‘You have a date?’ Emily all but squeaked at Aidan.

He took his cap off and brushed his hand through his hair as he tried not to look at his sister.

‘With Tori?’ Emily squeaked again.

‘I told you, I told you they would be married,’ Agatha called from her corner in the café.

‘It’s not a date,’ Aidan said, not entirely sure what he could call it if it wasn’t a date and why exactly he had felt the need to ask her in the first place.

‘Sounds like a date,’ his brother Leo said, passing him a smirk as he returned his empty coffee cup to the counter. Leo was the same height as him, with the same unruly dark hair, but although he was big and muscular, Aidan was a lot broader and probably stronger. There had been several occasions when they had been growing up that they had ended up in a physical fight and Aidan had won every time. Well, almost every time. He wondered if they were too old for a fight now because he’d like nothing more than to wipe that smug smile off his brother’s face.

Leo continued to smile at him as if he knew exactly what he was thinking and didn’t care. That was Leo all over, he didn’t care about risk. He used to be a fireman until a leg injury forced him to take early retirement. Now he found his thrills working in his own firework display company.

‘She’s a red-head,’ Emily said, knowingly, and Leo nodded as if he understood, as if the colour of Tori’s hair had anything to do with it. Aidan had only ever been out with one red-head in his life and that had ended in total disaster, so why Tori’s red hair should explain why he had found himself asking her out on a date he didn’t know.

‘Is she hot?’ Leo asked.

‘Leo Jackson!’ Emily said, her hands on her hips. ‘Whether a girl is hot or not has nothing to do with compatibility or chemistry and personality. And thankfully Aidan has a little more class when it comes to choosing women.’

‘Is she?’ Leo asked again, ignoring his sister.

Aidan didn’t answer because Tori was beautiful; those wonderful large green eyes, that cute little nose, her freckles and heart-stopping smile. But Emily was right, there was more to Tori than that. She was quirky. How many girls did he know who enjoyed skateboarding or origami? She was different, and he liked that about her. He had enjoyed their banter and how easy she was to talk to. But that still didn’t explain why he had asked her out on a date. No, it wasn’t a date.

‘I just felt bad about the cottage. You know it has more problems every week and with Beast and probably Dobby turning up on a regular basis, and the fact that her idea of spending long sunny days picking fruit went out the window when I told her we had to pick the heartberries at night, I felt like I needed to do something to persuade her to stay, to show her that her trip to Sandcastle Bay isn’t going to be a totally horrible experience.’

‘Is sleeping with her going to be part of the welcome party as well?’ Leo asked, leaning over and stealing a freshly baked cookie from the tray that Emily had just taken from the oven. Emily swiped at his hand, but Leo already had it and took a quick bite before she could snatch it back.

‘No,’ Aidan said.

‘But you didn’t feel the need to invite Jim, the fruit-picker we had come stay at Blossom Cottage last year, round to your house for dinner,’ Emily said.

‘No,’ Aidan agreed.

‘Or Stefan the year before,’ Leo said, through a mouthful of cookie.

‘Look, she’s good friends with Melody and Isla. They’d both be mad at me if I didn’t make their friend welcome. And then by proxy they’d be mad at you. And you wouldn’t want Isla to be mad at you, would you,’ Aidan said to Leo and had the pleasure of watching him swallow the cookie before he had properly chewed.

Leo coughed. ‘No, I definitely wouldn’t want that.’

Aidan smiled, pleased that he had managed to turn the tables on his brother. Leo came across as cocky and confident but there was one person he had a soft spot for and that was his friend Isla. Though why he hadn’t acted on it, Aidan didn’t know.

‘It’s dinner with an employee, that’s all it is. It’s not a date, it’s not a prelude to something more. Just dinner,’ Aidan said, not sure if he was trying to convince himself or his family. He glanced over at Agatha who was smiling ecstatically at this turn of events. ‘And what on earth possessed you to tell Tori that me and her would get married?’

‘Because you will,’ Agatha answered serenely.

Aidan resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

‘And because you need someone nice, but someone with a bit of fire, to challenge you and bring you out of this funk you seem to have got yourself into. I think Tori will be perfect for you.’

‘She’s here for two weeks, she will be spending most of her time picking fruit and any spare time with Melody and Isla. It’s hardly going to be the romance of the century,’ Aidan said.

