Jack

 

 

I sat there and watched as Lawson raced into the museum. He appeared to be the picture of perfection, impeccably dressed and not one hair out of place. But I got the feeling he ran late to every appointment he ever made.

He was like no man I’d ever met. Crazy smart―genius, apparently―and absolutely clueless about how gorgeous he was. He dressed like it was the 1920s and he spoke the Queen’s English like he’d just swallowed the Oxford Dictionary.

Jesus. He made my chest feel too small for my heart.

I wanted to spend more time with him. I wanted to discuss the illogical reasoning of humans and dragonflies, and why butterflies? I wanted to taste those pink lips and see how far that blush ran down his neck…

By the way he’d checked me out when I bumped into him on the plane and then again standing at the car rental desk, I was pretty sure he was gay. Or interested. Or curious. Or something.

I just had to figure out a way of seeing him again… Then I remembered he’d left his suitcase in the back of my ute. I grinned victoriously, and without knowing how long his appointment at the museum was to go for, I had a reason to sit and wait.

And wait, I did.

Two hours later, he scurried out of the front doors, and he tripped over his feet when he saw me leaning against my ute, waiting for him. He looked around and behind himself to see if I was smiling at someone else, which only made him more endearing.

“You forgot your suitcase,” I called out.

“Oh!” He looked horrified. And cute. He hurried toward me. “I made you wait all this time. I do apologise.”

“Well, I could lie and tell you it was a terrible inconvenience, but I didn’t mind. It gave me a pretty good opportunity to ask you out for dinner.”

He stared at me like my words made no sense, then a shade of pink bloomed across his cheeks. “Oh.”

“If you want to, that is,” I clarified. God, I didn’t even know if he was seeing someone… Or even if he was inclined to want to have dinner with a man. “If you’re interested.”

He stammered, his mouth opened and shut a few times, and his blush deepened.

So I softened the question for him. “I don’t get to have dinner with guys who can hold an interesting conversation very often. And that’s all it has to be, if you want. Just dinner and conversation. My treat.”

He blinked and swallowed thickly. “I… well, I… yes. Yes, I think I’d like that. Though I must warn you, as I said before, my conversation skills are not my strongest quality.”

I was grinning. I couldn’t help it. “I think we’ll manage just fine.”

He huffed out a breath, then patted down his already perfect hair, looked around nervously, and smiled.

“Right then,” I said. “Which hotel are you staying at? Did I hear you say it was out of town?”

“Oh!” He looked horrified again. “When you said dinner…”

I burst out laughing when I realised what he thought I was implying. “No, no, that’s not what I meant. I’ll drop you off at your hotel and, like a gentleman, pick you up again for dinner. If that’s okay? I mean, I’m not opposed to seeing the inside of your hotel room, but I was actually looking forward to dinner and a conversation too.”

Now he blushed a deep burgundy. Damn, and if it didn’t disappear down underneath his collar. He looked down the street, anywhere it seemed but at me. “Well, I’m supposed to be staying in a place called Scottsdale―”

“Scottsdale?”

“Yes. Professor Tillman suggested it would be a good deal closer to where I needed to go. But my rental car wasn’t available. If we could find another rental place, I’d really appreciate that.”

“I can do you one better than that,” I said. “I can drive you to Scottsdale.”

His gaze shot to mine. “No, I couldn’t ask that of you. You’ve already been terribly inconvenienced.”

“I live in Scottsdale, so it’s not an inconvenience at all.”

He didn’t miss a beat. His eyes narrowed. “You told me the museum was on your way when you offered me a lift here. I only accepted the ride because it wasn’t out of your way. Now you’re saying you live sixty kilometres away? Downtown Launceston is hardly on your way. And what of dinner? You would drive all the way back just for dinner?”

“Yes I would,” I said honestly. “It’s only a forty-five-minute drive. I make this trip all the time. And the museum kind of is on my way, if I choose to drive through the city, which in this case I did. And who’s to say I didn’t have something to do here anyway? Maybe my reason wasn’t all about you.”

This shut him up. “Oh. Well, of course it wasn’t.”

