Patrick’s eyes turn cold as he looks at us, seeming to linger where Zeb’s arm touches me. I reach up one hand and tangle my fingers in Zeb’s, and luckily he doesn’t jump like a startled goldfish or stand like a fucking statue. Instead he seems to get with the programme and draws me closer. However, that’s my undoing because now I can feel all his long warm body against mine. I can smell the faint scent of oranges. He’s taller and bigger than me, heavily muscled, and somehow I feel safe under his arm.

“So you two are together?” Patrick says, gesturing at us and bringing me back to the conversation.

“Deeply in love,” I say cheerfully. “You bet we are.” Zeb tightens his grip on me, and I bite my lips to contain my smile.

“We are,” he says in a very stern way. “So in love sometimes that all I want to do is spank him.”

I flutter my eyelashes. “Sometimes all I want you to do is spank me too. Oh, to be in love in England in the summertime, as Robert Browning said. Or was it Art of Noise?”

Zeb shakes his head, and a laugh slips out. Patrick’s gaze gets even colder and more calculating. “Really? I don’t remember Zeb ever being into that. I suppose tastes change. Some for the good. Some for the bad.” He eyes me up and down like I’m a piece of shit.

“They certainly do,” I say sweetly, looking him up and down in return. “Still, out with the old and in with the new.”

He laughs with no sign of amusement about him. “Make sure you don’t toss Zeb out too, then.”

Zeb stiffens, and I smile coldly at Patrick. “No chance of that. I know what I’ve got and I’ve never been one to just throw things away. I keep a firm hold of my possessions.”

There’s a long silence. Zeb stares at his ex, but I can’t decipher his expression. He stirs. “Shall we go in?” he says abruptly.

Patrick steps back and gestures to the hotel with a flourish. “Be my guest,” he says. “I’ll let you go. After all, you know the way, don’t you, Zeb?”

Zeb marches forward, and I skip to catch up with him. I look back, and Patrick is watching us go, standing in a pool of sunshine. He smiles at me, and there’s more than a touch of shark about it. I turn to make my way up the steps, and when I look back, he’s gone and the drive is empty.