Millie had actually managed to get back to sleep once she had worked out where she was. After having concluded it was best to stay in bed to wait for Leon's return rather than venture out to find him (particularly as she recalled leaving her clothes in the lounge room) she had drifted back into a sound, overheated slumber, completely oblivious to Leon's strutting and fretting in the next room. Her sleep lasted until Leon entered the room, which disturbed her only slightly, causing her naked form to twist under the thin sheet at the first stirrings of her consciousness.

Leon looked longingly at Millie's long red hair strewn across his pillows, the serenity of her face and her milky, shoulders. He noted straight away that the sheet did little to hide the fact that Millie was still naked. He conjectured that it was friction from the cotton sheet as she writhed in her semi-slumber that was responsible for the erect nipples that protruded clearly where the sheet pulled tight across her breasts. He felt his tongue flicker across the back of his teeth at the sight, and he exhaled audibly. The last sound was enough to rouse Millie into almost complete consciousness. Leon hastily tried to collect his composure by looking at Natalie's picture.

Millie opened an eye and realised she felt slightly better than she had when she had woken earlier. She looked up to see Leon standing beside the bed holding two cups of coffee. She checked that she was well covered by the bed clothes, then smiled at him.

"Hey," she said shyly.

"Good morning," replied Leon, holding out a cup. "I thought you could use this."

"Thanks," she said, moving towards him. She realised she wasn't going to be able to move and keep her shoulders completely covered by the sheet, so she tucked it securely under her arms and pulled her knees up to her chest. She took the cup from his hand. "Cheers," she added.

Leon wondered if he should be gallant and leave Millie alone there with the coffee. But it was probably best to get the awkwardness of 'the morning after' out of the way. He sat on the chair by the bed and drank his coffee, unsure of where to look. He figured something had to be said.

"So, are we…OK?"

"Oh, absolutely," Millie nodded, perhaps too heartily. "We both had an awful lot to drink…"

"All Nate's fault, as usual," said Leon.

"Yeah. That Nate! I'll have something to say to him when I see him next! Or maybe not…" Millie added on second thought.

"Hmm, maybe not. Maybe we can just keep this between ourselves."

"Yes, of course. Not that it wasn't fun. You… did enjoy it… didn't you?" Millie felt suddenly insecure.

"Oh yeah, I did. You were, it was, um…wow! I really enjoyed it."

"Yeah, I did too."

"I thought you might not remember. You were pretty drunk."

"It took me a little while to remember, but now my head's cleared a bit I do. You know, it's been a while since I had a one night stand. Not that I do it often or anything…"

"Of course not. Me neither. I guess we're both just lucky that it was with a friend."

Millie drained the last of the coffee from her cup. "Look Leon, you know I do consider you a good friend. I hope this doesn't change things between us."

"No, no, of course it won't. As you say, we're mates. It happened, we can laugh about it and get back to the way things were."

"Sure."

Millie didn't quite like the phrase 'laugh about it' and was lost for words. They both fell silent. Leon took refuge from the awkwardness by staring out into space. Millie slyly took the chance to look him over. She would never have pegged him as her type, and facial hair was generally a turn off for her, but there was something about Leon's dishevelled appearance she had always found sexy. And seeing him there in a tee shirt and shorts, looking rather worse for wear, only heightened his grungy charms. She began to find herself wishing she'd remembered more about sleeping with him last night.

Millie found her desire for Leon making an appearance once again, and in true Millie-fashion, this made her nervous. She had to think of something to say to break the spell.

"You know, when I woke up this morning, I didn't know where I was. When I saw the photo on the bedside, I thought I'd slept with a married man, or at least someone with a girl friend. I was so relieved when I realised…oh God Leon, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it to come out like that!"

Millie felt she sounded like she was rubbing Leon's almost-widower status in his face. She wasn't sure what he was thinking, but she could see she had hurt him. She uncoiled her legs and reached out to touch his arm.

Millie's words had slightly stung Leon, but he knew that she blathered on when she was nervous and that she hadn't meant to offend him. Anyway, what most took his attention about the whole exchange was that when Millie moved the sheet fell off her, leaving her completely exposed down to her waist. He had only caught glimpses of her in the half-light last night, so apart from his imaginings in the shower, this was his first real taste of how she looked naked. And he liked it.

Although Millie hastily covered herself up, Leon felt his body electrified again by desire for her. Millie was flustered by her exposure, but as she caught the look in Leon's eyes and saw the effect she'd had on him, she felt a renewed sense of herself as desirable and sexy.

"Millie," said Leon, making his way over to the bed. "Do you want to..?"

"Yes, I do," she replied, pulling away the bed clothes as an invitation for him to join her. And after removing his tee shirt and shorts, that's just what he did.