His coat brushed against my arm and I gazed after him as he made his way towards the long glass doors, my mind drifting back, not for the first time, to our conversation of a year ago on Giles’s freezing patio. It was, after all, a conversation which had made our relationship what it was today.

‘This is a great opportunity for us both,’ said Cameron.

I nodded, wanting to say something more but finding myself now unable to speak. Instead, I removed his jacket and returned it to him.

‘Thanks.’ He smiled, glancing over his shoulder. ‘Let’s get back inside before you freeze. We can toast our new partnership in the warmth.’ He turned and began to walk towards the long glass doors of the kitchen.

I hesitated for just a moment, before rushing to follow and placing a hand on his arm. He stopped and turned, looking first at my hand and then questioningly down at me. ‘You don’t want to go inside?’

‘Not yet,’ I said quietly, releasing his arm. ‘The thing is, Cameron, I haven’t been quite as honest with you as you’ve been with me.’

‘No?’

I sighed and shook my head. ‘I mean, obviously I want to take Alison up on her offer, and I do sincerely believe that we would make a very good team professionally. That’s all true but,’ I hesitated and took a deep breath, ‘but I haven’t been honest with you about my feelings. My personal feelings,’ I added meaningfully.

There followed a pause, during which his frown deepened and I began to shiver and regret handing over his jacket.

‘I’m sorry, but I’m going to need more than that,’ he said eventually. ‘Are you saying that there is still some resentment? Or that you have trust issues?’

‘God, no, not at all,’ I said hurriedly, shaking my head. ‘What I mean is that I’m attracted to you. You know…’ I pointed to his face and then swept my hand downwards to his feet, ‘physically.’

‘Oh, right,’ he said, clearly taken aback. ‘Right.’

‘Yes,’ I continued, aware of my hands beginning to numb and now anxious to cover all bases as quickly as possible. ‘So, to put my cards on the table: it is mutual. I am attracted to you and I think I might find that hard to set to one side, if we were to start working even more closely together. I mean, even when I was really fed up with you at work today, I couldn’t help thinking how good you looked in that shirt. Then, in there, just now,’ I said, nodding towards the kitchen, ‘when you were touching and kissing everybody except me, I felt really excluded. And when you were telling me how you felt a moment ago, again I found myself desperately wanting physical contact with you.’

‘OK,’ he said, blinking a little.