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  She wanted that, too.

  With his arm around her shoulders, they exited fast and nabbed a taxi. Molly scooted over in the back seat so she cuddled into him. ‘I thought I’d have to hunt for you at the beach.’ This was much better. Relaxed and happy, she smothered a yawn. ‘After I checked into a hotel.’

  ‘You’ll be staying with me.’

  ‘Okay.’ A pause while she just enjoyed being surrounded by him. Then a question slowly formed in her dazed brain. ‘Did Tom tell you I was flying in?’

  ‘No. No-one told me a damn thing. You weren’t answering your phone.’

  ‘I was organising a surprise for you — oh! What time is it here?’ She tried to do some mental arithmetic, wrestling with time zones. ‘It should have been on TV by now. Can you check the internet on your phone?’

  He passed it over.

  She found the clip of her first televised interview. ‘Bless, Trish. She said she’d make sure it went up. Now, watch.’ She watched, too, and cringed. Despite her forced smiles at the beginning of the interview, she looked terrified. It was only after she mentioned the woylie, and then hugged Dude, that she relaxed. Even she had to admit that when she spoke of Zane, her whole face showed her love for him.

  ‘I love you.’ He put his face against hers, letting the phone go. ‘You didn’t let being shy, you didn’t let anything, stand between us. When you weren’t answering your phone, I realised how much you mean to me. I can’t lose you. I was at the airport to fly back to Jardin Bay.’

  She jerked back to stare at him. ‘The competition!’

  ‘You’re more important.’

  ‘Zane.’ She kissed him, which lasted about two seconds before he took over. It was a great kiss. A world-whirling, life-changing, rip-your-clothes off extravaganza. Molly climbed into his lap.

  ‘Hotel,’ the taxi driver interrupted them. ‘None too soon, either. You two need a room.’ The guy grinned huge, and wider still, when Zane over-tipped him.

  ‘Now, the room.’ Zane swept her into the hotel.

  Epilogue

  Zane came second in the event, just beaten by a guy ten years younger who shook his hand and said he planned to be just like him. ‘Cute girl and all,’ the kid added with a wink at Molly.

  She didn’t ask Zane if he was disappointed.

  He’d always be a fierce competitor, but there was a bone-deep happiness in him that everyone could see.

  The kid might have won, but the media only cared about Zane — and Molly.

  Her morning television interview in Australia had gone viral. That was great for the endangered woylie. Interest and support was flooding in. For her, it was surreal.

  Max, Zane’s manager, was ecstatic. He’d lined up an exclusive interview on a high profile US show for them.

  Molly had decided it would be her last television appearance. But as nervous as she was, she knew Zane would get her through it. That didn’t mean she’d be returning to Jardin Bay. She and Zane had discussed it. Trish had suggested it. Molly would run Zane’s social media sites and develop her own blog, as well as contributing articles to surfing and lifestyle magazines. The freelance work would allow her to travel with Zane.

  ‘It’ll only be a year,’ he said as they lay in bed that night.

  Tomorrow they’d fly back to Malibu and she’d see his condo, live there.

  ‘I don’t mind.’ Molly traced a love-heart on his chest. She put a cupid’s arrow through it.

  ‘I do. I’ll be 30. I want to go back to Jardin Bay and start a life there. Have kids?’

  She picked up the question in that last statement. She smiled big. ‘I’d like that.’

  ‘All my dreams.’ He rolled over, pinning her to the bed. ‘With you.’

  ‘Starting now.’ She put her arms around him. ‘Love you, dude.’

  ‘No one says “dude”.’

  ‘I do.’ And then she didn’t say anything, just loved him.

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  ISBN: 9780857990792

  Title: It’s Love, Dude

  Copyright © 2013 by Jenny Schwartz

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