Stephanie was having a great time. She hadn't forgotten how to drive hooray! Hunter had pronounced her reversing-round-a-corner maneuver faultless and she was even remembering not to cross her arms over each other's heinous crime when turning the steering wheel. Plus, the sun still blazing down and from his jacket pocket Hunter has produced a bag of strawberry sherbets, the irresistible kind that made the inside of your mouth shrivel up but not enough to stop you having another one.

"Did Emma tell you?" Stephanie was touched by his thoughtfulness.

"Tell me what?"

"That strawberry sherbets are my all time favorite sweets."

"No," Hunter shook his head. "I bought them because they're my favorite all-time favorite sweets."

"Really?" Stephanie was delighted.

"Well, joint favorites. I'm mad about those liquorice Catherine wheels."

"And liquorice comfits. When I was a little girl I used to wet the red ones and use them as lipstick," Stephanie happily reminisced. "I thought I looked so great. God, even at seven I was a tart."

"Don't put yourself down. And check your mirror before you signal," added Hunter as they reached a junction.

"So what happened to your friend after he broke his leg?" Stephanie was dying to hear the rest of the story- going on vacation with Hunter was evidently a perilous business.

"Ethan? He hung up his skis and took up tobogganing instead. Then three minutes  later we all went out to this nightclub and guess what happened?"

"He broke his other leg?"

"Wrong. Far too predictable," Hunter scoffed. "In fact he bumped into this girl literally on his way to the toilet. She'd broken her leg as well as their crutches got into a complete tangle. So of course Ethan being Ethan, he bought her a drink. They spent an hour comparing fractures and boasting about how they'd got them, and the next thing we knew, they'd gone."

"Gone where?"

"Hobbled back to her chalet together. God knows what they managed to get up to, but we hardly saw Ethan for the rest of the week. He reckons it's the best vacation he's ever had."

Stephanie giggled. "That's so sweet. Oh, speaking of sweets..."

She opened her mouth to show that the strawberry sherbet was gone, and waited for Hunter to unwrap another one.

"It's like feeding a baby bird." He popped into her mouth."

"Now take the next left and we'll do a few three-point turns."

Mirror, signal, maneuver. Stephanie turned left into the cup-de-sac and pulled up brilliantly at the side of the road.

"By the way, I hope you didn't pick up any girls out there." She gave her a stern look.

Hunter grinned. "Of course I didn't."

Standard male answer.

"But you could just be saying that," Stephanie argued. "How would we know?"

"It's the truth. That's not why I go away on vacation. I'm not interested in getting up to no good with other girls."

Stephanie relented. That was the thing about Hunter, you could actually believe him. He wasn't a cheating dickhead like some men she could think of.

Most men, in fact.

"Well, glad to hear it. Right." She took a couple of noisy deep breaths and wiggled her hands like an Olympic athlete going for gold. "Three point turn. Silence please, ladies and gentlemen, as Stephanie Campbell of the United States of America heroically attempts the near possible in a very narrow cul-de-sac."

"Emma hasn't told you, has she?" said Hunter. A statement rather than a question.

"Told me what? I haven't seen Emma today." Stephanie wished he wouldn't interrupt when she was on the brink of something this momentous; couldn't he see she was trying to concentrate?

"We've called it a day."

"Called it a day?" She paused, puzzling over the expression.

Surely he meant that they'd named the day?

"What?"

"It's over," Hunter patiently repeated. "It wasn't working out. We're no longer a couple."

Stephanie's left foot jerked and slid off the clutch. The car, already a gear, kangaroo forwards and abruptly stalled.

"Handbrake," Hunter said automatically.

"You mean you finished with me?" Stephanie's mouth dropped open.

"Technically, Danielle finished with me. But it was basically a mutual decision. We both knew it couldn't go on. You're still in gear," he added. "Put it into neutral."

"But I thought you were so happy together," Stephanie wailed. "You get on so well."

"And we'll carry on getting on well. Probably until we're eighty."

"I don't believe this. Aren't you upset?"

Hunter flashed her a smile. "Relieved. Well, relieved that Danielle said it first. That way I didn't have to feel guilty."

Stephanie's heart began to pound. "You mean there's someone else?"

