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The next morning, my eyes fluttered open to a pounding Why, why, why? Every drop of moisture had been sucked out of my head and replaced with angry garden rocks. Beside me, that guy from last night lay asleep. Not touching me but still here, a presence. I turned… to see his hair everywhere.

His hair had been pulled back last night, but now it was splayed all over the pillow, like he was part of an eighties hair band. His beard was long and scraggly. Isla Joyson, line in the sand. No more binge drinking, woman.

Gah, he even had long hair trailing off his arms. Oh, phew, it was Teddy snuggled up to him. Teddy gave a blissful snore, the little traitor.

I jiggled the guy’s arm— Declan, that’s his name, that’s right .

He shot up. I searched his face for the intriguing green-eyed man I’d met last night, but his eyes were puffy, and his features were hard to make out through all that beard, more Hagrid than hunk.

“I need to take Teddy out,” I said. “You’ll have to go now.”

“Yes, of course.” He lifted the sheet to slide out of bed.

Nope, not seeing his naked body. I flicked my gaze away.

Still, out of the corner of my eye, I spied him sitting on the side of the bed, scratching his beard.

He was wearing all his clothes from last night: hippie pants, tie-dyed T-shirt and socks.

How odd . Odder still that last night I’d thought he was hot enough to drag home.

“Hang on, last night. Did we, er?”

His face flickered with recognition, then horror. “Oh, God no. I would never take advantage of a woman like that. I only stayed the night because you kept racing outside to do cartwheels on the road, and I was worried for your safety.”

A flash of the sharp stones under my hands. Sheesh.

“Well, thanks for getting me home, anyway.” Relief flooded me that we hadn’t had sex, and something else… a strange emptiness. Disappointment? I couldn’t even get a one-night stand right.

He grabbed his beaten-up jacket from the back of my desk chair. “Hey, I enjoyed hanging out with you last night. Can I take you to breakfast?”

Could he afford it? I was worried about money and didn’t want to end up stuck with the check.

“Um… thanks, but I have stuff to do.” I opened the bedroom door wide.

Slowly, he folded his arms into his jacket. “What about tonight? Can I take you out to dinner?”

“Honestly, I’m knackered.”

“If you change your mind, you have my number,” he said. I did a double take, and he reassured me, “You asked for it last night.”

I grabbed my phone from my bedside table and checked it. Sure enough, at the top was a text. Hi, this is Declan . I’d saved him under a badly spelled “great hunk o’ spunk.” I could feel him looking over my shoulder, and my face blazed hot .

He chuckled. “From Kath & Kim , the Aussie TV show.” He was a good sport, and I appreciated that.

“Welp.” I clapped my hands. I’d never said welp in my life. I hustled out of the bedroom toward the front door with an overdone follow-me hand gesture. Our basement flat was so small it was only a few steps away. He followed, and I stood guard while he crouched to put on his shoes.

“Have a brilliant day. Hopefully see you sometime this week,” he said in a mild-mannered way.

But quietly persistent. My heart thumped.

Should I be worried? He uncurled to standing.

I staggered backward. He blinked at my sudden movement, gave Teddy a farewell scratch behind the ears, and left with a shy smile and a wave.

Ten minutes later, I was showered and dressed but only marginally fresher. I tugged Teddy’s leash from its hook at the front door. My phone pinged with a text. Declan. Isla, please call me, it’s important. What could be so important? We’d barely met.

“You headed out?” Shay emerged from their bedroom in emerald satin pajamas, yawning over the early weekend hour of eight o’clock. I pulled on my black puffer jacket and snapped the leash on Teddy’s collar.

She caught sight of my face. “Blimey, you look like death warmed, woman.”

“It’s a morning for one of Mikey’s fry-ups,” I replied, hoping a full breakfast would settle me.

My emotions were all over the map, still buzzing about how well the night went and happy that everyone showed up.

But also stewing about Declan, my one-night stand that wasn’t, and now wondering about his text.

A smile curled onto Shay’s lips. “You bet. Give me five.”

Teddy squirmed at the door. “I’ll take Teddy out to do his business and wait for you outside. ”

“Okay.”

After she did a quick change, we strolled up the cobblestoned Portobello Road to the clatter of vendors rolling out their antiques at the outdoor market.

“So, am I allowed to inquire about last night?” Shay looked up at me through her eyelashes.

“I don’t remember a thing.” I tugged my bag farther up my shoulder, bothered about my memory loss but relieved we clearly didn’t have sex. “And when I woke up, he was wearing his clothes in bed.”

