Mason brushed a lock of hair off my face, hooking it over my ear, then tracing a single finger along my jaw. I swallowed, raising my eyes to meet his, and the look of adoration left me speechless.
“When you walked into that bar, you lit up my world. My starlight.” He pulled me into another kiss, this one filled with longing and promise. When he was temporarily sated, we walked into the bathroom and he started filling the large tub with steamy water, where he found more things to explore with me as we waited.
11
Mason
The morning after I apologised to Destiny, I woke up with her naked body pressed to me. Despite knowing that this time, we’d been in her cabin and that she was an integral part of the upcoming wedding, I had the irrational fear that she would ghost me again.
We’d spent the night worshipping each other’s bodies, but I knew that if I was going to make this work, I had to do more than get her lust drunk on orgasms. This was where my grand plan came into effect.
After supplying Destiny with enough dopamine to maintain the starry look in her eyes, I loaded her into my car, wanting to avoid running into our families at the onsite restaurant. I held her hand as we walked into the Bean and Bushell cafe to grab a takeaway coffee and some breakfast, already so addicted that I couldn’t help but touch her.
The smug look on the face of the cafe owner told me more about how the gossip mill hadn’t stopped churning after I lastleft Hartwood Bay. It didn’t help that she was such close friends with my parents that she was more like an aunt.
“Nice to see you again, Destiny. Mason, nice to see a smile on your face again.” Debbie said as we walked up to the counter. “What can we get you guys?”
We both ordered bacon and egg rolls as well as our takeaway coffee, then Debbie sent us on our way with two pieces of her Tim Tam cheesecake. “To keep up our strength,” she’d joked.
With Destiny back in my car, I drove her out of town, along the road that winds inland along the river. Streets full of houses lined the opposite side of the water. On this side, there was still a fair bit of bush bordering the side of the road. I took a quick turn along a less frequently used road and wound our way up the rough track on the side of what we locals referred to as the mountain. The lookout was a little out of the way and not something a lot of tourists knew about.
I pulled up on the gravel and dashed around to open Destiny’s door before grabbing the paper bag with our food from the backseat and directing her to the bench that sat behind the safety fence. Placing our food on the bench, I wrapped my arm around her waist and with the hand that held my coffee I pointed toward the National Park and the U-shaped patch in the middle where the Valentine Cove Resort sat. I showed her the main part of town where we’d just grabbed our food, the pub where my mum played her last gig was with her old band, my old high school. Then I pulled her close to me and pointed in the general direction of where my house was on the outskirts of Hartwood Bay, in the opposite direction that the resort sat.
With reluctance, I let her go, and we sat back on the bench and started eating our food. The view was breathtaking at this time of day, with the winter sun warming our skin.
“I’ve never been here before,” Destiny said quietly. “I can’t believe how much I can see from up here.”
“I wanted to show you my world, the one I’ve come back to, not the one we met in.” I felt truly at home for the first time in years. “The one I’d like to share with you.”
Destiny ate in silence, soaking in the panoramic outlook.
“What are we doing?” She asked.
“Having breakfast.” I answered cheekily.
“Not what I mean, and you know it.” She gave me a half smile. “I mean, how do we make this work? I live in Sydney and you live down here.”
“I can live anywhere. Besides, this isn’t too far from Sydney.” I shrugged. After being left in Vegas, a couple of hundred kilometres between Sydney and Hartwood Bay felt like nothing.
“You just moved back from the US. I doubt your family would be okay with you being in Sydney all the time.” Destiny eyed me sceptically, making the four-hour drive seem longer than it would be.
“They would understand. Besides, you could spend time down here, too.” I offered, not wanting to push her.
“I have a job in Sydney, Mason. We don’t all get to be people of leisure.” That last part felt like a dig and I was very aware she was trying to lash out and hurt me before I hurt her.
“I’m not a ‘person of leisure’. Besides, doesn’t your boss live in Hartwood Bay now?” I dropped the last bit, hoping that she could work as flexibly as Logan.
“Former rock star is not a full-time job, Mason, and Logan might live in Hartwood Bay, but Love Rich head office is in Bella Vista.” I bit my tongue. It was not the time to tell her I was a music therapist, waiting to have my accreditation formalised in Australia.
“Do you always have to be in the office?” I asked gently. She was already too skittish for me to push any further.
“Do you even know what I do?” Destiny’s anger escalated. It was the voice of someone who had spent years overlooked andunderestimated. “I’m the Manager of Business Administration. I have a team of a dozen administrative and executive support staff to look after. They’re used to seeing me in person in the office when they need me. Most of them work flexibly, depending on which team or manager they support, but I’m always there.”
I got that. Her job was her constant, her stability. I would not mess with that. “So I’ll move to Sydney.”
“Surely it can’t be that simple?” Destiny looked more deflated at my answer than relieved.
“It doesn’t have to be that hard either,” I pulled her to me, holding her close so she could feel that I wasn’t going anywhere. “We’ll take it one day at a time.”