Agatha stood up and wandered over to them. She looked sweet and innocent, though anyone who was familiar with her knew this wasn’t the case.

‘Care to make it interesting?’ Agatha said, stealing a cookie from the tray too.

‘Oi!’ Emily said, though Aidan noticed Agatha didn’t get her hand swiped like Leo did.

‘What did you have in mind?’ Aidan said, knowing his mum would clip him round the ear if she knew he had been encouraging Agatha to gamble.

‘Fifty pounds you’ll be walking Tori down the aisle within the year.’

Aidan laughed. Tori was sweet and cute, there was a definite spark between them and he knew they’d both get on well at dinner the following night. But she wasn’t remotely interested in any kind of relationship and neither was he. At best they might end up having a little fun over the next few weeks, which would finish once she went back to London, but there was never any chance of it turning serious and marriage was something he was never going to do again.

He offered out his hand to shake Agatha’s. ‘Deal.’

---

Tori walked along the beach towards The Mermaid. She waved at Mark and Mindy as they jogged past in their high-vis gear and then watched the children playing in the sea. She spotted Melody’s mum and Elliot on the beach though they didn’t see her. Elliot seemed happy, despite what had happened over the last year. Sandcastle Bay was an idyllic little haven, and the perfect place to raise a child. Her thoughts turned to Isla and Melody and the new life they had built for themselves here. It was a big change for all of them but, from talking to Melody, it seemed they were both happy here and it was the right decision for them all.

The pub was quite noisy and filled with people, probably locals and tourists as they swapped stories about their day. For a moment she looked around the pub trying to see Melody and Isla before she spotted them, Melody waving to attract her attention.

They both stood up to hug her and then they all sat back down.

‘How was the sandcastle-building competition?’ Tori asked, taking a sip of the cloudy cider waiting for her on the table.

‘Great, we won, but then visual displays are kind of my thing,’ Isla said.

Tori laughed. ‘I’d expect no less.’

She looked at Melody, dying to ask about Jamie, but Melody had been embarrassed earlier when Tori had suspected something, so she wasn’t sure whether to push it. They used to tell each other everything, but then she hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about what had happened between her and Matthew either.

‘How was the rest of your afternoon at the shop?’ Tori tried instead, and she was surprised to see Melody blushing again.

‘It was good,’ Melody said, quickly, a smile filling her face.

Tori glanced over at Isla and saw she was smirking at Melody’s reaction. ‘Any visitors?’

Ah, Isla knew something was going on too.

‘Yes, a few tourists and Mr Davies came in to buy a present for his wife,’ Melody said, nonchalantly, as if they were genuinely interested in who had come to her shop.

‘Anyone else?’ Isla pushed.

Melody smiled.

‘And Klaus invited me to Stormy Skies to look at some new sculptures that he and Jamie had done. Well, mainly I think Klaus wanted me to see Jamie’s new piece, it was very good. It was called ‘Love’ and it was this hurricane-style sculpture surrounding a heart, it was so beautiful,’ Melody gushed.

Tori looked between the two of them. ‘OK, what’s going on?’

‘Melody’s in love,’ Isla said, with all the diplomacy and tact of a big sister teasing her younger sibling.

Tori looked back at Melody in surprise. In all their conversations over the phone, Melody had never mentioned that she was seeing anyone. Was something more going on here with Jamie than a little crush?

‘Oh shush, I am not in love,’ Melody giggled. ‘I just love Jamie’s sculptures. He is so talented. I can appreciate art without there being something else going on.’

Tori noticed the blush and the fast talking which Melody did whenever she was trying to change the subject.

Isla smirked and Melody saw it.

‘You can stop smiling. You have your own crush I could tell everyone about,’ Melody said.

‘Oh, come on, nothing is going to happen between me and Leo Jackson,’ Isla said, and that name jolted a memory. Tori knew that name though she didn’t know why. ‘He’s Elliot’s godfather so of course he hangs around. Leo adores him and he’s someone nice to talk to and have a bit of banter with. It’s never going to be anything more than that. Besides, you know I’m off men at the moment.’

‘Hear, hear!’ Tori said, raising her glass to chink against Isla’s in solidarity.

Isla sighed. ‘That’s kind of depressing actually, that we’ve both been so burned in love that we never want to risk our hearts again.’

