The Seduction of Suzanne (21 page)

In the midst of all the activity the other couple arrived, carrying a chilly-bin. They were welcomed with casual familiarity, and Justin introduced them to her as Megan and Travis. Travis was a vigorous man with a Southern accent and creases around his eyes that were paler at their base. He had obviously done a great deal of squinting into the sun. Megan was brash and loud, but in such a good-natured way it did not grate. 

“You never said anything about her!” accused Megan laughingly. “Sorry Suzanne, don’t mean to be rude but he didn’t say a word.”

“I was keeping her to myself,” said Justin.

“So you two must have known each other for – what? – about six weeks?” she went on.

“Three, actually,” he replied.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“A whirlwind romance!”

Suzanne glanced at Justin under her eyelashes, but he showed no reaction beyond a calm smile. It felt strange to have someone talk about the two of them as if they were a couple. She didn’t feel like part of a couple yet. Did it not bother him that his friends had misinterpreted the depth of their relationship? Apparently not.

They all sat down at the table, save Andrew who hovered attentively over the barbecue. Bottles of beer were taken from the chilly-bin and offered around.
Suzanne gladly took one, feeling hot in the sun and under scrutiny. The liquid was pleasantly cold and dry as it slid down her throat.

Conversation flowed easily between the other five.
Suzanne didn’t say much, mostly just leaning back in her chair and listening. She felt comfortable and welcomed, but had too much going on in her head to really concentrate on chatter.

It was a pleasure to watch Justin interact with his friends. He was articulate and witty, completely at ease. Occasionally he met her eyes and smiled, making it clear that he was glad of her presence.

At length Andrew finished with the barbequing. He brought the large plate of sausages and steak to the table and set it down with a flourish, announcing: “Lunch is served.” Everyone set to with a will, unceremoniously reaching across each other or pointing at whatever they wanted passed to them.

Suzanne
took only a small piece of steak, as she usually avoided red meat, but generously heaped her plate with salad and a couple of slices of bread. She felt a little self-indulgent, eating a full meal so soon after she’d had breakfast, but the combination of fresh air and good cooking smells had made her hungry. Besides, there was no lack of exercise in her life, so anything extra would soon be worked off.

For the first few minutes everyone concentrated on his or her meal, but before long, talk resumed. When Travis mentioned that their holiday would be over soon, with the two couples catching a plane back to Auckland on Sunday, only four days away, Justin said casually to
Suzanne: “How soon will we be ready to go? A couple of days, maybe?”

Everyone at the table stopped eating to stare at him. Then, as if a single string joined their heads, they all turned simultaneously and looked at
Suzanne to see how she’d react to this. Carefully she set down the fork that had been halfway to her mouth, and folded her hands in her lap.

“So soon?” she asked, in a voice that came perilously close to cracking.

“Why wait?” he replied calmly. “It won’t take long to pack since we’ll be travelling quite light. It’s really just a matter of figuring out how to package your paintings for quick transport.”

The others sat quiet as mice, only their eyes moving as they looked from
Suzanne to Justin, and back again.

“But . . . what’s the rush?” she said. “I thought you were planning to be in New Zealand for months yet.”

“But if I do that, I’ll run out of money and not have enough in case it takes a while for your paintings to sell.”

Justin’s friends stared at him.

“Um, Justin –” said Nina.

“Hush, Nina,” he replied without looking at her.

“I have to get a passport. That’ll take quite a while,” said Suzanne.

“If you apply for a rush one and courier the documents down, you could have it processed within 48 hours and couriered back. Maybe allow three days?” said Travis helpfully.

“Okay,” said Suzanne, in a sudden turnaround. “Saturday would be fine. Why not?”

Why not indeed? Having jumped off the bandwagon of prudence,
Suzanne was beginning to feel reckless. What was one more risk? Agreeing to take off with him was the biggest leap of faith she had ever made in her life. Did it really matter how soon they were to do it?

“In fact, Saturday’s great,” she went on
energetically. “When we’ve finished lunch I’ll go home and start making phone calls, find out about shipping paintings. Oh, and I suppose I’d better start arranging for a replacement to take over my class.” She felt lightheaded but she smiled benignly at Justin, reclaimed her fork and resumed her interrupted lunch.

“Don’t you think . . .” began Megan, but trailed off as Justin looked at her in calm inquiry. “Never mind,” she muttered.

After a moment of silence, Andrew spoke up, changing the subject. The others followed his lead with relief, and nothing more was said about the journey as they ate. When everyone had had enough, Nina suggested that they should all retire to the lounge for coffee and cake: “Except for Justin, who can come and help me wash up.”

Suzanne
asked where the bathroom was, and it was pointed out to her. When she returned to the hallway she could hear Justin and Nina’s voices in the kitchen, as they had what sounded like a hushed conversation. She didn’t wish to interrupt, but she was unsure where the others were and it seemed rude to simply wander the house looking for them, so she walked hesitantly towards the kitchen. It was as she stood in the doorway, looking at their backs, that their words became clear.

“. . . want to know what that was all about,” said Nina. “Why the big hurry to take off, hmmm?”

“I have my reasons,” he said.

Nina’s motions at the sink paused, and she looked
sideways at Justin where he stood with hands braced on the counter-top, staring ahead of him out the window.

“You haven’t told her, have you?” she said in a tone of discovery.

“Told her what?” he asked.

“Who you are. What you do.”

Suzanne had no intention of more surreptitious eavesdropping.

“That’s okay,” she said, stepping into the kitchen. She took up a combative stance in the middle of the floor, her head tilted back and her feet firmly planted. “He’s going to tell me now. Aren’t you, Justin.” Her tone made it clear that she wasn’t asking a question.

