were carried in all the ambulances for short-term pain relief, and she found the box and slotted the cylinder into the bright green inhaler and returned to Josh.
Ulrich seemed much more comfortable once he’d self-administered the analgesic and the wait for the local paramedics became easier to bear. One of his friends travelled in the ambulance with him and Georgie and Josh stood side by side and watched as the ambulance made its way down the road towards Tully.
‘I suppose that’s the end of our foray into uncharted waters for you, then?’ Josh asked her. ‘You won’t believe me next time I tell you something’s safe.’
Georgie laughed. ‘I’m pretty sure things wouldn’t have gone haywire if Ulrich had kept his seat. He’s only got himself to blame.’
‘You haven’t written me off altogether, then?’
‘Not completely, but whether or not you get a second chance will depend on what you have in mind.’
‘How about dinner? If we leave now we’ll be back in Cairns in time for me to take you out somewhere.’
‘Are you okay to drive all the way? You’re not too tired?’ It was a two-hour trip back to Cairns, a long way at the end of a busy day.
‘Would you rather stay in Tully overnight?’
‘No!’ Georgie panicked. ‘I was just going to offer to share the driving.’
The two of them, staying overnight in Tully. Together! Not that he’d actually suggested they spend the night together but she knew her resistance would be minimal at best if she found herself alone with Josh, away from home, overnight. Staying in Tully would only complicate matters. She needed to rein in her crazy fantasies.
‘We’re heading home, then?’ he asked.
She nodded. Spending a couple of hours in a car with Josh would be enough to test her willpower and she thought even that might be a struggle. She couldn’t be expected to stay away overnight with him and behave.
‘All right,’ Josh continued, ‘let’s head off so we can shower and you can choose somewhere for dinner. You will have dinner with me?’
Did she want to? She wasn’t tired after the day of rafting. Adrenaline was still coursing through her system and if she was honest she’d admit she didn’t want the day to end. Dinner would help to stretch out the day. ‘Dinner would be lovely.’
Josh’s grey eyes gleamed as he smiled at her and despite the streaks of dust and dirt on his face he looked fresh and alert, not in the least bit exhausted. Georgie wasn’t sure where he got all his energy from but his smile was enough to give her a second wind and she looked forward to dinner with eager anticipation.
He took her hand as they walked to the car. His touch made her skin tingle. It felt alive, as though she could breathe through her pores. She felt as though she was floating and it was several moments before she even wondered about his easy, casual manner. She shouldn’t be holding his hand but it felt so natural and so good she didn’t want to let go.
On the drive back to Cairns Josh kept glancing at her even as he was driving and he would occasionally reach over to touch her arm or her knee as he talked. His touch was enough to keep the adrenaline coursing through her system and she was on the edge of her seat by the time they reached Cairns.
She hurried through her shower once he dropped her home. She was keen for their time together to continue. He was good company, he knew how to enjoy himself and he made her feel attractive, intelligent and amusing.
Which was exactly why she should keep her distance, she knew she should. She was supposed to be using this time in Cairns to find her independence, to find her own identity, and she couldn’t do that if she was spending time with someone else.
So in an effort to attempt to keep Josh in the box marked ‘colleague’ she chose The Sandbar on the esplanade for dinner. It was a new restaurant and bar, not far from the hospital, and Josh’s apartment, and it was super-trendy and busy so there was little danger of an intimate dinner for two. Georgie figured there was safety in numbers and she knew if she was going to be able to resist Josh she needed to avoid being alone with him. Every time she was alone all she wanted to do was touch him and taste him but she knew there was no point.
The bar was busy, as Georgie had hoped, but she hadn’t counted on it being so busy that they wouldn’t be able to get a table in the restaurant.
‘If you don’t have a reservation then I’m sorry but we’re fully booked,’ the hostess told her when she requested a table.
Josh intervened.
‘If you could manage to swing it, I’d really appreciate it.’ He focussed intently on the hostess and Georgie knew she’d be feeling like the only woman in the room. She knew that feeling all too well herself. Then Josh played his trump card. He smiled at her and Georgie saw the hostess cave in.
‘I’ll see what I can do. Come this way,’ she said as she led them to a table on the very edge of a balcony overlooking the Cairns foreshore.
Josh held Georgie’s chair for her as she sat. He ordered drinks for them and then proposed a toast.
‘To new experiences.’
‘Thank you for organising the rafting,’ Georgie said as she joined in the toast. ‘I really did enjoy it. I think maybe I am an adrenaline junkie in disguise.’
Josh laughed. ‘Of course you are—you’re a paramedic. I just can’t believe it’s taken you all this time to discover that side of you. What were your brothers doing when you were growing up? Why weren’t you out with them, pushing boundaries?’
