No Filter

by Maxine Morrey

  ‘Hi, everyone! Libby here, and welcome to another video. Today I’ve got some fabulous products to show you and how they can be used to create a great summery look. Even better, these are all from a new range called “You Can Bee Natural” which is a small start-up company committed to using Fairtrade, fully natural, non-GM ingredients. You know I’m all about the natural and ethical when possible so I’m pretty excited to try these out. But, don’t worry, you don’t have to have these particular items to get this look, and I’ll be chatting about plenty of other ways to adapt it to suit whatever you have in your own make-up bag. So, first off…’

  3

  The following day I was just in the middle of editing the completed video when my doorbell rang. Glancing down at the clock in the corner of my computer’s screen, I guessed my assistant, Tilly, was finally done with tasting wedding cake. I got up and went over to answer the door.

  ‘Hi! I’m so sorry I’m later than…’

  She stopped half in and half out of the doorway and stared at me.

  I shifted my eyes. I’d opted for a slice of chocolate cake for elevenses (it needed eating) and was just beginning to wonder if I should have checked my chocolate-to-face ratio before opening the door.

  ‘What?’ I asked, when Tilly still said nothing.

  ‘That’s it,’ she replied.

  ‘What’s it?’

  ‘That look. The one you’re wearing. Is that for a video?’

  ‘Yes, I shot one for it yesterday. Are you actually coming in?’

  ‘Oh, right. Yes!’ Tilly stepped inside and pushed the door closed as she slipped off her heels and the lightweight jacket she’d had on over her sundress. It was warming up out there now that the clouds were clearing but there was a definite breeze whipping in off the sea.

  ‘Tea?’ I called, heading off to the kitchen.

  ‘Please!’ she replied before following me through. ‘So, did you just come up with this look yesterday?’ Tilly had come closer and was now peering at me.

  ‘Could you look at it on the video? I’ve captured a couple of stills for the blog too. It’s just – and don’t take this the wrong way – you’re freaking me out.’

  ‘Oh! Sorry! Of course!’ Tilly stepped back.

  ‘It’s only that I’ve been through so many magazines, videos, and goodness knows what else trying to find the right look for the wedding, I was beginning to think I’d never find the right one. And then there it is!’ She started smiling. ‘Although, I might leave off the chocolate-cake crumbs…’

  ‘It needed eating.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Talking of which, how did your own cake-tasting go?’

  ‘Good. Apart from the fact I might not want to eat another piece of cake again for several months. I think we finally settled on one. It was actually the first one we’d thought we’d go for, but Sam wanted to make sure. You know how it is?’

  ‘You mean he was hungry?’

  ‘Exactly.’ Tilly rolled her eyes. Tilly’s fiancé, Sam, was always hungry. It led us to wonder where he put it all as he was skinny as a beanpole but the amount of food he could consume was staggering.

  ‘Come on. I’ll print off those stills for your wedding file, and then we can get on with some tasks. The most amazing box of goodies arrived this morning. I haven’t had a chance to look through them properly so thought we could go through together and plan out some posts around them. If you choose which things you’d prefer to try, then I’ll take what’s left. Although, from what I’ve seen, they all look delicious!’

  ‘Ooh, show me! Show me!’

  We took our tea and headed back into the living room to get to work.

  At precisely half past ten the following Saturday morning, the doorbell rang and I opened my front door to find the light almost entirely blocked out by a very tall, slightly serious-looking but entirely gorgeous man. He wore smart dark-wash jeans, a slim-fit short-sleeve shirt, that only half hid some serious guns, and a messenger hybrid laptop bag hung from a strap slung across his broad chest. His dark blond hair was short and neat and a cleanly shaven, lightly tanned face highlighted the most strikingly blue eyes I had ever seen.

  ‘Hi.’ I smiled. It was kind of hard not to.

  ‘Hello.’ He half smiled and shifted his weight. ‘I’m looking for Libby Cartright.’

