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I fumbled with his belt buckle, impatiently ripping open the fly of his jeans, easing them over his hips. Then he picked me up and lowered me down on the bed, easing himself on top of me.

‘This is all very romantic,’ I said, laughing softly.

‘Told you I had it in me,’ he whispered.

I closed my eyes, feeling his hot breath on my neck, then my shoulders, then my stomach as he moved slowly down my body. I arched my back with pleasure, knowing for a fact that nothing had ever felt quite as right as this.

Epilogue

Three Months Later

As Theo popped the cork on a bottle of champagne, I could barely contain my excitement.

‘I’d like to say a few words,’ said Carla, perching on her desk and holding out her glass for Theo to fill.

‘The floor is all yours,’ said Theo.

‘So as you’ve probably gathered by now, I have some very, very good news for you both.’

My whole body tingled with anticipation and I put my hand in Theo’s, squeezing his fingers tight. Whatever happened, we were in this together.

‘Don’t keep us waiting, Carla,’ I said, ‘my nerves can’t stand it.’

She took a deep, dramatic breath. ‘OK. Brace yourselves. We have had multiple UK offers for two hundred and fifty thousand pounds forThe Couple on the Beachand I’m confident I can get that bumped up even further for you when we go to auction. Editors at the big five publishing houses are going batshitcrazyabout the fact that you’ve not just reunited as a writing duo, but that you’re a romantic duo now as well. Your relationship is literally a publicity goldmine. Seriously, guys – my hunch is that this is going to be even bigger thanLittle Boy Lost!’

I let the news sink in while Theo almost choked on hischampagne. A quarter of a million pounds? For a book idea we came up with walking along the promenade in Cannes while on a retreat neither of us wanted to be on? And then I expressed myself in the only way I knew how and let out a deafening squeal and Theo cheered and lifted me up and spun me around and then we both hugged Carla, champagne spilling over the tops of all our glasses, me nearly in tears and even Carla looking a tiny bit emotional.

‘You’ll be able to sort out your dad’s house,’ said Theo, pressing his forehead against mine.

I kissed him gently on the mouth.

‘And you won’t have to go back to selling kitchens.’

The last few months had been spent living in each other’s pockets. There had been a few blips, of course – Dad was finding it hard to get his head around the fact that I wasn’t at his beck and call 24/7 and I’d disagreed with Theo once or twice about the book, mainly towards the end when we’d had to tie all the storylines together and Theo was being a stickler for leaving nothing unexplained and I’d thought it was fine to leave a couple of loose threads here and there for the reader to come to their own conclusion over. But we’d always got through it, by giving each other space and then communicating how we felt about it.

Carla bustled about, refilling our glasses, giving us details of all the deals we’d been offered. ‘I retained world rights, as you know, and have already had a lot of interest in the US, in fact two publishing houses are taking it to acquisitions imminently. I’m hopeful we’ll have a bidding war by the end of the week.’

Acquisitions, that mysterious meeting where an editor pitches a book they love to the rest of the team – senior management, marketing, publicity, sales. It was a good sign if a book got that far.‘Congratulations, guys,’ said Carla. ‘This is so well-deserved. When I sent you off on that retreat, I had no idea that this was how things were going to turn out. But look what’s happened – a romanceanda book deal. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.’

Theo’s therapy was going so well that I was considering contacting Melissa – who was currently in San Francisco according to her Instagram feed – to see if she and I could meet for some sessions online. And Claire and I had been in regular contact and she’d finally revealed what Theo had told her about his feelings for me that night at the anti-speed-dating event, although it was nothing I didn’t already know now. Zach – who Theo had bonded with, as well as the rest of my family – had finally got his shit together and was working flat out on his course. Kate’s marriage was as rocky as ever, but she was doing her court clerk training and was loving it and wished she’d tried this work lark sooner. Alexa was doing better at medical school and because she felt more on top of her work, the panic attacks were less frequent, although not gone altogether. And Petra was still in the infertility trenches, but at least Dan was being more supportive and had given up alcohol in solidarity. All in all, my friends and family were doing pretty well without me micro-managing their every move, freeing up more time for me to think about my own life and even to spend the odd evening relaxing with Theo and doing absolutely nothing.

As I looked at a proud Carla smiling at us, as though she was pleased with herself about something, the penny dropped and I narrowed my eyes at her.

‘Carla, did you know it was a couples retreat all along?’ I asked her.

Theo looked surprised. ‘You didn’t!’

She smirked. ‘You got me.’

Theo and I sputtered with indignation, which quickly turned to laughter.

‘To my two favourite clients,’ said Carla, raising her glass.

‘To couples retreats,’ I added, raising my own.

‘To devious agents,’ Theo offered with a grin. ‘And to therapy. But most of all,’ he said, turning to me and touching his glass to mine, ‘to us. We make one hell of a team.’