Free What Love Sounds Like by Alissa Callen

for she the row of coffee cups that lined a shelf on the large wooden kitchen hutch. A strained quiet stretched to all four corners of the room.
    She secured her book beneath her elbow and stretched on tippy-toes to wrap her fingers around a mug. The book slid from beneath her arm to land with a loud thud on the floor.
Just. Great.
She may as well have grabbed a mega-phone to announce to Kade that he rattled her composure.
    ‘Sorry. Butterfingers.’ She bent to pick up the book and place it on the bench. ‘I’ll heat some milk and be gone.’ Mug in her hand, she headed for the fridge and tugged at the door handle. It wouldn’t budge. She tugged again.
    The door jerked open. Her elbow cannoned into rock-hard flesh. Kade’s groan rolled over the top of her head.
    She spun around. ‘I’m so sorry, Kade, I didn’t realise…’
    She stopped. Kade was so near the scent of his woody aftershave infused her senses. So near she only had to raise her arm a little and her fingertips would glide over his bare chest. She fastened her fingers around the mug to stop them doing anything foolish.
    Kade slipped a hand inside his open shirt and rubbed his heart where her elbow had collided. ‘It’s fine.’ Weariness rasped in his voice. ‘I shouldn’t have stood so close. The fridge door sticks. I was going to open it for you.’
    He reached past her into the fridge for the milk. ‘Here you go.’ He passed her the milk bottle.
    She stepped sideways and placed her mug onto the closest bench top. She busied herself pouring the milk and studying Kade as he searched for something in the freezer section of the fridge. Milk suddenly overflowed from the mug. She jerked the bottle upright. So much for multi-tasking.
    Self-disgust swept through her. What was she doing? Since when did she allow a man to distract her? Jack certainly hadn’t enjoyed such a privilege and he’d been the man she’d been prepared to spend the rest of her life with. So why then could Kade, a stranger who’d she’d been blindsided into living with for a fortnight, wreak such havoc on her self-control?
    She plonked the milk bottle onto the bench and went in search of a cloth. She had to get herself together. It was bad enough ever since Kade stepped into her office that memories of her childhood had resurfaced. She now didn’t need a far more adult pain to reappear. She hadn’t thought about Jack for a long time. She’d made sure his duplicity and his abandonment hadn’t contaminated the life she’d made for herself in the outback. She’d put her failed engagement, as well as her father’s rejection, behind her. She lifted the mug and wiped up the spilt milk with swift movements. In the same way she’d worked hard to correct her stammer, she’d worked hard to unpack her emotional baggage when she’d first arrived at Whylandra.
    She returned the cloth to the sink as Kade placed two plastic bags from the freezer onto the kitchen island. His deft fingers secured the buttons of his shirt. ‘Can’t sleep?’
    She nodded and twisted the lid onto the milk bottle. She had to get out of the kitchen before her dignity deserted her like her fine-motor skills had.
    Kade pulled up a stool and sat at the kitchen island. ‘My grandmother also used to give me warm milk to drink when I couldn’t sleep.’
    Despite herself, Mia glanced at him. A strange note coloured his voice. It was the same note she’d hear when a client was determined not to speak and yet still did so.
    ‘Your grandmother?’
    ‘Yes.’ Kade looked around the spacious kitchen as if seeing more than mere cupboards and appliances. ‘This was my mother’s childhood home.’
    Mia picked up the milk bottle from the bench. ‘Your mother was lucky to have grown up in such a beautiful place as Berrilea. I’m sure she has many fond memories of living here.’
    ‘I guess she was lucky.’ He paused. ‘As to fond memories, I’ve no idea. She died when I was born.’
    ‘I’m