  ‘That’s me.’ I paused momentarily. ‘Are you Charlie?’

  He nodded, as though relieved to have me confirm his identity. ‘I am.’

  ‘Nice to meet you.’ I held out my hand and he shook it firmly. ‘Please, come in.’ I stood back to let his sizeable bulk through the doorway, the top of his head missing the frame by barely an inch, then closed the door behind him. ‘Thanks so much for doing this,’ I said, turning to him.

  He gave a little shake of his head. ‘Not much choice in the matter. My brother’s got the real hots for some girl in his office. I was roped in to do this so that he could get her to go out with him.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said slowly. ‘That girl is my best friend.’

  A brief flash of awkward horror showed in Charlie’s eyes. ‘Oh.’

  ‘Look,’ I said gently, ‘I realise that you’ve been forced into doing this. I’m absolutely sure that you have much better ways to spend your Saturday morning than doing boring paperwork for someone you don’t even know. So, why don’t we sort something out that suits everyone better? Or perhaps there’s someone you could recommend to me, whom you trust?’

  Charlie was looking at me now but hadn’t replied.

  I tilted my head to prompt him.

  He took a deep breath and gave me a tight smile. ‘I didn’t mean for that to sound bad, about your friend, I mean. I’m… I… Look. Would you mind if I went out and came in again and we started from scratch?’

  I wasn’t entirely sure he was joking.

  ‘It’s fine.’ I smiled at him and he seemed to relax a little. ‘Are you really sure you’re happy to do this? I mean, it’s obviously out of hours so perhaps you could give me a rough idea of what your hourly rate is? Just so that I don’t pass out when you hand me your bill?’ I gave a little laugh to show him that I wasn’t serious. Although I sort of was.

  Charlie looked at me, a slightly confused expression on his face. ‘There is no charge. Like I said, it’s a favour for my little brother.’

  Now it was my turn to look horrified.

  ‘Oh, no! I can’t possibly let you do that. Giving up part of your weekend to go over a stranger’s accounts for free? It’s just… not right!’

  ‘Really. I don’t mind. I know it might seem boring to you, but it’s sort of fun for me. It’s different from what I do in my everyday job now, so it’s quite nice to get back to basics.’

  He caught my look and a shy smile spread over his face. The gorgeous-o-meter dinged up another few notches. I smiled back automatically.

  ‘I guess that sounds pretty sad to you, right? That I find accounting fun?’ He shrugged his broad shoulders.

  ‘No!’ I answered quickly. ‘Really. It doesn’t. And honestly, I’m so thankful for you and your love of figures right now because I have absolutely no idea where to start.’

  As I steered the conversation into an area Charlie was more familiar with, he seemed to visibly relax.

  ‘Would you like a tea or coffee before we get started?’

  ‘Coffee would be great. Thank you.’

  ‘Come on through,’ I called as I headed off to the kitchen to get the drinks on the go.

  I indicated for Charlie to take a seat as I gathered cups and supplies. He did so, but within a moment was back up again, wandering over to the window to look across the harbour. I came up behind him with the drinks.

  ‘Do you want to sit outside for a few minutes whilst we have these? There’s a better view there.’

  ‘Sounds great. It’ll give a few minutes to let the caffeine get to work.’ He gave a little chuckle. Add cute to the list.

  I led the way to the balcony door and open
ed it.

  ‘It’s a bit of a squeeze but quite manageable,’ I said, before realising that Charlie was substantially bigger than most people who sat out here with me. I led the way and took a seat on the farthest chair, sitting in a cross-legged position. Charlie followed and folded his frame into the other one. I let out a giggle.

  ‘Sorry. I know it’s not the most practical. They really didn’t look that big at the garden centre.’

  ‘It’s fine. Cosy.’

  ‘How long have you lived here?’ Charlie asked, after a few minutes, as he rearranged his legs.

