She also had loads to do herself, but she couldn’t resist leaping out of bed to follow him. She had missed this physical contact, these feelings so much. She embraced him from behind, her arms tight around his chest, and started kissing the back of his neck. He turned to her, his erection perfectly formed, kissed her mouth provocatively, setting light to every nerve in her body.

‘Another time …’ He grinned, moving away from her to grab his clothes, then heading for the bathroom. ‘I really have to get ready and go.’

‘Do you want to come back tonight?’ Emma had called Max by mid-afternoon. She’d gone from ice maiden to red-hot lover in the space of a weekend.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Oh, yes.’

‘Well then, I won’t keep a lady waiting. Of course. I’ll drive up after work.’ She could hear the smile in his tone.

‘I’ll make some supper. But, don’t get too excited. It won’t be anything too fancy. Anything you don’t eat?’

‘Not really.’

‘Good. See you later then. Better go, there’s someone just come in to the shop.’

‘See you later, Em.’

After clearing up the final debris from last night, taking a quick shower, and making more choc-chip shortbread as the jar was emptying out, Emma had another hectic day. Whilst Holly served at the counter, Emma was dashing about making up the orders: teas, coffees, hot chocolates (she ran out of spray cream at one point and had to make a dash to the grocer’s), and she warmed slices of Maureen’s wonderful three-layer cake served with a blob of cream as an option which was proving extremely popular. There were milkshakes to blend, brownies to cut to size for the mini bites – it was all go. In fact, there was someone in constantly from opening to close, which was just fabulous and the till had kept on dinging.

They finally turned the sign over at twenty past five.

‘Hey, what a day,’ Holly said, as she cleared the last of the cups and saucers. ‘It never got this busy even in the chip shop. It’s just brill, Em. Everyone loves the coffee shop idea.’

‘Yeah, I’m still pinching myself that it’s all really happened. Thanks so much for that lightbulb moment, Hols, and for all your help in making it a reality.’

‘No worries, Em. I still love working here, even though my feet are done in today.’

‘Mine too.’ In fact, she felt like she was pretty much aching all over. The physical and mental effort of the past few weeks was catching up on her.

She paid Holly her wages in cash and was able to give her assistant a little bonus. ‘Just to say thanks for all the help you’ve given me over the last couple of weeks too.’

‘Aw, Em. You don’t have to.’