Morning light peeked through the curtains, bathing them in a warm glow. Jill yawned and rolled over, sleep weary eyes focusing on the freckles on her companion's shoulders. She was relieved not to find them cuddling. Not something she needed from a brief encounter and thankfully Harriet seemed to feel the same. She was breathing the soft sleep of the satisfied. Jill made use of the spare dressing gown and got up cautiously. She needed to check her phone and it was in her bag on the bannister. Harriet was awake when she returned, pointed out a plug to charge it from. She rolled onto her side and propped herself up, running a hand through her hair. Her normally immaculate blow-dried bob was rumpled. Jill bet that nobody in the Lyell Institute had seen her like that. It looked good on her.
'I'd keep with that waistcoat if I were you. You'll get more women than your colleagues. Nowt can wear it as well as you.'
Jill wondered if that were true but advice was advice and who was she to disregard ways to get pussy points?
'I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you.'
Harriet's slow grin made Jill feel hot all over. She wondered if it showed. She wasn't used to not taking the lead. Sitting at the little kitchen table with a cup of hot strong coffee, she reflected on the night before and felt a thrill of satisfaction in how good it had been. It didn't help that her victor was sitting opposite her in her dressing gown, drinking coffee in a most blameless manner, as if she hadn't done all those things that made Jill ache all over. She caught her gaze and raised her eyebrows in question. Jill's expression told her all. Out came that low laugh again, the flirtatious flick of her eyes, that lazy kittenish grin. She clearly had hidden depths that she couldn't afford to let her colleagues know about. She'd lose her ball busting reputation and that wouldn't do.
Harriet popped a packet of cigarettes in Jill's blazer pocket as she left. She didn't know if she'd find quite a good a shag where she was going anytime soon and wanted to show her appreciation once more. She stored up the memory of what those wonderfully long slender fingers and what they could do, later on tonight.
'Some for later,' she said with a wink.
Jill grinned and thanked her for being…such a fantastic hostess.
'If we ever cross paths again, circumstances permitting, perhaps we could catch up again.'
Jill readily agreed. Waving goodbye, she departed at her usual pace, her body sore but with a lightness in her heart. Nothing like a bit of throwaway fun to puncture the gruelling workdays.
Advice was advice. The waistcoat stayed and did the job admirably. She had D.S. Farmer to thank for that.