Dolphin-san: Sorry, I'm so very, very sorry for the huge delay in updates. I had intended to have something written and up for the one year anniversary of this fic, but I didn't realise how long it would take me to get everything for this upcoming college course ready.

Once again, I'm sorry for the delay, but I hope that this chapter makes up for it.

Chapter 27

Hiro lay back and watched Ray, naked, nudge the bedroom door open with his bottom.

'This was definitely worth coming back for.' He grinned and took one of the cups from Ray. It was a warm night and two hours of stupendous sex had given him a raging thirst. 'Sorry it has to be tea,' he clunked his cup against Ray's, 'but I'm all out of champagne.'

'It's probably disgusting,' Ray warned as Hiro took a gulp. 'You're out of milk too.'

It was disgusting, chiefly because Ray had sprinkled in a bit of Coffee Mate as a consolation prize, but Hiro didn't care. Ray was here and that was all that mattered.

'I meant what I said on the phone earlier.' He looked at Ray, his grey eyes serious. 'The last few days have been awful. I can't believe how much I've missed you.'

Ray abandoned his own cup of undrinkable tea and slid back under the duvet.

'I missed you too.'

'I've been thinking,' said Hiro. 'I know it's a bit soon to be saying this, but it just seems crazy, me living here and you living there . . . both of us paying rent, not to mention all the extra travelling . . .'



Ray's heart skipped a lorryload of beats. Was Hiro really saying what he thought he was trying to say?

Oh, come on, thought Ray, how dumb am I pretending to be? Of course he was. Even if it wasn't coming out terribly romantically, he acknowledged with a rush of love.

'What are you suggesting?' Playfully, he danced his fingers across Hiro's bare chest. 'We set up a tent on the bank of the Grand Union Canal? That's about halfway between you place and mine, wouldn't you say?'

Hiro captured Ray's hand and held it still. This was important; he didn't need that kind of distraction right now.

'I'm suggesting you move in with me. I want us to live together.'

Ray gazed at him, wide-eyed. Mustn't laugh, mustn't laugh.

'You mean, because it would be time-saving and economical?'

'No,' said Hiro. 'Because I love you and I want to be with you. All the time.'

'What's up with you?' said Bev, materialising behind Ray at the sinks and making him jump.

'Me? Nothing, nothing . . . why should anything be up?'

Bev raised an eyebrow at the scarlet jumble of Molton Browners in the sink.



'No reason, just that you've been scrubbing away at those things for the last twenty minutes. You've missed your coffee break. More importantly,' she pointed out, 'you've missed your Mars bar break. And I've never seen that happen before.'

Oh help, I have to tell her soon, thought Ray. He lifted the Molton Browners out of the sink – it was like manhandling a dead octopus – and began to pat them dry with a towel.

'I wasn't hungry,' he said with a shrug.

'Not hungry? Golly, you must be ill. Better get your appetite back before next week.'

Ray's forehead creased.

'Next week?'

'Your birthday, dipstick! Sunday lunch at Sexy Sam's,' Bev reminded him. 'It's all arranged, the table's booked for one o'clock.'

Ray had been so preoccupied with his thoughts of Hiro, his birthday next week had completely slipped his mind. Meeting up for a raucous celebration lunch was an established salon tradition hugely popular with Takao's overworked but loyal staff, especially since he was the one footing the bill.

'You'll have to bring your chap,' Bev rattled on. 'Everyone's dying to meet him.'

I have to tell her, I really have to tell her, Ray thought. Oh, but I just don't want to be the one who dies.

He felt sick.

Took a deep breath.

'He's . . . um, got a golf tournament lined up for next Sunday. He won't be able to make it.'

Aah, bliss, no wonder people fibbed. It was so easy and it made you feel so much better, Ray thought with a rush of relief. That horrid sick feeling had simply melted away in an instant, like magic.

I'll tell her soon, he promised himself.

Definitely.

Just not quite yet.

'He's away on your birthday? That's a real shame.' Bev's eyes widened with indignation. 'Honestly, some men are so selfish. He won't be away for the whole weekend, will he? Where's the tournament being held?'

Unable to think, offhand, of the name of a single golf course – was Murrayfield one? Was Greendale? Stenhousemuir? – Ray was delighted to hear cross-sounding footsteps marching up behind them.

Phew, saved by the boss.

'Bev, stop gossiping and get back to work,' Takao said sharply. 'There's someone waiting at the desk.'

Bev glanced over her shoulder at the girl who had walked in off the street. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder white sweater, baggy combat trousers and dark glasses, and her hair was piled up under a khaki baseball cap.

'She doesn't have an appointment. And she hasn't been here before.' When it came to bookings, Bev had a memory like an elephant.

'So get rid of her.' Takao sounded exasperated. 'Tell her we can fit her in some time next year.'

'Ooh,' Ray squealed without meaning to as the girl removed her glasses and baseball cap. 'It's Daisy Schofield.'

'Oh dear, your rival in luurve.' Bev gave him a mock-sympathetic pat on the shoulder. 'Daisy Schofield is Bryan Kutsenov's girlfriend,' she explained to Takao, who was looking surprised. Meaninfully she added, 'Remember the day in Try-it-on Tabitha's swimming pool?'

