Page 40 of An Island in the Sun

He cocked two fingers at her. ‘You got it in one.’

Tabitha shook her head, but at least he was being honest. ‘What’s wrong with a hotel?’

‘Financial situation,’ he mumbled. His jaw clenched. ‘It’s a perfect storm of being between things and selling the house with my ex. Money’s tight.’

She could see the difficulty he was having in admitting that. ‘How did you even get in here?’

Raff pulled a set of keys from his jeans pocket. ‘I had keys cut the last time I was here.’

‘Which presumably your parents don’t know about?’

‘No, they don’t. And I want to keep it that way. Please.’

Once again he was asking a huge amount of her.

Tabitha folded her arms. ‘You do realise I’m supposed to be sending your parents an update. You’re expecting me to lie yet again?’

Raff reached out, his hand tentatively connecting with her shoulder, making her glad of the material of the T-shirt between her and his fingers.

‘I’m not asking you to lie; I’m just asking you to not mention me. Unless you have already?’ His fingers trailed down a little further, connecting with her skin for the briefest of moments.

She held his gaze and shook her head. ‘I didn’t tell them anything apart from Fudge hurting his paw and needing some pain relief.’

Raff nodded slowly. ‘And the dogs are both okay, aren’t they? Misty too? There’s no need to say anything, apart from the truth; their beloved pets and house are all fine.’

‘They are now,’ Tabitha said.

Raff tucked his hands beneath his armpits. ‘I’m figuring things out week by week at the moment.’ He gave her a sly grin. ‘I guess I could always take up pet sitting and travel the world like you.’

‘You’d be rubbish at it.’ Tabitha tried her best to ignore the softening in her heart and the way she had begun to feel sorry for him having no place to go. It was not her problem, even if he kept making it so.

Tabitha didn’t quite know what to do, which gave Raff the opportunity to unlock the door to the garden office. ‘Come on in; it’s chilly this evening.’

Her fiery rage at confronting him was slowly dissipating, and she realised she had goosebumps. She’d got tired and cold sitting outside. She also realised that they needed to sort out the situation they were in. What on earth was she supposed to do now?

Tabitha stepped inside, brushing past him. She was overtly aware of him. He filled the space in a way that was noticeable. He oozed sex appeal and she knew he knew it. She wondered if he sensed her internal battle of wanting to hate him rather than… What? Fancy him?

He was good-looking and fit as anything, but he’d behaved in a way that was deeply unattractive. That was what she should be focusing on, not the way his toned and tanned muscles made her go squidgy inside.

‘Is that a bathroom?’ She pointed at the door of a space not much bigger than a cupboard in an attempt to move her thoughts away from Raff half naked.

‘There’s a sink and toilet.’

‘No shower?’

‘No, um… I was considering sneaking into the house to get a shower when you were out but thought that might be overstepping…’

‘You think?’

‘Which is why I didn’t,’ he quickly said.

Tabitha huffed. ‘If money’s an issue, how did you pay for the flight over?’

Raff’s eyes grazed the floor. ‘I got a cheap one. It’s not that I don’t have any money, it’s just I’m living from month to month and don’t have enough to rent somewhere on Madeira, at least until the house sale goes through.’ He looked back up at her. She couldn’t help but notice the sorrow in his eyes. ‘I’ve got myself into a bit of a financial situation, which I will get myself out of, it’s just going to take time. Until now, I’ve been sofa surfing with friends in London.’ He watched her intently, his full lips pursed, his eyes roving her face waiting for her response.

Tabitha felt she had every right to question him further – and she would – but not right now. Apart from him starting to open up to her – if only because she’d caught him out – it wasn’t hard to see the vulnerability etched in his frown and the worry in his eyes. She was still desperate for a wee and wanted to have time to think away from him and his distracting presence.

She walked the couple of paces to the door. ‘I need to feed the dogs.’

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