salute [h.s]

i'll see your face again

"You're jumpy," Harry pointed out as he snatched the card out of her hand, swatting away her attempts to grab it back. He flipped the card over so it went into the lock the proper way and then pushed the door open when the lock turned green. "And you're being skittish and defensive —"

"I'm not being defensive."

Harry gave her a pointed look as he backed into the room and Piper realized she'd just made his point for him. "I know you, Piper. I know when you're up to something," Harry reminded her, as if she needed reminding. It was nearly impossible to keep things from him because of how well he knew her so it was a miracle she'd kept the secret this long. She wasn't going to blow it and give it away now. She just needed him to stay distracted for — she checked her watch quickly — the next three and a half minutes.

"Could you just —" Harry stopped dead in the middle of the entranceway to their darkened hotel suite, refusing to budge. When she tried to move around him, he sidestepped so he was in her way. When this happened two more times, she had to stop herself from giving him a hard shove, keeping in mind that he was holding one of the most toxic chemicals in the world. "You are the most infuriating man on this entire planet!"

"But you love me," he said with a smirk. She scoffed, rolling her eyes, but couldn't help the little grin that tugged at her cheeks. As much as she wanted to hit him sometimes, she did love him, the wanker.

"Yes, I love you," she told him, delighting in the way his cheeks split into a wide grin. No matter how many times she'd said it before, he never seemed to get tired of hearing that. Sometimes he'd make her say it again, two or three or ten times in a row just to hear it, and she'd indulge him because it was an easy truth to share. "And because I love you, I've worked my arse off organizing a surprise for you as your Christmas present and if you don't move out of the bloody way you're going to ruin it."

Harry's eyebrows shot right up his forehead. "A surprise? For me?"

"Yes, for you," Piper said as she rolled her eyes, pushing past him now that he was distracted. He let her go, his light footsteps following behind her as she moved through the living room of their sweet toward the desk along the far wall. "Who else would it be for?"

"But you already got me a Christmas gift."

"Sex doesn't count as a Christmas gift."

"It does when you're wearing those cute snowflake knickers with the bow on them." There was a wolfish smirk on Harry's face as he crowded her in against the desk, dipping to press a kiss to her jaw. "I had plenty of fun unwrapping you for Christmas."

"Oh, get off." Piper gave him a shove to increase the breathing room between them because if she let his lips anywhere near her, then they'd definitely miss the window for her surprise. She pointed toward the suitcases stacked against the wall, shaking her finger at them as she lifted her other hand to her forehead which suddenly felt flushed. That damn man could set her body on fire with just one touch. "Go put the case away. Or did you forget that you're carrying a container of VX?"

Harry grinned mischievously, shrugging a shoulder. Piper knew he hadn't forgotten at all — he was too good at his job to forget a key detail like his possession of the most dangerous toxin in the world — but he'd probably been willing to bang her against the desk holding that damn case in his hands the entire time. "If you say one thing about multitasking," she added warningly, "I will shoot you with your own gun."

"I'd like to see you try," he said challengingly, giving her a wink as he backed away from her slowly. She stuck out her tongue, ignoring his bright laugh as she spun away from him. Once she could hear him fiddling with the locks on the reinforced suitcases they'd brought along to transport the VX cannisters, she got to work.