Tall, Dark & Distant Page 8

  Nik and Georgia’s brunch at the cafe a safe distance down the road in Montville turned into lunch, which involved much more food than was really sensible for a person with a propensity for motion sickness. To avoid a repeat of the vomiting episode, they drove a short distance into the bush to take a walk.

  Georgia took Nik to a trail that she had visited many times as a kid. It wound through the eucalypt forest to a secluded waterfall that gushed over rocks and formed a deep waterhole.

  Looking at the water rushing over the rocks, Georgia could remember how she’d felt the first time she clambered up and stood at the top, mustering the courage to plunge into the pool below. It was like she was standing on top of the world. The drop seemed so far and dangerous that she’d thought there would be eels or even monsters waiting at the bottom of the waterhole to suck on her toes. There was no way of knowing – the water was too dark to see. This had added to the excitement after she plunged off the cliff, as she’d scrambled to get out of the water to escape the predators.

  It wasn’t the most magnificent waterfall. It hadn’t even been on her sightseeing itinerary for Nik originally. But Georgia realised she wanted to get beyond the obvious – to show Nik some of the places that were special to her. This little spot in the bush was easily overlooked by tourists. It couldn’t compete with the beaches, the views, the shops and the restaurants, but that, in a way, was what made it special. It was out of the way and quiet. She felt like she was a little girl again, sharing a top-secret base with her new best friend. Georgia could feel herself slipping back into that private world that she and Nik had shared on their morning runs in the national park.

  They sat on a rock, dangling their feet into the water. A dragon-fly buzzed around the rocks.

  ‘The waterfall seemed much higher when I was younger,’ Georgia apologised. ‘I used to jump from the top – it was terrifying.’

  ‘It looks high enough to me,’ Nik replied, standing. He held out his hand to help Georgia up.

  She kept hold of it even after she was standing, liking the feel of his palm against hers, his fingers gently clasping hers. She looked into his face, wondering how he could be so sure he wasn’t boyfriend material. Wasn’t that for her to decide? She understood he had commitments – she could live with that. Well, she could try. She opened her mouth to raise the subject, but Nik had turned and was leading the way to the top of the waterfall.

  ‘No swan dives,’ Georgia warned, when they reached the top. It hadn’t looked far from the rock pool but when she saw the drop, her heart started pounding. ‘Just jump into the water. Feet first.’

  Georgia had been through an emergency plan on her way up the rock face and she didn’t like her chances of hauling Nik back up the track if he did an unsuccessful swan dive and landed on the rocks.

  ‘I think I can manage to jump into a rock pool,’ Nik mocked.

  ‘Uh-huh, Mr Belly Flop,’ she said, eyebrows raised. ‘Seriously though, it’s a lot more dangerous than it looks.’

  ‘You go first,’ Nik said. ‘Show me how it’s done.’

  Nik stood aside, leaving Georgia to position herself on the edge of the rock face. She looked down at the dark water, took a deep breath, put her inhibitions to the back of her mind and jumped, letting out a whoop on the way down. She sank into the cold water, not deep enough to reach the bottom, but far enough to feel the water get icy-cold and know she was in eel territory. Georgia kicked to the surface and waved to Nik. Then she paddled to the side to watch him jump.

  Nik stood at the top, assessing the drop, like he was preparing for an Olympic event. Despite his complete lack of talent in the diving area, he had what looked like a perfect diver’s body – toned and slim. He didn’t have the bulging muscles that gym junkies tended to develop or the monstrous thighs that she’d seen on rugby forwards. Nik was perfectly proportioned. He gave her a smile and then, just as Georgia had instructed, he leapt from the top of the waterfall, feet first. He let out a Tarzan call as he plunged towards the water, tucking his legs up at the last minute – a ten-point bomb dive. Georgia waited for him to surface so she could offer her congratulations.

  She studied the spot where Nik had entered the water. For three … four … five seconds she waited for him to surface. But he didn’t. Georgia scanned the rock pool. Then she looked at the rocks. Maybe she had missed him getting out of the pool. But he wasn’t anywhere. He was gone.

  Georgia’s heart began to pound. Had he struck a submerged rock and sunk to the bottom? Was he drowning down there with the eels? She had brought him here. And now she had killed him.

