Some Girls Do (Outback Heat Book 1) (24 page)

Anouska pulled up a chair beside Lacey and they chatted about it, sketching a half a dozen different things back and forth as they nutted out the problem and clicked around on Lacey’s desktop computer looking at similar designs. Anouska smiled as Lacey declared herself still not satisfied fifteen minutes later. Anouska was a perfectionist and Lacey had learned early she expected nothing less from her team.

She put down her pencil. “You’ll solve it, I have no doubt.”

Lacey was flattered. “I hope so.”

“You will,” she said. “You’ve got a very good eye and an almost psychic connection to whatever design you’re working on. That’s a gift.”

“Thanks.” Lacey smiled at the praise.

“How are things going? You only have a week left on your trial. I’m hoping you’d like to stay on.”

Lacey hesitation was only for a nanosecond but she could tell that Anouska had seen it. “I get the impression you’re not
really
happy here, Lacey.”

“No …” Of course she was happy. Everything was falling into place for her. The last thing Lacey wanted was to be seen as an ingrate. Not when she’d been given a marvellous opportunity. “No, sorry, it’s not that. It’s just Melbourne is …”

What could she say that didn’t sound insulting or immature?

“Different from home?”

Lacey nodded in relief when Anouska didn’t appear to have taken offence. “Yes.”

“And you miss home.”

Yes she did. But not as much as she missed Coop. It was insane to feel this way. It had only been three weeks for crying out loud.

“Or maybe
someone
at home?” Anouska guessed.

“No.” Lacey shook her head. “There’s no-one.”

Anouska studied her face for a few long hard beats. “You’re really good, Lacey Weston.
Really.
I think I can teach you a lot. I
know
you can teach me a lot. But it’s gotta be what you
really
want. Life’s too short.”

Lacey nodded. “It is what I want,” she said emphatically.

It was time to stop moping about Coop. They’d been a brief bit of insanity and he was moving on with his impersonal texts of car engines. And so should she. “I would love to come and work for you permanently. Please. If you’ll have me.”

“Of course.” Anouska grinned and patted her hand. “Of course.”

Someone called for Anouska. She grimaced and apologised and walked a few feet over to the next desk where one of the other designers wanted to ask her something, leaving Lacey looking at the small padded post bag with a bulge in the middle. She noticed it was Coop’s handwriting and her pulse picked up as she tore it open at the end. A small zip-lock bag fell out of the parcel and inside it were what looked like fabric clothing labels.

Lacey turned the bag over to inspect the rectangular labels more closely. She gasped as she read what they said in exquisite silver thread.

A Lacey Weston Original
.

She pulled one out of the bag and ran her finger over it. The font had a country western feel to it while still being feminine. It was so beautiful, so
thoughtful,
so personal, Lacey’s heart just about burst out of her chest.

“
Oh Coop
,” she whispered as emotion burned hot in her gut and prickled at the backs of her eyes. God, she was going to cry, right here at work in front of everyone.

What the hell was wrong with her?

With a shaking hand Lacey quickly clicked the mouse twice, navigating straight to Coop’s business page, which she’d bookmarked when she’d first arrived and had visited every day just to look at his picture and read his bio. His face came up on the screen, looking more like a criminal with his scar and shaved head rather than the stand-up guy he was, the ex-cop-cum-mechanic.

It took her a few moments to realise the website header had been changed and Lacey blinked when she saw her mini in all its gleaming burnt-orange pride up there, front and centre, sparkling in the sunshine. A ‘click here’ tab was positioned just to the side of her sexy new car and she clicked on it.

A page came up with a dozen pictures of her beautiful car’s journey from pile of junk to lovingly restored. By Coop. The page header read
Latest Labour of Love
and kicked Lacey hard in the vicinity of her heart.

Love.
Her car was a labour of love for him?

Was that a purely mechanical, rev-head point of view or was there some subtext behind the header?

Tears welled in her eyes as the truth stormed naked and full frontal into her consciousness. In her hand she held his labels, something so beautiful and personal from Coop she wanted to cry, while on screen his
labour of love
stared back at her and her heart kept growing and expanding, pushing against the confines of her ribs until it felt big enough to tear her chest right open. Big enough to eclipse the sun.

Big enough to make her realise the truth. Well …
fuck me dead
as Marcus would say. This wasn’t infatuation or lust or gratitude or even friendship she felt for Coop.

She loved him.

And it was as plain as the grey old day outside those windows.
She loved him
. She loved him so much she could die from it right here and now and it would still have been worth the nanosecond of awareness before she expired. All these years when she’d been so irritated by him and yet so aware of him, in ways she had never been able to explain or hadn’t ever wanted to think about. It hadn’t been because she’d disliked or resented him but because she
hadn’
t.

Simply put, he’d gotten under her skin, burning and itching, prickling at her very soul; she’d never been able to fully dismiss him from her mind.

Lacey sucked in deep breaths as it hit her with cyclonic force.
She was in love with Cooper Grainger.

And she didn’t know what to do about it because she was fairly certain she was still the pain in his side—
or ass
—that she’d always been. Ethan’s bratty little sister who had lied and seduced him and given him merry hell ever since.

