Free Downunder Heat by Alysha Ellis Page B

night—and this morning—she would always treasure it for its link to one of the most exciting, wonderful times of her life.
    With Zakk gone, Kitty went about her normal routine. Every time she stretched to put something away and her clothes pulled tight against her skin, she thought of Zakk’s hands and mouth touching her. Before she threw the sheets in the washer, she buried her face in the crumpled white bundle and inhaled the intoxicating aroma of him that clung to the fine white cotton.
    While eating a sandwich for lunch she wondered what she would have made him for breakfast and thought about what she needed to buy to make sure that next time—and she knew for certain there would be a next time—she could feed him something appropriate for the physical life he led.
    Sitting at the kitchen table, she stared dreamily out of the window, wondering what he was doing at the beach. Had he had to rescue anyone? Was he watching the sun-gilded bodies of attractive twenty-year-old girls? The idea didn’t disturb her as it once would have. He’d been on beach patrol for a long time, but last night he had been with her—not because he’d had no choice but because he’d wanted to be.
    After lunch Kitty told herself she had to snap out of it. Mooning over Zakk, letting thoughts of him occupy a part of every moment, was something a teenage girl dreaming over her first boyfriend would do. It wasn’t the behavior of a mature woman who had once been married. She considered visiting one of the local tourist spots, but she couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for catching a train and wandering the streets of a new place by herself.
    Instead she stretched out on the sofa with a book. The exertions of the night caught up with her and she slept. When she awoke, it was after seven and the sun had begun to set. There were things to do, work to prepare for, any number of things that did not include sitting around dreamily, thinking of Zakk.
    Her self-congratulations were cut short by the ring of her phone. She leaped into the air and raced to grab her handbag. Damn it, why hadn’t she put the phone on the fridge or the table or somewhere intelligent where she could get to it? And why was her bag always such a mess?
    After a frantic search, she pushed the answer button. “Hello.” The word emerged as a breathy huff of air.
    “Kitty?” Zakk sounded hesitant. “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah, sure,” she said, still struggling for breath. What was she going to tell him? I’m all puffed out because I leaped over the lounge and ran to the bedroom because I really hoped it was you. How desperate would that sound? “I was, um, exercising,” she lied. It was only a little lie. Running was exercise.
    “I hope you don’t mind my ringing,” Zakk said. “I’m still down at the surf club. I just needed to hear your voice. ”
    His words washed over her in a golden glow like warm honey. “I wanted to hear your voice, too,” she replied. “The beach isn’t far away. Maybe you’d like to come over.”
    “I would love it, but I can’t.” He heaved a sigh that seemed to come from the depths of his spirit. “I’m going to be stuck here for a while yet, and when I get away it’ll be too late.”
    Images of surf club parties and wild goings-on flashed into Kitty’s brain. Wollongong was his city, the surf club the hub of his leisure time. Of course he had a social life that didn’t include her. “It’s okay, I understand,” she said, keeping her voice neutral.
    “I doubt if you do, Kitty.”
    For the first time she noticed the signs of weariness.
    He sounded gravelly and his words were slow and spaced apart. “We had a bad day.”
    Now that she listened properly, she could hear no sounds of revelry in the background. Whatever held Zakk at the club had nothing to do with sixties-inspired beach parties. He’d said he needed to hear her voice—he’d rung because he needed her. “Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked