The Green Man hadn’t changed at all since I’d last been in there. There was something comforting about coming back to something so familiar. After the bright lights and chaos of the States, London seemed almost restrained and civilised in comparison. I was finding it hard to settle back into a routine, even though it wouldn’t be long before I started my new job. I had almost three months to kill, and I was already beginning to feel bored with so much free time on my hands.

Laura was at the bar, chatting up the barman as per usual. Some things stayed the same. They must have been flirting for the whole year I’d been gone, yet neither of them seemed to have plucked up the courage to ask the other one out.

“We got this one on the house.” Laura plonked the ice bucket, containing a bottle of dry rosé, on the table.

I rolled my eyes at her. “At least I get the lion’s share because I don’t have to be at work tomorrow.”

“I’m on lates this week, meaning I don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn so it’s equal measures, okay?” Laura poured us both a glass and we toasted to lie-ins. She grabbed my hand and examined my nails. “You want me to save you a slot?” She was a beauty therapist and I’d missed her doing my treatments.

“Why not? It’s not as if I have anything else to do right now.”

“You should make the most of it. As soon as you start work, you won’t have time for much else.”

She was right. I’d secured an internship with a PR consultancy which, if everything went well, could lead to a place on their graduate scheme. After my gap year, I knew I had to do something that would be meaningful. I’d got the job before I went away and, although I hadn’t heard anything from them in a while, expected that everything would be fine for me to start. It would probably mostly entail making the tea, fetching lunches for the important people and doing lots of printing and photocopying. If it didn’t work out, I could always use the money for another trip.

That still didn’t leave me with much to do until I started though. Unless my brother wanted me to clean his flat. I shuddered at the thought. Although after a few more days sleeping on Tom’s couch, I might find myself doing exactly that.

“It’s good to have you back, Bea. I’ve missed you so much.” Laura clinked her glass with mine again.

“I missed you too.” I smiled. There had been a few other girls, and guys, that I’d made friends with on the trip and we’d done some things together, but there was no substitute for chewing the fat with your bestie and putting the world to rights. “Tell me what else I missed out on.” I gestured to the barman. “Like, have the two of you got anywhere yet?”

“I wish.” Laura sighed. “It’s like talking to a brick wall sometimes, and then he’ll do something like this.” She pointed at the free wine. “And what about you? Did you meet anyone?”

I shook my head. There had been a couple of one-nighters, nothing to write home about, and no one I saw a long-term future with. That was fine though. I was only twenty-three. There was plenty of time to settle down.

My phone buzzed with a message. It was Tom. “My brother’s coming down for a drink, so can we stay here for a bit longer?”

“Hon, if we’re getting free wine, we’re staying here all night!”

We chatted while waiting for Tom to arrive. He was never the best at being on time and when he did finally get there, the bottle was empty and turned upside down in the bucket.

“Shall I get you another one?” He raised his eyebrows. “It is a school night.”

“Hey, I don’t have a job and Laura’s not at work until tomorrow afternoon.” I fluttered my eyelashes at him. “So if you wanted to treat your little sister to something, that would be lovely.”

Tom grunted and went to the bar, denying Laura another session of flirting. Unsurprisingly, he was a lot quicker at getting the drinks than she had been. He replaced the empty bottle with a full one, then put two pints down on the table, before he pulled up a stool to make four spaces available.

I frowned. “Is there a two-for-one on beers or is someone else coming?”

“All in good time, Bea. I might just have found you something to do for the next six weeks.”

Oh fuck. I shouldn’t have said that I was bored. He’d probably found me a dull temp job in one of his friend’s recruitment offices. I’d be scanning passports and checking timesheets before you knew it.

“Where is it?” I asked with trepidation.

“Hang on, he’ll be here in a minute. He was going to run it past someone else first.”

Ugh. It really was going to be photocopying, wasn’t it?

The moment Hayden Kinsella stepped through the door I was thrown. It had obviously been over a year since I’d last set eyes on him. He hadn’t changed all that much, although his dark hair was cropped closer to his head with cute little spikes, and his eyes were still that same clear, deep blue I’d always loved staring into. When he wasn’t aware, of course.

My breath hitched.

Hayden Kinsella was still gorgeous.

But he was also still my older brother’s best friend.

I plastered on a fake great-to-see-you, friendly smile. “Hi, Hayden, long time no see.” Seriously, how lame was that?

His mouth curved up at one corner. “Good to see you too, Bea. How was the trip?”

Was he really interested or making conversation? I babbled on for a while, telling him the edited highlights of New York, LA, and some of the great places I’d been to in Canada.

“Sounds amazing. And now you’re back.”

I nodded and sipped my wine, trying to get some moisture back into my mouth. I always ended up feeling like an idiot when Hayden was around. The cool, older guy who was my brother’s friend and wouldn’t look twice in my direction.

“Tom said you’ll be starting a new job soon.”

I nodded again, feeling like one of those stupid dogs you saw on the parcel shelf of cars. “That’s right, in about six weeks.”

“So you’re at a loose end until then?”

That’s not quite how I would have put it. I would have said ‘preparing for my working life’ or ‘taking some time to myself until I had to join the ranks of the working people’. Instead, I said. “Yep, guess so.”

“Then I might have a proposition for you.”

Here it comes—the offer of checking right-to-work documents and chasing errant contractors for their weekly hours. I can’t wait.

“I, um, need some help looking after Alfie while Maddy’s in Paris for work.”

I vaguely remembered the hoo-ha that surrounded Maddy’s pregnancy announcement. I’d totally forgotten that Hayden came with a kid.

Babysitting?

The look on my face must have given me away.

“It’s totally okay if you aren’t interested. It would be really helpful if you were though. You could stay at my place; you’d have your own room and everything. And I could pay you. I wouldn’t expect you to do it out of the kindness of your heart.”

I would do anything out of the kindness of my heart for Hayden Kinsella.

Cold, hard cash would also be good though.

The prospect of a real bed rather than Tom’s couch was appealing. As was the thought of staying with Hayden. But six weeks of babysitting? Was I really cut out for that?

Laura nudged me in the ribs. As I turned to look at her, she gave me the broadest wink along with a nod of encouragement.

Apparently, it wasn’t such a ridiculous idea after all. It had been a while since I’d looked after a baby though and, from what I could remember, Alfie was still pretty young.

The others around the table looked at me expectantly, Hayden especially. The eagerness in his expression made my heart beat that little bit faster.

After a few moments of what I liked to call dramatic licence, I let out a hard breath.

“Sure, why not?”

Hayden leaped up from his stool and came around to the other side of the table, crushing me in a strong hug that almost broke my ribs. I could smell his aftershave; he still wore the same Tom Ford one I identified with him. Even the briefest whiff made me swoon.

“Thanks so much, Bea, you don’t know how happy that’s made me.”

I leaned into his hug, enjoying it as much as he was. A moment too soon, I pulled back and smiled at him. “Happy to help—when do you need me?”