Read Online Cracking the Dating Code by Kelly Hunter - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kelly Hunter
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he let her go.
Don’t touch. Don’t break it.
Seb ran a hand through his hair. His hair needed cutting.
Work he’d been avoiding needed doing but he made no move towards his office.
Later.
Poppy spent a frustrating day at the computer. Lunch came and went with no Seb to interrupt her. The afternoon rolled by with no progress made when it came to cracking code. Poppy made her way to the kitchen around four. No Seb, but an Esky sat on the bench with a note from him saying that dinner was in it. He made a much better host than she made a house guest. As for flirting and kissing, she had a sinking feeling that he’d decided against continuing along those lines with her.
Hard to blame him, given the mixed messages he’d already chipped her about. Welcome a kiss from him one minute and freeze on him the next? Hide from him all day and then expect him to entertain her the minute she’d gathered enough courage to go and seek him out?
Chances were he wasn’t that much of a sucker for punishment.
Poppy took the Esky back to the guest house and put the food in the fridge for later. She stood staring at the ocean for a good five minutes and then, with a curse, she got backon the quad and headed downhill, towards the cove where she’d found Seb yesterday.
Not looking for him, not really.
Good thing, too, because he wasn’t there.
Poppy walked from one end of the little crescent beach to the other, and when that did not suffice, she rolled up her trousers and waded up to her knees in the water and watched the black-tipped reef sharks flick about on the outer coral reefs.
Oh, the bravery.
Sick of herself and her timidity and all the risks she
hadn’t
taken over the years, she gazed wistfully out over the shallows towards the nearest cluster of underwater coral.
‘Coming in?’
Seb’s voice, coming from somewhere behind her, and she turned her head and there he was. Board shorts. Snorkel dangling from his hand. Ready to swim. Snorkel. Ready to seize life and wring from it every drop of pleasure that he could.
‘No.’
‘Shark issues?’ He looked towards the outer shallows. ‘I’ll play spotter for you if you like.’
‘Kind of you, but no,’ she murmured. ‘I didn’t bring any bathers.’
‘And we’re caring about that? You’re already half wet. Swim in your clothes.’
Poppy looked towards the closest coral bombie again. It wasn’t that far away. Twenty metres? And the water around it looked shallow. ‘What’s the tide doing?’
‘It’s on the turn.’
‘In or out?’
‘In.’
In was good. ‘Are there any rips?’
‘There’s current around the edges of the cove but nothing serious. C’mon.’ He held out his hand. ‘You know you want to. I’ll keep you company. I’ll even lend you my snorkel.’
Poppy smiled faintly. ‘What a host.’
‘I know,’ he murmured and held out his hand. ‘You can’t come to a sub-tropical island paradise and not swim.’
He didn’t know her very well. But the ocean spread out before her, glasslike and beckoning, and several days’ worth of unsuccessful code cracking pushed at her from behind, along with her abysmal failure when it came to flirting and kissing with a man who set her aflame.
Surely she could own one small personal victory today? A dip in the ocean. The conquering of a long-held fear. Proof positivethat she was making an effort not to be the mouse others believed her to be.
Poppy stepped forward, into deeper water, and found herself up to her waist. Elbows up, the water around that coral outcrop would be deeper than it looked.
And then Seb took her hand in his and coaxed her out further. Neck deep in it now, he turned towards her and smiled. Poppy’s fingers tightened around his, not clutching at him but close.
‘Where do you want to go?’ he asked.
‘To the coral,’ she said, and tried not to tremble.
‘You want me to tow you? Or would you rather swim?’
‘Swim.’ She could swim. In a pool.
Her heart thudded
Don’t touch. Don’t break it.
Seb ran a hand through his hair. His hair needed cutting.
Work he’d been avoiding needed doing but he made no move towards his office.
Later.
Poppy spent a frustrating day at the computer. Lunch came and went with no Seb to interrupt her. The afternoon rolled by with no progress made when it came to cracking code. Poppy made her way to the kitchen around four. No Seb, but an Esky sat on the bench with a note from him saying that dinner was in it. He made a much better host than she made a house guest. As for flirting and kissing, she had a sinking feeling that he’d decided against continuing along those lines with her.
Hard to blame him, given the mixed messages he’d already chipped her about. Welcome a kiss from him one minute and freeze on him the next? Hide from him all day and then expect him to entertain her the minute she’d gathered enough courage to go and seek him out?
Chances were he wasn’t that much of a sucker for punishment.
Poppy took the Esky back to the guest house and put the food in the fridge for later. She stood staring at the ocean for a good five minutes and then, with a curse, she got backon the quad and headed downhill, towards the cove where she’d found Seb yesterday.
Not looking for him, not really.
Good thing, too, because he wasn’t there.
Poppy walked from one end of the little crescent beach to the other, and when that did not suffice, she rolled up her trousers and waded up to her knees in the water and watched the black-tipped reef sharks flick about on the outer coral reefs.
Oh, the bravery.
Sick of herself and her timidity and all the risks she
hadn’t
taken over the years, she gazed wistfully out over the shallows towards the nearest cluster of underwater coral.
‘Coming in?’
Seb’s voice, coming from somewhere behind her, and she turned her head and there he was. Board shorts. Snorkel dangling from his hand. Ready to swim. Snorkel. Ready to seize life and wring from it every drop of pleasure that he could.
‘No.’
‘Shark issues?’ He looked towards the outer shallows. ‘I’ll play spotter for you if you like.’
‘Kind of you, but no,’ she murmured. ‘I didn’t bring any bathers.’
‘And we’re caring about that? You’re already half wet. Swim in your clothes.’
Poppy looked towards the closest coral bombie again. It wasn’t that far away. Twenty metres? And the water around it looked shallow. ‘What’s the tide doing?’
‘It’s on the turn.’
‘In or out?’
‘In.’
In was good. ‘Are there any rips?’
‘There’s current around the edges of the cove but nothing serious. C’mon.’ He held out his hand. ‘You know you want to. I’ll keep you company. I’ll even lend you my snorkel.’
Poppy smiled faintly. ‘What a host.’
‘I know,’ he murmured and held out his hand. ‘You can’t come to a sub-tropical island paradise and not swim.’
He didn’t know her very well. But the ocean spread out before her, glasslike and beckoning, and several days’ worth of unsuccessful code cracking pushed at her from behind, along with her abysmal failure when it came to flirting and kissing with a man who set her aflame.
Surely she could own one small personal victory today? A dip in the ocean. The conquering of a long-held fear. Proof positivethat she was making an effort not to be the mouse others believed her to be.
Poppy stepped forward, into deeper water, and found herself up to her waist. Elbows up, the water around that coral outcrop would be deeper than it looked.
And then Seb took her hand in his and coaxed her out further. Neck deep in it now, he turned towards her and smiled. Poppy’s fingers tightened around his, not clutching at him but close.
‘Where do you want to go?’ he asked.
‘To the coral,’ she said, and tried not to tremble.
‘You want me to tow you? Or would you rather swim?’
‘Swim.’ She could swim. In a pool.
Her heart thudded
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