He hesitated; reaching forward to take another sip of coffee then characteristically swept a hand through his hair as he wondered what to say.

"You tell me?" he said.

"What do you like?" he asked.

She remained silent, her large green eyes questioning until he said.

"Football on the telly tomorrow night. Couple of beers, takeaway from downstairs, bit of a cuddle on the sofa. Will that do?"

"I don't like football much and I have a confession to make…" Serves him right she thought. "I have a partner at home, a disinterested one I will admit, but all the same a partner."

"Oh." He was stunned. "That does complicate the matter."

"Yes, I suppose it does, but on second thoughts perhaps not." Louise answered, looking at him in a sideways fashion.

"Does he know you're here?" He didn't fancy an enraged husband turning up on the doorstep.

"No, of course not."

"Would he mind if he knew?"

She frowned. "To tell you the truth I don't honestly know. Probably not. I met him on the rebound; he worked for the firm of solicitors I used for the divorce. Charming, good-looking, intelligent, prospects, that sort of thing. I had just dragged myself away from a compulsive gambler, liar and misogynist, he seemed to be the answer to my prayers."

"So you're on your second relationship, and there I was thinking I was an old reprobate trying to lead an innocent young thing up the garden path."

Any more surprises? He was beginning to like her more and more. The married ones were always less trouble, they tended not to hang around long, all they wanted was an illicit screw and they were content to return to the loving arms of hubby, no questions asked.'

"No, I do have an ex-fiancé though, but that was when I was much, much younger, a university romance that didn't survive the big bad world."

He sipped his coffee thoughtfully. It all slotted into place now; her abrasive manner towards him and probably men in general disguised a deep insecurity. Looks like he had met his soul mate in the insecurity department then. He had a deep distrust of women that probably matched her distrust of men. He decided to switch tactics. The heavy chat-up lines and innuendo's would have to go. He was out of practice in the romance department, although once upon a time he had been very good at it. He had pulled out all the stops for his first wife, Tanya, not in a contrived way it was just the way he had been then: flowers, candlelit dinners, the works. When she eventually left him, after a string of affairs, for a woman, and how was he to challenge that, he had lost his way for several years, eventually marrying a woman he never should have married. She had known, as he did, that he constantly pined for his first wife and it knocked all the romance out of him, he didn't have the heart for it any more. But for the first time since then he felt the first stirrings of those old romantic yearnings.

"Is it over, that's all I need to know. I can't go through all the trauma of seeing a married woman and not know where I stand. If it isn't over and this is just a little dalliance on the side then I have to tell you, at the moment all I could manage in that department is a one night stand, end of story. Basically, I need to know if this is going anywhere." For some reason he felt the need to be perfectly clear, to put his cards on the table, do or die, kill or cure.

She was taken aback by his candour; somehow they had jumped from a mild flirtation to discussing the possibility of some sort of a relationship without the usual run-up, and she wondered whether she should have opted for a night in with a video after all.

"Actually, and this may sound impulsive, but as from this moment, yes it is." She heard the words coming out of her mouth, felt her lips forming the syllables but it was as if someone else had said them.

There was a long pause. They looked into each other's eyes, faces impassive, bodies very still.