Patrick leapt up like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t. ‘Be right there,’ he said.

He looked down at me and offered his hand. I reached out for it.

‘Thanks,’ I said, and under his breath he muttered, ‘Sure thing. Yup. Uh-huh.’

As we piled back into the taxi I thought back to the vows I’d made on the plane over. I’d promised myself that I’d stop trying to be perfect. That for better for worse, I’d throw caution to the wind. For richer and for poorer I’d say yes to every opportunity that came my way.

I stole a look at Patrick. His profile had become so familiar to me already that it was a comfort. The way his hair flopped across his forehead made me want to reach across and smooth it away for him. I imagined what it would be like to unclip my seatbelt and slide across to the middle seat, just to feel his thigh against my own. I wondered how it would feel to press my face to his, on purpose this time, slipping my tongue into his mouth.

‘You okay?’ he asked.

I issued a weak smile. ‘Sydney is amazing, isn’t it?’ I couldn’t tell him what I’d really been thinking about.

‘It’s wicked,’ he agreed, and then he did the most bewildering thing. He unclipped his seatbelt and slid across, reaching his arm out and forcing me to duck my head so he could reach across my shoulders and pull me in. My thigh was against his. I froze for half a second, checking I hadn’t misunderstood, before giving in to how good it felt. I let my head loll to one side so that it rested against his chest. He let out a small sigh – a gratified one. As I watched out of the window at the sky whizzing by I let my hand drift to his knee. His free hand met me there. We rode home pushed up against each other with every part of our bodies, except our faces, testing this new normal.

As we got out of the car Patrick’s hand came to the back of my neck, and I liked it being there. We didn’t say anything as we walked up to the private penthouse elevator, the heat of his touch intensifying as we went up floor after floor. I was the one with the key cards and as I stood in front of the buttons, his body came close behind me, so close and yet so far away. I realized I was taking shallow, short breaths. If I had wanted to suspend the moment of being in the taxi together for the rest of all time, now I wanted to get upstairs as quickly as possible, because I knew what was going to happen on the other side.