The next week or so passed in a blur for Charlie, as she juggled sleepwalking through work with text messages and dates with Jake. Despite the fact she was "getting married" and he didn't seem to want to stop her from going ahead with it, he still seemed keen to date her, sleep with her, and ply her with constant messages about how much he liked her.

As she sat at her desk the following Friday, wondering if she was still drunk from the night before (she and Jake had stayed up until 2am playing drunken strip Scrabble), she was trying to compose a suggestive message to him on her phone when a shadow fell over her.

Aaron.

Of course.

He was looking irritatingly good, despite sporting several days worth of stubble and what might be the world's most battered pair of jeans. If anything, she found herself thinking, he somehow looked even better when he didn't try. It was actually pretty sickening.

"Hey!" she said, more enthusiastic than usual because she was distracted, and immediately kicking herself. Don't be so nice, she told herself, he's a dick, remember?

"Do you have an hour or two?" he asked, looking a bit hesitant, probably surprised at her unusual friendliness. "I need to go have a look at a potential venue for the night out and I could use a second opinion."

Surprised, she glanced at her calendar and saw she had nothing scheduled in for the next couple of hours. Fridays tended to be a bit dead for her. "Sure," she said, hopping to her feet. She was glad she'd made an effort with her appearance once again, wearing a denim pinafore with a black top underneath, bare legs and some yellow sandals. This whole half-dating Jake was helping because it meant she always wanted to be ready in case he wanted to see her, like an on-call doctor ready to deal with an emergency. "Where are we off to?"

"Not far, just down to the river."

After an awkward 5 minute walk to the Clyde, they were on a small boat. "A booze cruise?" Charlie asked Aaron as they waited for someone to show them around. "Is that a good idea?"

"Why not?" he replied, smiling slightly. "It's within budget and it's a bit different, you know Josh will love it."

"Very true," Charlie agreed, choosing not to mention her own propensity to sea-sickness. She was sure it wouldn't be that bad and, worse case scenario, she'd just blend in with the others who would likely be just as sick due to typical work-night-out drunkenness.

"Aaron!" A beautiful blonde girl walked into the office and gave him a very friendly hug. "So nice to see you!"

"This is Charlie," he said to her, gesturing in Charlie's direction. "Charlie, this is Sasha; she's a friend of my sister's."

Sasha looked her up and down, the smile almost immediately freezing on her face before dropping off completely. "Charlie. Nice to meet you," she said, clearly struggling to keep the same warmth she had for the manwhore himself.

Shocker. Charlie tried really hard to hide her eye-roll.

Ten minutes later after a whirlwind tour of the facilities, they were left in the office again to talk it over. "What do you think?" Aaron asked her. "Do you think it's a viable option?"

She nodded. "Definitely. I think you're absolutely right that Josh will love it. And if Josh loves it then we know that no further decision needs to be made."

"Great." Aaron pulled off his dark rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes. He looked tired, she noticed, and therefore a bit vulnerable . . . which then immediately put her on the defensive because she could not let him fool her.

"Do you actually need those glasses or are you just trying to look more intelligent?" she found herself blurting out. She'd only seen him wear glasses a handful of times and never commented, but it did feel like something he might do. Especially since he looked so bloody good in them.

He actually laughed out loud at that, glancing up and squinting at her through narrowed long-lashed eyes as he dragged his hand across them one last time. "Where did that come from? Nah, I genuinely do need them; I usually wear contacts. I just haven't slept very well the last few nights and my eyes are knackered." His eyes did look pretty bloodshot, she realised belatedly. "If you don't believe me, I could take you for a drive somewhere without them on and you'd realise pretty quickly I can't actually see for shit."

She felt her heart speed up involuntarily at the thought of being on a drive with him. Maybe somewhere dark with no one else around? They could . . . No! Was her face going red? She wasn't sure but it was definitely heating up, and she hoped his eyesight really was as bad as he claimed so he wouldn't spot it.

However he'd seemed to realise the connotations of what he had just said and grimaced slightly. "Never mind," he said hastily, slipping the glasses back on.

