She laughed. Was he flirting with her? It felt as if there was a warm current crackling between the two of them. ‘Izzie,’ she replied, gazing up at him. ‘What’s yours?’

‘Fraser,’ he said, scooping a hand through his hair. He looked bashful suddenly. Maybe he was seventeen even, she thought. ‘You on holiday here?’ He rolled his eyes at himself. ‘Stupid question.’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Here for another week.’ They looked at one another and smiled again. ‘You’re local, are you?’ she added, even though she was already pretty sure of the answer. She just wanted to keep him talking, have him there in her eyeline a while longer.

‘Yeah, born and bred,’ he said. Then he hesitated. ‘So, um . . . What are you up to later?’

Her skin felt prickly even though the air was warm. Oh my God. Was he about to ask her out or something? Was this going to be a holiday romance? Her first kiss? Her mind was racing, but she did her best to play it cool. ‘Not a lot,’ she said. She was about to shrug, but the straps of her swimming costume felt too precariously balanced to risk it. Yikes! Do not flash the handsome biker dude, whatever you do. ‘Why?’ she added boldly. ‘Got any bright ideas?’

‘A few,’ he said, one eyebrow quirked.

Her stomach seemed to turn inside out. He was gorgeous! Way better-looking than any of the boys back home.

‘I’ll probably be finished by two. We could . . . hang out?’ he went on. ‘Down at the beach – do you know Swanpool?’

‘Nope,’ she said. ‘But I could find it.’ Her heart was pounding so hard she was surprised the water wasn’t pulsing around her. Just like that, her day had changed into something wildly exciting.

They both smiled at each other for a long hot second. The air quivered with possibilities. Then he waggled the parcel in the air, somewhat self-consciously. ‘Right. Well, I should drop this off. Two o’clock, remember. See you by the café?’

‘Yep,’ she said dazedly. ‘See you later. Bye, Fraser,’ she added, just because she wanted to say his name out loud. Fraser. This handsome boy who wanted to meet her later. YES!

He strode away and she turned a fast splashy somersault, wanting to squeal with excitement. All of a sudden this holiday had got so much better. Miles better! As soon as he was round the corner and out of sight she got out of the pool and rushed back into the cottage. Thank God Mum and the others weren’t here to make stupid comments and ask annoying questions. Thank goodness something fun had happened at last. She’d finally be able to go back on the group chat later with good news: Only joking about the older man, she would type with some laughing emojis. But guess what did happen today . . . !