time to ponder the opening lines of his “discussion” before she appeared at the French doors. She noticed almost immediately that he had set breakfast at the oversized timber table and as he expected, she settled into the comfy canvas padded chair.
“This looks great, yoghurt and fruit—two of my favourite things for breakfast.”
Yep, score one for the home team, he thought. What woman didn’t like fruit and yoghurt? More to the point, what woman would admit to not liking them? He watched her long dextrous fingers select a juicy ripe nectarine and place it on the handmade pottery plate he had set for her. He opted for a tub of yoghurt and ripped the top off.
She didn’t say anything for a while as she quietly went about devouring the nectarine. At last, he decided it was time to get things going.
“Let’s rewind and do the whole getting to know you thing a bit better than what we managed last night.”
Rihanna looked directly at him and smiled openly. “I hope this doesn’t sound too corny, but I’d like that very much.” She’d started and he was nodding in encouragement, so she decided to dive right in and continue.
“We went through quite a bit last night aaaaaand this morning. You were right; my head was running on emotional overload and not really thinking straight.” She paused momentarily and then added, “So thank you for being the sensible one and preventing me from jumping into something that I really wasn’t ready for just yet.”
The way she added the “just yet” left no doubts at all between either of them that she was aware of the mutual attraction between them.
“You’re welcome. The circumstances have been anything but normal.” He’d get to that in just a minute, he thought. Get her talking and a bit more relaxed and trusting first.
“So you mentioned last night that you work with animals. Tell me about that.”
“I’m a vet specialising in equines. Horses,” she quickly added, realising that few people outside the industry knew what equines were.
“Yeah, I’ve had a bit to do with equines myself,” he added, sparking her interest. He wasn’t about to tell her that he had enough equine DNA running through him to pass most equine blood tests just yet. “My parents had a farm so I grew up with horses. Mainly stock horses but my mum and sisters did a bit of show jumping.”
“Great, so at least you know which end does the eating and what end does the kicking.”
He nodded in agreement.
“My father is a very well-known equine surgeon and specialist, so I kind of followed in his footsteps. I joined his practice straight out of uni and I’m still there.” Bingo, just the information he needed to confirm she was the right target. His gut and all his information told him she was, but it never hurt to have the target confirm it as well.
“So where do you have your practice?” he asked.
“We have an equine practice and hospital at Biddaddaba. It’s about thirty minutes behind the Gold Coast.” She automatically added the qualification; not many people were familiar with the strange-sounding place.
“I know exactly where Biddaddaba is. I’ve been to a polo match at some flash place out there.”
“Yeah, well, we are just down the road from there. In a place that is nowhere near as flash as that.” She raised her eyebrows at the “nowhere” to emphasise the opulence of polo centre he had referred to. He laughed at that.
“Not many places are.” She started to take a little more notice of her surrounds. He was obviously a very successful musician, judging by what she saw around her. The house and grounds were clearly all professionally designed and no doubt managed. The atmosphere was homely and warm but quality was a consistent theme through everything she had seen and experienced since driving through his front gates. Yes, a strong sense of quality and class but not pretentious or gaudy like so many Gold Coast residences.
It seemed like the time to
“This looks great, yoghurt and fruit—two of my favourite things for breakfast.”
Yep, score one for the home team, he thought. What woman didn’t like fruit and yoghurt? More to the point, what woman would admit to not liking them? He watched her long dextrous fingers select a juicy ripe nectarine and place it on the handmade pottery plate he had set for her. He opted for a tub of yoghurt and ripped the top off.
She didn’t say anything for a while as she quietly went about devouring the nectarine. At last, he decided it was time to get things going.
“Let’s rewind and do the whole getting to know you thing a bit better than what we managed last night.”
Rihanna looked directly at him and smiled openly. “I hope this doesn’t sound too corny, but I’d like that very much.” She’d started and he was nodding in encouragement, so she decided to dive right in and continue.
“We went through quite a bit last night aaaaaand this morning. You were right; my head was running on emotional overload and not really thinking straight.” She paused momentarily and then added, “So thank you for being the sensible one and preventing me from jumping into something that I really wasn’t ready for just yet.”
The way she added the “just yet” left no doubts at all between either of them that she was aware of the mutual attraction between them.
“You’re welcome. The circumstances have been anything but normal.” He’d get to that in just a minute, he thought. Get her talking and a bit more relaxed and trusting first.
“So you mentioned last night that you work with animals. Tell me about that.”
“I’m a vet specialising in equines. Horses,” she quickly added, realising that few people outside the industry knew what equines were.
“Yeah, I’ve had a bit to do with equines myself,” he added, sparking her interest. He wasn’t about to tell her that he had enough equine DNA running through him to pass most equine blood tests just yet. “My parents had a farm so I grew up with horses. Mainly stock horses but my mum and sisters did a bit of show jumping.”
“Great, so at least you know which end does the eating and what end does the kicking.”
He nodded in agreement.
“My father is a very well-known equine surgeon and specialist, so I kind of followed in his footsteps. I joined his practice straight out of uni and I’m still there.” Bingo, just the information he needed to confirm she was the right target. His gut and all his information told him she was, but it never hurt to have the target confirm it as well.
“So where do you have your practice?” he asked.
“We have an equine practice and hospital at Biddaddaba. It’s about thirty minutes behind the Gold Coast.” She automatically added the qualification; not many people were familiar with the strange-sounding place.
“I know exactly where Biddaddaba is. I’ve been to a polo match at some flash place out there.”
“Yeah, well, we are just down the road from there. In a place that is nowhere near as flash as that.” She raised her eyebrows at the “nowhere” to emphasise the opulence of polo centre he had referred to. He laughed at that.
“Not many places are.” She started to take a little more notice of her surrounds. He was obviously a very successful musician, judging by what she saw around her. The house and grounds were clearly all professionally designed and no doubt managed. The atmosphere was homely and warm but quality was a consistent theme through everything she had seen and experienced since driving through his front gates. Yes, a strong sense of quality and class but not pretentious or gaudy like so many Gold Coast residences.
It seemed like the time to
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