Chapter 17 #2
She called him every day while he was in hospital, encouraging him, knowing he had no one else to help him. She’d considered flying over to Perth, but it was almost Christmas and her mother would be home this year. Perhaps after Christmas she would.
When her mother arrived home from her deployment, she’d dragged Mila out shopping to replace some things she’d lost in the tsunami; clothes, phone, laptop. She’d transferred her old number to the new phone and her contacts had been backed up in the cloud so she hadn’t lost them.
She just didn’t have the contact details of the one person she wanted.
The only bit of good news was Vance’s father had cut him off after hearing that he’d faked his kidnapping. He’d kicked Vance out of his Bondi townhouse and forced him to get a job. The last Mila had heard he was staying with a friend and was on the dole.
He deserved it.
During week three she’d slept a bit more and turned her attention towards Christmas and her future, buying presents for her family and searching for work.
She wasn’t sure where she wanted to move. All she knew was she didn’t want to live anywhere near the ocean.
It didn’t matter that Australia wasn’t known for tsunamis. She couldn’t look at the ocean without her chest tightening and her heart racing.
A quick search of Perth and its surrounds showed there were plenty of jobs available, but she didn’t want to move there if nothing progressed between her and Dobby.
But Sydney wasn’t for her anymore. She wanted fewer people, more calm.
Somewhere she could get her life back on track.
In the end she’d applied for everything that caught her interest, most of the jobs in the not-for-profit area. Her time on Pulau Tengah had given her purpose—she wanted to help people.
By Christmas Eve she had nothing to do. She’d wrapped the presents, applied for every job available, and she was no longer of the age where she counted down the hours until Santa came.
Instead she waited in her parents’ living room for them to get home from work and wondered what to do with her life.
“Why are you so glum?”
She whirled around to find Jared standing in the doorway in his army fatigues, his dark hair windswept. She glanced behind looking for Damien and then shook the thought away. She ran across the room and threw herself in his arms. “When did you get in?”
“This morning.” He hugged her tightly. “How are you?”
“Fine,” she said, waving her hand.
“Mum says you’re not sleeping.”
“When did she speak to you?”
He just smirked and waited for her to answer.
She swallowed her exasperation. “The waves are noisy.”
His expression darkened, and he hugged her again. “I’m so sorry you went through that, Milly.”
“Not your fault. I should have left when Damien told me to.” Not that she would ever regret saving those people’s lives.
“I promised him a bottle of bourbon,” Jared said. “I’ll have to see if I can get it delivered.”
Her heart leapt, but she tried to keep her tone neutral as she asked, “Are the team back?”
“Yeah. They shipped out with me. Good guys, all of them.”
Excitement shimmered in her belly. Had Damien asked for her number? Would he call? “I, ah, wanted to thank them again. Did you get their contact details?”
Jared smiled. “Yeah, I’ve got them somewhere.” He pulled out his phone. “Axle, Joker and Radar.”
He was teasing her. He knew exactly whose number she wanted. She glared at him. “And Damien?”
“Something go on between you two on the island?” he asked.
“That’s none of your business.”
He sobered. “Just taking care of my little sister, who’s been through a very stressful situation.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself. Damien and I didn’t have time to talk about… things before I left.”
“So you want to talk to him?”
“Of course I do.” God her brother was so annoying. “Do you have his number or not?”
“Yeah. I’ll get it for you. I need to get a drink.”
She wanted to rip his phone from his hand, but instead she followed him into the kitchen… where Damien stood dressed in army fatigues.
She blinked a couple of times. His lips curled in a smile but his hands clenched as if nervous of her reaction. He looked refreshed and clean and oh, so good.
She glanced at her brother to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.
“He followed me home.”
Damien’s smile was a little uncertain. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Hey.” She pushed past her brother telling him, “You can leave now,” and then launched herself into Damien’s arms, her heart bursting.
Her brother’s laugh faded as he left the room. Mila smiled at Damien. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.”
That was all she needed to hear. She kissed him.
***
Dobby held Mila tight, not quite believing he was holding her again. It had taken all his negotiation skills and a promise to recommend Jared for special ops training to convince Jared to take him home to see Mila, and then seeing her again…
She’d lost weight. Not a lot, but her cheeks were narrower and dark shadows surrounded her eyes.
Jared had mentioned she wasn’t sleeping.
She shifted to her toes and then her lips were on his and all his worries about how she would react to seeing him again faded away. She tasted the same, sweet and addictive, and he deepened the kiss, savouring her.
Her quiet moan made him hard, but this wasn’t why he was here. They needed to talk. Figure out where they were going from here.
He pulled back and tucked her hair behind her ear, his hand a little shaky. “Mila, we need to talk.”
She nodded. “I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”
“You didn’t get a choice.”
“Mum said you were redeployed. I didn’t know how to reach you.”
He smiled. “That’s why I strong-armed your brother into bringing me home with him.
” He pulled out a chair from the table and sat, pulling her onto his lap.
He wasn’t ready to let her go yet. “What you went through was traumatic,” he said.
“You might not be ready to make decisions about your future. Hell, you probably shouldn’t be making drastic changes yet.
But I was hoping, when you are, you might be interested in spending some of your time with me. ”
She smiled at him. “I’ve been looking for jobs in Perth.”
His heart leapt. “Anything decent?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “My therapist warned me against making life-changing decisions so soon,” she said. “But I knew before I left Sydney to go to Indonesia that I didn’t want to live here any longer. And living so close to the coast is stressful for me now.”
If only he could rewind the past and make her come with them when he’d first seen her.
“My place is about ten kilometres from the coast,” he said. “Perth rarely gets earthquakes or floods or cyclones. There is the occasional bushfire, but not in the city.”
She smiled at him. “That sounds nice.”
“If you don’t want to rush things, I have a few friends you could stay with until you find your feet.” He desperately wanted her to move in with him, but they barely knew each other. It would be foolish to rush things no matter how right it felt.
She placed a hand on his cheek and her eyes drank him in. “I love you, Damien.”
Oh, she floored him with her openness. His head spun. “I love you too, Mila.”
She kissed him. “Then I guess I’m moving to Perth.”
He grinned. “I guess you are.”
Rescuing Mila was the best decision he’d ever made.