Two Against the Odds by Joan Kilby Page B

she’d just got off and propped his elbows on his knees. “What am I going to do?”
    â€œKiss me,” she repeated.
    â€œI don’t think you fully understand just what’s coming once I finish the audit. You’re going to owe a lot of money. In my experience people tend to want to shoot the messenger.”
    â€œI’m not going to blame you for my mistake,” she said, pushing a hand through his hair. “ I did the wrong thing, not filing a tax return.”
    â€œNot just wrong. It’s illegal,” he reminded her. “There will be a fine.”
    â€œI don’t usually jump into bed with every hot guy that comes along.” She took his hand and flipped it over, placing hers on top, palm to palm. She could feel the energy flow from him to her, feel the surge of heat in her blood. Her eyes met his. She could tell he felt it, too.
    Lexie believed in letting the things that were meant to happen, happen.
    â€œI. Can’t. Do. This,” Rafe said.
    She released his hand. “All right. If that’s the way it has to be.”
    â€œGood.” He sounded weary. Relieved and regretful at the same time. “I’ll take the envelopes back to my bed and breakfast and work on them there.”
    Lexie turned away. “Fine. You know the way out.”
    Â 
    R AFE LEANED back and stretched his arms over his head. He’d set up his laptop on the small table at the bed and breakfast. The cozy sitting room contained a pair of love seats, a coffee table and a kitchenette with coffee-making facilities. A door opened into a bedroom where a light glowed in the en suite.
    Envelopes and piles of receipts were spread over the furniture and the floor. He’d gotten a lot done without Lexie around to distract him. Lunch had been a toasted tomato sandwich while he worked and he’d ordered take-out Thai food for dinner.
    Now it was nearly eight o’clock. Murphy had lain with his muzzle on his paws staring hopefully at him for the past hour.
    â€œAll right, Murphy. Let’s go for a walk.”
    Hearing the magic word, Murphy sprang to his feet, ears pricked. He ran and picked up his lead where it was lying by the sliding glass doors. Rafeattached it to the dog’s collar and put on his running shoes.
    The evening was still warm. The setting sun gave the sky a ruddy glow as he walked the few blocks toward the bay where low, windswept tea trees grew on the cliff top. A flock of rainbow lorikeets flitted past, swooping into the gum trees. Murphy trotted at Rafe’s side, making brief detours to sniff bushes, car wheels and mailboxes.
    Rafe emerged onto Cliff Road and the whole of the molten bay lay before him. The sun was a crimson ball melting into the horizon and gold light glinted off the towers of Melbourne far across the water.
    He didn’t see her at first, he was so caught up in the sunset. Then a movement in his peripheral vision made him glance to the right. Lexie stood thirty feet away toward the cul-de-sac end of the street. She was leaning against the guardrail, her full cotton skirt fluttering in the slight breeze. The warm glow of the sun illuminated her delicate features. Tendrils of blond hair clung to her cheeks.
    Slowly he walked toward her, pulling on Murphy’s lead.
    â€œHey,” she said softly, staring out at the bay. “Don’t take your eyes off the sun or you’ll miss the moment when it sinks below the horizon.”
    Rafe dutifully watched as the swollen red sun sank into the bay with astonishing speed, leaving a reddish-gold glow around the horizon.
    â€œDo you come here to watch the sunset often?” he asked, then winced. “That sounded like a bad pickup line.”
    â€œQuite often. Especially when the moon is full. Come on. The best is still to come.” Lexie took his hand, tugging him and Murphy down the road.
    â€œWhere are you taking me?”
    â€œYou’ll see.”
    It was