Karen awoke the next morning wanting a shag so badly that the sound of Harry's cheerful "Good morning" almost sent her running downstairs just so she could pounce on him and have her evil way with him. "Oh for God's sake, I've got to calm down! It's just bloody sex." she grumbled. "Nothing to get so worked up over."
Meanwhile, Harry was below pacing the kitchen. The sound of the bedsprings moving as Karen got up were almost too much for him. "God, I wish I could just go up there and sweep her off to bed for the day." he thought. Looking down at his mug, he muttered, "Maybe I need to stop drinking so much tea. It's obviously done something deranged to my mind."
When Karen entered the kitchen, there was a mutual eyeing of the other. "Dear Lord I want her!" Harry thought. What actually came out of his mouth was, "You look very nice today." Karen smiled a trifle triumphantly. Her walking was finally beginning to pay off. "Oh thank you dear. Looking closer at his face, she realized that he wasn't wearing his glasses. "Did something happen to your glasses?" she asked, concerned.
"No." he replied. "I got some contacts. I just didn't want to wear them yesterday with my eyes being so tired." Karen's hand was a little wobbly as she set her tea down on the table. Now one could clearly see into Harry's beautiful and inviting chocolate brown eyes. She had never really noticed how his eyes held a glimmer of mischievous light in them. "You look quite nice as well.' she replied, mentally kicking himself for not saying something more brilliant. "Thanks." he said in his soft velvet voice. Closing her eyes, Karen thought that she could listen to him talk all day.
"Now I know I'm crazy." she told herself firmly. "For bollocks sake, I'm not some randy school girl! I can restrain myself. Besides, after his first day back at work with that floozy Mia, he may change his mind."
Harry trudged out the door with a heavy heart. He hated leaving Karen at home, but she assured him that she was going to go for a walk, then maybe a visit to Daniel or David.
Pulling into his parking spot, he climbed out of the car and had almost made it into work when an all too familiar voice called out, "Nice to see you, boss." Turning, he saw Mia walking toward him, supreme confidence written in her stance. "Mia." he said in calm acknowledgement. She frowned slightly, and he knew that this was not quite the reception she'd been expecting. "How was America? I bet you were lonely." she respond, giving him that look. "I found the trip exceedingly fun, and certainly didn't get lonely. I got the opportunity to meet a lot of very nice people, learned some new things like baseball and bowling, and it looks like we may indeed have a merger." he retorted.
"Oh really? Where will the main office be?" she asked, seemingly interested. "They will still be here, but we will have some American personnel coming over to work." "I see. Well, I suppose it's only fair to warn you that I had a job offer while you were gone." Mia answered with a hint of steel in her voice. Harry smiled slightly. He was done rising to meet her petty challenges and decided that enough was enough. 'I hope you take it. It may be a new opportunity to get out of an old environment and have a chance for advancement elsewhere. You are excellent at your job, and if you need a reference I would be happy to supply one." Mia was starring at him now, almost in open shock. Chuckling to himself, almost evilly, Harry continued. "There's a very nice young lady who was my guide in America whom I was thinking of bringing over here to work. Her uncle lives near the office and she would be able to be close to him. I suppose that your leaving is actually a blessing in disguise for everyone concerned." he finished with a beaming smile.
"Oh sod off Harry." Mia said disgustedly. She swept past him into the office and he breathed a sigh of relief. He had been able to successfully stand up to her.
Reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell phone, he hit speed dial. "Hello, Francesca Harrison speaking." a voice said on the other end. "Hello kid, it's Harry." he answered, feeling happy to be speaking to his young American friend. "Hey Harry, how's everything? Did you get the reception from hell from your family when you landed?" she inquired tentatively. "No, it went fine. Thanks for asking. " "The reason I called is because I'm getting rid of the floozy Mia and I'd like you to come over here and work for me here. The merger is pretty much a sure thing so I wanted to offer you her old position." "As long as flirting with the boss is NOT in the job description, count me in!" He gave a shout of laughter at the cheeky comment, and Sarah, who could hear him even through the door, wondered who he was talking to. She'd seen Mia come stalking in and guessed that Harry had finally gotten enough balls to get rid of her.
