The Accidental Romeo (9 page)

‘So that’s that, then,’ Harry said as he read it.

‘Sorry?’

‘I wasn’t going to say anything but I was hoping that I might be able to juggle things next week—the incubation period is just about up and there was this tiny window of possibility that the twins could go back to day care on Monday...’ He gave a wry laugh as he read out the text. ‘Charlotte has spots—don’t worry, right now she’s delighted.’

‘Poor Atlas,’ Marnie said as she watched the load he was carrying drop just a touch heavier on his shoulders. She looked at his profile and knew she’d miss him.

A lot.

‘Do you need to get back?’

‘I’ll call her,’ Harry said. ‘And see how she is.’ Except his phone battery was almost flat. ‘Can I use yours?’

‘Sure.’ She went to go in her bag to get it but changed her mind. ‘Use the landline.’

‘Marnie...’ Harry started, and then changed his mind. ‘Sure, a coffee would be great.’ It was a long drive to his sister’s after all.

But Marnie was over playing games.

‘Harry, you
know
we’re going to sleep together. So we can make this all awkward and have a coffee that neither of us wants and then a quick fumble at the door...’ She loved it when he smiled.

‘Won’t it complicate things?’

‘There’s nothing complicated about sex.’ Marnie smiled. ‘And we don’t work together any more.’

‘I think—’

But she halted him. ‘You’ve done enough thinking for the day.’

She was possibly the perfect woman for Harry right now, he decided as he tasted her moist, full lips.

And there was nothing nicer than the warmth of his kiss when you were freezing, Marnie told herself as his arms slid around hers. And could there be anyone better than Harry to get your second wind with? Because suddenly Marnie wasn’t remotely tired.

‘Come on,’ Marnie said. ‘Let’s get you to bed!

But first he called Charlotte and congratulated her on her spots.

‘I’ll stop and get some more supplies before I come and get you,’ Harry said. ‘Yep. Don’t worry, I won’t get there till dinner.’ Marnie was taking off her cardigan as Cathy must have come on the phone. ‘She’s worried I’m going to pick her up before she gets to eat your pizza.’ He looked at Marnie as he talked on about how today had gone well. Well, as well as funeral could go. ‘Thanks for this week,’ Harry said. ‘No, Cathy, I get it. I know you can’t take another week off...’ He hesitated. ‘No.’ Harry’s response was firm. ‘Mum and Dad are okay for the odd night, but it’s not fair to ask for a week.’

They just stared for a very long moment and there was something lovely about no longer working together, something really nice about being two people who were quite comfortable keeping their sex lives separate from the rest of their lives.

They both knew the other’s rules.

They’d both wanted the other on sight.

‘Come here,’ Harry said, and it took just two words. Marnie stepped into his space and Harry looked down, lingering a moment safe in the knowledge there was no need for holding back now.

‘You drove me crazy this morning.’

‘I know.’

‘You always do.’

‘I know.’ Marnie smiled.

She felt his mouth on hers, felt her tongue slide in and, yes, it was nice not to think.

Marnie, though she would never admit it to herself let alone Harry, was taken slightly aback by her own reaction to his mouth. She’d missed it, had been thinking about their kiss far more than she perhaps ought, and now he was back, his mouth sinking into hers, its demand building. She opened her eyes and saw Harry’s were closed and it was an incredible turn-on to see him simply indulge. So lovely to feel his hands stop fighting their need for contact and roam free, down her waist, then to her bottom, and despite his height they were an incredible fit, Marnie thought, so incredible that it would be terribly easy to forget about bed.

Harry lifted her top, slid it over her head and moaned as his hands felt the bare skin he had craved. His fingers unhooked her bra and his mouth was enough to make her sink to her knees with Harry joining her.

‘Harry...’ She pulled back and he opened his eyes, waited for the inevitable excuses and the reasons that this was a terrible idea, but he still didn’t know Marnie.

‘I need to have a shower,’ Marnie said, and he laughed for the second time in a very short space of time and, no, he didn’t mind the delay in proceedings, especially with what she said next. ‘I’d like to be clean before we get dirty.’

