The Business Arrangement

He laughed. ‘Have you had time for a drink?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Come on,’ he said, leading her down the corridor, pausing only to throw his jacket over the banister rail, ‘I need something now. My throat’s parched.’

The kitchen was square with a slate floor and pale maple units. ‘I love the granite,’ she said, running her finger along the cold worktop. ‘Very nice.’

Hugh looked in the fridge. ‘What do you want? Fresh orange? Tea? Coffee?’ he asked, turning to look at her. She had her hands pushed down into her jeans’ back pockets and the pale pink T-shirt pulled tight across a bra-less chest, nipples clearly showing through the fabric. Unbelievably he felt a sudden urge to rub his thumb across each protruding nub. Wondered what it would feel like to let his hand wander up beneath her top and feel the soft, shower-cooled skin beneath.

‘Orange, I think.’

‘Right,’ he said, turning back to the fridge. Stunned. This was Amy. What was he thinking of?

He poured the orange into a glass and handed it across, but he hadn’t been mistaken. Beneath the baggy, shapeless clothes he’d always seen her in was something infinitely more interesting. His eyes helplessly returned to those nipples. He felt like some adolescent schoolboy suddenly caught looking at something he had no right to. ‘Do you want to find some shade in the garden?’

‘Whatever.’

He poured himself a glass of orange and turned to open the doors into the garden. ‘There’s some shade at the end.’

Amy peered curiously out. It was a small town garden but had obviously been designed in such a way as to give distinct areas. In the far corner there was a seat beneath a pergola dripping with clematis. ‘Are you coming?’ she asked, looking back at him.

‘Lead the way.’

Inevitably his eyes followed the way her hips swung, followed the firm, rounded curve of her buttocks. Something about the heat must be getting to him. Amy was almost an honorary kid sister. It felt like a betrayal to be thinking about her in this way—particularly when she was only here to do him a favour. He sat down on the wooden seat and shifted uncomfortably. ‘Have you bought yourself any clothes yet?’

‘Can’t you tell? This T-shirt is new.’

The pride in her voice only made him feel worse. ‘It’s great.’ It was more than great. It was a simple T-shirt and it was single-handedly changing all his preconceptions about her.

‘I may have overspent, Hugh,’ she said, sipping her orange. ‘I was doing fine until I caught sight of a suede suit I had to have. If it’s too much I’ll pay you for it once I’m paid, but don’t make me take it back.’

He laughed and forced his equilibrium to settle. ‘I don’t think that’s likely. A few outfits aren’t going to ruin me and I’m too grateful you’re here to complain.’

‘How grateful?’ she asked over the rim of her tumbler. ‘There were some shoes…’

‘Witch! I never had you down as a clothes woman.’

‘Never had the opportunity.’

‘I still don’t get that,’ he said, forcing his mind back to something he could genuinely feel disgust about. ‘Surely your dad doesn’t keep you as short of money as all that? Not now.’

‘He doesn’t see it like that. He sees it as “making my own way”.’ He went to speak, but she forestalled him. ‘Leave it, Hugh. Let’s talk about something else.’ She drained the last of her orange. ‘I hope I don’t let you down. I’m a bit nervous about tomorrow.’

‘There’s no need to be.’

‘I know you, Hugh. You’ll go ballistic at the first mistake I make.’