The call ended shortly, and when he opened the door, Sarah immediately swept in. "Okay, who were you talking to." she asked without preamble. "My new American secretary." he replied smugly.
She gazed at him in admiration. "So you finally told her royal man stealer off I take it?" Harry frowned. "Royal man stealer? Has she gone for Prince Charles or something?" Sarah laughed out loud. Harry had a devilish twinkle in his eye and his grin told her that he was finally out from under the spell of Mia. "With her track record, she just might go for him!" Karl came in then with something to show Harry. "Um, Sarah…are you doing anything for lunch?" he asked hesitantly. "Nope." "Would you like to go to lunch with me?" "Sure." she replied, beaming happily. An answering smile spread itself over Karl's face and he walked out the door whistling, "Come on Eileen."
"All I ask is that you name your firstborn son after me. You so owe me…" Harry murmured. Sarah snapped out of her reverie and smacked him on the arm with a nearby magazine. He quickly got his own ammo and the smacking war went on for nearly 5 minutes.
"Keep it down! Some of us are actually trying to work here instead of acting like children." Mia's sour voice commented from outside. "And some of us are trying not to vomit while others try to put the moves on the boss." Sarah whispered. Harry snorted, attempting not to burst out laughing, but he was failing miserably. He finally got up and stuck his head out the window where he proceeded to howl like a madman. Sarah joined him shortly and they had a good chuckle.
"You're all right, Sarah. I hope things will work out for you and Karl." "You aren't the only one, believe me. Do you know Jaime Bennett?" Harry smiled. "Yes, I know Jaime. He's my nephew." "Oh really? Well then you've met Aurelia.' "Yes I have. She's a nice young lady." Sarah smiled. "We're going to be going on a double date with them tomorrow…and I'm turning off the cell phone!" "Gasp! Be still my reeling heart!" Harry said, theatrically grabbing his chest and going back behind his desk, sinking back into his chair. "Oh bite me." Sarah retorted. "Not my job, but I bet Karl would take a crack at it." Harry taunted drolly. She blushed and made a face at him. "Bye. I'm off to try and get some work done before my lunch date." "Good luck!" Harry called after her.
Another one of his workers stuck their head in his door. "Hey boss, your wife is here!" Harry looked up, somewhat startled. "Um, uh, send her in!"
Karen was walking back after having a nice long talk with Daniel when she realized she was near Harry's office and it was nearly lunch time. Making a spur of the moment decision, she decided to go see if Harry wanted to have lunch with her.
A nice employee named Michael took her back to his office. Sarah waved to her, looking very amused about something. "I'll call you later." she muttered as Karen passed by. "I'll look forward to it." Mia gave her no more than a cursory glance before going back to her computer with an expression that would have scared anyone. "Wonder what went down today?" she thought silently. Harry rose from his desk with a beaming smile on his face. He was happy to see her.
"Hello darling! I didn't know you were in the neighborhood." he said, hugging her. The smell of his cologne and the warmth of his body almost proved to be her undoing. "Must…not…pounce…" she told herself firmly. As he stepped away, he could see a speculative look in her eye. "Mia didn't look very happy." she said.
"If you're fishing for information my dear, let me just say that I will have a new secretary soon and Mia is no longer any concern of mine anymore." Harry replied majestically. Looking down at his watch, he noted the time and asked, "Do you want to go for lunch?" "That's what I was going to ask you! Certainly." "All right then. Let me get my coat on, and then we can sneak past the royal man stealer without setting off the bimbo alarm." he said dryly. Karen couldn't help but laugh to hear Harry talking about Mia in those terms.
Carefully opening the door, he took her by the hand and pulled her swiftly by. "And we're out of here!" Harry whispered. Karen chuckled, and thought that underneath her old husband lurked a very fun man. She wondered if she would have the chance to get to know that guy.
He opened the passenger door for her and she got into his car. "Where to?" he asked after climbing in beside her and starting the car. "Ah, it doesn't really matter to me. You can pick." Harry thought for a long moment, then said "There's a nice Greek restaurant around the corner. It looks like a dive but the food is great." She looked at him, surprised. "I never knew you liked Greek food!" He gazed at her, a slightly sad smile written on his face. "You never asked." he replied softly as he pulled out of the parking lot and made for the restaurant.
