Excerpt: Fall In Love by Melissa Kendall

Excerpt: The white sands and the deep-blue sea of Cable Beach never ceased to amaze me. As a child we’d visited Broome a couple of times for family holidays, though we had a pond at home, it was nothing compared to the ocean.

As I admired the scenery around me, I saw a camel train headed my way. Of all the things I’d experienced on previous visits to Broome, a camel ride wasn’t one of them. I decided I’d correct that on my trip.

A camel train at sunset, Cable Beach Broome WA

Just as the camels passed by, the wind whipped something at my face. It scared the crap out of me. At once I grabbed the item and held it out in front of me—a straw hat. I searched around for an owner.

When I glanced up, I saw a stunning, petite brunette looking down at me from her seat on one of the camels. She appeared very apologetic as the camel train continued to move forward. I ran to catch up with the sluggish animals and I handed the hat back to the beautiful woman, feeling lucky I was tall enough to reach.

“Thank you,” she said as she tried to shake my hand.

It worried me she might fall off the camel as she reached for my hand, so, I just waved her away and said, “You’re welcome.”

I watched the camels continue up the beach for a little ways before I resumed my walk.

As I walked along the beach, every now and then, the waves lapped on to my feet. My mind wandered to the brown haired beauty perched on the camel’s back. I could tell from her thank you she had an Aussie accent. I wondered where she was from, or if I would ever see her again. If ever there were a woman whose beauty optimised what I viewed as perfection, she would be it. Her beauty was natural and understated, not marred by tonnes of make-up. And, although she was by no means fat, she wasn’t one of those stick thin girls you see with absolutely no curves. I wasn’t one to shy away from the fact I liked my women with curves.

I walked for about an hour then sat down on the beach and watched the red and yellow colours dance across the sky as the sun sank below the horizon.

After a while, I became hungry so I headed back to the hotel to grab some dinner at the restaurant.

One of the main things I looked forward to during my holiday was the chance to eat something other than meat and vegetables for dinner. Don’t get me wrong, my mum was a great cook and no one did a better steak and mash than her. However, they say variety is the spice of life and I planned to spice up my life with many different dishes.

I headed back to my room to change before dinner. After a quick shower to rid myself of the salt from the beach, I pulled on a pair of well-worn jeans and a button-down shirt. I rolled the sleeves up to my elbows and on my way out the door, I grabbed the book I brought to read while I ate.

Though dining alone wasn’t one of my favourite things, I’d done it quite a few times. After the first couple of times I sat bored and twiddled my thumbs as I waited for my food, I now found time passed quicker if I had a book to read. This time around, I’d brought with me the latest John Grisham novel.

After ordering deep fried Camembert and cranberries for entrée and garlic butter lobster for the main course, I opened my book and began to read. I’d only read a few lines when I heard a very quiet, “Excuse me.”

When I looked up from my book, I expected to see a waitress with my entrée but instead, I saw the gorgeous woman from earlier. “Hi?” I said.

“It looks like you’re eating alone. Would you mind if I joined you?”

Stunned that she asked to sit with me, it took a few seconds for my thoughts to catch up. All I managed to say was, “Of course.”

“I’m Mia Mason,” she said as she took the seat opposite me and held her hand out to me.

“Michael Dunbar,” I replied as I shook her hand.

The moment we touched, I felt a strange, yet pleasurable sensation move up my arm and quickly spread throughout my body.

“Nice to meet you.” A cheeky grin lit up her face—as if she knew a secret nobody else did.

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