He looked like a Leo with his mane of blond curls. ‘Kind of appropriate, I’d say. It suits you.’

He gave me a sidelong glance, as if to gauge whether I was giving him the come-on or not. ‘Thanks. So, listen, Bella, it’s getting a bit chilly. Would you like me to buy you lunch somewhere nice?’

I thought for a moment. The day was suddenly taking a very surreal turn but at least it took my mind off Peter for a while. ‘Sure, as long as you don’t mind having a chaperone in a pram?’

His eyes darted towards Elodie, as if he had completely forgotten she was there and for a second, there was a flicker of doubt. My heart sank. I had begun to feel excited at the prospect of a flirtatious lunch with a handsome stranger. But just as quickly, the doubt faded and he stood up. ‘Of course I don’t mind,’ he said. ‘Who could possibly object to dining with two beautiful women instead of one? Would you like me to push?’ he offered, gesturing towards the pram.

I smiled, amazed at how the day was panning out. ‘I’d like that very much,’ I said, falling into step beside him, all thoughts of Peter now pushed firmly to the back of my mind.

‘I suppose I had better be getting back …’ I propped myself up on one elbow and looked at the bedside clock, shocked to see that it was almost 7 p.m.

Leo traced a finger from my breast down to my hip, gazing appreciatively at my body with hungry eyes. We had enjoyed a long, champagne-fuelled lunch at a beautiful restaurant in the shadow of Tower Bridge, then walked back to his apartment, without either of us questioning that we would be going to bed together. I parked Elodie’s pram in the spare room, where, exhausted from missing her usual lunchtime nap, she promptly fell asleep, leaving Leo and me to indulge in a surprisingly energetic and erotically charged few hours of sex. It felt so good to have sex with someone new and exciting, after putting up with Ben’s infuriatingly tender advances for all this time, and it had enhanced my mood enormously.

‘Don’t go yet.’ Leo fixed me with a wolfish stare and I could see that he was already erect again. His athleticism was impressive, considering we had already made love four times. He leaned over to kiss me and I just was succumbing to him once more, when Elodie’s cries rang out through the flat.

‘Sorry. I’m afraid that’s my alarm call.’ I rolled away from him and swung my legs over the side of the bed. ‘But thank you for today, it was just what I needed.’

Leo smiled sleepily. ‘Me too. Maybe we could do it again sometime?’

I looked down at him with a non-committal shrug. ‘Maybe.’

He sat up in bed and reached for a pack of cigarettes on the bedside table. He lit one and inhaled deeply. ‘Is there someone waiting for you at home?’ he looked up at me through a veil of smoke as he exhaled.