We turned into the greasy spoon for my hangover cure. “Let’s say, when the wine goggles were removed, he was not a keeper.” We slid into a red, cracked-leather booth. “And what on earth does this mean?” I showed her Declan’s text. “It doesn’t seem like he wants a date, but what does he want?”

Waiting for the famously surly Mikey to take our order, we debated whether Declan’s wording was compelling or creepy. The thought of calling him sent an unnerving coil of embarrassment through me. Still, I was intrigued.

*

As we strolled toward Kensington Gardens after breakfast, Shay finally came down on the side of “creepy and don’t engage.

” But Shay was an actuary, trained to be cautious and risk-averse, and as a longtime journo, my curiosity was piqued.

Was he a reader of my news stories? I’d sourced some of my most successful stories from readers who were on the edge of society.

I thought about turning up to my filing job tomorrow morning, the vast emptiness that was my future.

“Let’s head home where it’s private, and I’ll call him,” I said .

Back in our living room, Declan answered on the first ring. I put him on speaker.

“Hi, Declan, this is Isla Joyson. I got your text. What’s this important thing you want to speak to me about?”

“Hi, Isla, thanks for calling me back.” He cleared his throat. “Look, this is going to sound unbelievable.” Beside me, Shay shook her head, distraught. “Wait… is someone else there?”

I turned to her and put a hush finger to my lips. “No, no, I have you on speaker because I’m feeding Teddy.”

He paused. “My full name is Declan McDermott. I’m a detective chief inspector with the National Crime Agency.”

A DCI at his age? Hard to tell with all that hair, but he didn’t seem much older than me.

Shay quickly googled his name and rank and showed me her phone.

No results. As if he knew I’d do this, Declan continued, “You won’t find anything about me on the internet because I’m undercover.

I’ve been watching you for some time because I thought you might be a person of interest. Your parents in New Zealand have funded an illegal activity. ”

I froze. What the fuck? I mouthed to Shay. She grabbed my arm protectively. “What illegal activity?”

“I can’t expand until you agree to work with us.”

“Are you sure you have the right people?” I heard my voice crack. “This does not sound like my parents. At all .”

He answered with a list of facts about me and my parents, our names, ages, addresses, careers, and even the names and ages of our dogs. I scooped Teddy closer. My neck prickled, and my breathing went sharp and shallow at the thought of our lives being probed and picked over.

“It does appear you are, er, not estranged from your parents exactly, but not close to them? You haven’t been home in fifteen years? ”

My whole body bristled. “ Estranged? No. I don’t have time to go home, so I pay for us to meet halfway once or twice a year in LA or Singapore, destinations like that.

Or they come to London—your research must show that.

” I huffed, annoyed, then calmed myself.

“Okay, otherwise you’ve described us adequately.

But what is this illegal activity you say they’re funding?

” I pressed my fingers against my pounding temples.

“My parents don’t have money to fund anything, let alone something dodgy. ”

“But it seems they have,” Declan said firmly. “We thought you might be working at the London end of things, but after following you around—”

“You followed me around?” My voice squeezed higher.

“You watched me at my birthday drinks? You made friends with me, came home with me, slept in my bed? Th-that feels”—I shivered and rubbed my arms—“like such a violation.” My stomach churned with the thought of his eyes trained on me, being judged during my weakest and most vulnerable moments.

“I’m sorry. But that’s my job. Honestly, it’s not personal, and I’m not being glib. And, as I said, I stayed in your room because I thought you were not safe.” He took a deep breath. “The good news is, after meeting you, I’ve ruled you out.”

So, my drunken table dancing cleared me of a crime? God.

“Could we meet? I want to discuss how you can help us.”

Her eyes wide, Shay sliced a hand across her neck to hang up. But even in his urgency, something calm and authoritative about Declan gave me pause. What he said sounded wild, but wild first statements often led to shocking but legitimate stories.

“I have to know what this is first,” I said.

A pause. “Okay. It’s drugs. Drug trafficking. ”

“Wait, wait, wait. Drugs? Drug trafficking? ” My raised voice startled Teddy, and he barked furiously. Shay soothed him . My skin burned hot and painful, like it was bubbling off my flesh. “My parents? No. How are they involved? What drugs?”

“Sorry, I’ve said more than I should. We can’t reveal more without you signing a contract to work with me and my team, including a nondisclosure clause.”