Marnie headed into her bedroom and picked up the alarm. ‘What time do you need to leave?’ she asked.

‘Six.’

‘I’ll set it for five, then.’ She was almost clinical in her approach yet for Harry it was sexy. He liked independence; heaven knew, there were so many people dependent on him. He liked the rarity of Marnie and her utter ease, combined with the delicious trepidation that he felt as she headed for the shower.

He heard the taps turn on as he closed the curtains of her bay window and undressed. It was an adult reprieve that had been building and with someone who fascinated him more and more. Someone with whom he could be himself, or rather he could go back to the man he had once been.

Naked, he walked into the bathroom and pulled back the curtain, stood watching her washing her hair, and she opened her eyes and smiled.

‘You didn’t come empty-handed, I hope.’

‘No.’

‘Come in, then.’

He picked up the soap and put the little silver wrapper in the holder, and there was nothing to stop them now.

‘I hate showers,’ Marnie said, looking down as his large hands lathered the soap and then slid over her breasts. ‘Or maybe I don’t.’ He was as slow and as deliciously thorough as she had thought he would be. Marnie watched as he soaped her breasts, her nipples stretching and puckering, and then she took the soap from him, lathered her hands and then dropped it.

It was Harry who paused, stared down as her hands stroked the length of him, over and over. He stood, staring as if in some delicious hypnotic trance that they’d be jolted out of any second. Marnie knew it too, she felt the swell and the lift of the balls she cupped in her hand and she was so turned on watching Harry that she wouldn’t have cared if his hand hadn’t halted her.

He was struggling to hold back, and he kissed her till he was back from the edge. The shiver that went through her had nothing to with exhaustion or cold as Harry lowered his head to her breast.

Her breasts had been on his mind for so long, that long glimpse of them nestled in her lacy bra had been dancing in his mind’s eyes since the kiss in her office. The taste of her wet, warm flesh in his mouth was more than worth the wait.

Marnie watched his tongue taking its time, building her urgency, and before she even begged she watched as her nipple disappeared into to the soft vacuum of his mouth. She felt his hand slide up her thigh and she just about folded over, holding onto his head for support.

Maybe she did like showers after all, she thought as Harry tended to the other breast for a while, ensuring she was flushed and dizzy from his generous tastings before his mouth moved down.

‘Harry...’

He ignored her, knelt down and parted her legs. He retrieved the soap and washed her intimately, teasing out her clitoris till it was as erect as he’d left her nipples and then burying his face in her sex as his fingers slid deep inside.

Marnie usually took for ever to come but not this afternoon. She was pressing Harry’s head in, watching him feast, buckling her legs to him, then accidentally blasting them with cold water as she grabbed a tap for support as she gave in to his mouth.

Harry loved the icy blast to his shoulders as he felt her heat in his mouth; he loved hearing the very controlled Marnie losing it to his tongue then shivering in his arms.

‘More hot I think...’ Harry said.

It was steamy, it was lovely and Harry had but a few minutes’ patience left in him. He stood and watched as she tore the wrapper and both looked down as she gave him a little stroke and a tease.

‘Sometimes I look down and just smile,’ Marnie said at the sight of her hands tenderly wrapping her present as she slid the condom down.

‘We’ll slip,’ Marnie warned as he picked her up, and she slid down on his length and Harry did his best to hold her, hot and slippery in his hands; but there was just a little too much energy between them, the sex they wanted a touch too vigorous to assure safety. ‘We’re going to end up in Emergency,’ Marnie warned as he tried to get back to her breasts and she wrapped her legs tighter around him.

‘They might have to send the flying squad out to us,’ Harry said, giving up on the pleasure of her wet breast. She put her arms around his neck and still they kissed, but it was terribly difficult in her tiny shower and Harry wanted to see more of her.

He turned the taps off and carried her to the bed, letting her back till her shoulders rested and Marnie looked up to the stunning sight of him, dripping wet and devouring her with his eyes.

Her ankles were wrapped around his hips and he had one hand under her buttocks, the other stroking her as he thrust into her, but she pushed his hand away and gave full invitation.

