The next morning Nikki was up before Harry and she gently extracted herself from under his arm, which was slung over her waist, without waking him and padded quietly to the bathroom. Stepping into the shower she let the warm water run over her body and took a deep breath trying to ready herself for the day ahead which would probably entail running around after Harry and bowing down to his every whim. Fifteen minutes later she climbed out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her, her long blonde hair dripping down her back. She heard the bathroom door click open and Harry opened the door wide as he strolled in, she had forgotten to lock the door. Harry stopped instantly as he saw Nikki standing in the middle of the bathroom clad in only a towel, and a small one at that. His eyes wandered down her body and Nikki grinned inwardly when she saw him do it, any other man would have got a slap for looking at her the way Harry was but Nikki found she didn't care.

"Um...sorry" was all Harry said but didn't move from the door way to let Nikki pass. Nikki's eyes flicked quickly to his naked chest then back to his face.

"That's alright" Nikki shrugged trying to even her voice out, it wasn't every day she was practically naked in front of Harry and she was going to make the most of it "Payback for yesterday"

"Right..yes" Harry nodded and Nikki saw him glance down at her once again, Harry found himself very glad that he had decided to put baggy jogging bottoms on the night before.

"Bathroom is all yours" Nikki grinned as she walked past him and placed a hand on his shoulder "There's still cold water left"

She walked back to the bedroom with a large smile on her face leaving Harry to groan and lean heavily against the bathroom wall, he felt himself relieved that Nikki wasn't disgusted or scared by his reaction to her.

Nikki sat on the bed with a large grin on her face as she thought about Harry's reaction to her in the bathroom, she knew it was only the typical male reaction to a half naked woman in front of them but it pleased her that she had caused his reaction. Drying herself she slipped on a pair of jeans and had just put her bra on when Harry walked into the room, Nikki sighed to herself, three times in less than a day they had seen each other half-naked and there wasn't even anything fun involved. Harry gave her another look over before dumping his jogging bottoms on the bed, he was, unfortunately, already dressed. Nikki looked down at herself and then looked back at Harry who was just staring at her, he didn't seem embarrassed that he had been caught staring.

"We have to stop doing this" he joked and Nikki gave him a reluctant smile in return. She turned away to pick out a top and felt Harry walk over to her and tensed slightly as she felt him place his arms on her shoulders "You're beautiful" he whispered into her ear before pressing a kiss onto her cheek and then walking out of the room leaving Nikki unable to breathe.

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"I'm going for a walk this morning" Harry told Nikki when she walked into the kitchen, there were already two steaming mugs of coffee on the table. Harry didn't look up from his laptop in front of him when he continued "Do you want to come?"

"What about work?"

"It can wait" Harry replied simply as Nikki seated herself opposite him, her cheek still burning from the kiss.

"I'd like a walk" Nikki nodded and gave Harry a smile as he looked up at her and grinned.

"I'm sorry you know" Harry said suddenly half an hour later when they were walking along the side of the river that flowed next to the town, Nikki looked up at him and frowned "For being horrible to you in front of the other men, I know friends are meant to stick up for each other no matter what..."

"Harry it's fine" Nikki laughed as she interrupted "I know you don't mean it"

"Good" was all Harry said as he glanced towards the river, it was running quite slowly and the water was crystal clear "About this morning in the bathroom..I didn't mean.." he stopped and bit his lip as he looked up at her.

"Didn't mean what Harry?" Nikki asked quietly "You didn't say much"

Harry stopped walking suddenly but Nikki kept on walking ahead of him, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach as she heard Harry apologise for what happened in the bathroom.

"My reaction" Harry coughed out and Nikki stopped walking when she heard this, knowing what reaction he was talking about.

"It's alright" she shrugged without looking at him "It's just a typical male reaction"

"I don't..."

Nikki heard Harry's feet crunch on the road behind her and took a deep breath when she felt him, for the second time that day, right behind her.

"You really are beautiful Nikki" Harry whispered into her ear and she turned to him this time and allowed him to kiss her on the lips. Nikki brought her hands to his shoulders and gripped them tightly as Harry backed her into a conveniently placed tree behind her and tried to deepen the kiss, which Nikki allowed him to do. He then broke away from her and looked into her eyes for her reaction, she just smiled at him and Harry smiled back and pressed a kiss onto her forehead before resting his forehead there. "You know it took all of my self control not to just grab you and take you there and then in the bathroom" he told her quietly and Nikki giggled loudly.

"Maybe later" she whispered in his ear and pressed a kiss onto his cheek as Harry raised an eyebrow at her causing Nikki to giggle, she then took his hand in hers and entwined their fingers before they continued on their walk.

Yeah it took me nine chapters to get them to kiss..I just couldn't wait any longer. XD

xxx