Surprise swiftly gave way to alarm.

'Ray? You're not seeing Bryan Kutsenov, are you?'

'Of course I'm not. It's just Bev's idea of a joke.'

'He fancies him, though. Like mad,' teased Bev.

Takao raised his eyebrows at Ray, who did his utmost not to blush.

'Look, I promise you, I don't.'

Ray had turned a dramatic shade of puce, which was always entertaining, but Takao was bust rejigging this morning's appointments in his head. They might be fully booked, but business was business, and Daisy Schofield – currently one of the most photographed faces in Britain – would be terrific publicity for the salon.

'So if it's a cut and blow-dry she's after,' the look he gave Ray was severe, 'I can definitely trust you to wash her hair without trying to stuff her head down the sink.

Ray had come across some unchatty clients in his time but Daisy Schofield had to be the unchattiest. It was like trying to hold a conversation with a Pot Noodle.

'Did someone recommend Takao to you?' He tried again as he massaged shampoo into her head. For someone who famously maintained that her long ash-blonde hair was entirely natural, he couldn't help noticing that Daisy Schofield had amazingly dark roots.

Yawning, Daisy shook her head.

'Saw him on TV.'

'Oh. I wondered if Tabitha Lester had suggested –'

'No.' Daisy yawned again, revealing an enviable lack of fillings.

Hate her, hate her.

'It's just that we were at Tabitha's house one day, doing her hair, and we bumped into your boyfriend,' Ray blurted out. Heavens, Takao would kill him if he could hear this, but it was like a compulsion, he wanted to hear about Bryan. He couldn't help wondering, too, if Bryan had happened to mention their impromptu game of watermelon in the pool.

'I've never met Tabitha Lester,' said Daisy, closing her eyes.

She wasn't being bitchy or deliberately unpleasant, Ray was irritated to realise. She just didn't want to talk.

Ah well, serves me right, he thought. What did I expect, that Daisy would exclaim, 'Don't tell me you're the one who ended up in the water with Bryan! He hasn't stopped talking about you since!'



Oh yes, highly likely. He probably wouldn't recognise me if he bumped into me on the street.

I met Bryan Kutsenov for ten minutes, Ray told himself, and now I've got an embarrassing, infantile crush on him.

Honestly, it was as bad as Bev's hopeless infatuation with Hiro. Worse even, because at least Bev was single. I've already got a boyfriend, thought Ray, and I'm still doing it.

Then again, it was a harmless enough hobby. Wasn't the world full, after all, of happily married people fantasising over George Clooney?

'Could you get my bag?' Daisy's voice broke into his daydream.

Ray abruptly stopped shampooing.

'Sorry?'

'My phone's ringing.' Calmly, Daisy nudged the black Prada bag next to her foot. 'I can't reach it. I'm expecting an important call.'

From Bryan!

Ray launched himself at the bag, almost knocking himself out on the basin as he jerked upright again. His imagination, working overtime, galloped through the ensuing phone call from Bryan:

'You're where? The Takao Kinomiya Salon? Hey, is there a pretty guy working there . . . gorgeous eyes, spiky black hair? You're kidding, that's fantastic! Put him on will you, let me speak to him!'

The trouble with actual phone conversations was, they were always a big let-down compared to the imaginary ones.

'Oh, hi, Suze.' Daisy gestured behind her for Ray to turn the water off and pass her a towel. 'No, nothing much, just getting my hair done, then off to some music awards thing with Ritchie.'

Ritchie?

Ray, giving the sink a brisk scrub-down in order to look busy, wondered who the hell Ritchie was.

Luckily, so did Suze.

Daisy giggled into the phone.

'Ritchie Capstick, he's a video-jock with MTV. My agent set it up . . . God, you must be joking, he's really ugly and really gay . . . and definitely no comparison with Bryan!'

Whoever Suze was, she was having a truly miraculous effect on Daisy. Her whole face lit up and she was laughing and joking like an actual human being. Ray, energetically polishing the lined up bottles of shampoo and conditioner, heard the tinny squawks emanating from the phone but was unable – disappointingly – to make out what was being said.

'No, he's still in Montreal, training for the Canadian Grand Prix. Bloody boring.' Daisy rolled her eyes. 'But that's his job, Suze, it's what makes him exciting! D'you think I'd look twice at him if he was a sheep farmer?'

Tinny squawk, tinny squawk.

'Yeah well, if it happens it happens.' Daisy shrugged. 'Still, great publicity, eh? Think how sorry for me everyone would be . . . the whole world loves a tragedy, not to mention a grieving girlfriend!'

'I have to rinse you now,' Ray said stonily. 'Takao's waiting.'



Daisy ignored him.

'Yeah, like Thingy Winslet in Titanic.' She grinned into the phone. 'And I've always looked bonza in black.

Dolphin-san: Oh I don't like that Daisy Schofield, but then again I wanted her to come off as a bitch. So anyway, that's it for this chapter and I'm hoping I'll have a few more up before I go back on September the 1st. Just two weeks to go!