‘I take it you haven’t heard from Daniel?’

Isla shook her head. ‘I know I should be grateful for a lucky escape. He dumped me as soon as I told him I would be having custody of Elliot, a few days after my brother had died. What kind of asshole does that? And I get that raising a child who isn’t his isn’t up there on his list of priorities, but we were supposed to be forever, for better for worse and all that. I know we weren’t married but we had talked about getting married and having children some day. I feel conned, as if I didn’t really know the man I dated for two and a half years. It seems like such a waste of my time. He never wanted a serious commitment from me, he never really loved me – he can’t have if he finished things with me so easily. So yes, I feel a bit anti-man at the moment.’

‘I still can’t believe he did that to you,’ Tori said. ‘Daniel was supposed to be one of the good guys.’

‘I know. I’ve always thought I was a good judge of character and now I’m doubting that ability,’ Isla said.

‘Are you still anti-men too?’ Melody asked Tori.

‘Me and relationships are not a good mix.’

‘I don’t know why you are both so anti-love. I want nothing more than to settle down with a wonderful man who loves me, raise a family with him, grow old and grey together. I know Luc broke your heart when he cheated on you, we were there, we saw how much that ripped you apart. You were so scared about trusting in a relationship after it destroyed your mum when her marriage fell apart. And he knew about that and he let you down. I get why you would be scared about starting a new relationship, I never want you to go through that again. But just because you’ve both had relationships that ended badly, that doesn’t mean you can never be happy with a man again,’ Melody said.

‘Men are assholes,’ Isla said, decisively.

‘What’s an asshole?’ came a little voice from behind Tori. She turned to see the startling blue eyes and blond hair of Matthew’s five-year-old son, Elliot. His eyes were wide as he looked back at Tori. She’d met him a few times when he was much younger. She wondered if he remembered her, though he was really only a baby then. She couldn’t believe how much he’d changed in the time that had flown by. Of course, she’d seen photos of him over the last year, but he looked more and more like Matthew every day. Elliot was the spitting image of him and Tori wasn’t quite prepared to deal with this younger, cuter, cheeky version of her friend face to face.

She forced the smile to stay on her face and looked up at the tall man holding Elliot’s hand.

He had dark curly hair and indigo blue eyes and was so obviously Aidan’s brother; the resemblance was striking. He had that raw sexual magnetism that his brother had, the kind that made someone catch their breath. But whereas Aidan was gentle and laid-back, this man had a bit of an edge to him.

She glanced over at Isla, who had gone pink, staring at him like one might stare at a delicious chocolate cake, topped with caramel and marshmallows and everything that tasted good, but you knew was bad for you. Judging by Isla’s reaction to him, and as Tori had already met Jamie, this must be Leo Jackson.

Isla recovered herself and held out her arms for Elliot. He immediately climbed up on her lap and she peppered him with kisses.

‘How’s my favourite boy?’

Elliot grinned and snuggled in closer to her. ‘What’s an asshole?’

Tori smirked; he clearly wasn’t going to let it go.

‘It’s a not very nice word for some horrible men.’

‘Oh. Leo isn’t an asshole, is he?’ Elliot asked as he played with the crystal raindrop around Isla’s neck.

Isla looked up at Leo who was still standing there, not saying anything as he watched the two of them together. She grinned. ‘No, he is most definitely not an asshole.’

‘Good to know,’ Leo said as he sat down at the table between Tori and Isla. He turned and gave Tori a smile. ‘I’m Leo Jackson, and you must be Tori Graham. I’ve heard all about you.’

‘You have?’ What on earth had he heard, she’d only been in the village five minutes.

‘Well, these two talk about you; they tell anyone who will listen how proud they are of you being an animator on all these big films. And Matthew used to talk my ear off about you.’

That was a punch to the gut. Of course, coming to Sandcastle Bay, she was going to meet people who knew Matthew but she didn’t think that people would talk about him, especially not with her. In everyone’s eyes, she was just his sisters’ friend. And then she remembered why she knew Leo Jackson’s name. In her many conversations with Matthew, Leo had been mentioned frequently. He was godfather to Elliot. Leo wasn’t just someone who had known Matthew. This was Matthew’s best friend.

‘Matthew used to talk a lot about Tori?’ Melody asked in confusion.

