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‘Show me,’ Valentina said with a laugh, taking his hand. She ran her fingers over the hard bumps. He had good hands, strong with long, elegant fingers.

Although they’d been brushing shoulders together and touching arms for the last little while, something shifted when she took his hand. This was intimate.

Valentina looked at Arlo, feeling her breath quicken.

His lips parted slightly and she knew he’d felt something too.

Arlo gently took her hand and turned it over. ‘And your paper cut?’ He rubbed his thumb over the tiny little line on her index finger. ‘I can see how traumatic it must have been.’

‘There was blood and everything,’ Valentina said.

Arlo continued to hold her hand.

She swallowed as he raised her hand to his lips and softly kissed the inside of her wrist.

Oh God! Her whole body seemed to melt as she felt a familiar pulse of longing in the pit of her pelvis. She wanted him to kiss her everywhere like that.

Valentina had been in quite a few relationships, but she could hand on heart say she’d never felt such an instant physical pull of attraction to anyone as much as she felt for Arlo.

For a moment they didn’t speak but the eye contact was intense as Arlo continued circling her wrist with his thumb. Valentina realised he must have picked up the racing pace of her pulse. It suddenly felt uncomfortably hot with the fire raging and her body overheating with longing.

Then the barman shouted last orders and Valentina was unceremoniously dumped from her sizzling fantasy back to the traditional London pub.

They put on their coats in silence and emerged to find torrential rain and howling winds whipping up litter along the pavement. They ran, laughing and shrieking as the weather battered against them.

All too soon they arrived at Valentina’s hotel.

‘Thank you for a lovely day,’ she said, suddenly feeling quite shy.

‘Thank you. This is the best day I’ve had in a very long time.’

Valentina gave a little laugh. ‘A trip to the British Museum and fish and chips in a pub with a fire is your best day in a while?’

‘Yeah, because it was with you.’

Valentina wasn’t sure who made the first move, but they were suddenly kissing. Her hand slid into his coat, his hands in her hair. She felt the heat of his body through his shirt and Valentina’s stomach contracted with lust.

A car honked its horn as it drove past.

They jumped at the interruption.

‘That was…’ Arlo started to say.

‘Mmm hmm, yup…’ Valentina agreed. Her skin felt electric and in need of more of his touch.

Then he was kissing her again.

Eventually they broke apart.

‘Do you want to come to my room?’ she asked, surprised at her own boldness.

‘Very much.’

Valentina was never so pleased to have a room on the ground floor as they didn’t have to waste any time running up a flight of stairs or waiting for a lift.

It wasn’t the most alluring stripping of clothes, as she’d dressed that morning for comfort and warmth rather than a grand seduction, but Arlo didn’t seem at all fazed by the layers of woollens.

Soon they were both naked and the frenetic speed of undressing stopped.