The more Andrea had to drink, the more she opened up to Shaun. He was so laid back and easy to talk to. He was nothing like the men she’d dated before Tony, but he was also nothing like Tony.

And he was flirting with her. Every now and then, he would reach across and touch her arm or her hand. With each touch, it was as though an electric current zipped right through her body. When she spoke, he held her gaze. Sometimes it was so intense that she would dip her head or turn away, her cheeks warming. But then she would look back and he would catch her eye again and a dimple would appear in his left cheek.

So she flirted back. And drank some more.

Eventually, the words tumbled out: ‘I found out today that my husband lied to me about something really big.’

‘That’s awful,’ he said, his face full of genuine concern.

‘And now I don’t know if I can trust him about anything anymore. I mean . . . if he lied about that, what else is he keeping from me? And what if I don’t know him like I thought I did? What if my marriage is in trouble? Real trouble.’ And next thing, Shaun had leaned across the table, taken her face in his hands and kissed her.

It was one of the best damned kisses she’d ever had. Long and slow and soft. It woke her up and filled her with desire.

When they pulled apart, he’d tried to apologise, assuring her it wasn’t his style to hit on a married woman and that he’d kissed her without thinking. But she’d silenced him by leaning in and kissing him back. Another long, slow kiss that had him pulling her up out of her seat and around to his side of the table to sit next to him.

When he asked her if she wanted to come back to his place for another drink, she’d said yes without stopping to think.

After the accident Jill had let her know that Shaun had been to visit her in the hospital, that he was hoping to see her again when she woke. But Andrea had been putting it off. She was nervous about his reaction when he found out she was pregnant — let alone that he was the father.

Plus it would complicate things with her family. They might not be her family by blood or even by marriage anymore, but they were still the best family she’d ever known and she didn’t want to lose them. Would they forgive her if they knew that she had cheated?

But yesterday, Shaun had called her. He’d been thinking about her a lot, he said, and he was hopeful they could meet up.

So perhaps the truth would come out after all.

*

Darren