‘Leo mentioned that this morning, when I said you were coming down here. He said that you and Matthew used to be a thing?’ Isla said, dropping another kiss onto Elliot’s head. ‘I said he was mistaken.’

‘How were you a thing with Matthew?’ Melody asked. ‘He lived down here, we lived in London.’

‘We weren’t a thing,’ Tori said, quickly.

They both knew about her spin the bottle kiss with Matthew when they were thirteen – it had been the talk of the school – but she had never told them about her teenage crush on him, nor the lovely night they had spent together the first time they’d made love. Making a move on your best friend’s brother was never the done thing and, as they’d never had any kind of relationship in their teens, there didn’t seem to be a lot to tell them then.

‘You and my dad were a thing?’ Elliot asked, clearly having no understanding of what being a thing was. Tori wasn’t entirely sure what qualified as being a thing either, not when it came to her and Matthew.

‘No, there was no thing,’ Tori tried again.

Leo was watching her carefully. ‘Sorry, my mistake. He must have been talking about someone else. To be fair there were lots of girls in Matthew’s life.’

Lord, her heart was taking a battering today. That’s just what she needed to hear.

‘That sounds like Matthew,’ Melody said.

Was it? Was that how Matthew really was, and Tori had just never seen that side of him?

‘And I hear Dobby took a shine to you,’ Leo went on, and Tori was glad of the subject change.

Isla laughed. ‘That bloody turkey.’

‘Yes, it was quite the welcome party,’ Tori said, trying to force away any feelings about Matthew from her mind. What did it matter whether he’d had hundreds of girlfriends? They’d never had any kind of real relationship, not really. One lovely night together when they’d been eighteen; several years later, they’d shared a few months of intimate, close phone calls; and then a few months before he died, one incredible weekend where they didn’t leave the bedroom. That wasn’t a relationship. She’d refused to give him that and now it was too late.

‘And I hear you’re going to marry my brother,’ Leo said.

Melody choked on her cider. ‘Jamie?’ she squeaked in alarm and Tori smirked at that telling reaction.

‘No, Aidan,’ Leo said, smirking at Tori. ‘Agatha predicted it and they have a hot date tomorrow.’

‘Wow, Tori, you move quickly,’ Melody said, laughing.

‘Everyone knows that if Agatha predicts a marriage round here, it must be true,’ Isla said, dryly.

‘I don’t have a hot date. It’s dinner, nothing more. We’ll probably be talking about fruit-picking and other boring non-date topics. Nothing sexy about that at all.’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what you’ll be talking about,’ Leo said, sarcastically. ‘I hear you two had zero chemistry.’

‘Is that what Aidan said?’ Tori didn’t know why she was hurt by that. It didn’t matter if Aidan didn’t like her in that way. She was there to spend time with Melody and Isla and pick fruit.

Leo’s mouth quirked up into a sexy smile. ‘Quite the opposite.’

‘Oh.’

Tori smiled and then frowned. She didn’t want Aidan to be saying nice things about her. Nothing was going to happen between them and she didn’t want the awkwardness of Aidan wanting there to be something.

‘Are you and Aidan a thing?’ Elliot asked, following the conversation with keen interest, even if he didn’t understand half of it.

‘No,’ Tori said, firmly, making sure they all knew that this wasn’t going to happen.

‘Not yet,’ Leo said.

‘Not ever,’ Tori said.

Leo smirked as if he thought differently. ‘Zero chemistry? That is a problem.’

‘There was plenty of chemistry,’ Tori snapped. ‘Doesn’t mean either of us will act on it.’

‘You come to Sandcastle Bay, pretty much the capital of love in the UK, in time for the big love festival, to work alongside a man who is single and, by all accounts, “sex on legs” and who you have plenty of chemistry with, and you don’t think anything is going to happen?’ Leo said.

‘I have a lot of willpower.’

‘So does Aidan if he wants something,’ Leo said. ‘Fifty pounds says you go back to London in two weeks having had some kind of fling or thing with Aidan.’

‘They’ll be no flinging, I can assure you of that,’ Tori said. She held out her hand for Leo to shake. ‘You have yourself a deal.’

Melody laughed and shook her head. ‘You picked the wrong person to have a bet with, Leo. Tori is fiercely competitive.’

