“But you absolutely do now,” Chloe replied, cheekily.

“Oh, I absolutely do now, Ms Sims.” He leant in for another kiss.

*

“It’s a big year coming up,” said Jules.

“It is,” Matt agreed, a small smile curling his lips.

She peered up at him, one hand draped over his shoulder as she toyed with the curls at the nape of his neck. God, he was handsome. She thought back to the first time she’d seen him, when she was checking out his ass in those jeans. He looked really good in jeans. He looked good out of them too.

The hot Aussie winemaker. Matt. Her Matt. Matty. Maybe she would call him that.

She looked down at her glass—empty. “I’m a tiny bit tipsy,” she realised aloud.

“I can see that.” The smile widened.

“I’m also a tiny bit afraid.” She’d been sitting on this for a couple of days, her little secret. She hadn’t even told the girls. Maybe it was being back home that had unlocked her fears about moving to Australia.

“Well, that’s understandable. You’re about to make a massive change. It’s a big deal.”

Jules wasn’t sure what she was expecting from Matt, maybe a stock standard reassurance. “You’ve got this,” or something along those lines. His candour surprised her—in a good way. “You’re honest,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“To a fault.”

“I like that. I need that.”

“Good. ’Cause, there’s no point in me blowing smoke up your ass and pretending that it’s going to be all fun and games. It won’t be. Well, it will be—some of the time.” He smiled at her warmly. “But other times, it’ll be hard. You’re gonna miss your family, you’ll be settling into a new job, a new city. It’s bound to get overwhelming at times. But, hey, you’ve got me—and Ash, and Callie, and Thea.”

“And Dexter.”

“Aww, man, that dog loves you.”

She grinned, already missing Dexter’s cute little face. She hoped he was enjoying his time with his aunties, Callie and Thea, being a beach dog for the week. “Seriously, though, thank you for that. It does help, you being direct with me. I mean, I’m still terrified, but—”

“Hang on, you’ve gone from ‘a tiny bit afraid’ to ‘terrified’ …” He sucked his breath in through his teeth. “I thought I was helping.” She could tell he was kidding.

“No, you are. I promise. Just hearing it all laid out like that, it demystifies it, you know? And you’re right. It will be a mix of good and bad—mostly good, I hope. But I just have one follow-up question.”

“Shoot.”

“This, uh, ‘smoke up the ass’ thing … that’s not, like, some weird kind of Australian hazing ritual, is it?” Matt’s body shook with laughter, a deep rumbling sound that Jules had come to love. “I mean, it sounds sorta whacky, so I just wanna know ahead of time what I’m getting myself into.”

He sighed loudly. “Are you done?”

She nodded, a grin splitting her face and feeling a little more than pleased with herself.