Australian Obsession Read online

  I was not prepared to meet the woman of my dreams this morning, or ever really. But the way my heart is beating out of my chest right now, and we haven’t even started the ascent and I’m not afraid of heights at all, is telling me she’s just that.

  My livelihood is based on cardiovascular fitness, amongst other things. I never get winded, but right now my heart and lungs are trying to make an exception.

  We set out and the ascent puts her backside so damn close to my face I want to bite it. Fuck, I can barely climb this damn thing with the hard-on that has suddenly returned with a vengeance. It never really went away. There are just levels to it.

  There’s hard, which is what I’ve been since the cafe this morning, and then there’s this other level of steel I didn’t even know my rod was capable of achieving…until her.

  “Are you having fun?” she asks over her shoulder.

  “Being a tourist in your own city is the best.”

  “You promise?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Hurry up you two,” a voice up a head of us says.

  I want to tell him to mind his own business, and leave my woman and I alone, but he’s got on priest clothes. What the?

  The man looks at his watch and I’m not sure if there’s some kind of joke being played or what’s going. Either way it’s going to be an experience, and I want to create experiences for her that she’s going to remember forever. I want to burn this day into her memory bank so she’ll look back at it forever, always remembering the day we met as the day her life truly started.

  We make our way up to the priest and he quickly looks at his watch again and then smiles.

  “You two look so perfect together,” a woman quite a ways behind us yells.

  “Thank you,” I say, still not sure what’s going on.

  “I’d marry her too,” the woman’s man seems to say.

  “She’s not yours. She’s mine. Keep your eyes on your own woman,” I growl, and the man’s head immediately droops and his woman lowers her camera and turns to look over at the Opera House.

  “Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and to cherish, to have and to hold, to—“

  “Whoa there, buddy,” I say. As great as this idea sounds I don’t want to rush her and think I’m desperate or that I’ve totally lost my mind, although I clearly have for her.

  “Young man, we don’t have time. I need to preside over this quickly. I’m sorry. I’ve got another wedding at the base of the Opera House that I’m already late for.”

  “Wedding?”

  “You’ve got cold feet now? If you do just tell me so I can go.”

  “Cold feet?”

  Elena looks back at me and I give her a look that says I truly have no idea what’s going on.

  “We’re back here!” a couple yells a few feet back, trying to come up the bridge as fast as they can.

  “My apologies,” the priest says, his face turning red.

  “Wait. You marry people up here?”

  “It’s a big business these days. It’s not Vegas, but it pays the bills.”

  I stare at him realizing he’s telling the truth, not that the woman in a white dress climbing up the bridge as fast as she can was any indication that the guy was a liar.

  “You two just looked like such a perfect couple so I thought for sure it was you.”

  I feel Elena’s hand clamp down on mine harder, possessively, warmly. She turns to me and smiles, but says nothing.

  She feels the same way.

  I freeze.

  “Sorry, but if you can just keep moving so the couple can make it into position.”

  Still frozen, just staring at my perfect woman, the clear blue Sydney skies her backdrop, the color matching her eyes in this light.

  “Sir?”

  “Right,” I say snapping back to reality.

  I take a step forward not realizing how close I am to Elena. My cock grinds into her backside and she jumps a little.

  He’s right. We are perfect for each other. My body is telling me what my mind already knows.

  She will be mine.

  CHAPTER 7

  Elena

  The Sydney Harbour Bridge is amazing, and I’m feeling light as a feather, like I’m floating on a cloud.

  Everything is so perfect, including that little bump in the back he gave me letting me know he was just as excited about climbing that bridge as I was. His cock was so hard it could have been mistaken for some of the steel construction itself, and it did little to help in the way of keeping my panties dry. Thank god there was a breeze up there.

  When we finish the bridge we have a decision to make. We can rent bikes or do the touristy hop on hop off bus.

  Lachlan suggests we do the bikes, so I can get some blood flow in my legs and so equally as important we can be in control.

  I’m suddenly glad I stand all day and that I’m so young. Both give me a bit of stamina, which I realize I’m going to need to keep up with my adventurous alpha. It had occurred to me, but I didn’t realize just how active his lifestyle was until I felt it myself.

  That stamina that I do have, although not great, could sure come in handy later…at least I hope. But probably not tonight, because he’s wearing me out in the city, in a good way, and I doubt I’ll be awake much after sunset despite the big time difference from back home.

  Strangely enough all the exercise does give me energy, as long as we don’t stop. And stopping is the last word that enters my mind when I think of anything to do with him.