‘We’ll see,’ Leo said. He turned back to Isla. ‘I thought Elliot could stay with me tonight. I know you ladies will have lots to catch up on, and I’m sure there’ll be a few glasses of wine and cider involved in that. This way you can stay out as late as you want and not have to worry tomorrow morning.’

‘I thought Mum was going to look after him for a few hours,’ Isla said.

‘Your mum apparently has a headache,’ Leo said, dryly, and Isla rolled her eyes. She turned her attention to Elliot, obviously not wanting to say anything bad about his gran in front of him. ‘Do you want to stay at Leo’s tonight?’

Elliot’s face lit up as if it was Christmas Day. ‘Can I? Staying at Leo’s is so much fun. We watch movies and eat popcorn and he tells me the best stories and makes the most amazing breakfast.’

Isla smiled and kissed Elliot on the head. ‘He does make a pretty good breakfast.’

Tori’s eyes widened.

Oh.

Leo didn’t miss a beat. ‘Well, I can make up the spare room and you can stay over tonight after you finish here. That way you don’t have to make the long walk up the hill to your house. And then I’ll make you both breakfast tomorrow.’

He said it so innocently as if the only thing he was offering was a room to sleep and some breakfast, but Tori got the impression there was much more to it than that.

She glanced over at Melody who smirked and rolled her eyes. They weren’t fooling anyone.

‘That would be nice,’ Isla said, vaguely, busying herself with playing with Elliot’s fingers. Elliot giggled as she chased her fingers up his arm like a spider. ‘That walk up the hill can be a pain, especially late at night.’

‘Good, I’ll see you later. Ladies, I’ll leave you to it. Come on, squirt, you can help me make some chocolate brownies.’

Elliot lifted his arms in the air and Leo grabbed them, hauled him up in the air and threw him over his shoulder. He walked out of the pub with Elliot hanging upside down and laughing and waving madly as they went.

Tori smiled and waved at Elliot, waiting until Leo had gone before she turned back to Isla. ‘So, something is going on between you and Leo?’

Isla looked alarmed. ‘Of course not. What on earth makes you think that?’

‘You’re staying over at his house.’

‘As friends,’ Isla insisted, her cheeks turning a little pink.

‘And how many bedrooms does Leo have?’

Isla laughed. ‘Four actually. Two spare rooms and Elliot has his own room decorated with space rockets and planets and stars and aliens. And Leo’s room. His spare room is very nice, I’ve stayed there a few times. As friends, nothing more.’

Tori looked back at Melody. ‘Are you buying this “just friends” malarkey?’

Melody laughed and shook her head. ‘No, but she tells me the same. That nothing has ever happened between them. I don’t have any evidence that might point to the contrary, so I guess we’ll have to believe her for now.’

‘Leo Jackson has had more girlfriends than I’ve had hot dinners,’ Isla said. ‘He is not the settle-down-with-one-woman type of guy and if something did happen it wouldn’t ever be anything serious between us. For Elliot’s sake, if I was to have a relationship with someone, it would need to be with someone reliable, someone who would be there for him no matter what.’

‘Leo would do anything for Elliot,’ Melody said. ‘As you said, he even decorated one of his bedrooms for him, so Elliot could have his own room.’

‘I know, he’s great with him. He’s like the fun uncle, takes him out for the day, does fun stuff, lets him stay up late and eat cake and then gives him back. Doesn’t mean that Leo really wants to be a dad to him, marry me, and be a proper family. There’s a big difference between the two.’

‘Maybe he does, you won’t even give him a chance,’ Melody said, and Tori smiled at her friend’s desperation to see everyone happily married and loved up. ‘You say that he has a different girlfriend each week, but I’ve not seen that from him. I know when we first moved down here he did seem to have a few different girls with him and yes, he does have a reputation for being a bit of a ladies’ man, but for months there has been no one on the scene for him. Maybe that’s him taking his role as godfather for Elliot very seriously and trying to be a good role model for him. Or maybe it’s because he has found the person he wants to be with in you and he doesn’t need anyone else.’

Isla waved it away. ‘Can you honestly see Leo Jackson marrying anyone, least of all me? Raise a child that isn’t his? That’s a huge commitment. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t want him, I fancy the arse off the man, but I just can’t see that he would seriously want anything more than a bit of fun from me.’

