Bella walked over the hill towards Isaac’s house with a big smile on her face about what the night would hold. Dinner, kissing in the hot tub under the stars. It was going to be magical.

Up ahead a steady plume of black smoke rose in the air; someone was obviously having some kind of fire in their back garden, probably burning some rubbish or waste from the garden.

As she reached the top of the hill that led down to Isaac’s house she stopped, frozen to the spot at what she could see. The little yellow cottage that was Isaac’s home was completely ablaze.

She was running down the hill as fast as she could before she knew what she was doing. The thatch on top of the roof was burning so hard and fast that the whole house would soon only be ashes.

She screamed for Isaac but there was no sign of him. What if he was trapped somewhere inside? What if he was hurt? The front door was closed and she tried the handle but it was obviously locked or at least secured somehow from the other side. She slammed her shoulder against the door but it didn’t give. She took a few steps back and threw herself against the door again. It shifted a bit but still didn’t open. She took a few steps back, ran to the door and slammed her whole body against the wood again. This time the door flew open, banging against the wall in the hallway.

‘Isaac!’

Flames licked the hall walls as she stepped inside, holding her arm across her face to protect her from the smoke. Where was he? The thought that he was lying somewhere inside hurt or even worse filled her with a sick dread. She inched her way down the hall shouting for him as she coughed and spluttered through the thick smoke.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her around her arm and she whirled round to see Isaac. He looked furious.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ he shouted over the roar of the fire.

Bella launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight.

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her back outside. He sat down on the low garden wall with her on his lap. It was only when he wiped the tears off her cheeks that she realised that she’d been crying.

‘I need to call the fire brigade,’ Isaac said. ‘My phone is still inside.’

Bella stood up and grabbed her bag from where she had dumped it when she was trying to break in. She returned to Isaac’s lap and he wrapped his arms tightly around her again. She fumbled around inside her bag and grabbed her phone, quickly dialling the emergency services. She explained the situation then hung up and threw the phone back into her bag.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Bella said, staring at the house. ‘What happened?’

Isaac shook his head as he stared at his house burning. ‘I have no idea. I wasn’t in there at the time. I was down in the summerhouse. I can only presume Rocket knocked over a candle and it hit the rug and…’ he gestured with his hand.

Bella sat up and looked around. ‘Where is she?’

Isaac swallowed, tears filling his eyes. ‘I don’t know. I tried to get back in to get to her but the flames were too high. The back door was open so I only hope the stupid dog got out before she got herself trapped. I was looking around the house to see if I could see her when I saw you bursting in there like a little ninja. What on earth were you thinking?’

‘I was trying to find you.’

Isaac sighed and kissed her on the head.

‘God, what if Rocket didn’t get out? I was supposed to look after her and I didn’t even think about leaving her alone with candles, what kind of idiot am I?’

Bella’s heart broke for him. She stroked his face. ‘It was an accident, you can’t blame yourself.’

He kissed her hand and then pulled her to him tighter as if he was scared to let her go. And that was how the fire brigade found them when they arrived a few minutes later, clinging to each other like their lives depended on it.

* * *

Isaac watched as the fire brigade started to pack away their hose pipes. It had taken them about an hour to put out the fire, which considering the fire had taken hold in a matter of minutes, that hour had felt like a lifetime. The roof was gone completely and all that was left was a blackened shell and a pile of smoking rubble. There was nothing they could do to save the house, but Isaac had seen how bad the fire was even before Bella had arrived.

One of the crew had even gone into the house to look for Rocket but there was no sign of her anywhere, not even a body, which Isaac was thankful for. He didn’t think he could cope with seeing his dead dog.

He hadn’t been back on the island long enough to make friends so he was surprised by the number of people who had turned up to see if they could help. Some of them offering their houses for him to stay, others offering food, or passing him details of builders who would be able to help him rebuild his home; other people turned up just to offer their sympathies and to see if he was OK. He didn’t even know most of their names and here they were offering to help. He hadn’t been able to speak to most of them. There were no words in his head at all.

Bella had dealt with them all, thanking them for their kindness and reassuring them all that he would be in touch if he needed any help. She had asked them all to keep an eye out for Rocket just in case she had made it out alive. It was all the things he should have said. As CEO of three companies, he had dealt with his fair share of disasters over the years and he had dealt with them calmly and efficiently but this had hit him hard.

