He laughed. ‘You’re a delight.’

He raised his glass, they carefully touched plastic to plastic and, bizarrely, for Ava it felt as if that tiny spark of attraction had flared into a scrub fire. Incendiary attraction, both of them needing comfort, both well over the age of consent. This was going to be a memorable flight.

The conversation barely faltered from there – seriously, the people in front of them must have wanted to knock their heads together to get some peace – and they’d only covered the surface stuff. His political parents and private Sydney boarding school versus her School of the Air and matriarch-run outback station. He was a widower and she single, and yes, he was an emergency doctor, not a policeman, but he didn’t want to talk about his loss or his job. Something in his gaze made her want to squeeze his fingers.

They shared their tastes in music – his piano and jazz, hers everything – as well as books – biographies versus a happy ending – and travel – Sydney being Ava’s most distant city and his love of Zurich. They made a game out of avoiding his topics of employment and family except for the basics.

They had so much unexpected rapport, such foolish fun exchanging foibles. His discovery of the health benefits of kombucha tea and her love of Bonox around a camp fire at muster. His aversion to heights and her love of off-road driving. So it seemed natural to share a taxi after landing, and then stand grinning at each other as he checked in to his swish apartment – not room – at the hotel where they intended to eat.

Food. Honest.

The sunrise tinted a pink swathe across the wall of the room, blushed across the white duvet, and dusted the beginnings of Central Australian heat across Ava’s cheek, warming her skin. Hazily, as she shifted her head, she squinted at the unfamiliar rose-coloured room and frowned.

She could see the flecks of floating dust motes crystallise but, unfortunately, that wasn’t all that formed as clarity returned. Her cheeks burned as the fractured pieces of last night re-emerged, and she stifled the urge to groan. Good ghastly grief.

She’d had a one-night stand.

You’re a grown woman. Her inner voice shut down the embarrassment.

That may be, but oh my. She had to admit, she would hate to have grown much older without experiencing last night. Talk about lust at first sight. It had been complete enchantment, and they’d been soulmates for at least the length of the spell.

She was no blushing virgin – though her virginity could quite possibly have grown back because it had been more than five years since she’d last been with anyone … for good reason – but darn, this morning felt uncomfortable. Especially when she was a novice at waking up next to a stranger from the night before, with the heat from his body still warming her hip.