Right Now

45. Don't let the pictures leave your phone

When I woke up the next morning, I was in bed alone. The heavy blackout curtains weren't quite pulled flush together, and thanks to a chink of light slicing into the darkness, I could see that the covers on Harry's side had been thrown back, and he was gone. It took me a moment in my still half-asleep state to realise I could hear his voice, but I couldn't work out where it was coming from or what he was saying. I sat up in bed and twisted around; the bathroom door was shut.

After listening to the jumble of sounds from behind the closed door for a moment I realised he was on the phone. A minute or so later the door opened and Harry emerged, still clad in just his boxer shorts. God, he was a gorgeous specimen of humanity.

"Good morning beautiful," he said, spotting that I was awake as he put his phone on the bedside table and slid back under the covers. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No," I told him. I glanced at the clock, which said it was 8.15am. "About time I was awake, anyway."

I didn't expect him to volunteer any information about the phone call, but I was pleased when he said, "I just phoned Richard at Modest! I know it was early for a Sunday morning but I needed to get on to him about Andrea. Fortunately, he's an early riser."

At the mention of Andrea's name my stomach twisted.

"What did you say about her?" I asked.

"I explained what a pain in the arse she has been about you and asked him to tell her to back off. He agrees that she's overstepped the mark and will have a talk to her."

"Really? He'll do that?"

"Yep, it's in everyone's best interests to keep us happy, especially as our contract with Modest! is coming up for renewal soon. I told him that having you around makes me happy, and that Andrea just needs to get over whatever her issue is. Because, hopefully, you're going to be around a lot more."

He gave me a tentative smile as he said that, and my heart soared.

"I hope so, too," I said, feeling a little shy all of a sudden. "I'd like that."

I don't know who made the first move, but in the next moment I was in his arms, and his mouth was on mine. He'd cleaned his teeth and tasted minty, making me conscious of the fact I had morning breath. But Harry didn't seem to care. He kissed me like I was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted, and I never wanted it to end.

But eventually he pulled away from me and said, "Sorry, but much more of that and I'm going to have to sing the National Anthem."

I was about to apologise yet again for being on my period and not being able to have sex but I thought, Okay, he gets it. No need to keep saying I'm sorry.

"So anyway, Emma, how are you feeling this morning?" Harry asked. "Any better?"

I paused for a moment to analyse my pain levels. "Probably a five out of 10, compared with seven out of 10 yesterday and 11 out of 10 on Friday. The pain is there, but I can handle it, especially once I've taken my painkillers."

"That's good news," he said. "Because I was wondering if you were up for a bit of sightseeing today, before you fly home. You've hardly left the hotel; I thought maybe you might like to do a boat tour of the canals to get a look at Amsterdam."

My pulse beat a little faster at that.

"Oh Harry, that would be wonderful, thank you."

And then something occurred to me. "But can we do that without being seen?"

"Yep," he nodded. "We can book a private sightseeing boat, we've done that before when we've come here. We'll probably have to have a couple of people with us in case we do get spotted – its less likely to get people talking if there are a few of us, instead of just you and me. My bodyguard Dale will be there of course, and I thought about asking Cal and Lou and maybe Kim."