Bella hadn’t left his side throughout, though his arms were wrapped around her so tightly she had little chance of getting away even if she’d wanted to leave. As first dates went this had to be the worst. His home, everything he owned was up in smoke, the upheaval this would cause in his life would be immense. Who in their right minds would want to stick around to deal with all that? Maybe it was for the best. Maybe it was foolish to try to start something with Bella when they worked together. Maybe this was fate intervening to make sure it stopped before it even got started. He wondered at what point she would make her excuses and leave.

The fireman who was clearly in charge came over to talk to them.

‘You’ll get a report in a few days. Shall we send it to your office, Mr Scott?’

Isaac nodded, unable to talk.

‘You’ll need to get in contact with your insurance company as soon as you can.’

He nodded again.

‘Obviously the house is not safe to go in. Do you have somewhere you can stay tonight?’

He would have to stay in a hotel but how could he do that when he didn’t even have a bank card to pay for the room?

‘Yes he does,’ Bella said.

Isaac tore his eyes away from the smouldering remains of his life to look at her.

‘You can stay with me.’

The fireman nodded and left them to it.

Bella dug her phone out of her bag again and he heard her calling a taxi. He knew it was probably only a twenty-minute walk to get back to her house from here, but he also knew he would be unlikely to be able to walk anywhere. He turned his attention back to his house. It was a surreal experience to be conscious and aware of what was happening around him, but also so completely detached, as if it was happening to someone else or he was watching it on TV. He felt numb. That was the only way to describe it. Time seemed to move slowly and then so fast all at once. He felt exhausted and buzzing all at the same time.

Bella disentangled herself from his arms and went down to the summerhouse, presumably to blow out the candles and turn off the hot tub. A few minutes later she was back, just as a car pulled up in his driveway.

She offered him her hand. ‘Let’s go home.’

He took her hand and followed her back to the car. He got in and was aware of her talking to the taxi driver before she got in next to him. He stared out the window as the car moved along the roads, passing people and houses that were obviously completely unaffected by the fire. Life carried on as normal for everyone else, completely unaware that his life had just come crashing down around him.

Bella lifted his arm and snuggled into his side and he turned his attention away from the window to focus on the woman in his arms.

‘I’m sorry about tonight. This is not what I had planned at all,’ he said, finding his voice for the first time in over an hour.

She kissed him on the cheek and rested her head on his shoulder and her hand over his heart. ‘Tell me what you had planned?’

He knew she was trying to distract him but he was glad of it. ‘I had steak with this amazing garlic and brandy marinade.’

‘Did you make it yourself?’

‘Yes, it’s something I’ve perfected over the years. I can cook fairly well but my steak is my one meal that would blow your socks off.’

‘You were trying to impress me.’

‘Of course, I wanted you to go away from tonight wanting a repeat performance. I think I failed on that score.’

‘There was never any fear of me not wanting to do this again. You have me under your spell, Isaac Scott. I want to spend every single second with you… in a non-obsessive kind of way obviously.’

He laughed softly. ‘I said exactly the same thing about you.’

She smiled. ‘What else would we have done once we had eaten the steak?’

He ran his hand through her hair, which was dark with smoke and ash. ‘We could have drunk a few glasses of wine as we sat on the decking around the summerhouse, maybe taken a dip in the hot tub as we sat under the stars.’

‘I like the sound of this date very much. We will have to recreate it one day.’

The taxi stopped outside her house and Bella leaned forward to pay the driver. It only occurred to him then that they had hardly been subtle talking in front of him. Knowing island gossip as he did, the fact that they were quite clearly together and were going back to spend the night at her house would probably be around the whole island by the next day.

She got out and, without taking her hand from his, she led him up the garden path and let them back into her house.

It felt odd to be back there again after leaving in such weird circumstances on Sunday night. He had left wanting to make love to her so much and now he was back and that feeling hadn’t changed. But this was different. This was a need to feel alive when he had felt so numb for the past hour. A need to feel his heart pounding and to bury himself in her so passionately that for a brief time he could forget everything except her, except being with her. But even in the back of his confused and fractious mind he knew that wouldn’t be a good idea. When sex was propelled by need it was never going to be the sweet, gentle lovemaking that he wanted for their first time together.

He took a step back away from her, though she didn’t relinquish her hold on his hand.

‘I should go. I don’t think I should stay here tonight.’

She closed the front door and looked at him. ‘You’re filthy. Let’s take a shower.’

