I thought little more of Paul after he left. His behaviour bothered me, but not enough to keep going over it. I had been starting to realise before he officially cut things off that we weren't going to go anywhere anyway. I was just trying to make the adjustment my way. Perhaps the fact that he'd forced it along quicker than I was ready for is what bothered me, but either way, I'd gotten the desired result.

Friday night, I had my hot date with Scott. He told me to dress up casually and bring something warm for later. I couldn't help but wonder what on earth he had planned.

I settled on a pair of jeans, my white converse, a golden yellow t-shirt and a black cardigan, with a puffa jacket as my something warm.

He picked me up, as punctual as ever, at eight p.m., just as twilight started setting in. He greeted me at my door, looking delicious in his faded denim jeans and long-sleeved black t-shirt.

Giving me a kiss on the lips as a greeting, he led me to the car door and indulged me in his usual ritual of opening my door for me.

"Where are we going?" I asked, curiosity killing me.

He threw me a cheeky wink. "You'll see."

Waiting until I'd sat down, he closed my door and then jogged around to his side. Once seated and seatbelt on, he struck the engine up and reversed off the drive.

He glanced over at me, his chocolate eyes twinkling, and said, "Have you had a good day?"

I couldn't help but grin. "As I said in my text, you really don't know how much you made me smile with those flowers. Thank you so much."

"No need to thank me," he said. "It was my pleasure."

He headed out of town and towards the countryside, out into the middle of nowhere. As we rolled past fields and old barns and the odd farmhouse, I couldn't help but feel a slight sense of recognition as to where we were.

Looking straight ahead out of the front windscreen, I almost choked on my own breath when I spotted Paul's mansion in the distance. My heart did a backflip before stopping and restarting at a thousand miles an hour.

"How much further are we going?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and collected.

He reached over and grabbed my hand, giving me a reassuring squeeze. "Not much, I promise. You see that big house down there at the corner?" I nodded. I hadn't taken my eyes off it. "We're going to a little place just behind it."

"Ok," I said, smiling at him.

"Are you too hot? Your hand feels clammy."

I shook my head. "No, I'm ok."

I resisted the urge to faceplant myself. My goodness. This couldn't be coincidence, could it? Had Molly told him about me and Paul and this was his little way of telling me he knew? Or was this a genuine coincidence?

My heart pounding and my palms sweating, I focused on my breathing, counting to ten on the breath in, and counting to ten on the breath out. By the time we rounded the corner where Paul's house sat, I'd managed to calm my racing heart and dried my sweaty palms on my jeans. I forced myself not to stare at the house, but then wondered if Scott would find it odd that I didn't look because of the sheer size of it and how impressive it was to look at.

Still, I resisted the urge to stare and carried on looking straight ahead. Sure enough, just as he'd promised, the road curved back around the side of Paul's property, and then around the back. A small little farmyard sat here with an old red brick-built barn, an ancient looking tractor nestled inside.

Scott pulled up alongside the barn and switched the car off. He jumped out of the car and came around to my side, opening the door for me.

"I have so many questions," I said, letting out a nervous giggle as I stepped out of the car.

"I think I can guess one of them," he said, grinning at me. "Chris is the IT specialist for the people who live in the massive house we just passed."

"Oh," I said to myself, whilst secretly thinking Of course he is. "It's a small world."

Scott smiled. "He told me about this little farmyard being here. He spent months installing their system and their CCTV. Apparently, they don't use this for anything, it's just wasted space. So, I figured it would be the perfect spot for us to do what I had in mind this evening."

I followed him to the boot of the car and watched him take out a blanket and a wicker basket. "Oh my," I said, my hand flying to my mouth in surprise. "Are we having an evening picnic?"

He shut the boot and took my hand with a smile, not saying anything. He led me around the back of the barn and as we rounded the corner, I almost fell in love. Behind the barn sat an L shaped stable block, four red brick stables with white painted wooden doors and old-fashioned black iron hinges. My heart melted. What an absolutely perfect little stable yard.

