He stood naked at the open window, forehead pressed against the cool glass, feeling dull and heavy after a restless sleep in the hot airless room. The cold air was good on his damp skin and he opened his eyes to the milky light of a huge rising moon. Lunar craters glittered like jewels in the clear cold night and he smiled at the sheer beauty of it.
A bat flickered in and out of the shadows and an owl screeched. Then a long moan came from beneath the duvet on the bed behind him.
‘I’m coooooold.’
‘How can you be cold wrapped in a bloody arctic quilt with the central heating on full blast?’
‘Come to bed. You’ll freeze.’
‘I’m trying to cool down.’
‘If you didn’t thrash around like a maniac you wouldn’t get too hot. I swear you’re going to murder me in your sleep one night. What were you dreaming about tonight anyway?’
‘I was probably saving you from a fate worse than death.’
Tousled blond hair and one eye appeared from beneath the duvet. ‘What’s that then?’
‘I’ll get back into bed and show you in a minute.’
She chuckled. ‘In your dreams. Don’t you realise we’re thermally incompatible.’