  Finding this man, and crafting a plan to get him is like a little girl catching a precise snowflake with her tongue. Part of me feels a bit stalkerish about it, or even a lot, but just like that snowflake you wouldn’t go trying to catch one in the desert would you? You go where what you want is and then you put yourself in position to get exactly what you want.

  That’s what I did and I refuse to look at it differently, although at some point this might all come out and then things could really get weird.

  We’ve already crossed one bridge today as a team, and with flying colors at that. I’ll leave that proverbial bridge to cross if and when it arrives.

  I’m also going to have to do something about my brother. I’m glad I was able to isolate Lachlan, or is it the other way around at this point? Lachlan was the pursuer so does that still make me an obsessed person?

  Well I am obsessed with him, that’s for sure, but if he’s pursuing me, even a little bit, then I don’t feel weird about it at all.

  Then again if these thoughts keep going through my mind then I’m probably trying to justify my quirky behavior. Yeah, quirky…not obsessive. I’ll think of it like that.

  “No way!” I say, looking ahead.

  “Way,” he says.

  When we rented the bikes I heard the guy tell Lachlan something about what he was looking for being about six miles away. I’m not sure if we took the direct route or not, but I’m guessing this is exactly what he was talking about.

  “It’s the famous ones from In…the Internet, right?” I catch myself after having almost said Instagram. I can’t be found out now. No clues that can lead to the unraveling of my string.

  “The one that every Instagrammer from all over the world comes here for. Welcome to the Bondi Icebergers Pool.”

  We park and lock the bikes and make our way there.

  Lachlan pulls out a water bottle from his backpack, showing me that although he’s fun-loving and easy-going, he’s also prepared. I like that.

  “Ready to get in?”

  “Get in? I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

  “We’re gonna make an Aussie beach bum outta ya before ya know it,” he says. “First rule. Always wear your swimsuit underneath your regular clothes in the summer.”

  My eyes bulge as he unbuttons his pants and starts to yank them down. Instead of having underwear on though, he’s got on a pair of boardshorts.

  “Let’s get you a suit.”


  “Me? I’m pale and not in good shape. Plus we don’t have towels.”

  “That’s what she’s for,” he says pointing to the sun.

  The relaxing way he goes through life sure is a change from the daily crises I seem to face back home. From our parents dying without a will, and the legal system sucking up what little they did have even though we felt like we didn’t need to involve any lawyers as we were happy to split the money, to the struggles to survive in a town that makes most of its money from tourism, this is definitely a welcome relief. I haven’t once thought about my troubles back home.

  And how could I? When I’m with him they all disappear.

  “But the suit?”

  “They sell them inside. Plus we have high rates of skin cancer in Australia. The ozone is different here, at least what parts of it are left. Pale is perfect, baby. You can hashtag that,” he says, smiling. “Oh forgot, you’re not big on social media.”

  “But I like the joke,” I say.

  We step inside to grab a suit and I’m wishing I hadn’t eaten all that airplane food. Sucking in my stomach is going to be my modus operandi today.

  “How about this one?” he says, holding up a skimpy one from across the showroom floor.

  “I’m thinking more of a one-piece,” I say, holding up the darkest shade of Navy blue before it’s known as black. I want all the slimming and coverage I can get.

  “Good thinking. I don’t want other guys checking out what’s mine.”

  What’s his?

  I swallow hard and feel my entire being tingle. Did he just claim me from across the showroom floor, for everyone to hear?

  “Excuse me, mate. Can I get a picture?” a man suddenly says, appearing out of nowhere next to Lachlan.

  “Sure, mate,” he says and they snap a quick pic and give each other a handshake.

  “Is that Lachlan Wright?” a female voice from behind me says.

  “Yeah, it’s him. Oh my god, he’s so hot,” another answers.

  I hear the scurrying of their sandals as they slide across the floor and into view, quickly making their way to Lachlan.

  My stance widens and I grip my suit tight. My nostrils flare and I feel an extreme rage of jealousy when they come into view.

  Their white triangle top bikinis are wet, rendering them partly transparent. I guess you don’t buy ginormous fake boobies to hide them do you?

  Lachlan makes my nipples hard, but this is headlights on all the time next level.

  They wiggle right next to him, damn near rubbing their tits on him, but he keeps his eyes on me as if they don’t even exist.

  A devious smile curls the corners of my lips, and I notice their bikini bottoms are thongs. Of course. And of course their asses are thick, yet rock hard. I’m not sure if they have the same surgeon as the Kardashians or a hell of a lot of discipline in the gym, but either way I can’t hold back the hate I have for them.

  I start counting backwards in my head, trying to calm down. It hits me that this is an OCD trick that obsessive people do. Why am I doing it then? I’m not obsessive, I’m quirky.

