Golden Luckenbooth

Seven

The light in my eyes is too bright. "Shortbread! Are you playing with the curtains again?" I cover my eyes with one hand and lift my head, feeling a friction under my cheek which causes me to reach out a hand and touch – chest. Oh yeah. I'm not at home. My lips slowly turn upwards in a grin, and I twist my head to plant my chin right over his extra nipple on the left side, near the tip of the moth's wing. Allowing my gaze to roam over what I can see of his face, I spy the scar on his chin, and the dimple on the left side – although shallow in sleep – is still visible.

Damn. He's handsome. Which is an understatement. How is this my life? And try as I might, I cannot come up with some way in which he's not – perfect. There. I said it. He's Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in every way. And I'm the one that gets to slip between the sheets with him. Right now anyway. His adoring fans across the globe would be jealous and hateful towards me if they knew. Which shouldn't reflect on Harry. I mean, it's not his fault they send misogynistic, hateful messages to his girlfriends.

Not that I'm one of his girlfriends. Definitely not. I don't think fucking him a few times would summon the same wrath. Oh, I'd get a lot of hate if word got out, but nothing like the women with whom he's linked for extended times.

Calm down, Anna. No reason for anyone to know. So far, the only people who have seen us together are the Cockburns, and they're unlikely to sell the news to the tabloids. They probably don't even know who he is. Besides, we're just playing house here. Pretending that we're a couple. A couple of randy bonobos who can't stop trying new positions, exploring fantasies, playing games.

"I have sex toys at home."

"Hmmmm?" Harry's sleepy voice is the sexiest of all. It's got that gravelly thing that makes my toes curl and floods my system with all of the sex hormones at one time. "You'd rather use a sex toy?"

"Definitely not, you eejit. But we could certainly play with them – together," I smirk.

Suddenly, I'm on my back, Harry hovering above me, his eyes locked on mine. "Now?"

"Right this second? Ummm...let me think — Holy fuck! I'm such an eejit! Harry! My cous- um, clerk comes in today! What time is it?" I reach for my phone on the bedside table and glance at the time before shoving at Harry's body. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I've got to go, Harry. My office hours start in less than 20 minutes."

Naked, I propel myself out of bed. Gotta get dressed. No. Gotta wee. My hair. Fucking hell. It's everywhere. "Hair ties. Harry! Do you have any hair ties?"

Groggily, he sits up in bed, watching me scramble for my clothes that are scattered all over the bedroom. Finding my bra, I pull that on first, yanking my cami over the top. "Harry! Focus. I need a hair tie. Does Ellis – fuck. Her hair is too short. Maybe she has one anyway. Go look, Harry!"

Lazily, he shifts to the side of the bed, his feet on the floor, The Whale decidedly less whale-like this morning.

I start to pull on my jeans, stopping with one leg in. "Shit. I need panties. Where are mine?"

"You sure you were wearing any, darlin'?"

Choosing to ignore the endearment, I remove my jeans, shaking them which causes my panties to escape one leg hole. "As I suspected," I murmur. "Harry! Don't just sit there! I need a hair tie!"

"Anna –" He says my name and then pauses in that slow-speaking manner of his that doesn't help right now when I need him to fucking focus. Running a hand through his hair, he wipes his face with the same hand. "What's the bloody emergency?"

Deciding it will be faster to explain and get him on my side, I pause once I've put on my panties, planting my hands on my hips. "Okay, Mr. I-Need-The-Whole-Story. My clerk-slash-secretary is coming in today. She'll expect me to enter through the house. When I don't, she'll go looking for me. She'll find that my bed hasn't been slept in, and then she'll call the police, and then my parents will find out I'm missing, and my dad will freak out, and my mum will have a heart attack, and we'll be all over the tabloids because they're going to find out we're fuck buddies. Oh, and my clerk is also my cousin, so she'll make sure everyone in the family knows. I will never have peace again. So can you please, pretty please, help me find a fucking hair tie?"