At her first words, Nina had spun around. Now she stood, one rubber-gloved hand propped on her hip, careless of the water slowly soaking into her shirt. She took in Suzanne’s stern expression, and grinned at Justin.

“Of course, sweetie-pie,” she said. “He’s just working himself up to it now. Go ahead, Justin.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” said he in annoyance. “Suzanne knows that I travel most of the time, and only work occasionally. She doesn’t mind that.” He addressed Suzanne directly: “Do you.”

“No, I don’t,” she replied slowly.

“And the times when you’re working? She knows about what you do then?” said Nina relentlessly.

“I work with software development,” he said curtly.

“Software development!” Nina scoffed, but then she met Justin’s gaze, and something she saw there made the challenging smirk fade from her face.

“Yeah . . . software,” she went on quietly. She looked at
Suzanne. “He works with software. So now you know,” she finished, her tone level.

Suzanne
stared at them both in confusion. What was all this about? Software?

Nina turned briskly back to the sink. “You two lovebirds go sit down with the others. I’ll finish up here,” she said.

“I’d be happy to help,” offered Suzanne, wondering if she had detected a note of sourness in Nina’s voice.

Her back already turned, the woman waved her away, sending soapsuds flying.

“No, no, you go,” she insisted. “I’m fine. This’ll only take a minute.”

Suzanne
tried to catch Justin’s eye as he walked past her to the door, but he avoided her gaze. She hurried after him and caught him in the hall, placing herself in front of him with arms akimbo.

“What is going on?” she hissed, her voice lowered so that it wouldn’t carry to any of the others in the house. “This is just weird. What is it you should be telling me, that you’re not?”

He looked at her with hooded eyes, his expression unreadable, and said nothing.

She poked him in the chest with an index finger. “Justin, if you don’t tell me whatever it was that Nina thought I should know, then I’ll--” she broke
off as he folded her prodding finger into his warm grasp, and then snaked his other hand round to the small of her back to pull her into his body. Before she could regroup he was kissing her with determination.

“Mmm Mmmph,” she protested briefly, before giving up to the delicious pressure of his mouth. Apparently satisfied with her compliance, he delved gently between her lips with his tongue, making an appreciative rumbling noise deep in his chest. Her captured hand, clenched within his, opened, and he immediately placed it against his chest. She leaned into him, her fingers flexing against his muscular frame, wanting to purr with warm pleasure. He took her weight easily, intensifying the kiss until her head spun and her knees grew weak.

Slowly he lifted his lips from hers, his gaze heated as he looked down into her dreamy, unfocused eyes. She blinked slowly.

“Come on,” he said, without giving her time to start thinking again. “Let’s go get some of that banana cake.” He clasped her hand firmly, and led her through to the sitting room where Andrew was serving cake and coffee to Megan and Travis.

Like all the other rooms she had seen so far, this one was painted a light cream colour, and was bright with light from the large windows.

“About time you two got here. A moment later and we’d have eaten it all,” said Andrew to them in easy greeting.

She smiled in response as she took the plate he handed her, and answered his polite enquiry about what she wanted in her coffee. The others continued with the conversation interrupted by their entrance.

Before long Nina joined them. For almost an hour the three couples chatted companionably, and
Suzanne was again glad that she had been made so welcome by Justin’s friends, though a complete stranger.

She silently dwelt on Nina and Justin’s mysterious behaviour. He was hiding something, and she felt tense about it. What had she only just been telling herself about Justin being a man she could trust? Was she to be proved wrong so quickly?

Yet whatever it was, Nina knew and had expected she did too, so it couldn’t be anything really heinous. She was keeping a few secrets of her own. Respecting his was probably the mature thing to do. She nibbled thoughtfully on her lip, then made the firm decision to do an internet search on him as soon as she got home. Ultimately she was sure she could trust him. Or hoped she could. But only a fool would ignore the tool of technology for ensuring peace of mind.

He would tell her whatever it was in his own good time, if it were important. But in the meantime maybe she could find enough to be reassuring.

Finally the gathering broke up, with Megan, Travis, Andrew and Nina all declaring their intention to go to the beach. They invited Justin and Suzanne to come, but Justin refused.

“We have arrangements to make, don’t we
Suzanne?” he said.

“Absolutely,” she replied brightly.

So they left the others lounging about and trying to summon the willpower to get off the couch.

As Justin pressed the button on his car key to unlock her door, she said: “I suppose the next job is to get in touch with Marie.”

“Marie?” he asked, climbing into the driver’s seat.

“I hope she’ll take over my class when I go.”

As he drove away from Medlands she leaned back in her seat at an angle so she could watch him without being too obvious about it. Looking at his profile, it felt unreal she should be planning to go overseas with this man in four days. Even when his attention was on the task of driving, she could feel the pull of the attraction he held for her as an almost physical force.

She wondered if it could be his overwhelming beauty which drew her so strongly. It wouldn’t be surprising if she was simply overwhelmingly lustful for him, she thought. After all, she had never encountered a better candidate for inspiring infatuation than Justin.

Yet the reality was she had never found anyone who satisfied her soul the way he did. Being with him was like finding a part of herself that had always been missing. So much so, it was sometimes difficult to believe he didn’t feel the same way. But surely if he did, there would be no reason not to share his feelings with her. Frowning slightly, she gnawed on her lip.

He chose that moment to glance at her. Seeing her face, he broke into a grin.

“What is it?” he asked, laughter underneath his voice. “Why are you glaring at me? What terrible thing have I done?”