CHAPTER TWO

Imogen stood at the foot of the bed as she pulled her top back on. Mark rolled over in bed and looked at her. "Do you have to go?"

Imogen shot him an awkward look. "Paige might come back."

Mark nodded slowly, as though just beginning to grasp what they'd done. "Yeah, yeah, of course. Um, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, of course." Imogen didn't quite know what the accepted thing to do now was. Kiss him goodbye? She settled for an awkward wave and a mumbled "See you" before heading out of the room.

She made her way to the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor, heading towards the hen's party in a daze. She couldn't quite believe what had just happened. She'd had sex with Mark Brennan. Her, Imogen Willis, the sensible and boring one. She'd only ever been with Daniel before and sleeping with him had been, well, nice, and sweet, but…sleeping with Mark had been amazing, had caused her to feel things she hadn't even known she was capable of feeling. She felt as though her life had taken a turn that would change its course forever. She had slept with Mark Brennan.

She had slept with her sister's husband.

That fact hit her in the face like a cold bucket of water as she entered the bar and caught sight of Paige chatting with Piper. She wanted to turn round and run out of there but instead she found herself edging closer to them and listening to their conversation.

"You're sure you don't mind me bunking down with you?"Paige asked.

"No problem,"Piper confirmed. "I'd be lonely otherwise, since Tyler's decided to be traditional and have us spend the last night apart." She rolled her eyes at the comment and then noticed Imogen. "Hey, you! We were wondering what happened to you."

"Yeah, I thought you were right behind me,"Paige agreed.

"I, er, went to say hi to Mark,"Imogen attempted.

Paige's smile faltered a bit at that. "Right. Well, yeah, I guess that makes sense. He say anything about me?"

"Just that you've been arguing a lot lately."

"Yeah,"Paige admitted. "Well, hopefully a night away from each other will do us good. Come on, pull up a chair, I want all the gossip."

Mark looked at his reflection in the mirror as he did up his tie, thinking that he'd just had the most confusing night of his life. And given that his ex-wife was now married to his sister, his life could be very confusing at times.

He often thought about that period after Kate died. And when he did, those thoughts often included Imogen. True, she'd had a massive crush on him at the time, but somehow it had resulted in her being a good, supportive friend who'd looked out for him when he was down. And somehow they had gone on being friends ever since then. He'd told her, when she'd finally made her feelings clear, that she was too young for him, but as she'd pointed out the previous night, he'd never usually had a problem with dating younger women. (He'd even had a good few years on Kate.) Maybe it was simply that he hadn't been ready at the time and it had just been an excuse.

A few times in the intervening years, Mark had wondered what his life would have been like if he'd attempted something with Imogen then. Maybe it would have been a disaster. Maybe she really had been too young and inexperienced then. Maybe he'd have made his usual mistake of spending too much time comparing her to idealised memories of Kate. Maybe it would have ruined one of his few uncomplicated friendship. But in a life full of dating women who were rebellious, messed up or both, he couldn't help reflecting on the fact that she was the most "like him" woman he had ever met. The only other woman he'd ever been himself with to that extent was Sonya…and that was a road he really didn't want to go too far down.

So last night, when she'd been there in his room, looking fabulous and talking to him in that same relaxed way they'd always talked, it had felt like he'd been given another chance. He'd made love to her…and it astonished him that he actually thought of it in that terms. It had felt so right that nothing would have stopped him seizing that chance with both hands, if not for the awkward detail that he was married to her sister.

Tyler entered the room and shook his head at the sight of Mark. "I swear you're more nervous than I am."

"What have you got to be nervous about?"Mark grumbled. "Everyone knows nothing can split you and Piper up." He hesitated. "I'm sorry I wasn't that supportive of you two in the beginning."

"Ah, water under the bridge. We've all come a long way since then." He adjusted Mark's tie. "Steph's turned up, by the way."

Mark rolled his eyes. "What did you invite her for?"

"Well, we worked together."

"That's two of my exes! Why didn't you just invite Naomi and have done with it?" He paused, looking suspicious. "You didn't invite Naomi, did you?"

"Relax, that's the limit to the awkwardness. Come on, I'm about to get married."

Tyler and Piper's wedding had been as wonderful as everyone had expected. They looked beautiful together. Better, they looked happy together. Imogen recognised something in them that had been missing from her own wedding. It wasn't about the day for them, or some big gesture. It had been about celebrating the life they were already living.

She was pleased for them. There was no doubt about that. But she was also wandering about the reception in a bridesmaid's dress, trying desperately to ignore the fact she was surrounded by happy couples. Tyler and Piper of course, but also his siblings, Aaron with David, and Chloe with Elly. Xanthe had brought Leo as her date and Imogen had no idea how that had even happened. Piper's other high school friend Ben was there with some girl named Willow, who Imogen had been told was Toadie's daughter except she wasn't, which didn't exactly leave her feeling enlightened. Even people who weren't together seemed to have found someone to spend time with, like her parents. She'd passed Lauren at the bar chatting to Steph.

And then, of course, there was Mark. Imogen had noticed him talking with Paige, so presumably they'd made up. Which made her feel depressed and grubby, that that magical encounter between them would just be a footnote in their lives that no-one would know about.

Eventually it reached the point where she couldn't take it anymore and, after making some excuses about jet lag, she'd removed herself from the gathering and headed for the lift.

She'd just started to breathe easily again when Mark got into the lift with her.

She looked sideways at him, telling herself it was just a coincidence. Even if part of her started fantasising about him accompanying her up to her room and ravishing her.

Instead, he hit the lift stop button. He turned to look at her and then kissed her and she kissed him back, and they were pulling at each other's clothes.

"Don't rip the dress!"she said in sudden panic, having visions of having to explain to Piper why the hire people wouldn't accept it back.

Mark paused and gently unzipped the dress. She let it fall to the floor, standing in front of him in her undergarments. She pulled off his jacket and then his shirt, revealing his bare chest, then they kissed again and he pushed her back against the wall…

When she finally made it back to her room, after saying goodbye to Mark by the lift door not with words but with a few conspiratorial smiles, she sank onto the bed feeling a mixture of elation and deflation.

There was a flight to Los Angeles leaving the next day and she was going to be on it. That fact was incontrovertible. And Mark would stay here in Adelaide. Maybe they'd see each other at family gatherings, and perhaps they'd end up with a mutual nephew or niece or two. But her two encounters with him were nothing more than a fantasy than they'd lost themselves in for a few hours. Real life awaited.