Glancing around me at the rest of the land, my mind ran wild with how I could turn this into my own private stable yard, where the hay would go, how I would fence off the giant field laid out before us, where the exercise arena would go, where my tack room would go.

Then reality slapped me in the face and reminded me whose land I was on. And that my momentary fantasy would never take shape.

In front of us sat acres of ankle length green grass. Bordered by evergreen hedges, and with several giant oak trees dotted around, it was a picture-perfect meadow for any horse enthusiast. For the first time in a long time, my heart started to ache for the familiarity of a horse again.

"Over here," Scott said, leading me towards the closest tree.

We approached the majestic old oak, its lowest branches a good ten feet above my head. They reached out for a good twelve feet all around, providing the perfect cover with its thick leaves should the weather turn.

Letting go of my hand, Scott laid the blanket out just in front of the furthest reaching branch. He sat down and patted the ground next to him. "Come on," he said, opening the wicker basket. "It's a perfect clear night sky."

I looked up to see the hues of blues, reds, and oranges from the day blending into velvet darkness. "It's beautiful," I said, sitting down next to him.

He slid an arm around my waist and said, "Would it be too cheesy if I said it wasn't as beautiful as you?"

I laughed. "It's cheesy but it's sweet, so I'll let it go."

He brushed a stray hair back from my face and said, "There's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight so I thought we could watch that and do a bit of star gazing as well."

My whole body flushed with warmth and joy. He was so romantic he literally took my breath away. How could he be such a perfect package of everything I've ever wanted?

I nodded. "Another first for me."

He lifted a hand to my face and stroked my cheek, the intensity in his chocolate eyes making my heart race. "Am I giving you many firsts?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"Am I succeeding in the challenge of changing your mind about men?"

"Definitely."

He gave me an eskimo kiss before pressing his lips to mine, making my heart soar higher than the birds above us. When he slipped his tongue inside my mouth and caressed my tongue with his, I let out a small moan as an intense bundle of tingles settled straight between my legs.

After a minute or so, he pulled away, only enough to break our kiss, leaving our noses still touching. He then whispered, "I really like you, Kyra. If it's too soon then tell me no, but I would really like us to make this official. I want to be with you." He rubbed his nose against mine and then said, "Would you like to be with me?"

I couldn't help the broad grin that spread over my face. "Yes. I would love to be with you."

His eyes glowered with happiness as he leaned in and kissed me. This kiss was different to all the previous kisses, his touch became firmer, more confident, more demanding as he swept our tongues together into a passionate dance. My core ignited as I felt his desire for me.

We kissed until our lips became swollen and our restraint started slipping away. With darkness enveloping us and crickets filling the sound of the air, we laid back on the blanket and watched the skies above us.

"I brought some wine for you," he said. "Would you like some?"

"Yes, please, but I do feel a little guilty that I get alcohol and you don't."

He rummaged around in the wicker basket and pulled out a bottle. "Alcohol free beer. It'll do me."

I laughed. "Not quite the same but if you're happy then that's good."

He handed me my glass of white wine and said, "I'm more than happy."

We laid back on the blanket, only sitting up to sip our drinks, and made small talk about stars, horoscopes, and all things astronomical as we pointed at different shapes and watched the meteor shower.

It was a perfect, romantic night and I couldn't have asked for anything more. Until my phone rang. Wondering who one earth could be calling me at nine p.m. on a Friday, I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket to see Paul flashing across the screen.

My stomach churned as my heart dropped to my feet. I jumped up and said to Scott, "It's my boss."

He frowned. "At this time of night?"

I walked away a few feet and answered. "Hello?"

"Hi."

"Is something wrong?"

"I was looking for something and couldn't find it...but I've just found it now. Sorry to disturb you. I should have looked harder before I called."

"Ok, no problem."

An agonising second ticked past that felt like an eternity. Then he said, "Are you ok?"

"Yes."

"Ok, good." He cleared his throat and then said, "Ky?"

"Yeah?"

"I miss you."

It took a good fewseconds for my ears to register the beeps of the line being cut, the followingsilence deafening me after his words.