Sure, he’d had a good time with her, but now he was finally rid of her …

Her being in love with him was probably the last thing the man wanted. He probably never wanted to see her ever again. For God’s sake he’d packed her up, paid for her airfare and driven her to the goddamn airport. Nothing said good-bye-forever like a guy who bought you a ticket to a place two thousand kilometres away!

But she knew with sudden clarity she couldn’t do this. Being in Melbourne with Anouska Dahl was a huge privilege and a learning experience she’d never get anywhere else, but it wasn’t for her. She needed to see Coop. Talk to him.

And even if he sent her away and broke her heart, she still wasn’t made for Melbourne or any place that could experience four seasons in a day.

She was a country girl. A big-sky girl. A Jumbuck Springs girl. And she’d go back there and design original one-offs for rich country women and their daughters and build her name one gown at a time through the bush telegraph. And have an absolute ball doing it. Because they were her people and that was her calling in life—individual designs for people she loved and had a true affinity for—and if she had nothing else, she had Coop’s labels to inspire her and give her the courage and fortitude she was going to need to be a success.

Tears blurred her vision so much Lacey could barely see the screen. The colours of her gorgeous car ran like a smudged watercolour before her eyes, like looking at the streetscape through the rain-splattered windows. Her hands shook and her breath thinned until it made her dizzy.

She had to go
.

She had to go home. She had to go to Coop. Whether it worked out or it didn’t, she didn’t want to live her life without having given it her best shot.

She had to try and win Coop.

She stood and spun, her chair pushing back at a crazy angle, not thinking about her next move, just possessed with the sudden urgent need to flee. She didn’t know the hows but she did know the whys. She loved Coop. And nothing else mattered at this moment.

Anouska looked up from where she’d been chatting as Lacey’s seat toppled over and crashed on the floor. Everyone did. Anouska’s gaze, calm and assessing, locked with hers, wild and frantic. Lacey could only hope that her boss would see and understand her desperation.

“Go,” Anouska said.

Lacey’s breath tumbled out on a noisy whoosh as she sent Anouska a wobbly smile. Then she picked up her bag and left without looking back. Melbourne had been great, but her heart didn’t belong here.

It belonged with Coop.

*     *     *

Lacey had to
buy a business class ticket to get on the next available flight to Brisbane. It was hideously expensive but she didn’t hesitate as she hurried to her temporary digs, packed her bag and went straight to the airport.

Four hours later she was touching down in Brisbane. Just looking out the window to see the sun shining on the runway lifted her spirits. When she stepped out on the stairs to walk across the tarmac and the pleasant winter heat warmed her shoulders, her spirits lifted a little higher.

Whatever happened with Coop, this was where she belonged. Sometimes it took leaving to find out where you fit. Going to college had taught her that and she should have listened and learned from that experience, should have known there truly was no place like home.

Lacey got a taxi from the airport to her old dorm where she was welcomed with open arms by her ex-roomie. She wanted to change into something with a little wow factor and dump her bag before heading to see Coop at work. She knew he found her attractive and she had absolutely no qualms about exploiting that to her advantage.

All was fair in love and war, and Lacey was declaring
love
.

Stripping out of her winter clothes she quickly threw on a pair of denim cut-off shorts with frayed edges that managed to cover all the crucial bits, just. Why she thought she was ever going to wear them in Melbourne she had
no
idea but Lacey was pleased she’d packed them because they were perfect for her purposes today.

She was going to Coop’s garage, so channelling Daisy Duke was a must and the shorts were a start.

She didn’t have a cute little button-up gingham shirt she could tie in a knot at her navel, but she did have a tight T-shirt that sat snuggly against her breasts and a pair of strappy heels, and she slipped them on to complete the picture. She pulled her hair down and fluffed it and poked her big gold hoop earrings into place.

Lacey was satisfied with the overall affect as she inspected herself in the vanity mirror. If Coop rejected her she’d be devastated—even the thought froze her heart—but it wouldn’t be because she didn’t look damn good.

She ordered another cab on her phone app then added some lip gloss to her mouth, smacking her lips together and pouting at the mirror for effect and to allay the hard ball of nerves tightening in her gut. Everything rested on this next meeting and she wanted to throw up she was so nervous.

Would he be surprised to see her? Happy? He’d never been that happy about her being at his work the few times she’d been there in the past.

Maybe she should at least forewarn him? Coop wasn’t really a guy who liked surprises. And she didn’t really want to get off on the wrong foot. Maybe she should let him know she was in town?

Hint that it was because of him?

A devilish idea rose in her as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Maybe she should remind him of what he’d been missing?

Aware the cab was going to be here any second, Lacey quickly shed her shirt and bra and grabbed her phone for a sexy selfie. It was cool in the tiled bathroom and her nipples responded accordingly as she held the phone out and up high, snapping a picture of her face and breasts.

Her hands shook as she attached the picture to a text and her fingers trembled as they flew over the keypad, deleting several attempts at something sexy and pithy. She settled on
Coming for you xxx.
Then she hit send before she could change her mind.

A horn tooted while she was slipping back into her clothes.

The taxi.

This was it. She’d be at Coop’s in fifteen minutes. “Good luck,” she told her fully dressed reflection then vacated the dorm.

*     *     *