That long-lashed chocolate brown gaze met hers for the briefest moment, but the intensity of that look scorched through her in that second and she felt her blush deepen. The suddenly raw expression in his eyes sent a memory through her that made her ache inside.

She could swear he looked a bit embarrassed too as he quickly looked away but surely not - this was oh-so-smooth Aaron Ward she was talking to. There was the slightest of catches in his husky voice as he spoke again, physically shrugging the seemingly harmless comment off now. "You know what I mean."

He grabbed his bag which he'd left in the office as they went on the tour of the boat and turned to Sasha who had walked back in, rallying as if that moment of awkwardness had never happened. Charlie already wondered if she had imagined it. "I'll show the boss the photos I've taken and give you a shout later, if you can hold the booking for now?" He said, dazzling her (and indirectly, Charlie also) with that dimpled grin.

"Of course Aaron," Sasha sparkled back. "Talk to you later. Nice to meet you," she added to Charlie as a far more toned down afterthought.

"Likewise" Charlie monotoned right back at her.

"She likes you, you know." The verbal vomit spewed out against her will again as they stood at the traffic lights waiting to cross the Broomielaw a couple of minutes later. That tiny moment was still vibrating between them, connecting them through the air . . . At least that how it felt in her frazzled psyche.

He seemed different recently. Over the last week or so since their lift encounter there had been a marked change in his treatment of her, like he was tentatively trying to reach out. She wasn't sure how she felt about it yet.

She'd noticed his serious dark eyes watching her intently on more than one occasion lately, each time looking away quickly when she caught him, each time leaving her flesh prickling with sudden delicious goosebumps. Despite everything he could still get under her skin. Wasn't it just typical though that his attitude had changed just as she'd met someone else, she thought scornfully.

"Who?" He asked abruptly.

"Sasha, of course." She turned to look at him but he was staring straight ahead, just as handsome in profile as he was straight on. He shrugged, giving nothing away. "It was totally obvious."

"She's my big sister's best friend, I've never thought of her that way," he replied after a short pause. Another hesitation. "Anyway, she's not my type."

Charlie found herself biting into her tongue so she didn't say "so she must be single then" - she had a feeling that would not go over well and since they were actually getting on okay for the first time in such a long time she didn't want to ruin it. "If you say so," she murmured, once she had managed to hold back the other sentence. "So just one sister or do you have any other siblings?" she asked, realising they still had a five minute walk to attempt conversation as they crossed the road.

"Three older sisters and a younger brother," he replied ruefully. "Typical big Catholic family." He glanced at her, a small smile playing about his lips. "You?"

"Two younger sisters," she found herself smiling back. "Always a pain in the arse being the oldest as my sisters got away with far more than I did. I was basically the guinea pig testing the waters constantly and being told no."

"That sucks." Aaron ran a hand through his hair thoughtfully. "I'm sure Carmel would say the same though. She's my oldest sister," he explained.

How did she know that name? There was a memory plucking at her brain and she couldn't quite retrieve it.

It was only later, when she'd sat back down at her desk, and was briefly checking Facebook, that the thought came rushing back to her. Carmel was the girl who had been in that photo, the one she'd assumed was the girl Aaron had been with while he'd been stringing her along. The look she'd mistakenly interpreted as besotted was definitely one of love but now she realised it was actually the sort of look you'd give a sibling who you adored.

So he actually hadn't been seeing Carmel on the side while he was flirting with her. She couldn't help but glance over at him thoughtfully, watching as he picked up his ringing phone and tucked it between his ear and shoulder as he typed away on his laptop. It was her turn to watch him intently. He briefly looked up, caught her looking and sent her a tentative smile before he turned his attention back to his computer and phone call. She felt herself blush but she continued to look for a moment longer, seemingly unable to stop.

Could it be that she had misjudged him? Could it be that actually he wasn't the world's biggest prick after all? She turned her attention back to her own computer, her mind racing.

She didn't really know what to think anymore.