Then as if by rote, her hand moved to his cheek and she softly caressed his tight jawline. She couldn’t help it. The hopelessness in his eyes was agonising and she needed to do something to take it away.

Ward finally moved his gaze back from the lake to meet hers, his eyes deep green pools still full of emotion. His hand flew up to touch hers and he rested it there for a moment, before pulling her close and into his arms, gently resting his head on her shoulder.

When he turned his face inwards and she could feel his warm breath on her bare neck, Hannah shivered again. But this time she wasn’t shaking from the cold.

‘Come home with me,’ he whispered, pleading. ‘Tonight. I need you.’

Her entire body was screaming at her to turn her face to meet his, signifying her assent. There was truly nothing more she wanted right in that moment than to feel Ward’s mouth on hers, wrap her arms around him and allow him to take her anywhere he wanted to go, and everything else beyond.

But …

She broke free from his embrace, quickly standing back. ‘I can’t.’

‘Can’t, or won’t?’ The hunger in his gaze was intoxicating and Hannah knew that if he got closer again she wouldn’t be able to resist it. Her body was humming as he picked up her hand and gently ran a finger along the edge of her wrist. It felt like fire on her skin. She needed to get this under control.

‘You’re … a client.’

‘And what if I wasn’t?’ he countered, emboldened by the palpable energy between them, and the fact that she hadn’t moved away again. He knew the effect he was having on her. Any hesitation or pretence was now long gone. They both knew exactly what was happening; what they both wanted, something that had been building all this time, yet quietly repressed, and that was dangerous.

Somehow, Hannah made herself step back further from the wall and wrapped her arms over her chest, as if to warn herself off.

‘You are. And this is crazy. You’ve had some champagne, and it’s been a weird night …’

‘It’s not that and you know it,’ he argued, and of course he was right.

Hannah wouldn’t look at him though. ‘It’s just, there are boundaries around this, rules. Like I said you’re a client and I’m a professional. Plus …’

‘Plus what?’ He took a step closer again and it took every last ounce of willpower Hannah had not to sink back into his embrace.