I hand him a towel to dry his hands. He takes it, smiling at me. ‘Got to take care of my girl,’ he adds, putting his arm around me and kissing my cheek.

Later, when we’re home, Liam gets to work on installing the cameras and then connecting them up to an app on his phone. ‘This way,’ he tells me. ‘I’ll be the first to know if anyone tries to break in.’

I lean on his arm. ‘Thanks so much.’

He kisses my temple. ‘You’re welcome. What time’s dinner?’

‘Eight?’ I say.

He frowns. ‘Can we have it earlier?’

‘Oh,’ I say, ‘um, sure. I’ll just have to figure out the timings again but that’s fine.’ I hurry off to get started. The chicken needs time to marinade.

When I finally put the dinner in the oven, praying it turns out OK, Liam walks in, freshly showered. ‘Here,’ he says. ‘I got you something else.’

I turn around and find him holding a gift-wrapped box. I take it, feeling overwhelmed. ‘What is it?’ I say. No one has ever given me so many gifts before. I feel bad as I only bought him a book of poetry by Robert Burns, which I’m worried he didn’t really like.

‘Open it,’ he says.

I do and I find a beautiful black silk dress. ‘It’s gorgeous,’ I exclaim.

‘Try it on,’ he tells me.

I nod and hurry towards the stairs, only to find him following me up them and into the bedroom. He obviously wants to watch.

My mouth opens and my throat goes dry. Little palpitations shake my heart. I’m very self-conscious about my body and, so far, Liam and I haven’t been intimate, besides kissing. I’d been wondering if tonight was the night that we might go further, but I’m nervous. What if he doesn’t like what he sees?

‘Go on,’ he encourages.

Anxious, I take a deep breath and pull off my jumper and then my T-shirt. Standing in my bra and jeans I glance at him. He’s staring at me with naked desire and I feel the heat rise up my chest.

‘Beautiful,’ he says. ‘Now the jeans.’

I undo them and step out of them, feeling awkward and on display. No one has ever asked me to take off my clothes in front of them.

‘Now put the dress on,’ he says.

I do as he asks. It clings to my hips and boobs. ‘Will you do me up?’ I ask, turning my back to him so he can pull up the zip.

He does, kissing my shoulder blade. I inhale sharply.

‘It’s a little tight,’ he tells me, forcing the zip.

My cheeks flame.

‘If you lose a few pounds, it will fit like a dream,’ he tells me.