THERE WERE TWO EMPTY WINE GLASSES, EITHER SIDE of her bed. Kai was at Hannah’s birthday sleepover, Anna had just had the shag of her life, and she was happy.

Douglas’s ribcage rose and fell under her head. She could feel his heartbeat. Every so often his stomach gurgled. He played with her hair, smoothing it through his hand. He stroked her back too, in an absent way, but his hands were so warm and firm that it felt akin to a massage. The smell of his skin was seductive, a cocktail of male musk and soap. When they made love she had pressed her nose into his neck, breathing him in. She ran her fingertips over his stomach muscles, then slid them up to his scar. He had told her he’d got it in a brawl when he was younger. She loved all his imperfections.

Anna was overwhelmed by emotion. She had known when she met him that there was something there, but this had taken her by surprise. She thought about what she had lost over the years: the betrayal by the first man she loved, the baby she’d had adopted, the family who turned cold, the husband who took himself from her. Tears started to run, trickling from the corners of her eyes, down her cheekbones to her ears. Douglas touched her face.

‘Was it something I said?’

She laughed and wiped the tears away. ‘No. Just feeling shaky.’

‘Come here.’ He pulled her up, and she curled against his chest. He held her like a child. ‘Tell me.’

‘It’s nothing.’

‘It’s evidently something. Vain as I am, I’m not deluding myself that my superior sexual performance has left you an emotional wreck.’

She chuckled. ‘Well,’ she said, tipping her head up and letting him drop a kiss on her lips. ‘There is that, of course. Obviously, it was the best sex I’ve ever had.’ Another tear fell, and her laugh must have sounded forced, because he held her closer.

‘It’s a pathetic story.’

‘I’ll be the judge of that.’

She went silent, thinking. Where should she start, and how much should she tell him? She didn’t want to sound like she was whinging, but then again, this was part of her and if Douglas loved her he would understand. Her mouth was dry, but they hadn’t brought any water upstairs with them. She reached for the wine bottle and drank straight from it.

‘Easy there.’

She put the bottle down with a grimace. She already knew that Douglas found excess unattractive. ‘When I was fifteen years old I was seduced by Nick Ritchie’s father.’