‘Pardon?’ She rips her eyes away from Jesse, who is hiding a small smirk as he pretends to read the menu.

‘The steak. Medium. Would you like me to write it down for you?’ I ask tightly. I hear Jesse chuckle.

‘Oh, of course.’ Her pen hand kicks into action. ‘And for you?’ she asks, looking at my parents.

‘Mussels for me.’ Dad grunts.

‘And the seafood platter for me.’ Mum sings. ‘And I’ll have another wine.’ She raises her glass.

The waitress scribbles it all down before turning back towards Jesse. She’s smiling again. ‘And for you, sir?’

‘What would you recommend?’ He blows her back a few metres with his smile, reserved only for women.

I roll my eyes as I watch her pull at her ponytail and blush profusely. ‘The lamb is good.’

‘He’ll have the same as me.’ I collect up the menus and shove them at her, smiling sweetly. ‘Medium.’

‘Oh?’ She looks at Jesse for confirmation.

‘The wife has spoken.’ He leans in and drapes his arm over my shoulder, but keeps his eyes on the waitress. ‘I do as I’m told, so it looks like I’m having the steak.’

I scoff, mum and dad laugh, and the waitress swoons all over her pad, almost certainly wishing that she had a God who did what he’s told. What a joke. She backs away, slipping her pen and pad into the front pocket of her apron.

‘You’re impossible.’ I say quietly, as my parents chuckle and look across the table fondly at Jesse making a meal of eating my neck. ‘And since when do you do what you’re told?’

‘Ava, that was really quite rude.’ Mum chastises me. ‘Jesse can make his own meal choices.’

‘It’s okay, Elizabeth.’ He sucks on my neck a bit more. ‘She knows what I like.’

‘You like to be impossible.’ I quip, rubbing the side of face into his stubble.

‘I love watching you in trampling action.’ he whispers in my ear. ‘I could bend you over this table and fuck you really hard.’

I don’t gasp or recoil at his crass words, spoken with no concern for the company we’re sharing. They were definitely for my ears only. I turn into him, pushing my mouth to his ear. ‘Stop saying the word fuck, unless you’re going to fuck me.’

‘Watch your mouth.’

‘No.’

He laughs and bites my neck. ‘Cheeky.’

‘Let’s raise a toast!’ Dad’s cheerful tone pulls us out of our private moment. ‘To twins!’

‘To twins!’ Mum chants, and we all clink our glasses in acknowledgment to the fact that I’m going to get really fat.

* * *

I enjoy my steak, but I can’t help staring longingly across the table as my mum and dad plough their way through a delicious selection of seafood. After Jesse pays the bill, we take a slow wander back to my parent’s house, mum pointing out all of sites to Jesse as we walk and chat. When we get home, dad takes his usual seat in the window, armed with his remote control, and mum puts the kettle on.

‘Bedtime tea?’ she asks.

Jesse looks across the kitchen to me, clocking me yawning. ‘No, I’m taking Ava to bed. Come on, lady.’ He walks over and rests his hands on my shoulders, then proceeds to direct me out of the kitchen. I make no objection, whatsoever. ‘Say goodnight to your mother.’

‘Goodnight, Mother.’

‘Yes, you get to bed. You have an early start.’ she says, flicking the kettle on.

‘Say goodnight to your father.’ Jesse instructs as we pass the lounge.

‘Goodnight, Dad.’

‘Goodnight, you two.’ Dad doesn’t even crane his neck around from the television.

I’m pushed up the stairs and guided down the hallway until we reach the guest room, where he begins to strip me down. ‘That was nice.’ I muse as my dress is pulled up over my head.

‘It was, but your mum is still a pain in the arse.’ Jesse replies dryly. ‘Give me your wrist.’

I hold my hand up to him and watch whilst he removes my Rolex and slides it onto the bedside table. ‘You trampled her again.’ I’m smiling.

Reaching up to my neck, he starts unknotting my cream lace scarf. ‘She’ll learn eventually.’ My scarf is removed, revealing my diamond. He smiles, straightening it out. ‘Are you looking forward to a few days of constant contact?’

‘I can’t wait.’ I answer without a second hesitation, reaching up to unbutton his shirt. I really can’t. This evening has been lovely, but I’ll be well and truly on Central Jesse Cloud Nine with no one else around. Pushing his shirt from his shoulders, I sigh. ‘You’re just too perfect.’ I lean in and kiss his chest, leaving my lips lingering.

‘I know.’ He agrees, with no humour or sarcasm. He really does know, the arrogant arse.

I drop his shirt and start working the button fly of his jeans before sliding my hands into the back and working them over the solidness of his arse. ‘I love this.’ I dig my nails in as I pass.

‘I know.’ he concurs again, making me smile. When I’m down to his thighs, I slip my hand around the front and grasp him loosely. He’s solid, as I knew he would be. ‘And you know how much I love this.’

He sucks in a hiss of breath through his teeth and pulls his groin away, but I maintain my hold. ‘Ava, baby, there is no way in hell I’m taking you under your mother’s roof.’

‘Why?’ I pout. ‘I can be quiet.’ I’m drifting into temptress mode.

He looks at me doubtfully, and so he should. I can’t guarantee that at all. ‘I don’t think you can.’

I lower to my knees and unlace his shoes, and he lifts each in turn for me to remove them, along with his socks. Taking the waist of his jeans, I slowly pull them down his legs. ‘I think you’ll be surprised by what I can do. Lift.’ I tap his ankle.

‘You mean I’ll be surprised by what I can make you do.’ He lifts in turn, so I can remove his jeans and boxers. ‘And I’m never surprised. I have that effect on you.’

Of course, he’s cocky, but one hundred per cent right, not that I’ll tell him. I don’t need to. It goes without saying. Instead of stroking his overinflated ego, I stoop down and kiss the top of his foot before moving my lips to his ankle, circling my tongue and kissing my way up his legs. I take my time, flattening my palms on the fronts of his thighs, just feeling him as my lips skim every naked inch of his flesh, but I soon find myself at his neck, despite my determination to drag out the whole episode.

I inhale his scent and lift up on my tiptoes to reach his chin, which is higher than usual because he’s looking up at the ceiling. I can’t reach. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘I’m trying to control myself.’ His voice is all gravelly.

‘I don’t want you to.’

‘Don’t say that, Ava.’ he warns.

‘I don’t want you to.’ I repeat, all low and throaty, biting at his neck.

He moves fast. His arm snakes around my waist, and I’m pushed up against the nearest wall on a growl. I’m ecstatic and trying to play it cool, but my lips are parted, and I’m breathing shocked gasps. ‘You seem to be making some noise,’ he observes quietly, holding one side of my face and pushing his mouth to my ear. I close my lips, clench my eyes shut and rest my head against the wall. I need to focus because he’s going to make this hard for me, even if he doesn’t give it to me hard. ‘Now, listen very carefully.’ He unhooks my bra while keeping a hand on my cheek and his mouth at my ear. ‘Your parents seem to like me. Don’t fuck it up.’

Oh good Lord, my confidence is diminishing fast. Why didn’t he book a hotel, damn it. I bite painfully down on my lip, determined to keep quiet, as my lace bra is pulled away from my body and dropped to the floor before he leans down, taking my nipple in his mouth and sucking my nub gently until it’s tingling and stiff. I hit my head against the wall, my face distorting as I try urgently to withhold a moan of pleasure.

I fail.

‘Ohhhh God,’ I groan, banging my head against the wall again.

‘Oh dear.’ He’s at my lips immediately. ‘You just can’t control it, can you?’