‘If you hear the shower running in the night then you know that I’m having second thoughts,’ he said with a laugh.

‘You spend a lot of time on sofas on my behalf,’ she reminded him.

‘You’re worth it.’ Then he stood up and briskly moved the food tray and the Scrabble from the bed. ‘Settle down,’ he said. ‘I’ll tuck you in.’

When she was snuggled between the mascara-stained sheets, Zak kissed her softly on the lips. His mouth was warm on hers, soothing, and she didn’t want it to stop there.

Lauren watched Zak pottering round the room for a few minutes, then he lay down on the sofa and pulled the throw from the bed over him. Lauren realised that she hadn’t thought of Jude for hours.

‘Goodnight, Ms Osbourne,’ he said.

‘Goodnight, Mr Reynolds.’ She blew him a kiss.

Zak put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. Lauren pretended to go to sleep, but she didn’t. Watching him in the dark made her smile.

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

‘I missed you on Saturday morning, Sexy,’ Blake Chadwick tells me when he swings into the office on Monday morning.

The colour floods to my cheeks as it always does when he talks to me. ‘I’m sorry.’

Blake shrugs. ‘No worries.’

‘My husband took me away for the weekend,’ I tell him. I don’t mention that it was an utter disaster on every level.

‘Nice.’

It wasn’t. But I don’t say this either.

‘I hiked up Scafell Pike.’

BC’s eyebrows rise. ‘I’m impressed.’

What I also don’t tell him is that none of my muscles will now move. My thighs scream in protest with every step I take, my knees throb with pain and my shins feel like I’ve been kicked in them by a particularly bad-tempered donkey. Even my neck hurts from unaccustomed rucksack carrying. This does not bode well for scampering up the Andes like the proverbial mountain goat.

I had to hobble in here like an old lady and, frankly, I have no intention of putting one foot in front of the other any more than I possibly need to today. I’m even going to cut down on my caffeine intake to ensure that I minimise my trips to the loo as that would involve walking to the other side of reception.

‘Coming running with us again tonight?’ Blake asks.

‘I think I’ll give it a miss,’ I say. ‘I’m meeting my sister for a coffee this evening and I need to get straight back.’

‘Wednesday then?’

I nod. ‘Wednesday.’ Two days away. Hopefully, I’ll be able to walk by then, maybe even run.

‘Catch you later,’ BC says, and waves as he heads to his office.

Sighing to myself, I log on to the computer to check today’s diary.