“Yes. Professor Tillman organised it during the week. When you were in Melbourne, I suspect. I’ll be surveying Lepidoptera in Mount Stronach Forest Reserve for the week. I would think there’s a good chance you’ll be seeing quite a bit of me in the next seven days.”
I pulled up out the front of the B&B and killed the engine. I had to bite my bottom lip to stop from grinning. This was possibly the best news I’d ever heard. “Mount Stronach?”
“Yes. Have you heard of it?”
“Heard of it? That’s my jurisdiction. I mean, it’s one of the national parks I look after. I know it well.”
“I assumed it might be,” he said. “Well, I hoped. It would mean a greater chance of seeing you again.” He looked at the flower he was holding and chewed on his bottom lip. “If you don’t mind me saying that.”
“I don’t mind at all.”
In the low light of the night, he looked even more pale, more beautiful. He held up the flower and stared right at me. “Thank you for the daisy. And thank you for such a lovely evening.”
The air between us was suddenly electric. God, I wanted so bad to kiss him, not sure how I should proceed. There was the console of the ute between us, and if I leaned in and he didn’t, I’d die of embarrassment…
He licked his lips. “I believe it’s customary for a gentleman to offer a kiss on a first date.”
I barked out a laugh, thankful, relieved. “I believe it is too,” I murmured. I leaned across and slid my hand along his cheek, gently bringing his lips to mine. Soft, warm, sweet, and with the barest hint of parted lips and the promise to deepen but not yet…
Perfect.
Lawson’s eyelids fluttered when I pulled back, and he blushed with a smile that stole my breath. “Tomorrow,” he whispered.
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
He got out and disappeared into the darkness, and I drove home in a daze. I was grinning like crazy and unable to stop it. I slid the basket of dirty plates on the sink to leave until morning, gave Rosemary a pat and apologised for waking her, and for leaving her all week with Remmy, and then again leaving her tonight. She looked up at me with her big brown Border collie eyes, probably wondering what on earth made me so damn happy at half-past twelve in the morning.
“I met someone special today,” I told her. “His name is Lawson Gale.” She wagged her tail at me. “I dunno, Rosie, but if there’s any such thing as perfect for me, he just might be it.”
*
At ten o’clock, after I’d been at work for three hours watching the door in case he turned up, Perfect walked in. Well, not so much as walked in as kind of tripped through the doors, trying to hold a folder in one hand, hold a phone to his ear with his other hand, while opening the door with his elbow. He almost dropped the folder, managed to catch it, but caught his foot on the threshold.
He stumbled a little but thankfully didn’t fall over. He collected himself and raised his chin defiantly. “I’ll be in touch,” he said into the phone. He disconnected the call and, looking around the office, found me smiling at him.
God, he was just even better looking today than he was yesterday. He was wearing navy chinos and a white button-down shirt. His sleeves were rolled halfway up his forearms and his top button was undone. The hollow of his throat looked inviting and I wanted to lick it. “Good morning.”
His cheeks tinted a faint pink. “Well, yes. It is now. I suppose. The car rental company finally found my paperwork. It only took them two hours this morning, and I only had to yell a few times.” He slid his folder onto the reception counter and took a deep breath. “Sorry. It’s been quite a morning.”
“Did you get a car sorted out, though?”
“Yes, thank you. A rather big one. I’m not entirely sure what exactly the design team was overcompensating for when they came up with it.”
I looked out the window and saw the latest model white Land Rover Defender parked out the front. I smiled at his overcompensating comment. “You’ll need the torque if you’re going off-road, particularly in the mountains around here.”
“Yes, well, true. Not that I’ll be going anywhere too dangerous.” He looked horrified at the thought. “Well, I don’t think I am. Topographical maps can be deceiving.”
“Have you got a map of where you’re required to go specifically?” I asked. I’d gone through the application this morning, so I knew where he was going. I wanted to know if he did.
“Yes.” He pulled out a paper map, then a tablet, and showed me the areas on both. He was familiar with where he had to go, hypothetically anyway. In a physical sense, I wasn’t so sure. Yes, he was smart, but wandering off into the Tasmanian wilds on your own was nothing to be blasé about.
“Do you need someone to go with you?”
“I’m not stupid.”
I smiled at his indignant rebuff. Always on the defensive. “I never said you were. In fact, we both know you’re the opposite of stupid. This area through here”—I pointed to the part of the map he was wanting to go—“isn’t easy to access. There’s a gorge that runs right along here. But there’s a fire trail that runs across the bluff. I can get you access to it if you want.”
“Oh.” He blinked a few times, and I could almost hear the cogs turning behind his eyes. “Would the person who comes with me require payment? Are they talkers? Because if they don’t shut up, I’d rather get lost in the forest by myself.” I chuckled at that, which he ignored. “I’m not saying I can’t make my own way, but I would not be opposed to guided help, even if just for the first day.”
He was so adorable. I could see why his co-workers probably didn’t exactly like his brashness, but I found it endearing. He didn’t mean any harm by what he said or how he said it. He simply said what he thought because it made sense to him, and it was very clear he compartmentalised; emotions and ego were not mutually exclusive with his work.
“I don’t doubt your competence or ability,” I said with a smile. “I was referring to a personal guide, a Parks and Wildlife Officer, to be exact.”
He stared at me blankly. Okay, so genius, maybe. Clueless, definitely. “That would be me.”
“Oh.” He looked around the office again. “Are you not busy? Is the office always empty? I would have assumed for a government agency you’d put our taxes to better use.”
I scoffed and put my hand to my heart. “You wound me! Robert is at a careers day at the high school, which I cheerfully let him do―”
“Let him or made him?”
“Made is a strong word. It was more a case of rock, paper, scissors.”
“Who is Robert?”
“He’s my 2IC.” I waved at the desk on the right. “That’s his desk and that one’s mine.” I pointed to the other desk. “And this one here”—I waved to the front desk—“belongs to Karen, our wonderful office manager who keeps us all organised. She has just ducked down to the coffee shop to get us both a brew. I need some extra help staying awake because someone kept me up talking half the night, and I was here early because I had no clue what time he’d drop by and I didn’t want to miss him. I really should have grabbed his phone number.”
He chuckled. “Well, if you’re offering to be my guide and you can spare the hours, I would happily agree.”