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“Robb was fine,” she said shortly, looking back out over the sanctuary. “Robb was very Robb-like.”

Liam laughed. “I knew it,” he said. “No one can wind you up as much as he does. It’s a skill, I’ll give him that.” He nudged her in the ribs. “I take it he wasn’t the one who lured you to Melbourne in the first place, then? You wouldn’t have shut up about it if he was.”

Okay, this is getting a bit rude!

Clearly Tahnee had been waving a giant flag saying I’m obsessed with Robb Lockwood for years. She’d thought that she was just complaining about him as an annoying adversary, or someone who could bring about the downfall of everything she’d worked for with the stroke of a pen (or, more likely, with the sending of a grammatically perfect email), but, in hindsight, she could see that she’d probably been pissing and moaning about him a bit more than was normal in these situations. Quite possibly in the way that someone who had a crush couldn’t stop talking about them.

Great, she thought crankily. So my mate’s a rules-obsessed secret agent, and I’ve been making my feelings for him completely obvious all this time. Just shoot me already.

She supposed she deserved all of this, given how much she’d teased Liam when he’d first met his mate. Turnabout was fair play, and all that.

Still, it didn’t mean that she had to like it!

“No, he didn’t lure me to Melbourne,” she said, forcing herself to face him once more. “But, more to the point, how long have you known?”

Liam scratched his stubbled chin, looking out into the distance as he apparently racked his brains. “Suspected? About twenty-three years.”

Tahnee winced. That was, at most, six months after they’d met.

Liam’s face remained in an expression of solemn contemplation, though Tahnee could definitely detect a playful sparkle in his eye, the arsehole. “Known? As in for sure?” He paused, obviously enjoying making this as painful for her as possible. “About twenty-two years.”

Fuck me dead.

The brolga appeared to be performing the avian equivalent of facepalming.

“And you never said anything?”

“To you? No.”

Fuck!

Tahnee knew what was coming next.

“To the others? Plenty. Not that I had to, really – everyone had it worked out long ago. Nobody is that hung up on someone they don’t have feelings for, and especially not if it’s their mate.”

Tahnee rubbed at her eyes and sighed. She really did deserve this.

Liam’s tone turned sympathetic. “We didn’t make fun of you too much, don’t worry. It must’ve been pretty tough for you, being on the other side of the law and all that.”

“You can say that again,” Tahnee muttered.

As horribly embarrassing as all this was, she had to admit that it was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders that she hadn’t even realized was there.

How cliché, the brolga sniffed with a roll of its beady eyes.

I don’t care, Tahnee thought back. It’s true.

Of course, now there was a whole new weight – the weight of having finally gotten with her mate, and then having immediately fucked it all up.

Out of what? Fear? Me, scared of something?!

Liam had obviously picked up on the vibes she was giving out. In a less playful tone, he said, “I take it it didn’t go so well?”

“You could say that,” Tahnee sighed. “I mean, it started out great. Life-or-death alley battles, free tram trips, giant slabs of cake.”

“Sounds like your idea of an ideal date.”

“It was.” She bit her lip. “But then I fucked it up. Well, he fucked it up, and I fucked it up more.”