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‘Harsh.’ He grinned. ‘But probably deserved. Just an apology drink then? You have to let me do something to make up for being such an arse.’

Bex contemplated his offer. He really did seem genuinely embarrassed and ashamed by the way he had acted, but that didn’t change the fact that he was totally undateable, and she had dated enough undateable men to know.

‘Even if I wanted to, I don’t have time,’ she said, with a sense of finality to her tone. ‘If you really want to make it up to me, then help me sort out Fergus’s paperwork.’

‘I can do that.’

‘What?’ She looked at his face to find he was being serious. ‘I was joking.’

‘No, you weren’t. I’ve seen that study. Sorting through all that paperwork is not a one-person job. Plus, it might be helpful to have me there. I know a fair bit about the business. There might be things I can help make sense of for you. Invoices, tenancies. That type of stuff.’

Bex mulled the offer through. There was no denying it might be helpful. Even if all he did was riffle through the papers and bin all Fergus’s old Mars bar wrappers, that would be one task she didn’t have to do.

‘You have a job,’ she said, suddenly realising the major flaw in his plan. ‘How exactly do you plan on helping me while still doing that?’

‘I’ll do it in my lunch break. And I’ll even bring you your lunch too. For a week.’

Now he had put food on the table it was even harder to say no. Just him bringing her lunch would save a massive amount of time.

‘Okay, you have a deal,’ she said. ‘You can help me for five days. Earn your forgiveness that way.’

‘Great.’ He grinned, a mischievous glint shining in his eyes. ‘Only I’ve got one condition too.’

‘That isn’t the way this is working,’ Bex said. ‘You’re the one who needs to make up for being an arse to me, remember?’

He nodded and took a step closer to her. ‘I know, and I will. And after five days of helping with paperwork, I want to take you on a date.’

Bex scoffed. ‘I’m sorry. Have you forgotten what just happened in there with your ex? I am not going on a date with you. You are in no state to date anyone.’

She saw the hurt flash across his face, but she was telling the truth. There was no point denying it.

‘Tonight was a blip, that was all. I just hadn’t expected to see her there. And not on today of all days.’ Any hint of his cheeky grin had gone. Instead, it looked as though there was a heavy weight pressing down on him.

‘Today? Why, what’s today?’

Bex watched Duncan’s chest rise and fall as he let out a long sigh.

‘Today is the anniversary of when I proposed.’

‘Crap…’ Bex said. The vowel sound stretched out far longer than intended. ‘Okay, I get that was pretty tough. Did Lorna not know? She must have known.’

‘I think she’ll probably realise later,’ he said. ‘I was hardly going to bring it up. Lorna’s been walking on eggshells around me for months. You saw how tense she was tonight. I didn’t want to make it even worse. Besides, she would probably have dragged Katty out of the pub by her hair had she realised, and the last thing I wanted was to be responsible for my little sister getting barred.’

From the way he spoke, it was clear he had as much love for his sister as she did for him. It was incredibly endearing. But that really wasn’t a good reason to go on a date with a guy, was it? Then again, she had been on dates for worse reasons, and this would come with the bonus of free lunches and paperwork help.

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Five days of help and I’ll go on a date with you.’

His eyes lit up.

‘Seriously?’

‘Unless you act like an arse again.’

He took another step towards her, his eyes fixed on hers with such intensity, she found herself involuntarily holding her breath.

‘Trust me, there’s no chance of that happening ever again.’

‘Fine then,’ she said, before turning to her car and letting the air free from her lungs. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. And don’t be late.’