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She liked the way he liked her. The way he watched her, responded to her, coaxed her into conversation regardless of whether it was frosty or thawing.

Unfortunately, tonight, shewasthawing. Quickly.

15

It would take Aiden a while to master hand-building, he decided, but thanks to Juniper, he had an idea, and that was what mattered.

Not that he could focus on it much now. She was doing that thing again: concentrating, but in an unfairly sexy way that made him want her more than ever. Only, where all of that focus had helped her in their sculpting lesson yesterday, it now seemed to come as more of a hindrance as she operated the wheel. Her hands couldn’t seem to find any steadiness as she centred her clay. Up until this point, she’d done everything right. He knew exactly what her problem was, especially when she took her foot off the pedal and grunted in frustration.

Wordlessly, Aiden set down the sponge he’d been using to smooth the edges of his slowly emerging palette, heading to the switches beside the whiteboard.

Juniper barely looked up, proof she was lost somewhere else. What was worse was that she looked close to tears. He didn’t cope well with anyone crying, always unsure what to say or do,but witnessing her so disconnected from her usual self was more unsettling than ever.

He turned the lights off, blanketing the workshop in darkness.

‘Aiden! What the chuff are you doing?’ Juniper bellowed. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he found her again, one side radiating gold where the glow of the streetlamp outside hit her hair and skin. Even in darkness, the light flocked to her. Just like he did, hard as he tried to stop it.

‘I’m helping you,’ he answered simply.

‘By making sure I can’tsee?’

‘You’re thinking too much about it.’ He found his way to her desk, the corner jutting into his hip when he stopped in front of her wheel. ‘You’re not letting your body do the work because everything is getting lost in here.’

He tapped her temple gently, and didn’t miss the shiver that travelled across her shoulders, first one, then the other. Where the light shone, he saw goosebumps on her arms. She might have affected him in ways he couldn’t hide, but he stirred something in her, too, and her body was snitching on her.

As much as he wanted to focus onthat, he wanted to help her more.

Yet she looked up at him stubbornly instead. ‘Are you a therapist now, too?’

‘Am I wrong?’

Silence. And then a sigh that meant he’d won. ‘A lot of things get lost in there. That’s just who I am.’

‘It doesn’t have to be. Throwing is about surrendering.’ He grabbed a stool from the nearest table and slid it behind hers. ‘It’s a connection between the clay and your hands. When the brain comes in, the wheel gets overcrowded.’

‘So you think I’m going to do a better job in the dark?’ She scoffed. ‘Are myeyesovercrowding the wheel, too?’

‘Not just in the dark.’ Aiden took a clean rag from the cupboard and sat down beside her, grinning when her spine stiffened. ‘Do you trust me?’

‘No.’

His chin brushed her shoulder as he leaned in close to whisper in her ear: ‘Liar. Let me show you, Juni.’

‘I told you. Only my friends call me that.’

‘And I think I’ve gotten a little more acquainted with you than most of your friends.’

Her lip tucked itself beneath her two endearingly crooked top teeth. Already surrendering. He’d achieved the impossible, just like that.

‘Arsehole,’ she murmured without malice.

He snickered and then tied the rag around her eyes, handling her the way he would the clay: delicately, never pushing too hard. He knew just how fragile this moment was. Knew that tomorrow, she’d likely go back to hating him, and he might never get to touch her again.

As he tied the knot at the back of her head, he heard her breath grow thicker. ‘This isn’t going to work.’

‘I don’t think you know how much you’re capable of.’ He couldn’t help but draw her hair out of her face, knuckles tracing across the sides of her neck as he guided the strands down her shoulders.Everything about her was beautiful, but especially now. She was bare tonight, barely any makeup, none of her usual acidity.

‘Put your foot on the pedal,’ he instructed, thumb brushing the side seam of her soft leggings. She did shakily, applying pressure. The wheel began to turn.