‘I’ll go and get showered,’ she said, hobbling stiffly away. ‘I’ll see you at the bar in … shall we say fifteen minutes?’

Nathan glanced at the clock. It was 21.57. The gym officially closed at ten, which was why, when he looked around, there was almost no one left on the exercise floor. The cleaners would be in first thing tomorrow, so it would simply be a matter of switching everything off, hitting the lights and locking up.

‘Yeah, that’s great,’ he said. ‘Sure.’

She smiled and nodded, before limping away. Even moving clumsily, she looked amazingly sexy, the shorts and vest only enhancing her supple, shapely form. It was all Nathan could do not to lick his lips.

He spent the next few minutes in a flurry of activity, closing everything down, saying goodnight to his fellow instructors, none of whom appeared to have noticed his brief flirtation with the redhead, and then dashed to the staff locker room to get his stuff. He wasn’t supposed to leave the premises in ‘uniform’, and so changed into a spare pair of joggers and a hoodie top and trainers, grabbed his bag and hurried through into the bar.

Though the gym was now closed, this part of the building was also for the use of hotel guests, and so it usually stayed open until midnight at least. It was fairly basic: low-key lighting, stripped-down décor, a tiled floor, but it was clean and tidy, and one or two patrons were in there.

Rather to Nathan’s surprise, because girls always seemed to take an age to get ready, the object of his interest was already here, seated on a bar-stool in a beige tracksuit and blue anorak, a glass of what looked like sparkling water on the counter in front of her, and a bulging sports bag on the floor. She was chatting on her phone when he came in, but now cut the call and shoved the device into her pocket.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Hope you don’t mind, but I’ve just rung home and they’re coming to pick me up. I told them I had a lift, but they weren’t happy. I’m grateful for the offer though, so I bought you this.’ She pushed a half-pint glass of what looked like cola with ice along the counter towards him. ‘The barman said you usually have Diet.’