I tried not to smile but couldn’t help it. “But it kinda really was. I only offered the lift to the museum because you were stuck. And because you’re very cute, I won’t lie. That was also a deciding factor.”

He blinked.

I laughed. “You don’t get compliments very often, do you?”

I didn’t wait for him to answer; I just opened the passenger door of the ute. “Hop in.”

I walked around the car and got in behind the wheel while he still stood at the door. He frowned seriously at me. “Are you making excuses about driving to Scottsdale? Is that some ploy also?”

“Nope. No ploy. I really do live there. And my dog is probably wondering where I am. I told her I’d be home today at lunch time.” I started the truck. “And what ploy would I have? You’ve already agreed to have dinner with me.”

“I could take that back,” he said defiantly as he climbed into his seat. “Rescinding a dinner invitation would be well within my personal boundaries.”

I barked out a laugh. “Well, we can discuss your personal boundaries over a drink if you don’t want to eat.” I could tell by the look on his face and the colour he went what he thought I meant by that, which wasn’t what I meant at all. It only made me laugh more. “Not those kind of personal boundaries. That’s not where my mind went, but clearly yours did.”

He spluttered. “It did not.”

“It totally did. And I’m okay with that. But please, let me buy you dinner first. I’m a gentleman, after all.”

He tried to speak but couldn’t seem to find the words. So instead, he looked out the window at the passing city. I could see the tips of his ears were pink and he was still clutching his laptop satchel on his lap. I felt bad for taking advantage of his embarrassment, but before I could apologise, he turned to me abruptly. “So we are clear, my personal boundaries are mine to divulge when and where I choose fit. Not you. Whilst I do appreciate the taxiing me across Tasmania, which you have graciously afforded me―and I am most grateful―I don’t divulge such personal information on a first date. Because I am a gentleman also, after all.”

Nerdy, gorgeous, intelligent, and sassy. God, he just keeps getting better.

“And you can stop smiling like that,” he continued.

“No, I’m good, thanks,” I said, grinning at him. “You just called dinner a date. I’m well within my personal boundaries to smile.”

He sniffed indignantly, but now he was trying not to smile. “I think you missed the point.”

I was pretty sure I didn’t. I was so intrigued by this man, I was excited to know more about him. “So, I take it your meeting with the professor at the museum went well?”

“Very well. He’s a very generous man. He’s donated a reasonable find of specimen to the museum. He’s been a lepidopterist for the better part of sixty years, and his collection is quite remarkable.”

“He works there?”

“Not at all. He’s into his eighties now. He has simply given his entire collection to the museum and wished for me to see it. For some reason, he seems to have taken a liking to me,” he said. “He has asked me to do a field study. Chosen me, I should say. He claims to be too old to be trekking into the field these days, and he trusts me.”

“Have you met him before?”

“Not before today. I’ve studied his works and read his many journals. I attended a lecture of his at Melbourne University.”

“How can he trust you if you’ve only just met today?”

“Because he’s studied my work and read my journal entries. My thesis, he said, was brilliant.”

He spoke of his own merits without ego. I guess he didn’t need to. If he was as brilliant as he claimed to be, it spoke for itself.

“I think he likes the fact I’m not… cohesive with my peers,” he went on to say. “I tend to speak my mind, which annoys my superiors to no end. I also refuse to blindly agree with their decisions only to further my career.”

“What’s the field study he trusts you with?”

“Ah…”

“You’d rather not say,” I concluded. “He trusts you with it, I get that.”

“Thank you.” Lawson sighed and studied the passing scenery again for a short while. “It’s very dry here. I was expecting Tasmania to be greener.”

“The drought has hit hard,” I explained. “This is the third year with rainfall well below average for these parts. The west and south coasts haven’t experienced any drought at all, but the north and east have struggled. Farmers are doing it tough. Towns have been on level three water restrictions for going on two years now.”

“I assume water conservation is a substantial part of your job.”

“Yep. You assume correctly. Land, water, ecosystems, flora, fauna. It has to be about conservation.”

He smiled at me like something clicked into place inside him. “I wholeheartedly agree.”

And driving down the highway at a hundred k’s an hour, our gazes locked for just a moment, and something clicked into place inside me.