She stared at him. ‘What? Why? Your first post, proper post, I mean, and it went viral too! People are going crazy over it, Ward, why would you—’

‘It was cheesy and dumb and it wasn’t even my idea. Shelley my … friend, figured it was a good move at the time but I changed my mind. That’s not how I want to be seen.’ He looked away briefly and Hannah knew there was more he wasn’t saying. And she couldn’t help but wonder again about this ‘friend’.

My personal life is off-limits.

Regardless, if Ward truly didn’t want to go down the fitness video route, for whatever reason, then there was nothing she could do to persuade him.

He looked back at her again. ‘Anyway, I’m sorry for being a dick just now. Guess I sometimes forget I’m not the only asshat client you’ve got to deal with. Are you sure you’re OK though? Anything I can help with?’

Hannah shook her head. The last thing she needed to do was talk about her private life, or previous relationship mistakes, with him. Her personal life was off-limits too. Especially to this particular client.

‘It’s grand,’ she insisted, trying to sound offhand. ‘Nothing that a better night’s sleep won’t fix.’

Ward nodded reluctantly and then his lips twisted up in a half-smile. ‘So that whole loser speech … did you just blurt that out off the top of your head or were you rehearsing it because deep down you knew I’d chew you out for releasing that picture?’

‘A little bit of both,’ she admitted with a grin. ‘I’ll be honest – I had an inkling you might not be fully on board since you’re such a tough guy and all.’ She met his gaze briefly and was relieved to see that he wasn’t quite as annoyed as he pretended to be. ‘But I was curious to see how the online reaction panned out. Based on the response so far, I’m starting to think that, thanks to us both, we’re finally making progress and are a lot further along the road to having that image of yours reformed, no?’

He snorted, shaking his head. ‘At what cost, though? Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate everything you’re doing, truly I do. Guess I just still need some persuading that the image we’re trying to project is real.’