  ‘Nik!’ she screamed, looking around the rock pool.

  She took a deep breath, panic rising. She had to try the bottom first. She plunged into the water, pulling herself with strong strokes towards the pool’s rocky floor. The water was dark. She was searching blind, grasping with her hands, groping around the slippery rocks until she ran out of breath. She surfaced. Her eyes darted around the water.

  ‘Nik!’ she called again. But there was still no sign of him.

  She took in another breath. She was preparing herself for the worst when Nik’s face appeared. He was behind the waterfall – water pounding his head and a grin on his face.

  ‘Over here!’ he called. ‘Come through.’

  She let out a loud sigh. Then she took another breath to calm herself and struck out across the pool to meet Nik. She slipped under the thumping water and surfaced on the other side.

  Nik’s face was excited, more animated than she’d ever seen it. ‘This is seriously cool. I’ve never been behind a waterfall before.’

  Georgia should have been pleased. Wasn’t bathing under a waterfall with a beautiful guy the stuff of dreams? But Georgia was still in shock from his suspected drowning. The thought of his body trapped in a tangle of roots at the bottom of the pool was implanted in her mind, crushing her chest and making it difficult to breathe. Georgia tried to steady her nerves.

  ‘I thought you were at the bottom of the rock pool,’ she said shakily. ‘I thought you were dead.’

  Nik’s expression changed from excitement to confusion. Georgia hadn’t meant to spoil his brand-new discovery but she couldn’t stop a couple of tears escaping.

  ‘Oh god, I’m really sorry,’ Nik said, concerned. ‘I just jumped in and kind of bobbed up here. I wasn’t trying to hide. I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you’d probably discovered this place years ago.’

  The truth was Georgia had discovered the secret chamber behind the waterfall as a kid. She just didn’t expect Nik to find it on his first visit.

  Nik reached out and pulled Georgia onto the rock ledge beside him. She breathed deeply, trying to control herself. Nik took her hand and stroked it gently. She kept her eyes down, feeling foolish, willing her tears to stop.

  ‘I’m sorry, Georgia,’ he said again.

  If anything, Nik’s touch increased the speed of her racing heart, but her breathing began to return to normal and a last tear rolled down her cheek. Nik leant towards her, carefully taking her chin in his hand and tilting her face towards him. He wiped the tear from her cheek gently, letting his fingertips linger just below her eye. Then with his thumb, he smoothed the crease from her brow, taking away the tension, her fears, her overactive imagination.

  ‘Do you keep anything inside?’ he whispered.

  Georgia shook her head. She was as open as he was closed, and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Nik ran a finger down the side of her face and along her jaw line, pausing at the edge of her mouth. She trembled as she looked into his eyes, aching to kiss him, desperate to hold him. Nik leant closer, slowly letting his lips rest against her mouth. She closed her eyes as their lips moved in a tender, healing kiss and she felt the pain slipping from her mind. The empty space was quickly filled with a hunger – a deep, gripping longing that consumed her mind and body.

  Nik gently put his hands on Georgia’s shoulders and guided her onto the rocks. She wa
s aware of the hard, wet surface under her back, but by then, Nik’s lips were on her neck and she could sense every nerve ending tingling, buzzing with anticipation. Her heart thumped as Nik’s mouth moved slowly down her torso. Her mind was spinning – did she want him to go further? Was this the right time for the first time? She’d always imagined it would be somewhere outdoors – natural, beautiful, spontaneous. But did she know him well enough? Did she trust Nik enough not to break her heart?

  By the time his lips had reached the top of her bikini pants, she felt like she was melting. The water tumbling over the falls was thundering inside her head, and the feel of Nik’s lips on her skin was blurring her vision and paralysing her muscles. Nik paused for a moment, waiting for a sign to go further – his eyes drifted to Georgia’s, gently asking the question. She blinked her consent – it was all she had the strength for. Her mind was too cloudy for consequences. She felt fatigued from the ache of wanting him, of loving him.

  ‘You’re so divine,’ Nik whispered, kissing the wet skin inside her thigh.

  ‘Mmm,’ she sighed. She didn’t know about that. All she knew was that she needed to have him, completely.

