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Chapter 7.

The only surprise here is you Harry.

Maurine looks between us with an amused expression, thinking that this interaction between us is just friendly banter.

If only she knew I'd spent all of this time trying to wipe this mans face from my memory.

Harry runs his fingers through his mess of curls, pushing them up off his forehead looking at me with that mischievous dimple anchored in his cheek.

It's making my blood boil.

Maurine pats my behind "Now off you go, everything will be fine here, you kids go have fun"

"Oh no, Maurine honestly, I can stay, it's such short notice..." I try to reason quickly, hoping she will agree so I don't have to spend any more time with this man.

Maurine scowls, shooing me with her hands "Nonsense, I don't want to hear another word about it, get going"

The fact that Maurine is so kind is coming back to royally bite me in the ass.

"Fine" I sigh and I throw my head back, staring at the ceiling as I turn to make my way around the counter, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me instead.

If he thinks for one second he's getting away with this, or that I'm going anywhere with him he is sorely mistaken.

I untie my apron, throwing it on the bench behind the counter and grabbing my handbag as I walk around it to meet Harry on the other  side.

He's leant against the counter, twirling his rings around on his fingers, watching my movements intently.

He seems totally unfazed by my frustration, in fact as usual he seems to only find it entertaining.

I'm even more annoyed by how good he looks, it's infuriating how enchanting he is and that I can't help but still be in awe over it.

It's completely unfair.

When I reach him, Harry picks a cup off of the counter, nodding his head towards Maurine with another heart stopping smile "Thank you for the cup of ice, and letting me steal Abby away for a few hours, you're an angel"

I'm struck by his out of character politeness, but I'm not fooled by it, I can tell its a well executed act just to get what he wants, and I'll be damned if it didn't work.

"Any time, you're welcome here any time young man" Maurine smiles back, looking eagerly between the both of us.

Someone kill me.

Harry extends a bent elbow out to me "Shall we? "

I link my arm through his begrudgingly, giving Maurine a tight smile as Harry leads me towards the front door.

As soon as its closed behind us I rip my arm away from his, throwing my hands in the hair "Harry what the hell do you think you're doing!"

Harry's lips tug upwards, as he reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a silver flask, and unscrews the lid with his thumb "Taking you out for a surprise, weren't you listening to young Maurine in there?"

I stare at him like he has lost his mind, which I'm fairly sure he didn't have any sanity to begin with "How do you even know where I work? You can't just show up like this!"

Harry tips his flask into his cup, his amused expression only growing, the brown liquid splashing as pours he pours it and my face only grows more incredulous.

"It's 11am, are you seriously drinking right now?" I say, scrunching my nose in disbelief.

"You seem stressed" he smiles "Had a rough week love?"