He picks up the hotel phone and presses a button. “Keep talking. I’m listening.”

I give him a wink. “Good-looking and a multitapletasker, a multiple, a multitasker, wow.”

He wiggles his eyebrows up and down. “Baby, you’ve felt nothing till you’ve felt my fingers,” he wiggles his middle finger at me, “my tongue,” he sticks out his tongue and moves it suggestively, “and my cock,” he gyrates his hips, “all in action at the same time… Shit, sorry, no not you, love.” He bites his bottom lip as he tries not to laugh at the person who’s just answered the phone. “Shit,” he mouths to me. “Yeah, can I get two burgers with the lot, one with no pineapple.” My heart stutters; all these years and he’s remembered I don’t like pineapple. He winks at me as he talks. What is this? What am I feeling here and where am I going with this? My head is swimming, drowning in the questions I’m asking myself right now. “Yeah, a side of wedges, some aioli, some sweet chilli sauce, a large jug of iced water and a bottle of Wild Turkey, Rare Breed if you’ve got it… That’s right, cheers.” He puts the phone down.

He folds his arms behind his head and leans against the headboard, his long legs stretched out in front as I sit cross-legged beside him on the bed.

“So, all you wanted was for me to rescue you. Is that what you’re saying?”

I nod. “I think I was but I wouldn’t… couldn’t admit that to myself at the time.”

“Why?”

I think about this for a while; my long conversations with Jackson have helped me come to a conclusion, and I concentrate hard on explaining myself clearly to Cam. I don’t want him to think this is just drunk talk. I want him to know this is me being honest.

“I was so in love with the idea of being in love with Sean that I couldn’t see past it. I wouldn’t let myself accept that I was attracted to you, but at the same time, I so desperately wanted you to force me, to make me see it.” God, this feels so good. Sitting here with him, with Cam and after all these years, finally explaining myself to him. It just makes everything so much clearer. “When you spoke to me that night in the wine bar, when that bloke shoved me at the bar and we ended up in your office—” His eyes are closed as he interrupts me.

“Fuck, you were wearing stockings and suspenders.”

“I was.” I blush as I think about that night; my behaviour all round was pretty shameful. The way I treated the bloke I was with, and the things I did with Cam in his office. Cam, me and offices, what a lethal, explosive combination.

“What is it when you and me end up in an office together, Kitten, ehh? Things happen.”

My stomach churns as I think about the ‘things’ that have happened; the sex we had against his office door, the one and only time in my life I was unfaithful to Sean.

“Bad things happen when we’re in an office together,” I say quietly.

He shrugs and shakes his head slightly, the way he so often does around me. “There was nothing bad about the things we did as far as I’m concerned, Kitten. I only remember them as good, and… Fuck, change the subject. I’m getting a hard-on.” I don’t mean to, but fuck, my eyes go straight to his crotch and sure enough, he has a tepee in his trousers,

“Cam, seriously?” My eyes roam up his body and meet his, and we both laugh and shake our heads. I’m still wearing the dress I went out in and I have a pillow over my lap so Cam can’t see up it. I throw the pillow down onto his lap as I jump off the bed. “I’m gonna have a quick shower before our food gets here. You can try and calm yourself down while I’m gone.”

“You’ve just told me you’re going for a shower and you expect me to calm down? Are you fucking mad, woman? Pass me out some tissues, and I’ll have a wank while you’re gone. I just saw your knickers by the way, Kitten.” His lips are pursed together, eyebrows raised as he waits for my response.

“You need help, Tiger?”

He pulls open his fly. “Is that an offer, Kitten?”

I need to leave. I need to lock myself in the bathroom and take a cold shower. I have no idea where things are going with Cam, and the last thing we need to do is complicate matters with sex; not that I would do that, with him, tonight of all nights.

I grab what I need and take it into the bathroom. There’s no way I’m stepping back out here with just a towel wrapped around me. I shower and remove all the makeup I’m wearing, then dress in one of my Juicy tracksuits.

I step from the bathroom into the bedroom, and Cam’s no longer on the bed. I walk out into the living area of the suite and he’s standing with his back to me, sipping on a bourbon, our food laid out on the table. I must make a noise or he just senses my presence as he turns and looks at me, one hand in his trouser pocket, the other nursing his drink. His sleeves are rolled up and he’s taken off his tie. He is just so… male: big, tall and so fucking sexy.

We both stand completely still; the air crackles between us but we don’t say a word. My heart is pounding, and I desperately want to touch him. I desperately want him to hold me in his arms, but I say nothing. The telly is on and has been switched to a music channel. Lifehouse are on, singing “Hanging By A Moment”, and if this had been pre-planned, set up, staged or whatever, there’s not a better song out there to fit this moment.

“That’s better; now you look like my Kitten. You didn’t need all that shit on your face. You’re more beautiful without it.” I don’t reply, because if I say something, it will be too much and I don’t want to spoil things. “Come and eat something; you really need to fatten up.” I’ve actually put on weight since I’ve been in Australia; God knows what he would have thought if he’d seen me before I arrived.

We sit down at the table together and Cam pours me some water from the jug that’s been delivered to the room, into a tall glass.

“Drink this. You’re gonna have a headache if you don’t, and you’ve got a long flight tomorrow.” I drink the whole glass down without saying a word. My head is already pounding, but I’m not about to admit that to him. I take a bite of my burger, and just like last night, it’s delicious.

Cam tucks into his food and pours himself another drink.

“When d’ya leave?” I ask.

He eyes me as he finishes what he’s chewing. “I leave tomorrow, too, but not till lunch time.”

“Shame I didn’t know sooner; we could’ve flown together. I hate this flight.” I watch him as he dips a potato wedge into the aioli and eats it.

“What’re your plans? Once you’re home, I mean?” My stomach rolls just at the thought of being back in England. I suddenly look around the room for a clock; I wonder what the time is. This time last year… if only I had done things differently. If I’d had made my doctor’s appointment for a different day, if the baby shop hadn’t called to say the baby buggy was ready, if I hadn’t wanted to stop off and show it to Sean, if we’d just gone straight home, if I hadn’t gotten pregnant…

“Georgia, you okay?” I put the half of the burger I had in my hand down.

“What’s the time?” I ask him, and he looks at the chunky, chrome-looking watch he has on his wrist.

“Twelve forty-five,” he replies. “Is something wrong?” I shake my head, but I’m lying. Of course there’s something wrong, everything’s wrong. “Kitten, please fucking talk to me. It’s like you’re on another planet since you came out of the shower.”

“What are we doing, Cam? Me and you, what is this?” He rakes his hand through his hair.

“This right now is us talking. This is me and you, sorting through some issues that should’ve been sorted a while ago but they weren’t, so we’re sorting them now.” He finishes his burger and knocks back his drink, all without taking his eyes off me. “We’re talking, Kitten, just talking. There’s no need to look so scared, and there’s no need to look so guilty.” I lower my eyes; how does he know I feel guilty? “The guilt’s written all over your face, George. You loved your husband, I fucking know that. I’m all too painfully aware of how much you love your husband, and yeah, tonight’s not the best night for us to have met up, but it wasn’t planned. We didn’t mean to be in the same place at the same time. I had no idea you were gonna be at the opening of my club tonight, but now that I know what the significance of today’s date is, I’ll be fucked if I leave you here alone for the rest of the night. I won’t leave you on your own, no matter how much guilt you’re feeling.”