‘Well, Agatha predicted that the two of you would get married, so it must be true,’ Melody said and they all laughed.

‘And what about you and Aidan?’ Isla said, deftly changing the subject.

‘There is no me and Aidan,’ Tori said.

They both looked at her as if they didn’t believe her. Tori sighed and busied herself with the condensation on the side of the glass. There was no point in pretending that he hadn’t had an effect on her. Her friends would see right through her.

‘OK, he’s the sexiest, most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, and we did have chemistry. We just sort of clicked and we were only together for a short while and yes, I have been imagining Aidan Jackson doing rude and dirty things to me since he left me at Blossom Cottage earlier today and I haven’t had feelings like that in years.’ There was a noise from Melody, but Tori kept talking. ‘And yes, I’d like nothing more than to run my tongue from his neck down to his—’

‘Stop talking, for god’s sake, stop talking,’ Melody hissed, and Tori looked up to see both Melody and Isla staring in alarm over Tori’s shoulder.

Her heart sank, and she screwed up her eyes. He couldn’t possibly be standing behind her. Life wasn’t that unfair. But, somehow, she knew that he was, she could sense him there. And life had taught her it was spectacularly unfair so why would it change now? She just needed to brazen this out. She would finish what she was going to say so there was no misunderstanding.

She swallowed. ‘Down to his… knees. But there is absolutely no chance of anything happening between us. I don’t want that and neither does he.’

She opened her eyes and downed the rest of her cider before she could turn around and face him. But clearly he couldn’t wait. He appeared at her side, those large muscular thighs filling the gap between her and Melody.

‘I bought you ladies a drink,’ Aidan said, his deep rich voice resounding above her. She watched his large hands place three glasses of cider in the middle of the table before she plucked up the courage to look up at him. To her surprise he smiled and winked at her. ‘You got a thing for my knees, Tori Graham?’

Her mouth was dry, so she took another large swig of cider and then looked back up at him. ‘I bet you have very nice knees.’

He smirked. ‘If you want, I’ll show you my knees tomorrow night.’

‘I don’t want to see your knees,’ Tori said, too quickly. He was playing with her and she needed to give him as good as she got. ‘I’d much rather see your elbows.’

His smile grew.

Elbows? Was this her feeble attempt at flirting? She didn’t even want to flirt with him but if she was going to she could try to do better than that. She desperately tried to think of something smart and funny to say.

‘I like elbows.’

She looked at Melody and Isla who were staring at her in shock, Melody’s eyes begging her to somehow recover the situation. But she had nothing.

She looked back at Aidan. Well at least he wouldn’t be trying anything with her now. She had well and truly put him off. Problem solved.

To her surprise, he undid the cuffs on his shirt and slowly rolled his sleeves up, so they were above his elbows. His forearms were tanned, smooth and so huge and she had an overwhelming urge to stroke them.

He offered his elbows out, turning them around as if showing them off, and she couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

‘What do you think? Out of ten?’ Aidan asked, a smile tugging on his mouth.

Tori laughed. Then looked back at the elbows, seriously considering them. ‘Six.’

‘Six?!’ Aidan said, incredulously.

Tori shrugged. ‘I’ve seen better. Six and a half then.’

‘Wow. I feel hurt. So, you don’t want to lick them?’

Tori looked back at them again, hardly believing they were having this conversation. She pulled a face. ‘Meh! They look like pork scratchings, all knobbly and weird looking.’

‘Well, that’s put me in my place. Enjoy your drinks, ladies.’

He turned and walked away, and Tori watched him go and then turned back to face Melody and Isla. They stared at her.

‘What the hell just happened?’ Tori said.

‘I’m not entirely sure,’ Isla said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘You two definitely have a connection,’ Melody said.

‘Which I think I just killed. I talked about licking him and how I have a fetish for elbows. Elbows, for crying out loud. There’s nothing sexy about elbows. I imagine he’s running out of the pub as fast as he can and barricading himself inside his house.’

Suddenly something landed in the middle of their table and they all leapt back in shock. Tori looked down to see a packet of pork scratchings. She whirled round to see Aidan by the door.

‘Seven o’clock tomorrow night. I’ll have my knees out.’

She grinned, and he walked out. God, this man was going to be trouble.