Karen was having a wonderful time with Harry. He was describing his first attempts at bowling and had her in stitches. "So I rolled the ball so hard that it actually came up out of the gutter and knocked a few pins over!" "Oh Harry, stop! My stomach hurts from all this laughing!" He chuckled evilly and replied, "Oh you think the bowling is funny? Let me just tell you about baseball!" She groaned. "Oh no…what did you do?" Harry gazed at her, pouting slightly. "I only swung the bat around so far I knocked the umpire over!" Karen gasped, her eyes wide. "Good Lord Harry! You're a danger when you play sports!" "I know, I know." he laughed as their food came.
Studying him as he munched his gyro, she knew she would have to ask him what she wanted to now. "Harry? I have a rather difficult question that I honestly want the answer to." Looking at her, his movements slowed. "You want to know why I did it." he stated. " Yes… how did you know?" He gave her his sad smile again. "I know you." he replied. Wiping his hands off with a napkin, he thought for a moment.
"If you'd asked me a month ago why I'd given Mia that necklace, I don't know that I would have been able to give you a straight answer. However, a good American friend I made had her parents go through the same thing so I was able to figure some things out for myself." Reaching out across the table, Harry took Karen's hand in his.
"It seems like after the first few years we were married, the whole…romantic factor slipped out. I didn't feel as though you wanted to touch me, kiss me, have anything physical to do with me. I felt…sort of like an 80 year old man no one would go near with a 65 foot barge pole. I tried sometimes but you always seemed to rebuff me, going to listen to Joni Mitchell instead." He said the last part with a smile, but Karen could see the pain in his eyes. "I guess when Mia made no bones about the fact that she found me attractive, it made me feel good about myself. I can honestly say though that even though I felt pretty chuffed for a while, it was not worth the pain that came with it. It was not worth hurting you." he finished softly.
Tears glistened in Karen's eyes. "Oh Harry, whenever you wanted to have sex, you always seemed like it was something you knew you should do but didn't really want to." A shocked expression made its way onto his countenence. "What? Me not want you? Are you crazy?" he asked. "Same goes for me, you sexy old beast." she replied. A look came into his eyes and she immediately recognized it. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Sarah? It's Harry. I'm not coming into work this afternoon…hey now, behave yourself or I'm telling Karl!" Karen laughed. "You want to talk to her? Olay." He handed the cell to Karen. "Hello Sarah." "Hello yourself. Just wanted to wish you happing shagging!" "Sarah! Be good!" "Okay, okay…you and the boss have a nice afternoon." the secretary said with a wicked voice. "Bye." Karen said firmly and ended the call.
Standing up and taking the bill, Harry asked, "Can we go now?" Karen smiled to herself. There was definite hunger in his voice. "I'm ready." she replied. "Woo hoo! Sex here I come!" she told herself. This was shaping up to be a VERY nice day.
Once they got into the house, Karen got a surprise. Harry had ordered her a guitar of her own, and a complete Joni Mitchell guitar book. "I thought I'd show you how to play some things." he whispered. "That would be nice." she responded. Every nerve in her body was on fire.
Harry showed her how to sit on the sofa and hen climbed behind her. She almost audibly groaned as he pulled her flush against him. Reaching out, he placed his hands lightly over hers. "Just follow my fingers and I'll show you what to do." he said, his voice now having dropped lower and acquired a huskyness that made her yearn.
She tried to focus on the guitar and was amazed at how quickly and deftly Harry's hands moved. Once she got over the initial shock, she realized she was enjoying learning a song she knew. "Okay, now I'm going to explain how to read tablature." Harry said.
He showed her what the lines and numbers meant. "Oh, that's not too hard!" she said, absurdly happy at this. She made a mistake and turned to look at him. His brown eyes were twinkling at her merrily. "Um, Harry? I think that's enough guitar for one afternoon." "Agreed." he replied. Suddenly, Harry stood up with Karen in his arms.
"What are you doing?" she laughed. "I'm taking my sexy wife to bed where I can ravage her until I'm satisfied. I haven't had a bloody shag in too long!" he growled. Looking up at him, she wondered why this hadn't happened sooner. "Move it, guitar boy. You're not the only one who wants to shag!" "Your wish is my command." Harry purred as he kissed her and she lost all coherent thought.
