‘I, um …’ she began, and then BOOM. Somehow the pair of them went from two separate entities to enmeshed together, mouth to mouth, breathlessly consuming each other. Penny stumbled so that her back was against the outside wall, and she could feel Francesco through his jeans. They moved up against one another, the friction getting more and more urgent, the kissing deeper and deeper. Penny melted into Francesco’s every movement, furious with passion. He moved to her jawline, her neck, he pulled at Penny’s apron, pawed at her chef’s whites to find his way to bare skin. Whatever she’d been about to say was forgotten.

‘Mmmm,’ she moaned, electrified by him. And then: ‘Wait – wait!’

Francesco pulled away. ‘Stop?’ he said.

‘No,’ Penny intoned. ‘Not stop. Upstairs.’

‘Upstairs,’ Francesco repeated. ‘Good.’

Penny pulled him by the wrist so that he was inside, locking the back door behind him. She led the way through the sparklingly clean kitchen and up to the café so they could get to the flat, Francesco pushed up against her back, kissing her neck and behind her ears, stopping every few steps so that she could turn around and have their mouths meet.

In her front room she said, ‘Can I shower? I don’t want our first time to be when I smell like a kitchen.’

‘I don’t care what you smell of,’ Francesco told her, coming in for another kiss, but she put a finger to his lips and insisted.

‘I do. Wait here.’ As she left, she said to her Amazon speaker: ‘Alexa, play some Frank Ocean. Thank you.’ She lit a sandalwood incense stick on the table.

‘You’re very polite to your voice-activated technology,’ Francesco said, loosening his belt.

‘When the A.I. revolution comes, it is I who shall be spared,’ Penny smirked, noting the way he was making himself more comfortable. She added: ‘Okay, hold on.’

Penny returned only after she’d taken the day off her, standing naked in front of him, hair damp and loose around her shoulders, her eyes wide and lips parted.

Francesco took in the sight of her.

‘Come here,’ he growled, standing and walking towards her, taking her hand. ‘This is going to be a lot of fun.’

5

‘Okay, mmmm. Yeah,’ Penny lightly sighed.

‘Yeah?’ Francesco asked.

‘Yeah,’ Penny said. ‘Yeah. That feels good.’

‘Okay. Good. Could you just …’

‘Oh. Sure. Like this?’

‘Or maybe—’

‘Ouch! Watch my hair, it’s caught—’

‘Oh, shit, yeah. Sorry.’

‘It’s okay.’

Francesco and Penny had initiated incredibly bad sex.