I wondered if he would ever be so open and honest with me outside of the bedroom. I really hoped so.

‘How do you feel? Was it okay for you?’ Jake asked me gently then.

‘I think you could tell it was,’ I said with a dismissive laugh. But I saw his serious expression and I tried to push away my embarrassment. I nodded. ‘Yeah, it was the best ever,’ I whispered.

Jake leaned in to brush his lips gently with mine. My body tingled instantly. ‘I can’t wait for more,’ he said when he pulled back. ‘Do you want more too?’

Warring emotions churned through me. I wanted more, of course I did. But I had no idea what this was, or would be. Was this just a New York fling? The last person I wanted to think about in bed popped up – Davis Mulberry and his warning about how Jake treated women. That seemed so at odds with the way Jake was looking at me now, but it made me hesitate. I didn’t want to dare to hope this could be something special if he was going to let me down. Maybe I needed to just try to enjoy the moment and not get lost in thoughts of what happened next. How could I walk away from sex like that?

‘I’d like that,’ I said quietly.

‘I want to spend the rest of today together. Can we?’ He touched my cheek. ‘We could go out for dinner and a drink then come back here; what do you think?’

‘Sounds perfect.’

I thought about tomorrow. We were supposed to make an appearance at the conference in the stand hall then there was an end-of-conference party that would run from dinner until late, and our flight home was at 6 a.m. the following morning. So, these were potentially our last hours alone together. ‘Let’s get dressed up and go somewhere for a New York moment.’

‘A New York moment?’ Jake asked with a smile.

‘Yeah, you know when we can look at each other and say, “This could only happen in New York”.’

‘A New York moment. Okay, let’s do it.’ Jake pulled away from me and my body immediately felt his absence. He rolled across the bed and swung his feet over. ‘Let’s get changed then I’ll knock for you and take you somewhere.’ He looked at the bedside table clock radio. ‘Say seven?’

‘Okay. Where are you going to take me?’ I asked, watching as he climbed off the bed and started to get dressed. I admired his body shamelessly.

‘It’s a surprise.’ When he’d got dressed, he came around the side of the bed closest to me, his eyes drinking in my still naked body. ‘Although now I’m not sure I can leave…’