‘It’s a Christmas classic. I used to watch it every year.’ I reach over and give Gizmo’s back a rub but he turns away from me, protecting his biscuit in case I want to steal it. ‘They turn into little monsters if they eat after twelve.’

‘Well, Giz is already a wee monster, aren’t you?’ He rubs the back of the dog’s neck and the affection in his voice is palpable as he hands him a few more biscuits and Gizmo returns the look of love as he munches them happily.

When he’s finished and checked us both over for signs of crumbs, he resigns himself to both his and our biscuits being gone and gets down from the sleigh to trot across the barn for a few laps from his water bowl. There’s a soft-looking basket filled with cushions and he climbs into it, turns in a few circles and then curls up. Noel puts his mug down on the bench, takes the fleece blanket that was between us, and goes over to cover Gizmo up with it. ‘He’ll have to have a lie in tomorrow to make up for the late night. He’d stay in bed all day if he could.’

‘I know the feeling,’ I mutter.

‘Oh, me too.’ He groans as he stands upright again and walks back over to the sleigh.

‘Don’t you have too early a start to be up this late?’

‘Yep, so do you.’ He jumps into the sleigh and settles back against the bench again.

I can’t help the nervous flitter at the thought. Or maybe it’s how close he’s sitting now that Gizmo’s not between us, or maybe it’s the fact that ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ comes on the radio and he’s humming along under his breath without realising it, or how the scent of sawn wood mixes with the charred cinnamon of his aftershave, and the proximity makes it even sexier. I suddenly want nothing more than to rest my head on his shoulder and breathe him in.

‘C’mere, you’ve got wood dust in your hair.’ I have to swallow a few times before the words come out without a wobble in them.

Instead of getting up and shaking it out like I thought he might, he shifts closer and turns slightly to the left so I can reach the back of his head.

His hair is thick and full of volume, with straight bits that stick out before they hang down and thicker wavy bits that give it its length. It always looks the perfect mix between scruffy and styled, and the temptation is too much to resist.