Merrin jumped into the shower and took her time, letting the hot water pound her skin and restore her. She did a double shampoo, before lathering her face with soap and giving her teeth a good scrub. With a towel on her head, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. The effects of her hangover had lessened a little and the sickly smell of booze and sick had left her skin. In fact, she looked quite rosy and with more of a sparkle in her eye than she had seen for the longest time. Bella was right, this wasn’t a rehearsal, it was her one life, and it felt good to have stepped out of her comfort zone. A strange sensation swirled in her stomach and she recognised it as excitement.

The knock on her door was quiet; in fact, she listened for the second knock to make sure she hadn’t imagined it.

‘Miguel!’ Still in her dressing gown, she popped her head through the gap of the open door, hiding inside. It felt a little odd to be chatting to him like this on top of her behaviour last night. ‘Are you still talking to me?’ she asked with no small dollop of embarrassment.

‘Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything to embarrass yourself.’

‘Apart from be sick and then ask if you wanted to kiss me.’ She closed one eye briefly; it felt easier not to look at him fully.

‘Apart from that. Anyway, two things: first, I brought you this.’ He lifted a small tray into her line of sight with a large glass of fresh orange juice with ice cubes bobbing on the top, a steaming mug of black coffee, a big, fat, flaky croissant and two Paracetamol. ‘Thought this might help you start your day, although I must say you don’t look too bad.’

‘Oh, thank you!’ Making sure her robe was secure, she opened the door. He walked in and placed the tray on the table. ‘That’s so kind.’

‘And I do, by the way.’

‘You do what?’ She wrinkled her nose, wondering how she had lost the thread.

‘Well, that’s the second thing. I wanted to kiss you. So I thought we should get it out of the way before it becomes one of those things that takes on more significance than it deserves and gets awkward.’

‘I don’t want that.’ She smiled and let the door close.

‘I don’t want that either.’ He took a step towards her and placed his hands either side of her face. The novelty of his handsome face was something she hoped would never wane. His kiss when it landed on her mouth was nice, soft and pleasant, promising even, but the fireworks of longing that had jumped in her gut at the mere touch from Digby . . . they were absent. But what did she expect? This was brand new and she was changed.

CHAPTER ELEVEN JARVIS