He shrugged. "Kind of."

"Who?" her voice rose.

Hunter shook his head. Finally he sighed and said, "Shit, Stephanie, who do you think?"

And then he kissed her.

His mouth tasted of warm strawberries. Stephanie couldn't believe this was happening. But all the tumblers were clicking into place now. The secret code had been cracked. It had never occurred to her before to fancy Hunter, because he was her sister's best friend. It's not simply wasn't something you even considered. In your mind, they were mentally neutered, Stephanie realized. Best friends just weren't an option.

Yet all this time, buried deep inside her, had been the subconscious acknowledgement that Hunter hadn't been involved with Emma, she might find him very attractive indeed.

And now she was allowed to find him attractive, she found that she did. Giving herself up to the kiss, Stephanie decided that his mouth actually tasted better than strawberries. As for his hair and his mad, tousled, red-gold tufty hair she simply couldn't stop running her fingers through it. And his face, with those baggy eyes and that crooked nose and those faint golden freckles scattered across his cheekbones how could she never have realised how perfect he was before now?

Finally reluctantly, Hunter pulled away. Just an inch.

"This is the moment," he muttered, "when we find out."

Stephanie blinked in confusion. "Find out what?"

"Whether you're about to slap my face."

"Oh. Phew. She managed a shaky smile. "No."

Hunter's eyes twinkled with relief. "Good job I'm not a real driving instructor. I'd probably get struck off for this."

Wonderingly, Stephanie muttered, "I never knew, I never knew."

"I know you didn't." His smile was rueful. "That's why doing that just now was so scary ."

"I thought we just got on really well." Stephanie shook her head in bewilderment.

"So did I. Well, to begin with," Hunter amended. "And then it started to creep up on me."

"When?" She was trembling all over with delight. "When did it start to creep up on you?"

"A couple weeks ago. We were doing hill starts in Charlotte. You were telling me about your acting auditions."

Stephanie winced; she'd only bared her soul to Hunter because he was so completely off limits. It wasn't the kind of stuff you'd ever want to confide to a potential boyfriend.

"The sleazy ones? Where the casting directors wanted more than just an audition?"

"And you told them to take a running jump," said Hunter.

"Oh." She squirmed guiltily. There were times when it had been a close-run thing.

"When you told me," he went on, "I wanted to punch them."

"Really?" Stephanie was absurdly touched.

"I wanted to kill them," Hunter declared. Clumsily, he kissed the tip of her nose. "That was when I realized what was happening."

"But you didn't drop hints," Stephanie marvelled. "I mean, none." And let's face it, she was the world's expert when it came to picking up hints.

"I was with Emma." he shrugged.
Emma. Stephanie was instantly awash with guilt. "I feel terrible." So terrible she could barely bring herself to think about it. "What's she going to say?" Worst of all she knew that from this day forward until the day she died, she would associate the taste of strawberries with kissing Hunter.

"Don't worry about Emma. She's fine about it."

Slack-jawed, Stephanie turned to face up to his. "You mean... she knows?"

"I told her before she left to go shopping. Well, I told her how I felt about you," Hunter amended. "I didn't know if you'd feel the same way, of course. You might have told me to take a running jump. But it seemed only fair to let Emma know. So I did." He broke into a huge grin. "She was delighted."

"Really?" Stephanie was desperate for reassurance; lots of reassurance. "Not mad at all? You're sure she doesn't mind?"

"She truly doesn't mind. I told you, we weren't a couple," said Hunter."We were pretending to each other that everything was great, but we both knew it wasn't. When I went to Austria, you were the one I missed," he explained. "And when I got back this morning, you were the one I couldn't wait to see. There's one thing we do have sort out though," Hunter went on seriously.

"You have to promise me you won't have any more to do with Maxence Dominique."

Oh, the relief!

"I promise." Stephanie nodded vigorously. "There is no chance of what is happening. It's all over between me and Maxence, I never want to see him again."

"That's what you told Emma."

"It's the truth!"

"You might change your mind," said Hunter.

"Oh, give me a break." Tears of happiness sprang into Stephanie's eyes as she wound her arms around his neck. His voice cracking, she whispered, "Why would I want to when I've got you?"