New Beginnings

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Have you done anything more about contacting your sister?”

 Alex was a little breathless as she climbed to the highest point of Motutawa island, covered in a dense thicket of Macrocarpa cypress and which provided welcome shade from the last of the summer warmth. Blake was enjoying the view of her sexy derriere as he followed behind and which provided a welcome distraction from her question. He knew she wouldn’t let it go because since Jack’s birthday she had mentioned it at least once every time they were together, or on the phone. Being close to her was driving him crazy with need and desire and lust and all the other carnal thoughts he had in her company. In a pair of cut off shorts and hiking boots, her long legs went on forever. She stopped suddenly and Blake, whose eyes had not been front and centre, bumped into her.

“You need to keep your eyes on the road, mister,” she teased.

“Believe me, they were.”

Alex snorted, “Hmm. Why am I having trouble believing you?”

He shrugged and she landed a playful slap on his shoulder, making him wince with an exaggerated yelp.

“Shall we have a rest here? I need something to eat and drink.”

“Sure.”

He slung the backpack off his shoulder, dropped it to the ground adjacent to a large tree while Alex spread out an old blanket, she had insisted on bringing from the boat, the Diana as Blake had registered it. They leaned back against the tree and he breathed in the scent of pine needles and salty air.

“So, I’m waiting for a response, Blake. Have you contacted your sister?” She fixed him with a stare that had him laughing because it reminded him of the angry stare, she would give he and Jack when they wouldn’t let her tag along when they were kids.  But he knew better than to laugh for too long.

“No.”

“No? Blake, you got that letter more than a month ago now and you have done nothing about it!”

“Alex, what’s the point?”

“The point? God, Blake, she’s your sister!”

“Who I don’t know from Adam,” he replied.

She rolled her eyes and handed him a cold drink and unpacked salad rolls, fruit, and cake.

“No wonder that backpack weighed a bloody ton,” he moaned.

“Ha, ha. Don’t deflect.”

“Alright, you want to know the real reason?”

“Yes please.” She was batting her eyelids at him and he was forced to laugh. Again. She was in a playful mood and he was enjoying it. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief.

“I’m scared.”

She touched his face, slowly tracing her fingers over his features, “Of what?”

“She could be a grifter.”

“You could be a psychopath.”

Reaching for a salad roll, he said, “Point taken. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m scared. Scared she’ll want more of me than I can give, scared that she is grifter, knows I have a few dollars and thinks she can take a share.”

Alex scooted closer to him and gently nudged him with her shoulder,

“Slow down, Blake. You have people who are looking out for you, we’re here for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. We care, Blake. A lot.”

He swallowed hard and looked away fearing she would see the tears.

“You. Are. Not. Alone.” She murmured, then let her head rest on his shoulder.

Dropping a kiss on top of her head, he said,

“Thank you. Thank you for Jack, thank you for having faith in me.”

She sat up, “Now, about your sister. How about I help you with the email or letter or however you intended contacting her?”

“Okay. I guess. Won’t you be too busy helping that guy who owns Motutawa?”

“Nope.”

“You’re a lot like your mother.”

“So I’ve been told.”

Blake slid and arm around her and pulled her close again,

“Don’t move, I like you being close.”  He took another bite of his roll, while enjoying having her soft body pressing into his.

“I bet Mum has kept you up to date with the status of my dance card.”

He laughed, “Can’t imagine it would be anything other than overflowing, but no, she hasn’t said a word about your dance card.”

“Mm, that surprises me. Can’t believe she hasn’t said something. Anything.”

“Maybe she thought the topic would make me insanely jealous.”

“Would you? Be jealous?”

Wow, how did he answer that. Yeah, he’d be jealous, it would devastate him, and both of those emotions would be wrong on so many levels simply because he hadn’t earned the right to be jealous, envious or any other label.

He cleared his throat, “I don’t think I have the right to be jealous, do you?”

