‘You didn’t give him the presentation?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Do you have a problem with that?’

Jake thought that he did. ‘That was my campaign.’

‘We were working on it together. I did some extra stuff this afternoon. You seemed to be busy. I didn’t want to bother you.’

‘We should have presented it together.’ I should have presented it, he thought. It was my project. It made him feel like a kid getting jealous because someone else was playing with his ball. He bit back any other comments he might have wanted to make.

‘No harm done,’ Neve said. ‘Alec liked it. He thought it was inspired.’

Jake brightened. ‘Did he?’ He wished he’d been there to hear Alec say that he’d thought it was inspired. Alec was generally sparing with praise.

‘Yes,’ she continued. ‘He said he was impressed by our teamwork.’

‘He did, did he?’ Jake smirked to himself. Little did Alec know exactly how much teamwork they did together. Jake suspected one or both of them would be for the high jump if Alec ever caught wind of what.

‘What else did he say?’

Neve shrugged. ‘Not much.’ She stretched her arms above her head. ‘Are you finished?’

‘Yeah,’ Jake said. ‘Shall we grab something to eat on the way home?’ He was sure that there would be absolutely nothing of note in the fridge. He’d have to make a major sortie to the supermarket this weekend. They couldn’t spend their entire lives existing on Blue Sapphire vodka and champagne.

‘I’ve got a few errands to run,’ Neve said casually. ‘I’ll catch up with you later.’

Jake glanced at the big stainless-steel clock on the wall of the gym. It was nearly nine o’clock. ‘Now?’

Neve pouted her lips. ‘Now.’

He knew better than to ask exactly what errands needed to be done at nine o’clock at night. ‘I thought we could cuddle up on the sofa together.’

‘Later,’ she said rather dismissively.

Jake tried not to look hurt. Even though he’d been back to the house in St Albans and had relocated all his stuff to Neve’s—and how painful that had been—he still didn’t feel like a permanent fixture there. If he’d been a puppy, Neve would have been prosecuted by the RSPCA for neglect by now.

His girlfriend came over and kissed him slowly, nipping at the skin as their lips parted. It was still hard to think of her in those terms. Would Neve ever truly be ‘his’? She smiled at him. ‘I won’t be long,’ she said.

Before he could argue she walked away, trailing her towel behind her. Jake frowned. Takeaways for one were becoming less appealing all the time. Alec might not be impressed if he knew the amount of teamwork they were doing together, but from Jake’s point of view, he wasn’t sure that they were doing nearly enough.