The winter outback heat faded as quickly as it emerged until a warm body dropped next to me on the blanket. I held in my sigh as he tossed his messy black bangs out of his face.

Leon's teeth flashed white in the moonlight. "Our last night together."

I'd been travelling long enough to understand that code: the last opportunity to attempt to sleep with me. It didn't matter that Sophia had been laughing harder at his jokes and offering to help set up his unnecessarily complicated tent most nights. Something about me drew him in despite the zero encouragement I'd given him since we'd met weeks ago.

He scooted nearer and leaned in to say. "Want to go for a walk?"

Sophia was close enough that her head dropped, and she took another sip of her beer on the outskirts of the gathering of backpackers. I'd trade places with her in a heartbeat.

I ran my finger over the thick plastic of my water bottle. My mind needed to be clear for tomorrow. "I'm good, thanks."

The flirt put an arm around my shoulder, and I shrugged it off. "I don't really mean a walk."

"I know."

He threw on the smile that had gotten us discounts on our journey up the coast. "C'mon, we're fun, single, and attractive. What's the problem?"

The problem was that attractive to me was no different than the first two facts he listed. I'd figured out society's definition of physical attractiveness in my twenty-six years on this planet, but it was similar to noticing that someone was tall, balding, or wearing a baseball cap to me. 

"It's not what I want. I'll take that walk, but alone." My leg muscles protested as I stood, still resentful about trekking through the breathtaking gorge today. Those orange outback rocks were far better company than Leon. "Hope the rest of your trip goes well."

He gave me a side-eyed glance and bitterly wished me the same. I said goodbye to Sophia and the others before walking down the quiet campground road, passing retired couples and their RVs, happy families on their winter holidays, and other backpackers speaking French and German to a background of indie music on tinny speakers.

Since I'd left home, I searched for Derek's tall frame and those black square glasses. Even if he'd regard me with the same sour look Leon had and we had little to say to each other, it never stopped me. This was meant to be our trip, although I'd begun in New Zealand instead of Sydney to avoid crossing paths then hid in Western Australia. Perhaps my involuntary actions indicated I longed to know when danger was heading my way because I sure as hell didn't want to speak to Derek again. Not after his words nearly destroyed me.

The campsites grew quieter, the stars brighter, and the outback shrubs swayed in the light wind. Loud rustling made me stop in my tracks. Maybe I should have brought Leon to scare away what was likely a dingo. A long body emerged onto the road, low to the ground and with limbs moving with large, laboured circular motions. As a forked tongue flickered out, I screamed, but it didn't faze the reptile. It did, however, attract a pair of heavy footsteps that stopped right behind me.

"Bloody hell, great find." A raspy voice echoed. His accent was more Irish than Australian.

"Excuse me?" I didn't dare take my eyes off the intimidating creature.

The person behind me stayed quiet as the lizard scurried partway across the road and rested. "It's a goanna, hard to tell what type in this light. I've searched for one for weeks," he whispered.

"It's all yours."

As I stepped away, a faint pressure brushed my arm. The stranger had a tissue paper grip on my bicep, but his eyes didn't leave the lizard. I stopped walking and raised an eyebrow, but the guy was too transfixed to notice. Only his breathing and the swishing of the lizard's tail on the dirt road filled the air. The darkness hid his facial features, but he was about a head taller than me, with pale skin and slender fingers.

Once the lizard lumbered across the road and disappeared into more foliage, the man blinked back into awareness. He frowned when he noticed his grip and muttered an apology before shoving his hand in his pocket. "I didn't want you to scare it off."

"It's okay. You're far less forward than the guy I just ditched."

"Yet you've run straight into another. Probably not the best strategy if your goal is solitude." His tone was more matter-of-fact than teasing.

"You came to me."

"True. Then the problem is that you're a magnet."

"A magnet?" I braced myself for the cheesy pickup line.

As he turned, the moonlight caught the freckles on his cheeks. "Yes, you attract interesting things like goannas, so people can't help but be around you."

I laughed. "First time I've heard that one."

"Do you attract a lot of animals?"

My mouth hung open, but the sparkle in his eye kept my sarcastic reply at bay. "No more than the average person?"

"Drats, so not a good luck charm to find a Tassie Tiger, then?"

My lips curled into a smile. "'Fraid not. I'd try, but I wouldn't bet on it."

"That's a shame. You see, I've got a wager with my mates back home. I have this bucket list and finding the tiger is on there, though I didn't specify it had to be living... but that would be infinitely more exciting than some dodgy taxidermy."

I blinked twice as if it would somehow sharpen my hearing. "A bucket list?"

The man's hands moved from his jeans to hoodie pockets. "It's corny, I know, but I never lose a bet, even a stupid one."

"Did you make the list or did your friends?"

His forehead creased. "I'd rather not talk about that." In the distance, the bushes rustled until our goanna somehow scurried up a nearby tree. The man watched with a far-off gaze. I contemplated returning to my campsite before he turned back to me. "How long have you been in Australia?"

Long enough that I was almost used to driving on the other side of the road. "Two months. I spent half of it picking bananas in Carnarvon, took my spoils and headed up the coast with some friends to end up here. They're taking off tomorrow morning."

He nodded. "Are you?"

"Not yet. I've got a few more hikes to do before I can check hiking in Karijini off my list."

"Which ones?"

"Mount Bruce."

He smiled. "Really? I'll see you on the trail then. If you're an early riser and going tomorrow, that is."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "It's not my first hike in the outback."

"It appears not. On that note, I'm going to catch some shut-eye. Happy trails, Goanna."

I tipped an invisible hat to him. "And to you, Tiger."

As he chuckled and I walked toward my campsite, for the first time in a while, I hoped I would run into a guy again, even if it was just to help him with an impossible quest to find extinct animals.

Photo credit for the Thylacine/Tasmanian Tiger to 'The Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office'. It is a cropped version of an 1869 print by Harriet Scott accessible here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tasmanianarchiveandheritageoffice/51312247728/

All other photos are property of the author Sarah Paradis. The top left photo features a goanna, the bottom left is Mount Bruce and the rest (including Mount Bruce) were taken in Karijini National Park where the story is set.