She didn’t respond and they sat in the cool dark green of the thicket, the sea breeze whispering through the branches.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to keep this stand of Macrocarpa. Remember how we used to hide up here as kids?”

“Yeah. I think this is where we had our first kiss. Our first official kiss.”

“You remember.”

“Of course. Who doesn’t remember their first kiss?”

“Most guys.”

“Ah, well, I’m not most guys.”

“I know.”

His gaze locked with hers, then he lowered his lips to hers, a long, leisurely kiss. Slowly, he broke the kiss and bit her lower lip, then went in for a deeper kiss, eliciting a soft moan from her. Lifting his head, he smiled, tracing a finger down the slender column of her throat, down to her breast which he gently cupped, enjoying the weight of it in his hands, he allowed his other hand to do the same.

“Perfect,” he whispered, “Everything about you is perfect. It always was.”

She gave a soft giggle, “I have a few extra pounds.”

He laughed, “Not true. I see the body of a woman who has carried my child and how that alone has resulted in one hundred percent lush womanhood.”

“I want you, Blake. I’m not going to deny it, hide it or even pretend that little tingle between my legs is only because I need to pee.”

This time, when he laughed, it was full bodied, and it occurred to him that he hadn’t laughed like that in a long, long time.

“Do you need to pee?”

“Sort of. See, my lush womanhood unfortunately has rendered some of my bodily functions a little less efficient than before.”

He sat back, “You better go and pee before you have an accident.”

She disappeared into a hollow which gave him time to evaluate exactly what was going on here. Other than he was hard as a hammer, embarrassingly so. That, my friend is what happens when you haven’t had s*x in forever and a beautiful woman is in your arms. Blake scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling the stubble along his jaw.

Alex emerged from the trees, “You didn’t sail off and leave me here then?”

“Not a chance.”

“I forgot how clear the water is here, is saw a small stingray and a school of good-sized snapper.”

“I don’t have a fishing rod.”

She eased herself down beside him, “You’re okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. Do you want to walk up to the other end, or shall we head back to Waiheke?”

“Let’s walk and talk.”

And walk they did. A fresh breeze had got up which was just as well because the walk to the southernmost tip of Motutawa had no tree canopy to shelter from the sun. They crossed the area which had once been a golf course, and as was the way of natural regeneration, showed definite signs of reverting back what had been growing before developers moved in.

“What do you see growing here?” he asked.

She grinned, pointing to small plants, “The island is taking back the spaces previously thought cleared. Looks as though a reasonable amount of bird life is returning, most of this will be the result of birds.”

Her enthusiasm was infectious and made him smile. Alex scuffed the ground with her foot, “I’d like to reforest with Tawa, given the name of the island. I can’t find a lot of information about it other it was farmed by the family who bought it early last century.”

“All of those units at the front, near the wharf, I plan on demolishing them, so I’ll need you to come up with something for that area.”

Hands on hips, Alex moved to the edge of the walking track, “Are you going to live here?”

“No. I’ll put in a manager. Why?”

She shrugged, smiled up at him, “Just wondered.”

He heard his phone ping and reached into his back pocket only to find it wasn’t his new phone, it was the old one. The one he replaced to stop his father and Genevieve pestering him.

“You going to get that? She asked.

“Later.”

The phone pinged again.

“Just deal with it, Blake.”

Sighing deeply, he reached into the backpack and pulled out the phone. His father. What the hell did he want?

“I don’t want to do this here,” he said.

“Blake, there’s no point in pretending they don’t exist, because they do.”

“s**t,” he grumbled, “Why do you always have to have the last word? And how did you know it was one of them?”

Up on tiptoes, she dropped a light, sweet kiss on his cheek, “Because, I’m me. Because you got a new phone, so you didn’t have to deal with them pestering you.” She stroked the stubble along his jaw, “Don’t shave, I like how you look.”

“I look like a vagrant.”

“A super sexy vagrant. Now, find out what old misery guts wants.”

