Bare for You: Outback Skies, Book 3 by Lexxie Couper

Author:Lexxie Couper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance angst;pilot cowboy;contemporary romance series;erotic novella; male male romance;alpha male; women’s fiction; love at first sight; GLBT romance;Australia
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2015-07-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

The afternoon dragged on. For the first time in his life, Jeremy found himself wishing he were somewhere apart from an art gallery. It wasn’t that the artworks within the small building weren’t breathtaking and evocative. They were. Jeremy had always been fascinated with traditional Aboriginal art, and the works hanging in the Mutawintji Winds Gallery were some of the most mesmerizing he’d ever seen.

Nor was the gallery director—a woman with an obvious appreciation and respect for the indigenous artists represented within the walls of the building—boring or fatuous. Her knowledge of fine art and her sharp wit should have made for a highly entertaining, enriching afternoon. Her undeniable sensuality and subtle flirting should have provided Jeremy with the perfect moment to feed his reputation as a ladies’ man.

Even the mayor, now dressed in a short-sleeve shirt covered with Aboriginal dot paintings of emus, was pleasant to be around, mainly because he hardly uttered a word and deferred to everything Beverly Fisher said.

And yet Jeremy found himself fighting to not check his watch.

Constantly.

Finally, with afternoon tea eaten and the schedule for the official gallery opening discussed and finalized, Jeremy found himself stepping from the building into the late afternoon sun.

Dry heat wrapped around him with greedy haste. It wasn’t the extreme Outback weather that sent a prickling flush over his body, however.

Ryan waited for him directly outside the gallery, leaning against the wheel arch of his pickup. With ankles crossed, long legs looking like sin in snug denim and a blue-collared work shirt highlighting his physical perfection, it was all Jeremy could do not to cross to him and claim his lips with his own.

Levering himself from the pickup, the heli-musterer adjusted the placement of his Akubra on his head, his eyes hidden by dark sunglasses. “Ready?”

Deciding it was wiser to avoid responding until he had some control over himself, Jeremy turned to Barnaby Doyle now standing beside him. “Thank you for the day, Mayor,” he said, shaking the man’s sweaty hand. “Are you joining me tomorrow on the trip to the Pandjikali community?”

Doyle spluttered out a no. “Official Wallaby Ridge business to attend to,” he offered as an excuse, unable to meet Jeremy’s eyes.

Jeremy suspected the smile he gave the man was not the easygoing smile he was known for. “I see,” he said, reclaiming his hand from the shake. “In that case, I will see you the day after for the gallery opening, yes?”

“Would you…” Doyle fidgeted on the spot. “That is to say, my wife and I would be honoured if you joined us for dinner this evening. It is no hassle to drive you back to Broken Downs after.”

Drawing a slow breath, Jeremy let his smile turn apologetic. “Alas, like you, I have official government business to attend to.”

The not-so-subtle jab at the mayor’s barely concealed racism was not Jeremy’s usually style.

Neither, however, was the undeniable, increasing urgency to be alone with a man he barely knew. And yet that’s exactly what was controlling Jeremy now.

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