Later

Paolo deliberately took things slowly. After all, Bolly’s not cheap, and it needed to do its trick. His challenge was to refill Nicole’s glass without giving the game away that his own glass wasn’t getting the same treatment. After all, he needed his wits about him later, and before then, as a red-blooded male, the last thing he wanted was ‘brewer’s droop’.

An hour in, Nicole was getting nicely mellow when Paolo said, “Word on the street is that Ronan’s been splashing out on diamonds for you!”

“Just one!” she giggled.

“Show me...”

“Later!” she promised, prompting more giggles.