A super sexy vagrant? He was following her down the rabbit hole and was so far in now, he had no way out. If that was what he wanted.  He stared at the phone, then opened the message,

Do you intend visiting your mother and me?

He looked up to find Alex staring at him, so he handed her the phone. She grimaced then grinned and began typing.

Why?

Now they were both staring at the screen and both straightened up when the reply popped up.

Can’t we let bygones be bygones. I need you to run the business, Blake. It’s what you do. What is it you’re doing right now?

He lifted the phone from Alex’s hand, enjoying the zing of electricity that flared between them when he did.

I have my own business, I neither want nor need yours.

Then why did you come home?

Blake sighed and felt Alex take the phone from him.

I came home to make peace with the past and I can’t do that with you digging into my business. I want to know my son, I let people down, people I cared about. I’m not doing that anymore.

There was a long pause and Blake wondered if Alex’s words had prompted him to back off. Wishful thinking.

Jesus, Blake. You don’t even know if that boy is yours. She was running around with two other guys. Don’t let the Porters get their claws into you again, Blake.

Alex fired back a response immediately.

Wrong. One hundred percent mine. There was nobody else. Just me. Maybe one day you’ll wake up and realise your wife needs help. Serious help.

Alex handed the phone back to him and began walking away. She was upset. He read that on her face. He looked at the cerulean blue sea in front of him, looked at the phone and was tempted to throw the thing into the sea. And he did. He just cut the last tie.

Alex reached the cover of tall pines, happy to be out of the sun. She was hot, her shirt clung to her in all the wrong places, and she wanted nothing more than to take her water bottle and tip the water between her boobs. Then she did. All the while, cursing herself for muscling into Blake’s private business. It wasn’t her place to speak on his behalf, was it?

“Feeling a little warm,” his voice was smooth and music to her ears. She turned to face him,

“Yeah.” She placed a hand on his arm, noticing for the first time the smattering of hair on his forearms, “I’m sorry for butting in like that, Blake.”

“I’m not. I might even take you to any business meetings I might have.” Amusement glinted in his eyes and she relaxed. He was teasing her.

“You’ll need to gag me.”

“Not a chance,” he reached out his hand, “Come on, I’ll let you have the wheel.”

She had the wheel and Blake stood behind her, occasionally nuzzling her neck, pointing out small penguins and at least two dolphins. The freshening breeze filled out the spinnaker and as the Diana cut through the lightly choppy surface with ease, one and a while a burst of spray carried on the breeze and cooled her face. It felt right, being so close to him, leaning back against the hard plane of his chest and if she were totally honest, she didn’t regret what she’d said to Royce Winchester. They made good time crossing between Motutawa and Waiheke and dropped anchor in the bay at the bottom of her property. Blake rowed them into shore where they walked up to a wooden bench seat at the edge of her lawn. He patted spot beside him.

“What if they need to get in touch in an emergency?” she asked, “I didn’t think about that.”

“I’m sure word will get around.”

“Do you think I ought to warn Mum and Dad, just in case your mother goes bat s**t crazy and turns up on their doorstep?”

He placed his arm around her shoulders, “Pretty sure we’ve already diagnosed her as bat s**t crazy. And, for the record, she isn’t my mother, and he isn’t my father.”

Alex gnawed at her bottom lip, still concerned of the potential fallout.

“I’ll still tell them. Dad will laugh and Mum will probably offer to call them and give them another earful.”

“Let’s talk about my sister.”

That surprised her because all conversations about his sister had been at her prompting. Perhaps he saw it as the lesser of two evils when it came to topics up for discussion.

“Okay. Where do you want to start?”

“Help me contact her lawyer? I don’t even know where she lives, she could be on the other side of the world for all we know.”

“I wonder if she has a family, you know, husband, kids, that sort of thing. I hope she had a good childhood, that at least one of you had decent adoptive parents.”

