She pulled the short and top combo out of a paper bag and put it on the table.

‘It’s the tiniest, flimsiest piece of underwear I’ve ever seen, and I’d be way too embarrassed to ever wear anything like this. But it didn’t stop there, I was forced to buy a dress with a slit right up the side, ridiculous high-heel shoes, a perfume that’s supposed to bring men to their knees. I didn’t want any of that stuff, I swear, I went into town for lunch and a new toothbrush, that’s all. And now the whole town thinks we’re going to have this night of passion and we’ve only kissed a few times and Daisy will probably find out and I’m so sorry if they’ve all been teasing you about it today,’ she said, clearly out of breath from her sudden outburst.

Henry stared at her shock. He wanted to laugh, get angry and hug her all at the same time. He didn’t know if he would ever get used to this level of nosiness but Penny had lived here her entire life and she was still clearly upset by it. His eyes cast down to the flimsy underwear on the table and he picked the top up, fingering the material. God, to see her in this would be a dream come true. Even if he had promised her that he wouldn’t take it any further than a kiss, he would quite gladly cancel their date and spend the whole night holding her and kissing her in this underwear.

He looked up. She was waiting for him to freak out too, thinking he had been subjected to all of this when in fact no one had said a word to him. Although, come to think of it, he had noticed a few looks, smiles and winks but he’d just put it down to the oddness of the town. He had to reassure her that he hadn’t been harassed like she was, but that wasn’t going to make her feel better about her near hysterical outburst.

Finally he cleared his throat. ‘I was going to say that I spoke to someone in town today who had bought some of my handmade furniture years ago and he says it’s still his favourite piece in his house.’

Penny paled.

‘You didn’t know I bought condoms or sexy lingerie?’

Henry shook his head.

Penny flushed, her pale cheeks going bright red. ‘Oh god.’

She sank to the bench and put her head in her hands, clearly not wanting to look at him.

He smiled. The easiest thing for her would be to laugh it off.

‘Where are the condoms?’

She pointed to a bag.

‘I better take care of those, wouldn’t want Daisy to see them.’ She peered through her fingers at him as he looked in the bag. ‘Wow, you bought a lot.’

‘I didn’t, the pharmacist just gave them all to me for free, she just filled the whole bag up, she was so excited that I was going to have sex after all this time and I didn’t have the heart to say we wouldn’t be.’

He nodded, trying to suppress a smile, but then he saw the twitches of a smile on her face too and he let out a loud laugh which had her smile turning into a grin.

‘I better go and get ready for our big date then. I’ll pick you up at seven.’ He moved to walk towards the door. ‘Oh honey, wear the sexy snowflake set tonight for me. It’ll make it much more fun when we’re in bed later.’

‘Ha, you wish. I’m going to wear my oldest, most grey, holey pair, that’ll teach you for teasing me.’

He shrugged. ‘That works too.’

She smiled and he closed the door between them. Tonight was going to be fun, regardless how it ended.

Penny nervously waited in the kitchen for Henry to come and collect her. She had managed to calm her hair down and pulled it into a loose side plait. She had worn the thigh-splitting dress but only because the only other items of clothes in her wardrobe were jeans and hoodies or a smart trouser suit which looked like she was ready for an interview. Part of her wanted to cancel the date because she didn’t want to be subject to her whole dinner being under the watchful eye of the entire town. But if they were going to do this on a regular basis then they had to get the first time out the way and hopefully everyone would treat them normally after that.

It was still fifteen minutes till seven o’clock and she was trying to read a book, but the words weren’t going in. Suddenly there was a soft knock on the connecting door and Henry walked in.

‘Sorry, I couldn’t wait to see you.’

Her stomach lurched at the sight of him. Dressed in a silvery grey suit and a white shirt that was open at the neck, he was a magnificent sight.

‘If you’re ready to go, we can leave now,’ Henry said, when she had no words to fill the silence.

She quickly lurched to her feet, unsteady on her ridiculously high heels and the dress that was split to the thigh fell open. She was completely overdressed and she suddenly wanted to sprint upstairs and change back into her favourite jeans again. She quickly pulled the dress straight, cursing that she hadn’t gone for the trouser suit instead; the last thing she wanted was for people to be staring at her legs all night. But when she looked up at Henry, her fussing hands stilled. There was a complete and utter hunger in his eyes. Chris had never looked at her like that – at best he’d looked at her with a fondness, someone he quite liked spending time with. She’d had never been looked at as if she was about to be eaten. Her confidence soared, her doubts lay forgotten.

Henry moved towards her and grabbed her coat off the back of the chair, wrapping it round her shoulders and helping her to put it on.

He moved round the front and sweetly did the buttons up for her.

‘I am quite capable of putting my own coat on,’ she laughed.

‘In all honesty, I had to cover you up or I really don’t think we’d be leaving the house this evening.’

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him, pulling on the lapels of his jacket. His arms wrapped round her in the biggest of hugs so she was so close to him there was no gap at all. God, she wanted more than this kiss, she wanted everything, to feel his skin next to hers, to taste every inch of his flesh. She had never had desires like this before, never wanted anyone with such a primal need before.

He pulled back. ‘That’s not helping us leave either. Come on, we can continue this when we get back. Maybe we skip the starters and the dessert, grab a quick McDonald’s and come straight back here.’

‘That sounds good.’

He escorted her out, opening his car door for her like the perfect gentleman.

‘I need to ask a favour actually,’ Penny said.

‘Of course, anything.’

‘Well, it’s your fault so you can’t really say no. I had a phone call from Josh earlier, it seems he broke his wrist when you threw him to the floor.’

Henry paled. ‘Oh god, no. Now I feel awful. I need to go over and apologise properly.’

‘Well, you shouldn’t feel too bad, you did do it with the best intentions, but going over there is not a good move. His mum is the most terrifying woman I have ever met. Josh told her he slipped on some ice and I really think she doesn’t need to know the truth. She’s a lawyer and I wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to slap some criminal charges or lawsuit on you for abusing her son. If you feel really guilty buy him a new computer game for his Xbox and I’m sure he will love you forever. But he will be out of action for several weeks and that provides me with a bit of a problem. I pay him to come and help me lift and move the ice blocks and carvings and I can’t do that alone. Looks like you might have a new job for the next few weeks.’

‘You want to use me for my body?’

‘Something like that.’

‘And pay me for it? I feel so dirty and cheap.’

‘You won’t be paid for it, I’m still paying Josh whilst he’s off sick and I’m not paying you too. You can do it out of guilt or the goodness of your heart, but I will cook you and Daisy dinner occasionally so be grateful for that.’

‘I don’t mind helping you, but I do feel really bad about Josh.’