“I’ve had all day to think about this, and I don’t want to keep my hands off you. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone, Jess. I don’t know where it’s going, but I know I don’t want to stop now. I want to–” I hesitate. “We’re going back tomorrow, and I want to see you again. Not just for sex,” I say quickly as he stares at me, his eyes as bright as a penny. “I want to get to know you.”

“Are you saying you want to go out with me?”

I feel my cheeks flush. “What a terrible expression. No, I’m not doing that.”

“Would you rather pay your addresses to my father and arrange to court me? I’ll make sure my mum’s got a good book for when she’s sitting in the same room chaperoning us.”

“You’re hilarious,” I try to say and then just give up and laugh. Sometimes it’s easier to cut out the middleman and head straight to Jesse Land. And it’s such a relief to hear his humour again after what I did.

I sober. “I can’t promise forever like those books you read,” I say softly. “I mean–”

He stops me talking with the simple move of putting his hand over my mouth. “No one can say that at the beginning of a story,” he says quietly. “It’s always saved to the end of the book.” He smiles calmly at me, and I feel moisture in the back of my eyes at his trusting expression. “I want to try that too, Zeb. I really want to.”

I draw him into a hug, squeezing him until he wheezes and starts to laugh. When I let him go, his merry face is front and centre again, and I smile helplessly back. “Then let’s try,” I say.

And that’s how simply we start our story.

Chapter Ten

Jesse

The knock at the door of the flat interrupts my nervous pacing. I race over to the door and then stop, reminding myself that I don’t want to look too keen. I shake my head. I’m sure I’ll give that away at some point. I take a deep breath and rub my damp palms down my jeans before flinging open the door. Zeb is leaning against the wall outside the flat with a very quizzical expression on his face.

“I was wondering whether you’d changed your mind,” he says. There’s a wry note to his voice, but for some reason I’m sure there’s a bit of truth in that statement.

“Not likely,” I say briskly. I wink at him. “I just had a bit of a job navigating my way around the huge parcel that arrived today.”