Both of them froze.
The voice sounded like it had come from the kitchen.
Emily stared at her husband, wide-eyed.
Jason strode through into the kitchen, where the command box he had set up earlier sat on the refectory table, the green light glowing, showing it was operative. The wall-mounted television was on, with some soap playing. A middle-aged man and a woman were arguing furiously.
He stared at the screen. Quietly attempting to pacify the woman, the man insisted, ‘I’m telling you, it is!’
‘No, it isn’t!’ she yelled back, at full volume.
‘Command!’ Jason said. ‘Mute television!’
Instantly, the couple continued their argument in silence.
‘Command! Television off!’
The screen went dark.
He went back to the living room, smiling with relief. Emily was standing near the front window, peering up at the command box speaker grille set into the wall, high up.
‘The wonders of technology,’ he said, looking up, too. ‘Our home command box with a mind of its own – it must have switched the television on. I’ll have a proper fiddle with it tomorrow – I think I tried to set it up too quickly.’ He picked up his glass and nodded at the ceiling. ‘That christening mark – right?’
‘Right?’ she said, quizzically.
He poured some champagne into his mouth, set his glass down on the glass coffee table, put his arms around her and pressed his lips to hers, gently releasing the bubbly into her mouth. Then he murmured, ‘Talking of christening the house, we’ve been here for ten hours now and we haven’t yet bonked.’ He ran his hands down her midriff, levered his fingers inside her jeans and popped the buttons.
‘Mr Danes,’ she murmured back, pleasurably. ‘Are you trying to seduce me?’
‘No, I’m not trying,’ he said as his fingers explored deeper. ‘I am seducing you.’
‘Let’s go upstairs.’
‘No, here!’
She jerked her head at the window. ‘They can see us!’
‘Great – let’s give them a real show then!’
‘No.’
‘Yes.’
‘No!’
‘Yes!’ He tugged her jeans down over her buttocks.
‘Jason, no, upstairs! You’re wicked! Our neighbours can bloody see!’
‘So what?’ He pulled her, gently, down onto the large, white sofa, kissing her and probing away her objections with his fingers. She tugged hard at his T-shirt, pulling it over his head, then began to work on his flies.