Harry Styles is spending the summer in a quiet villa on the French Riviera, hoping to find inspiration for his third album. It's not happening. When he sees a beautiful windsurfer racing across the waves, he believes lessons might be a good distract...
Lia was surprised to find that her hand shook slightly as she reached out to press the buzzer at the large iron gate. After a moment there was a crackle followed by Ed's voice. "Hello?"
"It's Lia – Aeolia - LaRoche, here for windsurfing lessons." She smiled at the camera and the gate swung open. The drive wound down through scrubby pines and around rocky crags, a warm buff color in the afternoon sun. Approaching the house she saw the sea, deep turquoise near the shore, indigo at the horizon. The wind was steady, just brisk enough to make their lesson fun.
Large, white, and very modern, the house sat on a gentle slope with a pool stretching between the large terrace and a lawn that ran down to the rocky shore. Lia remembered that there was a small beach where they could put their boards in, and a protected cove perfect for a beginner. She backed the truck to the corner of the parking area closest to the sea.
An odd looking little woman, wiry, with a spiky ink-black pixie cut, came out the front door and extended one hand to Lia. The other was holding a small sheaf of papers.
"Miss LaRoche, I'm Louise Watson, your client's assistant. May we take care of the agreement? I have a copy for us and one for you. I understand you have experience with documents like this."
Lia took a moment to scan the papers. The client's name was covered by thin strips of white paper tape. These were the most serious precautions she had ever seen. Perfectly comfortable with the agreement, she didn't hesitate to sign.
"I enjoy teaching at residences, Ms. Watson. The student is always more at ease and often the locations are even better suited than the beach in town. This is the second time I've taught here; it's one of my favorite places. Shall I take the boards down to the water? I know the way."
It took two trips for her to get all the equipment across the manicured grass. As she laid it out at the top of the beach, she began to wonder if her student would ever appear, until she heard the hiss of a glass door sliding open.
He was wearing the straw hat and sunglasses, a large white button down shirt, and short red swim trunks. A tattoo peeked out beneath one leg of his suit with every step he took. As he walked toward her, he began to unbutton the shirt, from the bottom up.
When he reached the third button a breeze caught the fabric, exposing his belly - and matching fern leaf tattoos above each hip. Lia took in a quick breath.
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She knew.
Two more buttons and a butterfly spanning his upper belly came into view. The last button was undone, revealing two sparrows, one beneath each collar bone. He peeled the shirt off and let it float to the ground behind him, revealing more tattoos up and down his arms.
After removing his hat and glasses, he held out his hand.
"Hello, I'm Harry." His voice was soft, slow, and husky.
"Hello Harry, I'm Lia. Are you ready to begin?"
Lia had in fact taught a few richer, more famous, and more influential students. She kept her cool, on the surface, as they began her standard first lesson, going over the equipment and the mechanics of sailing.
She maintained a businesslike facade, but her mind was racing.
Lia knew that she was nine months minus one day younger than Harry. She knew that at age ten he had been attacked by a goat. She knew he had sung 'Isn't She Lovely' for his X Factor audition. She knew he had four nipples. She knew he had celebrated the success of Up All Night by purchasing a new mattress. She knew his first band's name was White Eskimo. She knew these things because she had been a Directioner in her teens. She had gone to sleep every night with the man standing in front of her, and his bandmates, on the wall over her bed, their songs in her ear buds.
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While she still loved their music, Lia was no longer obsessed with them by the time the band went on 'hiatus', a term she found ludicrous. She had followed their solo careers to a certain extent; all of Harry and Niall's solo albums, Liam's sexy song , and Zayn's heartbreaking one, were in her current playlists. She felt a bit guilty about not listening to Louis.
But at twenty-six she was far from a fangirl.
And yet... her heart had skipped a beat, or two, when she realized who her student was. She had worried that her voice was shaking as she introduced herself. She really wanted an excuse to touch him. To put her hands in the floppy brown hair. The touching she knew she could manage, the hair was just a daydream.
"Before we get on the water, why don't you practice raising the sail on land so I can help you more easily?" She put her hand flat on the center of his back as he reached to pull the sail off the ground. "If you keep your back straight and bend your knees, you'll have better leverage." There, she was touching him. His skin was warm in the afternoon sun. As he raised the sail, she could feel the play of muscles beneath her hand.
"Now," she said as she placed her other hand on his stomach, between the butterfly and the ferns, "Can you feel how your core does the work instead of your back when you lift this way?" She had never touched a student before when she asked that question. She was shameless.
He didn't seem to think anything was amiss. "Yes, I can. Do you think I'm ready to try on the water?"
She might have sighed as she took her hands away. "Absolutely."
He followed her lead as Lia picked up her equipment and went down the beach and into the cool, clear water of the Mediterranean. Harry watched intently as she climbed on her board and showed him again how to raise his sail. It took him a few tries, but soon they were both sailing.
At the end of the hour he helped carry the gear back to Lia's truck. She had hoped that the conversation would move beyond the lesson, but she knew better than to push. Obviously his privacy was paramount. It wasn't a complete disappointment, however; even windsurfing jargon sounded sexy in his sleepy voice.
Once everything was secure in the truck, he turned to Lia. "Thank you. That was the most fun I've had in quite some time. You'll be back day after tomorrow?"
"I will. Same time?"
"Yes, that's perfect." He patted her shoulder and turned toward the house, raising a hand to wave as he walked away.
