"Come on, love, let's do this! I've been looking forward to it all day," Duncan called.

Reed smiled. She could get used to being called "love," she believed. "What? Why?" She came down the hall wearing a pair of her new shorts and a borrowed T-shirt of Duncan's that said,"Fuck the Monarchy."

Duncan saw her and patted the spot next to him on the sofa. "Dunno. Maybe because I miss my sisters?"

"What are their names, again?" Reed asked as she sat next to him.

"Aster and Gloria. They're both at Uni still." Duncan patted Reed's leg. "You're here at last." He opened his laptop. "Ace. So, I've found these shops that have perfectly lovely clothes that would look smashing on you, I think. Where would you like to start?"

Reed looked at the sites. "These are—these are too expensive, though. I told you, I buy my clothes at Target and H&M, or at thrift stores."

Duncan looked at her. "Well, today you're shopping with me, and I was hoping you'd expand your horizons a little. Aster's about your size, and when I asked her, she told me that these are some of her favorites, so what do you say? Are you honestly saying that, in a money no object situation you wouldn't shop anywhere else?"

Reed looked at the screen for a few beats, then looked at Duncan. "I—look, Duncan, this is so nice of you, but I can't do this. I'm embarrassed by my size, and I just can't shop for plus-size clothes with a man I hardly know, a totally hot rock star who's going to pay for all of it. It's just a little too weird, like some kind of twisted version of 'Pretty Woman,' you know?"

Duncan swallowed and continued to look at the screen. "I fail to see the similarities. Such a scenario would make you some sort of call girl, which you are not, and me some sort of John, which I am not. I don't understand why you continue to make this so difficult."

He finally turned to look at her, his face almost unbearably close. At this proximity, Reed could see his beautiful eyes, his long lashes, and his slight dimple. She wondered what she looked like to him this close up, and knew that she couldn't possibly look as good. She had to fight the urge to back up.

"Why are you embarrassed by your size?" Duncan asked. "You're very pretty. You're completely in proportion, you have normal sized hips and breasts, a perfectly lovely bum, very nice legs—"

"Oh my god, Duncan, stop, please!" Reed slapped at his shoulder and tried to cover his mouth with her hands, nearly upsetting his laptop in the process. "If you're trying to make me feel more comfortable, it's not working! At all!"

Duncan laughed as he held on to his laptop and tried to fend her off. "I'm just trying to compliment you. You're just not very good at accepting them."

He turned to face forward. "Now then. Ahem. Please look at this sleeveless jumper. Or sweater, I guess you'd call it. It's 100% cotton, very light, perfect for summer, I think, and it would look smashing on you, don't you think?" He looked at Reed to see her response. "D'you like it?"

Reed nodded in spite of herself. It was gorgeous. She made herself not think about the price. It was about a quarter of what she'd spent in Target the previous day.

"Do you prefer it in Poppy Pink, or Sunshine Yellow?" Duncan's finger hovered over the photos.

"Pink."

"And what size are you?"

Reed swallowed. "16," she said in a small voice.

Duncan clicked. "There," he said, turning to press a kiss to her temple. "That wasn't so difficult, was it?"

Reed shook her head.

"So let's do it a few more times, and maybe it'll even start to be a little bit fun, yeah?"

Reed nodded.

Duncan clicked through a few more pictures until Reed stopped him on a shirt that had roses all over it.

"That one? You like that?"

Reed nodded. "I like flowers," she said shyly.

"Me too," Duncan responded. "Ace." He clicked on it. He nudged her with his shoulder. "See? I told you it would be fun."

Reed nodded.

Duncan scrolled through some more photographs. "How about this one? Pretty flowers and all."

Reed shook her head. "Buttons," she explained.

"You don't care for buttons?"

Reed bit her lip. "They pull apart," she finally said.

Duncan was silent. "Ah," he responded after a moment. "No buttons, got it," he nodded.

In a little while, he lifted his arm and put it around Reed, saying, "More comfortable this way, don't you think?"

She merely nodded, snuggling in, enjoying the smell of him, recalling Nancy's words from earlier. She wondered what the cologne was called. She could tell from the different notes it contained that it was very expensive, whatever it was.

It had been a long time since Reed had been this close to a man. Of course she'd been in Duncan's arms when she'd had her crying jag, but that memory was pretty much a soggy muddle. This was here and now, and she was very much present and awake. He was lean and firm, his heartbeat slow and steady under her cheek. It was worlds away from what she remembered of being in Sam's arms. Sam was, at twenty-nine, going soft already, a big teddy bear of a man, warm and comforting always.

"You know," she said after another half hour had gone by, "I don't think I've ever owned this many clothes in my life. I certainly can't wear all of them in the time I'm going to be staying with you, I don't think."

"So you'll wear them after you've gone," Duncan said with a shrug which moved Reed's head in an up and down motion. "It's not like I'm keeping them or anything. They belong to you, take them when you return to Florida, I don't care."

The truth was that Duncan was really enjoying sitting next to Reed, enjoying the nearness of her, her softness, her fragrance, and he didn't want it to end. So he'd been doing the only thing he could think of, which was to keep clicking on the pretty clothes. As soon as they were finished, he knew, she would take herself away, and he would be deprived of her presence.

He was aware of every place their bodies were touching, and when she turned slightly so the weight of a substantial breast was pressing into his chest, well, the feeling was wonderful and had started a not unpleasant throbbing in his nether regions as the blood began leaving his brain at an alarming rate.