She’d thought Harry sexy but she knew now just how sexy he was. Felt the grip of his hands on her hips and the delicious sight of him for once concentrating on himself. It was bliss to be moved by him, to be taken. The slap of wet skin and the feel of Harry unleashed deep inside, so potent even the soles of Marnie’s feet seemed to contract as she started to writhe beneath him, not that Harry let her go anywhere.

He held her hips so tight as he shot into her that Marnie fought to arch, the suppression forcing the channels of energy back to where Harry delivered his final thrusts deep inside her. It tipped Marnie into the deepest orgasm of her life—her thighs shaking, her bottom lifting, grateful for the hands that held her firm as she rode the deep waves that coursed through her.

And Harry watched her collapse.

He could hardly breathe, he could see the flush on her cheeks and breasts and the tension in her throat as she spasmed around him. He watched and felt as slowly it all dissipated, yet the sight was almost enough for him to go again.

Yet almost better than the sex for Harry was afterwards. He kept waiting for the comedown, and so did Marnie, but right now it was just a matter of sleeping.

For the first time in what felt like for ever the world was a worry-free zone.

CHAPTER TEN

‘P
RESS
SNOOZE
,’ M
ARNIE
said.

‘It’s on your side.’

It was very hard, trying to reach the alarm with Harry spooned into her and his strong arm holding her tight.

Marnie pressed snooze and felt his erection nudging, pulled a little packet from the drawer and, really, she’d have loved not to bother. And Harry would have loved not to bother either.

They were too sensible for that.

It did break the moment, though, a moment that neither usually minded breaking, but Harry soon got back behind her. ‘Where were we?’ he asked, nuzzling the back of her neck. The alarm going off the second time didn’t actually ruin things as she reached over and turned it off. It felt natural for Harry to pull her back to his warm body and slide himself in.

Marnie loved half waking to Harry. She loved this slow, lazy sex where she barely had to move, and she loved his breath in her ear.

‘I remember you now,’ Harry said. ‘I offered to buy you a drink.’

‘No,’ Marnie corrected, as he rocked deep inside her. ‘The drinks were free that night.’

‘I offered to get you a drink...’

‘No,’ Marnie corrected again, but she couldn’t really think straight. She was trying to turn her head to meet his mouth, trying to stop her own orgasm because she didn’t want it over just yet, or maybe she did because conversation was forgotten now as both surrendered to the bliss and then lay there for a few moments afterwards. Harry stroked her stomach; Marnie felt him soften and gradually slip away.

She didn’t want him to leave.

Harry didn’t particularly want to go home either. On a wretched, black day he’d glimpsed peace and it would be so incredibly easy to just drop all balls completely and close his eyes and sleep.

But he never would.

‘I’d better go soon.’

She turned to him and decided that, yes, he’d better because she was so comfortable, so warm, so
enjoying
being with him; it would be too easy to kiss him, or for them to both close their eyes and convince themselves they could wake up if they had just five minutes’ more sleep.

‘Go on.’ She disentangled herself and for Harry it was incredibly hard to haul himself out of bed.

‘When the twins are better...’

‘Harry...’ She shook her head, didn’t really want to spell out to him that a single father of two wasn’t quite the date she had in mind.

He picked up his shirt and held it up. ‘You couldn’t give this a quick iron, could you?’

‘Don’t even joke.’

As he did up his shirt, Harry caught sight of a blonde Marnie holding her son and, yes, he hadn’t been lying, he did remember her now.

‘I asked why you were leaving,’ Harry said. ‘You didn’t answer.’

‘Yes, well, you wouldn’t have liked it if I had,’ Marnie said. ‘I’d just found out I was pregnant.’

‘What went wrong?’ He wondered if he’d asked too much. There were so many no-go areas with Marnie—it would seem from her previous response that dinner and a bottle of wine was a no-no, yet, Harry realised as she started to answer him, she was prepared now to talk a little about her son.