  ‘Let’s go back to my place,’ he said, teasing her with his tongue. ‘I don’t want to take you home with lacerations to your back from the rocks.’

  ‘Mmm,’ she groaned again. She couldn’t even feel the rocks. All she could feel was his tongue. But he probably had a point. Sex behind a waterfall was the stuff of dreams, not real life. They also ran the risk of a family stumbling down the track at any moment. And there was also the condom issue.

  Nik kissed Georgia’s lips and pulled her to her feet.

  They grabbed their clothes and stumbled back to the trail, still kissing. But the more they kissed, the more she felt an unbearable burden of pleasure. She was burning with desire for him. She needed to have him. Now.

  ‘How fast can you run?’ she asked, finally pulling away from Nik.

  Very fast, as it turned out. They both sprinted back along the trail, laughing as they passed a crowd of families. We definitely would have been busted, thought Georgia, grinning.

  They ran to the car, hurling themselves into the Ferrari, ready for the drive back down the mountain. Nik turned on the engine and a song blasted out of the radio. Throw your arms around me.

  Somehow it felt like an instruction. And instead of going anywhere, Nik clicked off the engine and looked at Georgia.

  This time she didn’t even need to blink her consent; it was all in the way she sighed.

  Nik leant towards Georgia, putting one hand into her hair and pulling her face towards him. With the other hand he reclined her seat.

  ‘Would you respect me in the morning if I told you I have a condom in the gearbox?’ he murmured.

  Any other time, she might have been turned off by a guy that carried condoms in his car. But right now she was relieved.

  ‘I’ll respect you whatever’s in there,’ she mumbled as Nik undid her bikini top. She couldn’t think about the morning. All she could think about was Nik sliding on top of her and how urgently she wanted him.

  Georgia was lost in thought as they drove back down the mountain range. The Ferrari roared, but she could only hear it in the distance. Her skin was still sweaty from the frantic, hot sex they’d just had. Her mind was on Nik. She took long blatant looks at his face, imprinting the shape of his lips on her brain, preserving the way they twitched when he was thinking. She breathed in the scent of his skin – the slightly muddy smell of creek water that took her mind straight back to the waterfall. She tingled just thinking about the way he made her feel as she lay on the wet rocks. And then she smiled, thinking of the stuff they’d done in the car. She’d never imagined her first time would be so powerful. And doing it in the passenger seat of a Ferrari made her feel like an It girl.

  ‘What?’ Nik said as Georgia stared at his face, but he knew what. As he had already observed, Georgia was an open book.

  Nik squeezed her hand as the road eventually flattened out. ‘Now I have something to show you,’ he said.

  ‘Oh?’ Georgia replied, blushing. All she could think about was sex. Did he have a special bed? With satin sheets? Or was he one of those guys who were into handcuffs? She gulped at the thought – she really didn’t want to go there.

  Nik laughed, sensing her apprehension. ‘Do you want a hint?’

  Georgia nodded. Still nervous.

  ‘You don’t need to take your clothes off to enjoy it.’

  Georgia relaxed. ‘Good,’ she replied.

  They turned off the main road and into a road marked private. At this point, Georgia guessed they were going to visit his house, but surely that wasn’t the surprise.

  What would Nik want to show her? She was sure it would be something very impressive, but how impressive? Maybe it was a super-fast motorbike in his garage. Or a horse-drawn carriage? That would be weird, but it was possible. Or could it be a present for her? Was it too early for a gift? Or maybe (and it was a long shot) it was a car. He obviously liked buying new cars.

  ‘Do you want to show me something big?’ she asked.

  Nik nodded.

  ‘Does it move?’ she asked.

  Nik nodded again.

  ‘I think I know what it is,’ she smiled.

  ‘No you don’t,’ he said. He changed gears and the engine revved. Her head jolted forward and she came to her senses.

  What was she thinking? Nik wasn’t going to buy her a car! She was losing perspective. She didn’t even care what the surprise was. As long as Nik was showing it to her, she didn’t even care if it was an old donkey.

  Nik pulled into a circular driveway outside his house and the engine went quiet.

  Georgia was struck speechless for a moment. ‘This is your holiday house?’ she managed eventually.