What in the world was going on? He'd been with whole platoons of women, most of them more beautiful and self aware than this gentle and unassuming creature next to him, and he could have a dozen in his presence in less than an hour with one phone call, ready and willing to do anything he wanted. Why was he responding like this to this woman in his old T-shirt and shorts who had nearly killed him with her car?

Get a grip, Duncan, old man. This woman has nothing for you.

Duncan carefully and casually lifted his arm away from Reed and sat up. "I suppose you're right. Besides, it'll be getting colder in a few months. You wouldn't need that many summer clothes, would you?"

Reed, too, sat up and shook her head. " No, I wouldn't. And I want you to know that I plan to be out of here by Labor Day. I mean, if that works for you?"

Duncan nodded. "Sounds fine. I planned to stay here until about then, until the end of summer, then return to England to start recording my new album, so it should work out perfectly. Hopefully I'll even have some songs to record by then." He grinned at Reed.

"Maybe we'll both get unblocked at the same time and have a really productive summer," Reed said hopefully.

"Maybe we will," Duncan said, enjoying her enthusiasm. "Tell you what, why don't we make it official?"

"How so?" Reed looked at him, eyes bright.

"I have an office where I write," Duncan explained. "Faces the ocean, lovely view and all. It's got a desk where you can sit with your laptop if you like, or you can join me on the sofa. That's where I usually sit with my guitar. We can commit to be there so many hours a day, like a writing club, yeah? See if having a little discipline will help?"

"Oh, I think it does," Reed answered seriously, nodding. "I always set aside certain hours of the day to write, no matter what, I think it's really important."

Duncan smiled. "Okay, then, the DRWC is officially formed."

"DRWC?"

"The Duncan Reed Writing Club, of course."

Reed grinned. "Sounds nice."

Duncan's eyes flicked down to Reed's mouth for the barest of moments. God, her mouth was gorgeous; the way the corners tilted up, the way her bottom lip was so full, the way it was the color of ripe raspberries—he wondered what it would be like to kiss it.

He sat up a little more and banished the rogue thought, obviously sent by Satan. What was he thinking? Was he seriously thinking about what it would be like to kiss his lonely, insecure and temporary houseguest?

"What time?" she was asking.

"Hm? What time what?"

"What time should we meet?" Reed asked, looking at him out of guileless eyes.

"Oh. How about ten?"

"Okay." Reed nodded. "Feels good to have made a decision to start again, to be honest."

"It does, doesn't it?"

They just sat for a moment in silence, looking at each other.

Duncan expected Reed to look away, but she didn't. He shifted toward her a little bit, but she still didn't.

Hmm.

His eyes flicked to her mouth again and back up to her eyes.

She gazed steadily back at him, unblinking, and he saw her chest heave up and down once as she breathed.

Fuck it.

Duncan leaned across the space between them, which seemed both huge and small at the same time, and kissed her. He was gentle at first, mouth closed, just touching her lips with his, loving the fact that they were as soft as they had looked.

He pulled back and looked at her, long lashes lying against her cheeks as she smiled slightly.

"Again," she murmured, leaning forward and tilting her head as she put a hand on his chest.

So he kissed her again, this time swiping his tongue along her bottom lip, seeking entry, giving a little moan of satisfaction when she opened up for him.

He reached for her, pulling her closer, clasping her body to his. She felt incredible in his arms, warm and soft everywhere, not at all like the hard and angular women he was used to.

She leaned in even closer, eliminating all open space between them, pressing him against the cushions of the couch. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

And sexy as fuck.

He slid his hand up the curve of her waist, until his thumb was just touching the underside of her breast. If the rest of her was warm, this part of her was hot, so hot, and nothing in the world could stop his brain from imagining what she looked like under the flimsy fabric of the shirt she wore, his shirt, the shirt he'd lent her. He wondered if her flesh was pale, if her nipples were pink or brown, if they covered a large area or were little, and just these thoughts were redirecting the blood from his brain to his nether regions at an alarming rate, making him hard, leaving him with fewer and fewer resources to marshal and use for rational thought.

Oh god.

With monstrous self-control Duncan kept his hands in safe places, sat them up, and broke the fabulous, wonderful, magical kiss.

Reed looked amazing, her hair already in sexy disarray, her lips noticeably more swollen than before as she looked at him out of starry eyes with dilated pupils.

"Wow," she murmured, shifting herself away from him, chest heaving up and down as her warm breaths hit his face and neck.

"Wow indeed," Duncan echoed with the ghost of a smile. He gave himself a little shake. "However, all 'wows' notwithstanding, it's probably not prudent for us to be living together and indulging in those kinds of activities, I think you'll agree, especially since we plan to part company at the end of the summer."

"Right," Reed agreed, her voice soft, leaning back even farther, nodding. She swallowed. "Definitely not a good idea." She rose and took a step away from the sofa, weaving on weak legs and nearly falling.

"Steady on!" Duncan rose to help her and nearly fell himself.

"I'm good, I'm good," Reed assured him with a smile as she wobbled unsteadily down the hall. "Good night, Duncan."

"Good night, love."

He took his bemused self off to bed, resolving to have a good wank before sleep, and not to think about Reed Halliwell at all the whole time.

It had been a hell of a kiss, though.