‘Premature,’ Marnie said. ‘Poor little thing didn’t stand a chance—I had a placenta the size of an AA battery...’ It was a dark joke and Harry didn’t smile; he just picked up the photo and looked at them both as Marnie spoke on. ‘So not only was he premature, he was also small for dates. Then he got an HAI and was just too small to fight it.’

No wonder she was obsessive about hand-washing and curtains being changed, Harry thought—a hospital-acquired infection explained a lot of things but it was as if she’d read his thoughts.

‘I was always a clean-freak.’ Marnie smiled. ‘Even before Declan got so ill but, yes, I go a bit overboard at work.’

‘I don’t blame you.’

‘You’d better go,’ Marnie said. It felt strange to watch him holding her picture. It felt strange to be discussing that time with anyone other than Siobhan, who, even on the other side of the world, still nursed her through the yearly hell of birthdays and anniversaries and all the things you really needed a cuddle for, but a computer screen or telephone call had to suffice.

Harry didn’t want to go, not just because he wanted to climb back into bed and forget the world for a moment. It was more that there was so much to Marnie that he’d like to know, so much about today he was having trouble letting go of.

So many things that he didn’t want to end, and so he tried again.

‘Do you want to go out at the weekend?’

‘I’d imagine you’d have trouble getting a babysitter for twins with chickenpox.’

‘I guess...’ He felt strange walking off, as if he’d been using her, when for Harry it had been anything but. ‘Have you had chickenpox?’

‘I have.’

‘Maybe you could come over. I could cook.’

‘Harry, don’t spoil it.’ She was incredibly direct.

She made no excuses, Harry noticed as he dressed, and he should be glad of it. Glad for a woman who knew what she wanted—and a single dad to twins wasn’t high on her list.

She was just moving to the top of his.

Marnie was lying in bed, watching him as he did up his tie but then, as he came over and sat down to kiss her goodbye, she suddenly found a solution.

This too will pass.

She could almost hear Dr Vermont say the words.

‘Thank God we don’t work together...’ Harry gave a rueful smile as she reached for his tie and, as Marnie so loved to do, straightened it.

‘About that,’ Marnie said.

‘About what?’

‘Do you have a bath?’

‘Yes.’

‘How about I move in for a week?’

Harry grinned. ‘This from a woman who doesn’t even want to come out with me for dinner.’

‘I’m not talking about dating or romance,’ Marnie said. ‘I’m talking about me moving in and, between us, taking care of the children. Harry, you’re in the eye of the storm at the moment but in a week’s time you’ll have your lady back to help with the children, Juan will be working... If by then you still want to take yourself off and become hand surgeon of the year...’ She made a little joke and then stopped because actually she was completely serious. ‘My moving in for a week would give you a pause.’

‘Why would you do that?’

‘Because, I don’t want the department that I’ve just started running to fall apart.’

‘I can’t drag you from your home.’

‘It’s hardly a home,’ Marnie said. ‘I’ve only been here five minutes!’

She simply didn’t get attached to anything, Harry realised, but it would be so very easy to get attached to her, and he wasn’t just thinking about himself when he spoke.

‘It would be too confusing for the children,’ he said, because, for all his faults, he had managed to keeps his flings well away from them, and Marnie in his bed for a week... He shook his head but then realised that for Marnie this
was
strictly business.

She really could separate the two.

‘I’m not going to be sleeping with you, Harry, especially if there’s a chance we are going to continue working together. There’ll be no confusion.’ Marnie smiled. ‘I only want you professionally, Harry. It will be a working arrangement.’

‘I can’t ask you to take time off work to look after my kids.’

‘Who said anything about that? I have the weekend off already, a day off in lieu of nights on Monday, and I’ll take a management day on Tuesday and sort out those bloody rosters once and for all from home.’

His mind was turning faster. It was maybe, possibly doable.

‘I could do a couple of nights on the days you’re working. If I can sit down with Helen and work out some shifts...’

‘We can work it,’ Marnie said. ‘It’s just one week. I need a doctor for my department, Harry. I have no intention of failing.’

He looked at Marnie, sitting on the bed, the tiniest yet strongest woman he had ever met, and the most determined too. ‘I doubt you could.’