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‘You were not invited or welcomed. What the hell are you playing at?’ He stalked across the room and yanked open the desk drawers – empty but for a puff of rapidly vanishing glitter.

The tug at his magic warned of more mischief, and he turned to see his drawings glowing as they rearranged themselves, turning the draft lines he’d been sketching with Amrita into more polished designs. The type that should take hours. ‘Stop it! She won’t understand. Stop!’ He shuffled the papers quickly, trying to hide those with the most changes.

He didn’t see the tell-tale gold shimmering over their coffee cups – or hear the warning chimes and chortling at the edge of normal sound. And he was so distracted with the designs intent on rearranging themselves that he didn’t taste the difference in his coffee.

* * *

Amrita smoothed her hair before opening the door to Jamie’s office, and was only half-surprised to find him still at the table, sketching, his hair slightly mussed in a way that made her fingers itch to smooth it flat. Not sure what to do with that thought, she rubbed her hands together briskly and looked around for something else to focus on.

There was something peculiar in the air. Not exactly a scent or change in temperature, but something definitely felt slightly different somehow. Not being able to quite figure it out was almost as distracting as the weird itching in her fingers. And she definitely wasn’t looking to run them through anyone’s hair – not when it had taken her so long to get the last person out of hers.

Wanting to get rid of that thought as quickly as possible, she leaned over Jamie’s shoulder to see what he was working on. ‘Wow, that’s amazing. Have you done this all now?’ She traced her finger over the new layout for the bedroom and could have sworn – just for a moment – that he’d shivered slightly. Weird.

‘I adjusted it quickly while you were gone. You’re right. This works much better.’

‘You work really fast.’

He smiled. ‘Only when I know what I’m aiming for.’

‘You really did all this in a few minutes?’

‘I was feeling inspired.’ He shrugged.

She stared at him, trying to figure out what it was about him she was missing – certainly something unusual… ‘It’s amazing progress.’

‘We’re doing really well.’ He smiled at her, and she felt an odd flush of pride. It wasn’t like she was doing the harder work, but seeing her suggestions rapidly appearing on the page had been incredibly satisfying – and she couldn’t wait to see them built.

‘I’m enjoying myself a lot more than I’d expected to,’ she admitted. ‘Wet room next?’

‘Wet room next.’

She laughed, a little embarrassed, when her stomach let out a loud grumble. ‘Sorry.’

‘Nothing to be sorry for.’ He shrugged easily. ‘I know you said dinner wasn’t necessary, but we could order in and keep working?’

She hesitated. Dinner felt… too informal, too easy, too like something friends would do, given how they’d argued and she’d walked out of their first and only meeting. Dinner stretched the lines of professionalism a little further than she thought she might be comfortable with.

He must have read the thought on her face. ‘A strictly professional takeaway. Because you’ll need fuel if we’re going to be debating access versus drainage gradients.’

‘Wow. You really know how to tempt a girl.’

His mouth twitched.

She looked down at the designs again. She’d been dubious, but they’d made far more progress than she’d expected and – somewhat irritatingly – she was enjoying the conversation. ‘OK. What were you thinking?’

He gestured to a takeout menu on his desk.

‘You know they make apps for that, right?’

‘They don’t tend to work that well round here. Internet signal can be a bit intermittent in Hudsbury.’

‘Can I connect to your Wi-Fi?’

‘You’re welcome to try, but…’

‘Let me guess. Intermittent?’ She giggled, again feeling like she’d somehow stepped back in time, and reached for the menu. ‘Curry? Really? Any other choices?’

He looked up, confusion crossing his face. ‘You don’t like curry?’