‘Is that your official risk management opinion?’ I grinned up at him, tilting my head back to meet his gaze, which was serious.
‘It is. People pay a lot of money for that normally.’ Humour suddenly sparkled in the spectacularly blue eyes.
‘Do you take cheques or would you prefer cash? You know, avoid the taxman and all that?’
The humour spread from his eyes and enveloped his whole face. It had quite the effect and I was suddenly glad of the cooling breeze drifting through the flat from the open window.
‘Come on. Let’s go and see how we can get you paying as little as possible to him, legally.’
‘Legally sounds good. I’ve been lying on this very floor, surrounded by paperwork, convinced I was going to end up going to prison for messing everything up and accidentally committing fraud.’
He laughed. It was a nice sound and I was relieved that he seemed to have relaxed a little. ‘You really have got yourself in a state over this, haven’t you?’
I pulled a face.
‘Don’t worry. I’m rubbish at small talk but I’m good at this. I promise. It’s all going to be fine.’
Nearly three hours later and I was beginning to understand a lot more about tax than I’d ever thought I would, or could. Charlie was patient and kind and didn’t treat me like an idiot if I needed something explaining more than once. He was also funny. Now that he was in his comfort zone, it seemed as if his natural personality had stepped to the fore. It made me a little sad that he didn’t feel as though he could harness that in everyday social situations because, seriously, women would be falling over themselves for him. Not that they wouldn’t be already but add this side of his personality and… hello! Charlie Richmond was, in fact, incredibly sexy. And he seemed to have absolutely no idea of the fact. A thought suddenly skittered through my brain – should I be worried that I had six feet five inches’ worth of gorgeousness sitting next to me and all I could think about was getting my tax stuff in order?
‘Did I say something funny?’ he asked, the faint ghost of a smile playing on his mouth.
‘No,’ I returned, quickly deciding that telling Charlie what I was really thinking was probably a little too much sharing, even for me, on a first encounter. I had a feeling I wouldn’t see him for dust if he knew my current thoughts. And I really needed my taxes done. ‘I’m just happy that you were able to do this today for me.’
‘Like I said, it’s a pleasure. There’s a few more things to go through but I can always come back another day or meet up somewhere another time if you’ve had enough.’
‘How about we take a break for a bit of lunch and then see how we feel after that? Unless you have other plans, of course?’ I added, hastily.
‘No, not at all. Lunch sounds great.’
‘Do you have any preferences? Favourite places, or foods?’
‘No. I pretty much eat anything.’
‘OK. Let me grab my stuff and we can go. Here, put some of that on whilst you’re waiting. It’s scorching out there.’ I tossed him a tube of sunscreen I’d been sent for reviewing earlier in the week. He turned it over in his hands, read the blurb and began unscrewing the top.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and grabbed my wide-brimmed hat. There was only a light breeze out there today so I was fairly confident that I wasn’t going to end up chasing it halfway down the beach. Again.
‘Ready?’ I asked.
‘Yep,’ Charlie said, replacing the sun cream tube on the console table and turning to me with one hand on the front door catch.
‘Oh, wait. You have some…’ Automatically I reached up and gently rubbed in the blob of sun cream he’d missed on the top of his cheekbone with my thumb. ‘There.’
‘Thanks.’ He nodded, not quite looking at me.
I blinked once, slowly. ‘Sorry. I probably should have just pointed you to a mirror then, shouldn’t I? Habit. I have two nephews so I’m always tidying them up. Obviously they’re, umm, a bit smaller than you. That should have given me a clue, I guess.’
‘It’s all right. Thanks for tidying me up too.’ Charlie gave a little smile and I returned it, all the while thinking that I most definitely needed to work on my boundary issues. I’d always been super tactile, and was, as I’d said, used to fussing after my nephews. It was only when I’d looked up and seen Charlie’s diverted eyes that I’d suddenly remembered not everyone was as touchy feely as me.
4
We left the flat and headed down to the pathway that separated the residential buildings from the marina walls. On our left, the sun was glinting off the calm water that today had taken on a vibrant aquamarine hue.
‘Look at that colour!’ I enthused.
‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’
‘So, you live in Brighton too, Amy was saying?’
