Free His Last Chance at Redemption by Michelle Conder

down-lights.
    ‘I didn’t see you sitting back there in the dark.’
    Leo crossed one foot over his opposite knee, his hands clasped behind his head as he slouched a little further into his deckchair. ‘So it seems.’
    ‘I was trying to see if I could see the Parthenon at night. I hear it’s beautiful.’
    ‘All you’ll see is camera flashes going off if you’re not careful. Or is that what you want?’
    ‘Oh, yes, that would be great,’ she scoffed. ‘As you can see, I’ve dressed for the occasion.’
    Leo reluctantly ran his eyes over her. She looked more than fine to him. ‘They won’t know who you are anyway. And since I wasn’t standing beside you they’re unlikely to dig. Most likely they’ll assume you’re staff. Except if you wander around in that red bikini you had on today. I don’t usually let my staff dress like that when they’re working.’
    ‘Lucky I’m not staff.’
    ‘Your choice,’ he said, reminding her of her wish not to be paid for the weekend. Which still irked him. If he was paying her the lines of their relationship would be clearer and he wouldn’t always be thinking of crossing them.
    She narrowed her eyes as she walked towards him. ‘I didn’t see you by the pool earlier today.’
    ‘I was on the bridge.’
    ‘Spying?’
    ‘Going over the itinerary with my captain,’ he advised curtly.
    ‘I was teasing,’ she informed him and Leo felt his teeth gnash together at her amused expression.
    She wandered over and stood beside his table. ‘Ty loves the water. In summer we get out buckets and let the kids play with water in the sandpit and he’s first in line. He also loves to run. I don’t know if you noticed but when he gets going he’s—’
    ‘What’s that you’re holding?’
    She glanced at the white plastic object in her hand. ‘A monitor.’
    Leo frowned, immediately suspicious. ‘For what?’
    ‘Ty. It was one of the things I requested on the list I put together this morning.’
    ‘What’s it for?’
    ‘If he wakes up and cries out I’ll hear him. It’s a bit like a walkie-talkie but it only transmits signals one way.’
    ‘You can’t be available to him day and night,’ he said somewhat churlishly.
    ‘Somebody has to be.’
    Leo ignored the shaft of guilt that speared his gut and made a mental note to ask his housekeeper to organise someone to assist her during Ty’s sleep time.
    Just then a steward came out and asked if they would like drinks and Lexi surprised him by ordering a chamomile tea.
    ‘It’s very calming. You should try some.’
    ‘Are you suggesting I’m not calm?’
    She tilted her head and her long hair spilled over one shoulder. ‘I don’t think I’ll answer that lest we start an argument.’
    ‘You’re here. That’s almost guaranteed to start one.’
    She smiled. ‘Now
you’re
teasing.’ Her eyes sparkled as she tried not to laugh at him again.
    He wasn’t, but he decided to let it ride. Sitting out on his deck on a moonlit night with a beautiful woman he did not want to be attracted to was not conducive to bringing out his sense of humour.
    ‘I tried to find you earlier tonight.’
    ‘Why?’
    She gripped the back of the deckchair in front of her. ‘I wanted to ask you if you would like to read Ty a bedtime story.’
    ‘I was in a meeting,’ he said, his voice sharper than he intended.
    She tilted her head as she considered his answer. ‘Would you have done it if you hadn’t been in a meeting?’
    He was shocked when she called his bluff.
    ‘No.’
    He could see that his curt reply had surprised her and he was glad. Don’t ask questions,
moya milaya,
that you don’t want answers to.
    ‘Why not?’ she asked softly.
    Did the woman never give up? Did she somehow expect him to open up and spill his guts all because she had asked an insightful question in a nice voice?
    Leo leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, annoyed with himself and her. ‘You really want to know?’
    She stepped forward, drawn in.