Two Truths & A Lie

Chapter 16

"Open those gorgeous brown eyes for me, you pretty little thing."

Dear God, having that raspy voice be the first thing to flow into my ears in the morning was something I hoped I could only hear every morning for the rest of my days. The way it articulated every little "t" and elongated each "o" was like music to my ears. I was perfectly happy waking up to Harry, but wanting to hear his voice drawing me from my sleep once more, I groaned playfully and buried my face in my pillow.

"Don't be like that, lovely girl. I'm only trying to spend as much of my day with you as possible. I mean awake you. Not asleep you." He pressed his plump lips to the skin just above my shoulder blade, dragging his mouth downward and across the small of my back. What a dream. I sighed, taking in every bit of contact. Memories of last night flooded my mind - as in all of the twisting of our bodies and the easy movement of Harry pushing into me over and over... Harry's humming drew me from my thoughts.

"I've drawn us a warm bath, Love. We'll let the warm water wake us up," he said, turning me on the bed and slipping his arms under my back and knees. Sleepily, I allowed myself to be scooped up and carried to the bathroom.

"I love this whole bathroom-connected-to-your-room thing. Davis and I have to share a bathroom and I don't think this would ever be possible," Harry said, setting my naked and listless body atop the cold toilet cover. Finally, my eyes opened slowly to see him, his own bare body bent over the side of the tub as he felt the water and added more from the spout. He nearly fell into the bath when I reached out and pinched his bum.

"So you are awake!" He laughed, covering his butt and leaning toward me for a kiss.

"No!" I blurted, covering my mouth. "I have the worst morning breath."

"Oh, come on. Just a peck."

"No!"

"Em!" Harry knelt in front of me and put his hands on my knees, pouting and attempting to convince me with puppy dog eyes. His hair was standing up all over as if he had been electrocuted, little swoops and curls separated by tiny braids that I had twisted into his hair last night before falling asleep.

I giggled, shook my head at him, and crossed my arms over my chest. "Just let me brush my teeth first! You're about to overflow the bathtub anyway!" I exclaimed, pointing at the water which was dangerously close to the edge of the white tub.

While Harry scrambled to cut off the water, I walked to the sink to grab a toothbrush. I wanted to evaporate into thin air the minute I saw my reflection in the mirror. Being woken up by a human as gorgeous as Harry almost made me forget just how awful I looked in the mornings. I squeezed some toothpaste on to the brush and started to scrub my teeth - if there was anything I could improve at the moment, it was my breath. The minute I was done, I would have to dive into the hot bath and dunk my head to fix the mess of hair and dark circles under my eyes.

While I brushed, I did happen to notice the dark red mark on the left side of my neck that both Harry and Zayn were staring at last night after my scrap with Rob.

"God, I didn't even realize he was actually biting me," I mumbled with a mouth full of toothpaste, running my finger over the spot that looked more like a bite rather than a hickey.

Harry waited for me to spit and rinse before observing the mark himself. "I didn't hit that bastard hard enough," he seemed to whisper to himself, his eyebrows coming together as he ran his thumb over the spot. "He goes to all of the parties?"

I nodded. "Him and his band of 30-year-old ding-a-lings. They work at the movie theaters and the grocery stores and live in their parent's basement. It's awful."