I shook my head slowly, not wanting him to move his hand away.

I stared at him as he leaned in towards me as if in slow motion, my body crying out for him to kiss me in a way I didn’t really understand but a small voice in my head was shouting that maybe it was dangerous, maybe something terrible would happen and … His lips eventually touched mine, sending what felt like a bolt of electricity through me.

I froze as his tongue pushed roughly into my mouth and touched mine, both terrified and thrilled. It tasted faintly of smoke and salt and vinegar crisps. I moved my tongue back against his. Was that right? Was that what you were meant to do? It was both the best and worst thing I’d ever experienced at the very same time.

He pulled away and smiled. ‘Nice to meet you, Laura. Maybe we can do this again sometime?’

‘Yes, um, yes … when are you …’ I panicked. He couldn’t go now! What if I never saw him again? What would I do?

‘I’ll see you next time something breaks down here then,’ he said, giving my waist a little squeeze, and then turning towards the van, before turning back towards me and adding as an afterthought, ‘Unless you’d like me to come and see you again sooner? How about that?’ He paused. ‘It could be our secret?’

‘Um, I …’ I said, my mind whirring. I was desperate for him to come back but couldn’t say that, could I? In the books I’d read, women didn’t do that kind of thing. Did they? I wasn’t sure. And the books I was thinking of were fiction. Maybe real life was nothing like that – Dad was always saying that it wasn’t any more. That was the reason I had to stay here, out of harm’s way. Maybe it was fine to do that kind of thing now. If you weren’t the kind of daughter who was kept at home by her dad. If you weren’t the type like me that was particularly special, particularly loved. I bet it was OK.

‘How about I come back Monday? About 3 p.m.? That suit?’ he asked, interrupting my racing thoughts.

‘Um … no, Dad likes me to study during the day. I think I’d find it hard to get away.’

‘About six then?’

I grinned. ‘That sounds fine. I’ll see you then. Same place?’

‘Yeah.’ He leaned in and kissed me again, more roughly this time, pulling me towards him so I was pressed against him, putting his hand inside one of my bra cups and squeezing it quite hard, which made me gasp, both scared and thrilled at the same time.

‘Brilliant,’ he said, touching me under the chin as he broke away from me. ‘See you then.’