I’d seen the
cute guy with the big blue eyes and the cropped blonde hair way before he
spotted me. He was chatting to another guy, about fifteen or sixteen years
older than him maybe – who looked really quite similar now that I came to think
about it. Maybe they were related... or not... Whatever. I didn’t care about
him being related to the guy – I was just kind of fascinated with him. He was
very attractive. He was of medium height and build – not too big, not too
small. Perfect, a little voice in the
back of my mind piped up.
The
excitement in my stomach as he headed away from the older guy and approached
the bar was hard to contain. I had to speak to him. I had to...
I blurted
out the first thing I could thing of – which thankfully was actually appropriate to the situation. I offered to buy him a
drink but he wasn’t exactly what you’d call approachable. He looked at me
suspiciously and told me in no uncertain terms that he really wasn’t
interested. But I didn’t believe him. A flicker of interest in his eyes belied
his words – I know because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his. Azure blue...
incredible...
Still, it
was time to tread carefully, “Jeez, I was just...”
He snapped
something about me wanting a freebie, which was a bit weird since I’d offered him a drink and I looking at him in confusion. What the hell was he
on about?
He sighed
and apologised, “I’m sorry.” he said, “Just chat up someone else – someone
worth your effort, mate.”
Ahh, A
mystery man with a murky past. He thought he was saving me from my bad self...
I smiled, “That’s what I was doing.”
I said.
And now he
looked panicked but his eyes were still gazing at me with longing. And I felt
that pull. It really was love at first sight... This was the one I’d been
looking for my whole life. Someone who needed me as much as I needed him. It
was like magic...
Of course
when magic comes along in your life – it’s laced with a little of the black
magic too – and he sure as hell had his very own evil wizard in his life – his
cousin, Lenny Roblinski. I’d heard of the Roblinskis and the McCarthys come to that – but I had no idea that the
beautiful guy sitting at the bar was the younger brother of the guy who’d been
shot here a couple of years ago until he started talking to me.
“Hang on a
minute,” I frowned at him as I took a sip of my cocktail through the fancy
straw, “your cousin is Lenny Roblinski?” Hell. That guy had been suspected of
being involved – albeit allegedly – with Lionel Hessey and his associates.
Sadly the cops had never been able to get anything concrete on him but it was
widely known that he was – again, allegedly
– a pimp...
He shrugged
and nodded, “Someone’s gotta be related to him,” he muttered, “Guess I just got
really unlucky.”
I nodded,
“And your brother was...?”
He raised
his massive blue eyes to mine and nodded again, “Yeah.” He said, “Callum
McCarthy. We weren’t really what you’d call close – what with him only having a
relationship with heroin and crystal meth in the end but he was still a
buffer...” he shrugged. His face had gone very red. Clearly thinking he’d said
too much he changed the subject, “So, what do you do?”
I smiled
shyly at him. I really wasn’t one for talking about myself. I’d always kind of
thought that I had nothing to tell anyone worth listening to, “Well, I live up
at Northcote farm on the east side.
He nodded,
“Oh, yeah.” He said, “I know the place.”
I rolled my
eyes, “Mum wants me to take over the running of the place when she retires...”
But I wanted more... I wanted to go
places. Travel the world, get my degree in art and be an artist...
Hendrix (I
know – who has a name like that? So cool.) looked at me with interest, “Oh, wow.” He murmured, “What sort
of farm is it?”
I blinked.
What sort of a farm did he think it was? Farms were farms... “Well, you know –
we do potatoes and carrots and swedes and beetroots – we supply the markets and
we have a couple of lines of the ‘posh’ veg in the supermarket in the town. We
don’t have much in the way of livestock. Just a few sheep, goats and chickens.
We had to get rid of the dairy herd after dad passed – it was too much work for
Mum and I.”
His eyes
widened, “Oh, wow.” He breathed, “It still sounds amazing.”
Amazing? It
was hard work and pretty damned boring as far as I was concerned. But I guess
I’d grown up with it. He was looking at it with fresh eyes – and through a pair
of (very heavily tinted) rose-tinted glasses... I shrugged. I didn’t want to
dismiss his enthusiasm. My jaded views were down to the fact that I wasn’t
exactly living my dream, “Yeah, I
guess it’s pretty cool – but getting up at five in the morning soon starts to
piss you off.” I grinned. It was no joke getting up that early to go around the
farm before heading off to college – and particularly in the winter – it was a
killer.
It had been
nice when we were kids. My sister was two years older than me and she’d left
for university two years ago. She was doing really well and she really didn’t
want to come back for anything more than a visit these days, having met the man
of her dreams.
Sadly, Dad
died a year ago – leaving us financially quite well off – but still with the
working farm to manage between me and Mum.
Mum was
passionate about the place but I really wasn’t. My passions lay in the beauty of the place. I couldn’t deny
that. I could spend hours sitting in the fields, sketching the landscape and
watching the birds in the trees and the hedgerows going about their business.
The lake was utterly beautiful and I couldn’t deny that it was an idyllic place
to grow up but it wasn’t really where I wanted to spend the rest of my life –
just me and Mum. I wanted to spread my wings and fly. And meet the man of my dreams... And yet, hello! I think I just had...
He was
looking back at me with a little smile on that gorgeous rosebud mouth of his. I
really wanted to kiss those beautiful lips. They were so red in his pale face.
He was like a model. All golden haired and massive blue eyes. He looked like a
doll. “Yeah,” he agreed, “I can see how that could become a little wearing. I’m
usually just getting in at that time.”
I chuckled,
“Party animal.” I joked.
He sighed
and shook his head, “Well, not really.” He muttered, “I’m just trying to
survive.”
I frowned,
“Want to come back to the farm?” I offered, “I could show you around?” It was
lame but hell, what else did I have to offer?
I was
convinced he’d tell me to get lost but he didn’t. He nodded his head, “I’d love
that.” He said enthusiastically, scrambling off his barstool. “Now?”
His eyes
were sparkling and he suddenly looked like a little kid at Christmas. My heart
melted, “Sure.” I agreed. I reached for his hand but he snatched it away from
me, “Not in here.” He muttered. “I’ll go to the bathroom – you head out and
wait for me.”
I blinked,
“Oh, okay...”
He nodded
and disappeared to the bathroom.
I headed for
the doors. Buzz looked at me in surprise, “Going out for a smoke, mate?” he
asked.
I shook my
head, “Nah, I’m off, mate.”
He raised
his eyebrows, “Already?” he asked in surprise. I didn’t usually leave this
early even though I was always up at the crack of dawn to start working on the
farm.
I shrugged
and nodded, “early start tomorrow.” I said.
He nodded, “Yeah,
I’ll bet.” He agreed. He knew I lived on a farm. “Say hi to your Mum for me.”
I nodded and
grinned. Mum was quite well known around the community. She did farmers markets
on the first Saturday of every month in the town square and I helped her out
for most of them. Buzz was a regular customer along with his cute little
boyfriend and Mum adored the pair of them. She often told me I should look for
a guy like Buzz. But there was only one Buzz and he already had his happy ever
after...
Well, now I
might have found mine – but there were things about my mystery man that I
needed to figure out before I allowed myself to fall in love...Ahh, who the
hell was I kidding? I was halfway there already.
Pre-Order Now... Release date 24th August 2017
