Page 42 of Fundamentals in Flirting

“I love him, you know?”

“You do?”

“Yes, with all my heart.”

“Edward?”

I tried to manoeuvre her across the car park, back towards the lane, but she dug her heels into the gravel, yanking away from my touch.

“No! Frank! Why would I love Edward? He’s far too young.” Agnes tutted in disgust.

“Ok, I think maybe I should take you home.”

“I’m not leaving until I’ve found Edward!” she screeched at me, and I backed away, hands held up in defeat. I was out of my depth here, not really understanding what was going on. I needed help. And there was only one person I could turn to. Annoyingly.

“I could call him for you?” But Agnes had returned to ferreting around in the hedge, softly calling out into the undergrowth and completely ignoring me.

Reaching for my phone, I tentatively swiped Teddy’s number, keeping my fingers crossed that he’d answer. And he did, on the third ring, his voice breathless, groggy, and panicked.

“Hannah? What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’ve found Agnes wandering about in the surgery car park.”

“Oh.” He yawned loudly.

“I need your help. She’s a bit confused. Can you come?”

“Confused? Just take her home. It’s 5.30am.”

“I know that, but she won’t come with me. She’s looking for a guy named Edward. I wondered if she meant you?”

“What? I doubt it.”

“I’m not getting anywhere with her and she might listen to you. Please?”

“I don’t know. I was asleep. You woke me up.” A pause. “Plus, I got the distinct feeling that you didn’t want to see me, Hannah.”

His words hung in the air for a minute. A little bit of hurt suspended between us. He was, quite rightly, not going to make this easy for me.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been busy.”

This was true, but it wasn’t the real reason for ghosting him these last few days. I couldn’t let him know just how much he’d got under my skin though. How desperate I was to try and break the cycle of wanting him against my better judgement. I tried a different approach in response to the incoherent grumble in my ear.

“Listen, grumpy chops, I wasn’t going to call it in so soon, but after the great devil sheep rescue, you do owe me a favour…” There was a long sigh down the line, but I could almost hear him smiling, and I couldn’t help it as my lips quirked in response. “Please, Ted, I’m struggling here and I really need your help. Don’t make me beg.”

“I’d like to make you beg.”

A flush crept over my skin, a flock of butterflies danced in my stomach, and sweat broke out on my palms. All because of that one comment.

Rein it in, Hannah, for fuck’s sake.

My hand tightened on the phone as another tension-filled pause commenced, an instant in time where I wasn’t sure which way this would go, but he finally said, “I’ll just put some clothes on and be right there.”

About three minutes later, Teddy appeared in a pair of flip-flops, grey jogging bottoms, and a black fitted T-shirt. His hair was mussed and sticking up, he had a slight crease in the skin of his cheek on which he’d obviously been lying just a few moments ago. My heart stuttered and stopped. He had absolutely no bloody right to do this to me. No right, at all, to look like some sort of sleepy bearded Greek god. And definitely no right whatsoever to be staring at me like that. Like he might just devour me whole.

Agnes looked up as Teddy approached her.

“There you are, you monkey! Where have you been?”

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