A week ago, I was standing in the queue for airport security with my nemesis, mocking him for bringing his laptop on holiday with him.

"Couldn't get your work finished on time?" I'd asked him smugly, safe in the knowledge that I had all of my business fully in order long before I'd switched on my out-of-office message the previous evening.

Lewis had rolled his eyes. "There were a couple of meetings I couldn't get out of at such short notice, okay?" he muttered as he placed the laptop in one of the trays.

"Wow, must be so hard being sooo indispensable," I'd sniped, suddenly feeling as if I wasn't as important in my job anymore. No one had asked me to take my work on holiday with me, and that somehow annoyed me now! Lewis had then started removing his belt at that point, and my eyes seemed to be unwillingly gravitating towards his crotch area, so I'd seized the opportunity to slip away, making it through the body scanner and collecting my belongings on the other side before he could catch up with me.

Looking back on that, I feel bad for more than one reason. I was being a bit of a bitch, for a start. Right there, straight off the bat, I'd had the opportunity to be nice, to actually ask him about his job at that point, and instead, I'd twisted it in my own unique "Ruby" style. And then I'd ran away and hid from him, of course!

Anyway, I'm reminded of this on Thursday morning when our leisurely lie-in (well, if you could call it that - there wasn't much in the way of sleeping being done, if you know what I mean!) is interrupted by Lewis checking his watch and sighing. "I need to do some fucking work today," he mutters, rolling out of bed. "I've got to log on for a meeting in 25 minutes."

"Do you really need to be in it?" I ask, slightly plaintively. I'd definitely prefer him to be back under the covers with me, if that is an alternative option.

"Unfortunately, yes." He raises a playful eyebrow in my direction. "It's really hard being indispensable, after all."

I wince briefly at him using my own words against me. "Yeah. Er . . . Sorry about that."

He bends down and kisses me softly on the lips. "It's okay, Rubes; I understand." A smug smirk curves his mouth upwards as he backs away from me. "It must have been sooo hard to fight your attraction to me."

I squeal in frustration, launching a pillow in his direction; it narrowly misses his head as he disappears out of the bedroom door. I hear him chuckling to himself as he heads towards the bathroom, but the sound warms me now rather than annoying me.

Wrapping myself in one of the complimentary fluffy bathrobes, I follow him. "I'm gonna get out of your hair so you can have your meeting in peace," I tell him, watching him as he splashes water on his face.

He lifts his head and catches my gaze in the mirror. "You don't have to do that, Ruby. It's not as if I'm particularly worried you're going to crash my call and try to embarrass me."

"You don't actually know that for sure," I joke. "Anyway, it's only fair - you've let me have the entire place to myself more than once. The least I can do is clear out for a couple of hours and give you a bit of privacy. How about I go down to Hersonissos and pick us up some food, and we can have a picnic by the pool after your work is done?"

"That sounds really nice, actually," he smiles. He digs through his washbag, and when he produces a razor, I accidentally let out a moan of protest. He whips around anxiously. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want you to shave," I confess. My mirror image flushes a delicate shade of pink. "I'm pretty attached to the stubble."

He immediately puts the razor back where he found it. "If you like it, it stays. In fact, I'll add it to my list of ways to entice you."

"Yeah?" I move closer and wrap my arms around him. A teasing grin seems to light him up from the inside.

"So far, I have 'be topless as much as possible' and, as of right now, 'don't shave'." He laughs. "I also thought about adding 'disguise myself as a massive chocolate bar' as I feel like you'd be into that, but then I thought that probably wasn't as practical. I prefer quick wins, you see."

"Aye, best save that one for Halloween," I quip and then immediately regret my own hint towards a potential future together. I'm finally starting to see the possibilities, though. It could be good. It doesn't have to end with the holiday. Right?

He brushes another kiss over my lips. "Okay, I really need to shower now. I'd obviously invite you to join me, but I'd probably miss my meeting completely then." His voice softens. "It's way too easy to lose track of time when I'm around you."

Why is he so bloody sweet sometimes? My heart does a cheesy little disco bop inside my chest at that last sentence.

"Maybe tomorrow, though?" I suggest, and he nods eagerly. I leave him to it for now,  although I'm already looking forward to the idea of joining him for a future "dirty cleaning session".

He appears in the bedroom doorway ten minutes later, as I'm applying mascara. "What do you think?" he asks, adopting a "ta-da!" pose. I take one look and can't help but laugh again because he's combined a smart short-sleeved white shirt and pale blue tie with his colourful swimming shorts and a pair of flip-flops.

"Very 'every-Teams-work-meeting-circa-2020'  chic," I praise him, clapping my hands together in delight.

"I was going for more of a 'When you have a work meeting at 11 but the pool party at 12' sort of look," he winks. "But I'll take your accolade too. I actually attended a lot of virtual work meetings with just my boxers on my bottom half during lockdown, believe it or not!"

"I was usually in my pyjama trousers," I recall. "And I stopped brushing the back of my hair because it wasn't like anyone else was going to see it." I cringe as I suddenly unlock a particularly mortifying memory from that dark time. "I also once jumped on a call a couple of minutes late as I had been doing a DIY spa session at lunch . . . and didn't immediately realise I still had some of those anti-wrinkle patches under my eyes. Someone eventually interrupted my manager to ask what the hell was wrong with my face."

Lewis is howling with laughter. "I think I can better you on mortifying call moments," he says when he's calmed down. "One time, I was having a conversation with my dog instead of paying attention in a meeting, and I didn't realise I wasn't on mute." He smiles ruefully. "And I was actually giving her proper baby talk - I didn't live that down for a long time."

"You have a dog?" I ask. Yet another thing I didn't know about him!

He nods, an adorably fond expression forming on his face. "A golden retriever called Cassie. She's staying with my mum while I'm here."

"Oh my god!" I start giggling again as something occurs to me. "I've just remembered . . . at a group night out not that long ago you left earlier than me and your excuse went something like: 'Cassie was being all needy earlier, so I guess I'd better go before she starts wrecking my flat' - I thought it must be your latest fling . . . and that she was clearly crazy."

"Well, Cassie is crazy," he shrugs, dark eyes sparkling happily. "And needy. But she's the love of my life."

Do you have room for another? I shake my head to rid myself of that thought. Live in the moment, Ruby!

But as I leave Lewis setting up his laptop on the kitchen worktop, I find myself wondering if his mum would like me. And, possibly even more importantly, if his dog would . . .

So my intention was actually for this chapter to be a smutty one . . . But then I started having too much fun with their silly banter and stories and how friggin' adorable they both are together, so I decided to save that for the next chapter. So . . . Yeah . . . More smut is incoming for sure. It's "in the offing," as Phoebe from Friends would say! 😉

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed a much lighter chapter than the last few I've subjected you to . . . And hopefully, you laughed a little bit, too! 🤞