  ‘Oh, quite a few years now,’ I replied. ‘I managed to get in before the prices tipped into insane territory, luckily.’ I watched him subtly trying to get comfortable for a couple more moments as he nodded in response.

  ‘Here,’ I said, ‘put your feet on the end of my chair.’

  ‘Oh, no. Thanks, anyway, I’m OK.’

  I let out a laugh. ‘You are so not OK. Just put your feet on the end. I’m not using that bit anyway.’

  He straightened his long legs out until his feet rested on the end of the other lounger.

  ‘Better?’

  ‘Better,’ he agreed. ‘Do you like it here?’

  ‘I do. It’s far enough away from the centre but also easy to get there when I want to. And I love watching the boats and the water. I think I must have been a sailor in a previous life. Or a fish.’

  I saw an amused look cross Charlie’s face.

  ‘And do you live here on your own?’

  I slid a glance to him and did my best to hide the smile that was itching to escape, but I needn’t have bothered because Charlie got there before me.

  ‘Oh, I didn’t mean… that sounded like I was trying to… I was just…’

  ‘It’s fine, Charlie. Don’t worry.’ I waved my hand. ‘I know you were just making conversation.’

  He did a tiny head-shake to himself and took a sip of the coffee before giving me a smile that did a good job of mixing embarrassment and shyness.

  ‘I’m sorry. I’m not very good at small talk. Luckily, Marcus and my best mate, Alex, are connoisseurs at it. They usually help cover any failings on my part when we go out.’

  ‘You shouldn’t think of them as failings. It’s just that everyone has different skills. And that’s good. It makes the world a more interesting place.’

  ‘You don’t think being unable to talk to a potential client without it sounding like I’m trying to chat her up is a failing?’

  ‘No, I don’t. I think you were just making conversation, which you’ve admitted isn’t your speciality. And the fact that you still made the effort does you a vast credit.’

  Charlie tilted his head at me, the vague shadow of a smile in those incredible eyes. ‘Are you always like this?’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Finding a positive spin for things?’

  ‘I do like to try. But between you and me, even I’m finding it hard to find something – anything – positive with this tax stuff. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when Amy told me you were coming to save the day! Why does the tax office make it so difficult?’

  He shrugged.

  I pulled a face and laughed. ‘That’s a polite way of saying that it doesn’t seem all that difficult to you.’

  ‘No! Not at all. It’s just – well, like you said – people have different skill sets. Mine happens to be numbers.’

  ‘Lucky for me! Do you want to go in and start taking a look?’

  ‘Sounds good.’

  I let Charlie manoeuvre himself out of the chair and step back through the door. I unfolded my legs and followed him. Maybe two large loungers really were too much out there, I thought, glancing at them again as I reached for the door handle to balance myself. What I found instead was a very muscular arm. I looked up as Charlie took my hand with his and steadied me in through the door.

  ‘You know, whilst it is cosy, I’m a little worried it’s also an accident waiting to happen,’ he said, glancing back at the balcony.

  ‘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, u
mm, 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?’

  ‘That’s right. Just along the front, on the way back into town from here.’

  We walked on another few steps before Charlie spoke again. ‘Amy is the girl my brother has been nuts about for ages?’

  I looked at him from under my hat. ‘Nuts about?’

  ‘Completely. I was so relieved that she finally said yes. For him, and me!’ He chuckled. ‘Can I ask something, though?’ His voice was a little more serious now.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Why did she make him wait so long? I mean… Look, I know she’s your friend, but he’s my little brother. And yes, he’s big enough and ugly enough to look after himself, but I just don’t want someone playing games with him. Especially not someone whom he really seems to like. I know you’re obviously going to side with your friend, which is totally understandable, but I get the impression you tend to say what you think, honestly.’

  ‘I do, you’re right. But I can put your mind at rest. The whole reason Amy’s “made him wait so long”, as you put it, is precisely because she didn’t want to muck him around. Because she likes and respects Marcus too much to do that.’