“Me too,” he threaded his fingers through hers, “Now, we ought to talk about us, you and me and what might be happening.”

She laughed, “Might? You were just lucky I had to pee over there on Motutawa otherwise I was ready to jump you.”

“Jump me,” he echoed with feigned incredulity.

“Yes sir.”

“I don’t want to rush you. I do want to get you naked, get you in bed and spend all night making you come apart. However, I want to date you.”

Date me, she wondered, what the hell. We dated a decade and a half ago. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked into his eyes, those dark pools of melted chocolate.

“You want to date me?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Okay, so first date?”

“You know, I’m sensing an issue with speed here and I’m trying to slow things down.”

“Well, it’s not as though we’re a couple of kids, is it.”

He gave a soft chuckle that had her toes curling and damn if that tingle between her legs wasn’t back!

“When is our first date?” she asked.

“You’ll know. I have a couple of things to do before that and if I get the green light, I’ll be dating you.”

“What did you do with that phone, the one the undesirables in your life contact you via?”

He pointed out to sea in the direction of Motutawa,

“It’s over there. Somewhere.”

“You left it on Motutawa?”

“Not exactly, but close by.”

“In the sea? You dropped it in the sea?”

“Dropped might be too gentle a word,” he replied, his breath fanning her ear, “No, I threw it into the sea and damn if it didn’t feel good!”

Oh God! This was getting worse.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” They jumped apart like two guilty teens as Jack ambled toward them.

“Hey, you. How was school?”

“Meh! Boring but okay,” he stuck his hand out to Blake, “This is a nice surprise.”

“We went across to Motutawa to talk about trees.”

“Cool. Will you be going over this weekend because if you are Lucas and I are available, and Leo and Mason said they’d like to join us.”

“Homework? Sport?” Blake asked, shielding his eyes from the sun which was starting to dip low in the sky.

“No sport for a couple of weeks and homework I’ll try to do Friday night.”

“Okay with you?” Blake asked her.

“Yeah. Jack, you have checked with the Leo’s mum, haven’t you? I knew Mason’s father when we were in school, but they haven’t lived here for a long time. Mason seems a nice boy, though.”

“His mum died in a car accident, but I guess you knew that.”

“I knew. It was a big news item because Izzy was just a few weeks old.” Alex didn’t want to wish ill on the dead, but Nina Larsen Lewis had been a piece of work and, well, Karma was a b***h.

“Please don’t suggest we ask Mason’s sister, Izzy. It’s just too difficult with a girl.”

Alex and Blake laughed,

“Too difficult?” Blake asked.

“That, Jack Winchester, is a sexist comment if ever I heard one.”

Jack’s face reddened, “Sorry,” he mumbled, “It’s just that with four guys, we can’t talk about guy stuff.”

“I’d stop while you’re ahead, mister. I’ll think of something to do with Izzy, I don’t like to think of her being left out.”

“Cool.”

“Your mother is in a badass frame of mind today, Jack, so tread carefully,” Blake warned, winking at her.

“Badass? Mum?”

“Yeah.”

“Not half as badass as throwing your phone in the sea,” she replied.

“Wow, you guys must have had a fun day. Wish I had been there.”

Alex couldn’t look at Blake. Instead, she got to her feet,

“I’m going to have a shower and get some dinner happening.”

“Can I help?” Blake asked.

She shook her head, “I’ll text you when I need some chores done.”

Making her way indoors, Alex tried to make sense of the day she had shared with Blake, at how comfortable he appeared to be sitting on a bench in her garden. But in the back of her mind was the ugliness of the past, how it continued to follow Blake. She worried about Jack, that his crazy paternal grandparents would uncover the extent of Blake’s contact with Jack. No, she reminded herself, Blake was right. Royce and Arlene Winchester were not his parents and nor were they Jack’s grandparents. If they suddenly feigned an interest in Jack, Alex was comfortable in the knowledge that her son had so many people to protect him from the toxicity the Winchesters manifested.