She was a state as well, smoke coated her skin and hair in a thin film, and he knew he probably looked the same. A hot shower sounded really good, a hot shower with Bella would be heaven.

But still he held back. ‘This isn’t a good idea. I feel like I’m holding on by my fingernails and that I’m going to lose it at any second. And I don’t even know what me losing it is going to look like, whether I’m going to shout and scream, whether I’m going to fall to my knees and cry or whether I’m just going to end up pinning you to the nearest flat surface and making love to you until you’re screaming out my name. In fact all of those options are looking pretty good right now and I really don’t want to scare you off—’ He stopped when she stepped forward and placed a finger over his lips.

‘You don’t scare me, Isaac. This horrible situation with your house doesn’t scare me. If you want to scream and shout and cry then you go ahead. If you want to hit something then I have some lovely pillows upstairs that you can pummel. If you want to make love to me for the rest of the evening to try to forget what a devastating night it’s been for you then go right ahead. Believe me it will be no hardship for me. If you want to climb into my bed and pull the duvet over your head and go to sleep for the next twenty hours then that’s fine too. But I’m not leaving you alone tonight. You need someone with you when the meltdown appears. And you know what, I really need you with me too.’

To his surprise tears filled her eyes.

‘When I saw your house on fire I have never felt fear like it. When I thought about losing you it tore me apart.’

‘I felt the same when I saw you run into my house. I had lost my house, my dog, but I couldn’t cope with losing you too.’

‘Stay with me tonight. Even if we just go straight upstairs and go to sleep, please just stay with me,’ Bella said.

He stared at her for a moment and then took her face in his hands and kissed her. The moment her lips touched his, he felt some of the stress and tension seep out of him, like she was a cure taking away his pain. As devastating as it was to lose his home, they were both alive and unharmed. Property could be replaced but lives couldn’t.

She pulled back slightly.

‘Let’s go take a shower,’ Bella said. ‘And we’ll deal with whatever happens next together.’

Still holding his hand, she led him upstairs and into the bathroom. She turned the water on and stepped under the spray without taking off her clothes. She pulled him into the shower with her and as they stood underneath the water she wrapped her arms round him and held him tight with her head against his chest.

They stood there for the longest time, not moving, and it was enough. The feel of the hot water against his skin, her heart pounding against his. This was all he needed right now and somehow she knew that.

Eventually she stepped back slightly and started to unbutton his shirt but it wasn’t sexual. She was taking care of him. Getting him out of his smoke-filled clothes so he could start to feel more human again. She slipped the shirt off his shoulders and let it drop onto the floor. She ran her hands over his chest and down his arms, trying to soothe him with her touch.

He kicked his shoes off and pulled off his jeans and socks so he was completely naked and then he turned his attention to Bella, wanting to take care of her too. He released the clasp at the back of the collar of her dress and it pooled to her feet, leaving her in that beautiful turquoise underwear that he had caught a glimpse of earlier.

The atmosphere in the room changed immediately and one look at her eyes told him she felt the same.

They came together so hard, their mouths clashing, their bodies meshed together in a passionate, needful kiss.

He eased her back against the wall, the water still pounding over them as the kiss continued. He quickly removed her bra, filling his hands with her breasts and she groaned against his mouth.

But before he could take it any further he felt like his legs gave way beneath him and he stumbled backwards and hit the wall behind him hard.

‘God, are you OK?’ Bella moved towards him, holding him up with her tiny frame.

‘Yes, sorry. I just need to sit down for a moment.’

She switched the water off and helped him out the shower and into her bedroom where he sat down on the bed, his legs feeling so shaky all of a sudden. She went back to the bathroom and brought back a glass of water and a towel. While he took a cooling sip, she gently towelled him dry.

She was standing there in only her turquoise knickers and with her wet red curls tumbling down her shoulders looking every inch like the goddess Venus and he had no energy to even kiss her. He felt as weak as a kitten all of a sudden, like he had been hit by a wrecking ball.

‘Get into bed,’ Bella urged and he lay down watching her as she quickly towelled herself dry, peeled off her wet underwear and then slipped into the bed with him.

He immediately pulled her into his arms. She was warm and soft pressed against him and he felt instantly calmer having her close. He closed his eyes, breathing her in and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Bella held Isaac to her, stroking the back of his neck. He had fallen asleep about an hour or two before but she sensed he was awake now, or at least not sleeping as heavily as he was before: his breathing was lighter and, while his hold on her had lessened as soon as he had passed out, his grip had tightened again now, clearly aware she was there.