‘I’m so much younger than them they didn’t want me tagging along after them and my parents certainly didn’t encourage it. I was, am, a good Greek daughter. I spent my time in the kitchen with my mum and Nonna. I wasn’t out climbing trees and terrorising the neighbourhood with the boys. But after today I think I might be a little more adventurous.’
‘Sky-diving?’
‘Still unlikely.’ She laughed. ‘I know I told you I came to Cairns for the career experience but it was also my chance to try to discover who I am, away from the perceptions and expectations of my family, and today I learnt a bit about myself. I tested myself physically and I survived. I even enjoyed it, so thank you.’
‘It was my pleasure.’
The waitress brought their order but as soon as they were alone again Josh continued the theme of the previous conversation. ‘I’m intrigued. How do your family see you? Is their version very different to the one I see?’
Georgie shrugged. ‘I’m the baby, the only girl with four big brothers. They all think I need looking after. That’s why they’re all looking for a partner for me, they see that as part of their responsibility, making sure I’m taken care of.’
‘They’re still searching for boyfriends for you? I thought you were going to tell them you’re happy being single?’
‘I haven’t said anything yet. It’s not that I mind the idea of marriage,’ she explained. ‘I’m just not ready for it. I need to work out who I am first. I just hope I can do that before my time here is up and I find myself back in Melbourne.’
‘You’re braver than I am. The idea of marriage frightens the life out of me.’
‘Why?’
‘Spending your life with one person, that takes a lot of commitment, a lot of trust. I think it’s a lot to ask. A lot to expect.’
She smiled. ‘Don’t let Isaac hear your opinions. Their wedding is only a fortnight away.’
‘I’m not against marriage for other people,’ Josh clarified. ‘It’s just not for me.’
‘Why not?’
‘You’re lucky to come from a stable, supportive family background. That immediately gives you a different perspective. Naturally you think the institution of marriage is a good one. Not everyone is as fortunate.’
Her family was immensely important to her and she couldn’t imagine feeling differently, but it was clear that Josh didn’t have the same rosy view of family life. She wanted to know more, she was desperate to know more, but something about Josh’s tone stopped her from questioning him. Before she could think of another topic of conversation to break the awkward silence that had fallen, the waitress came to clear their plates.
The trade-off for securing a table for dinner was that they needed to vacate the restaurant by nine o’clock for another booking. Georgie still wasn’t ready for the day to end; she didn’t think she ever would be, but because she’d parked her car at Josh’s apartment the day stretched further still. They walked along the esplanade together.
It was a beautiful North Queensland evening, warm and humid, but once the sun had set the humidity became pleasant rather than stifling. Josh took her hand as they crossed the street and instantly Georgie felt her temperature rise even further. His hand was warm and the heat, his heat, flooded her body. Their steps were unhurried but still she felt they reached her car all too soon.
Things had changed today. Despite her best intentions, her awareness of Josh had increased and her resistance was weakening. Every glance, every touch, every smile had gone straight to the heart of her, making her pulse race, her stomach flutter and her nerves spark. She wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, she just knew that she wasn’t ready for the day to be over. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
She raised herself up on her toes and kissed his cheek. Her lips pressed against his skin, so close to his mouth that if he’d turned his head a few millimetres she would have kissed his lips.
‘Would you like to come up for coffee?’ His voice was soft and she could feel his words brush her cheek in little puffs of air.
She hesitated, running the different scenarios through her head, letting her imagination take flight before she replied. ‘I really need to get home, I’m working tomorrow.’ It had nothing to do with tomorrow, it was all about her lack of resistance to Josh. A coffee could mean so many different things. She’d learnt to take risks today but she didn’t think she was ready for another one quite so soon.
‘It was just a coffee.’ He was smiling at her and his grey eyes were full of amusement.
‘Stop doing that!’
‘Doing what?’ Now his eyes were a picture of innocence.
‘Reading my thoughts.’
‘Let me see if I read them correctly.’ He leant towards her.
He was so close she could feel the heat radiating from him. Their faces were inches apart. He moved his head towards her, closing the gap.
Was he going to kiss her?
He stayed where he was for what seemed like for ever. How could he remain so still?
He was watching her, studying her, and then he moved another fraction closer, his head tilted slightly to one side.
Georgie shut her eyes as she waited for the caress she was sure was coming.
Josh’s lips brushed over hers, the gentlest of touches, so soft she wondered if it was nothing more than her imagination. His mouth met hers again. His touch was firmer this time, more definite. Her lips parted involuntarily and she tasted him. He tasted of mint and she heard herself moan as his tongue explored her mouth. The outside world receded; it was condensed into this one spot, this one man.