  Sprawled across the hilltop in front of them was a house, palatial, yet also somehow discreet, screened from the rest of the world by a grove of palms, pandanus, bougainvillea and frangipanis Nothing announced its presence from any direction. From its hilltop position, the house commanded a view of Noosa and across the bay to the sandy cliffs of Fraser Island in the north. A filtered view through tropical gardens was the trade-off for privacy.

  In fact it could only loosely be described as a house. Nik’s holiday residence looked more like a Balinese resort. Georgia wouldn’t have been surprised to see a team of linen-suited staff emerging to take her bag and offer a welcome drink. Sun loungers were set up around an enormous swimming pool as if waiting for the guests to check in. The pool itself seemed to blend into the ocean beyond it.

  The tropical gardens, the vibrant crimson of the bougainvillea, and the frangipani trees with their perfect white-and-yellow flowers added to the feeling that Georgia had slipped into a private retreat. An immaculately maintained tennis court completed the resort scene. By the look of the court, Noosa had been added to the Grand Slam.

  ‘Wow,’ was all she could say.

  ‘It does the job for the summer holidays.’ Nik smiled. ‘We bought the house from an American tennis pro, he was pretty fussy about the court. Do you play?’

  Georgia recalled Ella’s rule about tennis.

  ‘Not much,’ she replied. ‘But I’d like to learn.’

  ‘Maybe we can have a hit sometime.’

  Georgia made a note to herself to have some lessons before that sometime arrived.

  Nik opened the front door and they walked into the house. A vast light atrium stretched out ahead of them, merging into an entertaining area that overlooked the pool. The space was dominated by a floor-to-ceiling aquarium where countless species of tropical fish darted among the coral gardens. Georgia felt like she’d just walked into the Great Barrier Reef.

  The marine theme continued on the far wall, where a tank was occupied solely by small white jellyfish drifting calmly in a blue world. The tank was flanked by two huge modern paintings – bold blocks of aqua broken up by vibrant flashes of yellow and p
ink, imitating the colours of the tropical fish.

  ‘An Australian artist,’ Nik explained. ‘It’s an honesty metaphor.’

  Georgia nodded, blankly. She wasn’t sure if Honesty Metaphor was the title of the paintings or if that was Nik’s interpretation. It could have even been the name of the artist for all she knew. Contemporary art wasn’t really her thing. Georgia was well out of her depth there, but then she was pretty much drowning wherever she looked.

  ‘I don’t envy the guy who cleans these fish tanks,’ was all Georgia could say. This guy has more money than Mark Zuckerberg, she thought to herself.

  Most people Georgia knew rented out their holiday houses when they weren’t using them. They filled their accommodation with easy-care furniture and decorated the walls with pastel prints. This wasn’t that kind of place; it was a private hilltop sanctuary.

  ‘Have a seat,’ Nik said, nodding to a sofa. ‘Just need to sort a few things out.’

  Georgia was about to sit when she noticed another painting.

  It didn’t have the scale to impress like the others, but the brush strokes, the colour, everything about it screamed out for attention. There was a hint of a woman’s face in among the chaos. Two green eyes were hidden in the colours. Georgia walked towards the painting to take a closer look. It enthralled and repulsed her at the same time.

  ‘Who’s this one by?’ she asked.

  Nik hesitated a moment. ‘It’s … my mother’s self-portrait,’ he said. Georgia thought she sensed some strain on his face.

  She stepped back from it. ‘It’s incredible. So … wild.’

  ‘That’s my mother,’ Nik said. He kissed her gently and then disappeared upstairs.

  Georgia stared at the painting for a few seconds more and a shiver went through her body. The hairs on her arms stood to attention. There was something very sinister about the artwork. It wasn’t the sort of piece you could enjoy with your morning juice. Appreciate, maybe. Enjoy, no.

  Georgia turned her attention to the fish – happy, busy, uncomplicated. She dropped into a huge leather sofa, just like the one she had dreamed of sharing with Nik, only much bigger – a modular version that would comfortably seat twenty. But no matter where she sat, the eyes in the painting kept following her. It was like Nik’s mother was trying to scare her off, or warn her about something.