‘OK,’ I say. ‘See you down there.’

In our room I strip off my jacket, salopettes, and various layers. Naked, I look at myself in the full-length mirror. My borrowed salopettes are too tight and have left an angry red mark around my waist, and there’s a matching mark under my boobs where my bra strap has rubbed. Perhaps I should have invested in a sports bra like my skiing friend had said, but it just felt like one more thing to spend money on.

There’s a knock at the door. I grab a towel to put around myself and open it. It’s Adam, also wearing a towel which is wrapped round his waist.

‘Louisa, hi. Sorry about this, but I seem to have forgotten my trunks. Do you think Will would mind terribly if I borrowed his? If this was Holland, obviously I’d go naked in the sauna, but that’s not OK in France, as far as I understand.’

I blush and open the door wider. ‘Of course. Come in. I don’t think Will would mind – I’ll have a look through his stuff and see if I can find them.’

Adam sits down on the bed. ‘I remember when we were kids, Will was always really retentive about unpacking whenever we went on holiday, while I’d just shove my suitcase under the bed and take stuff out as and when. Is he still like that?’

I turn my back and open the cupboard. Will has indeed stacked all his clothes in tidy piles. Underneath, my shelves are a heap of messy, tangled clothes.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘You can probably see which shelves are his and which are mine.’ I sort through a pile of folded boxers and find Will’s trunks, similarly folded. I turn and wave them at Adam with a flourish.

‘Voila,’ I say, continuing to wave them around, as if I was doing the dance of the seven veils.

Adam smiles and stands. He looks me up and down and suddenly I feel exposed. ‘Here,’ I say, holding the trunks out to him, but he doesn’t take them. Something in his face changes and in that instant, I realize what’s about to happen.

I feel a surge of panic and try to back away against the cupboard as he seizes my wrist. His towel falls away and he crushes his mouth onto mine, pushing me back against the wardrobe door. He grabs at one of my breasts and for a second I am too shocked to do anything. He grinds his hips against mine and I feel my towel fall away.

I twist my head away and make a strangled noise. He grips my face and turns it back towards him, forcing his mouth against mine again. He jabs his tongue in and takes my other wrist, pinning it above my head.