  “Can we…like…get a picture with you, sexy?” Malibu Barbie on the left asks.

  I want to tell her that peroxide isn’t sold in this shop so bad, but I bite my tongue. I have nothing against dye jobs, but bad dye jobs? That’s another story.

  “Sorry, I’m on a date,” Lachlan says, his eyes staying locked on me. He hasn’t even acknowledged them yet. Not. At. All. “I like that one,” he says, pointing to the suit I held up. “Let’s get it.”

  I can’t take my eyes off those girls and Lachlan can’t take his eyes off me.

  “Just one, real quick?” one of them says, pulling out her phone, puffing her lips, and extending her hand in the direction of Lachlan’s shoulders.

  Oh hell no!

  I beeline it towards her, but before I can get there, and before she can lay a finger on him, he moves out of reach of her talons and is coming right toward me.

  “What’s wrong, baby?” he asks as we both stop on a dime just as we reach each other. If this was a movie scene we’d kiss in this moment, and do I ever want to claim him right now. For once the unpopular girl deserves to win, right?

  But as much as I want to kiss him right now, I can see in his eyes he wants it even more…if that’s possible.

  His hand comes up to my face, and the tips of his fingers brush along my cheek before sliding a lock of hair behind my ears.

  “I don’t ever want to see you worrying like that…that stress on your face. Let me worry about all your troubles, you know why?”

  “Why?” I whimper, his face moving closer to mine.

  “Because I’m going to make sure you never have any ever again.” He moves yet closer. “There’s a reason we’re famous for saying ‘no worries’ down here.”

  That may be true, but I’ve got a big worry right about now. I swear I’m on the verge of climaxing, my fantasy man so damn close to kissing me.

  “Asshole,” I hear from the peanut gallery as the two girls stomp off, sulking…just before his lips come crashing down on mine.

  CHAPTER 8

  Lachlan

  Way past the time we should have been back we pull up to the apartment. Then again who’s to say when we should get back. We’re both adults, we can do whatever we want.

  We stayed at the fifty-meter long outdoor, saltwater Bondi Icebergs pool until they closed. A few big waves came crashing in and damn did I feel good when I was about to move her body out of the way, protecting her as my back took all the impact.

  That’s how it should be. I don’t ever want harm to come her way, but if it does I’m going to be there to step in and take the abuse. Every. Single. Time.

  One woman at the pool even pointed us out as she yelled at her boyfriend. She got knocked back when he decided to duck under the water as the wave approached. It’s not the worst strategy…if you’re by yourself. I would know. I’ve ducked plenty of big waves out at sea, but strangely had never gone to that pool.

  Some of the laws of physics transfer over. It is water after all. But some don’t because the pool is much different than the ocean floor.

  And I was floored that a man would allow his woman to take a wave to the head like that. I had some words with him in the men’s changing room after. The fool is lucky I didn’t put my hands on him.

  But right now all I can think about is putting my hands on my woman. I sneak in one last kiss as we arrive at her brother’s door. We straighten up and act very nonchalant as I rap my knuckles against the surface.

  Nothing.

  I try again and still nothing.

  I hear a noise in the hall and turn quickly.

  “If you’re looking for him I don’t think you’ll find him anytime soon.”

  “Why?”

  The other neighbor slides his key in the lock and then stops, stares forward and hesitates before he decides to gossip about his other neighbor. “He stormed off when I went to go get a sandwich about fifteen minutes ago. He looked pissed…really pissed. I don’t see him coming back anytime soon.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  He nods. “Didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” he mumbles before he quickly slides inside his place before I can reply.

  “I’d call him, but the last thing he probably wants to hear right now is my voice,” I say under my breath. I want to brush off his comment right now. I don’t want to rush Elena or be pushy with her. Not only that if the guy talks about Eric to me then he surely talks about me to Eric. I don’t need this getting back to him in the state of mind he seems to be in right now.

  “Or mine.”

  “Then I guess we better stick together then.”

  “I guess so.”

  I turn to my door, holding it open so she can enter.

  CHAPTER 9

  Elena

  Lachlan’s place is bigger than Eric’s and much nicer than I expected. For a guy who likely drags a lot of sand in on a daily basis it
sure is clean.

  “I like it.” I step in and notice the floor to ceiling windows.

  He must catch me looking because he moves over that way and pulls open the curtain.

  “Whoa.” I didn’t realize just how high up we were. He’s got a nice view of the city, and I sure would get a nice view of him standing by this window completely naked. Or better yet, I’d like to feel it at my back as he throws me against it.