She could not even begin to imagine how devastating it was for him to lose his home, especially after all the time and money he had spent doing the place up, but the worst thing must be losing Rocket. She’d only had Alfie for a few days and she already loved him completely. Her only hope was that Rocket had managed to get out and if she was scared of the flames she might have run off. Luckily the island wasn’t that big so if that was the case they would find her eventually.

She just wanted to take away Isaac’s pain and she had no idea how to do that.

He shifted slightly, his eyes fluttering open, and he lifted his head from where it was buried against the side of her neck to look at her. He looked confused for a moment before awareness clouded his eyes.

He groaned and she ran her hands down his back.

‘Please tell me none of that really happened, that it was all part of some horrible dream?’

He was clearly feeling calmer and more accepting of what had happened. Whereas before he’d been teetering on the brink, his eyes wild and manic, he was back to the Isaac she knew now. Still sad but more resigned to it. She wanted to distract him, even if it was only for a short while, in the hope that he wouldn’t slip back into the darkness again.

‘Which bit? The part where I missed out on the best steak marinade in the world? Or the part where we were just about to have sex and you clearly didn’t have the stamina for it?’

He chuckled softly. ‘As first dates go, it has to be one of the worst.’

She stroked her hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know about that. We had a shower together, we slept and cuddled in the same bed together. It’s rating pretty high on my list.’

He kissed her neck. ‘You must have had rubbish first dates.’

‘No, I’m quite an affectionate person. Cuddling is probably my favourite part of being in a relationship. Sadly most men I know are not big on cuddling.’

He pulled back slightly to look at her. ‘Cuddling is your favourite part of being in a relationship?’

‘I know. Every time I tell a man that he laughs. Most men’s favourite part of a relationship is regular sex.’

‘And you don’t like sex?’

‘Sex is great. I’ve had some pretty amazing sex over the years but sex isn’t affectionate, is it?’

He frowned. ‘It isn’t?’

‘It’s just a physical need, just like satisfying a deep hunger or quenching a thirst. When you haven’t eaten for a long time and you take a bite of a sandwich, it tastes pretty bloody amazing. But I never feel adored by my sandwich. Sex is the same. It just fulfils a need. A cuddle or a hug is something different; it comes from genuinely caring about the other person.’

‘Is that what this is?’ He gestured to how their arms were wrapped around each other. ‘You genuinely caring about me?’

‘Yes.’ She didn’t hesitate. ‘It’s OK though, don’t get freaked out. I’m not under any illusions that this is what it is for you. I know that tonight you just needed some comfort. But it was nice for me too, so you don’t need to worry about me enjoying myself. I know it was a horrible night for you but it did end for me in one of the nicest ways.’

He leaned forward and kissed her briefly and that wonderful need for him erupted in her again. ‘You continue to surprise me. Sometimes you come across as so bold and confident. That first time we kissed, it was you that initiated it. You wanted to kiss me so you just grabbed me and kissed me while I was too afraid to even make that move.’

‘That’s not like me at all. I always hold back in a relationship, I always wait for the man to make the first move, well, any move. There’s something about you that brings out this confidence in me.’

‘And yesterday in my office, walking in and demanding that we have sex.’

Bella groaned and covered her face with her hands. ‘I can’t believe I did that.’

‘Hey, I’m not complaining. I don’t think I’ve ever been so turned on in my life as I was in that moment. But then you tell me that you love being cuddled and I just find that so sweet and endearing.’

He removed her hands from her face and kissed her so softly, she ran her hands behind his neck and he slid his hand down to her waist. There was something so wonderful about lying together when they were both naked, their bodies touching in every way. Almost every way.

Leaning on his side, he pulled back to look at her, brushing the hair from her face.

‘You’re wrong about sex though.’

‘About what?’

‘About it not being affectionate. How many men have you been with?’

Bella flushed. ‘Four. Well, if you count the thirty-second fumble that was my first time, then five but I try not to count him.’

‘And not one of them has ever made love to you?’

Bella didn’t know how to answer that question.

‘Sex and making love are two very different things. People use the words interchangeably but in reality they are different. Sex is a physical need, you’re right about that. But making love is something you do with someone you love or adore.’

He kissed her again and this time he rolled her back onto the bed so he was on top of her.

‘I absolutely adore you Bella, let me make love to you.’