I laughed. ‘I promise I won’t tell either,’ I whispered.

Jack took a step closer, his chest millimetres away now as he tilted his head down. ‘How do I know I can trust you not to ruin my reputation as an outdoorsy, tough guy type?’

‘You know that’s not what people really think, don’t you?’

‘Huh?’ He stepped back and looked surprised. ‘They don’t?’

I couldn’t keep the straight face I’d fixed on. ‘OK. They do, but it’s actually posh outdoorsy tough guy type.’

He pulled a face at me. ‘Great.’

‘Oh, don’t be so silly,’ I said, turning away in order to go and stop my bath, and grab the bath crème. Putting a little more distance between me and Jack for a moment might have also had something to do with it. Believe me, there was no chance the general population had any doubt as to the veracity of Jack being a gorgeous specimen of alpha masculinity and I wouldn’t be among those questioning that. Sometimes, when Jack was close, it was easy to feel like a planet being sucked into his gravity field. And I knew that wasn’t a good idea. I had my own orbit that I’d been happily, or mostly happily, pootling around in for the last decade or so. I definitely didn’t need any celestial moments to come along and wreck all that.

As I lay back in the bath, surrounded by bubbles and heady scents, I could hear the rain begin to fall more heavily. There was something comforting about being inside, warm and relaxed with the soft wash of rain hushing the sounds of the evening outside. I took a sip of the Baileys that Jack had brought me, before resting it on the small table to the side of the bath. Picking up my book, I began to read.

Between the exercise, good food and a relaxing soak, I was asleep almost as soon as my head touched the soft, expensive cotton of my pillowcase. Three hours later, I was woken suddenly by a huge and extremely loud crack of thunder breaking close to the house. My eyes flew open as I lay there, frozen for a moment, my brain putting together all the pieces as it roused itself from the deep sleep I had been enjoying until that moment. Just as it was doing so, another huge clap resonated and I pushed back the covers, grabbed my dressing gown and headed downstairs.

Clive was standing by the sofa, his tail tucked under, and upon hearing me by the door, he practically flattened me as I entered, launching himself at me, and almost winding his body around my legs. I crouched down.

‘It’s OK, sweetheart. I’m here. It can’t hurt you.’ I cuddled him to me. His body shook with fear, making me hold him closer. After some more soothing words, I stood and pulled his bed over to the front of the sofa, holding out Hot Dog for him to take. Clive took him gently and followed my silent instruction to get into his bed. I grabbed one of the blankets and tucked it around him and then settled myself next to him on the sofa, lying down so that I could rest my hand on him, letting him know I was there before pulling a quilt that normally draped over the side of the sofa up over me. Clive gave a couple of whines but, with a few more strokes, seemed to settle.