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Seagulls were early risers, swooping along the sand and pecking at the leftovers of the humans. Before each beak full a quarrel ensued with at least twenty other claimants to the morsel of food. Sarah wasn’t used to viewing the day at this time. She preferred it to be well aired before she got up.

The sun shone directly into the room as it rose in the east across a flat expanse of sea. She focused her eyes and memory but didn’t recognize the bedroom. Somewhere in her mind she knew reason and sense were waiting to be found. Just at the moment all was confusion.

The lady of the sparkling eyes peeked over the top of the duvet and wondered how she could be in a double bed with mauve covers. What a color to greet you in the morning. Stretching her legs and wiggling her body she realized there was nothing between these hideous sheets and her warm skin. Sarah Greene was naked in someone’s bed.

With an aching brain and sinking feeling in the stomach, she rolled over, sensing the presence of a larger-weight body on the other side of the bed. The figure was entirely submerged under the duvet. Sarah pushed out a leg and quickly came into contact with the body. The toes of her right foot tracked up the leg, feeling the thighs and then a rear. Both were naked.

She tentatively let her hand touch the back and shoulders. Still no clothes, just male skin.

She decided to confront the man, and sat up in bed, coughing to draw his attention away from the land of nod. It took four throat-clearing blasts and a jab in the ribs before the guy even began to stir. Slowly the torso moved, and like a porpoise coming up for air, a head pushed up from under the duvet.

“See, you didn’t get lucky either.” Billy grinned and ran his fingers through his tousled curly hair.

“What happened last night?” Sarah snapped angrily.

“Don’t get petulant with me, miss.”

“Sorry, I’m just a bit lost.” Sarah tried to row away from aggression.

“If you lost anything last night, young lady, don’t look at me.”

Sarah weakly smiled at his humor. “Your memory might be better than mine, Billy. How did I get here…in this state of undress?”

He sat up and looked at her boobs, giving a mock gasp of horror at her boldness. “Do you remember Bolan and Meo?”

Sarah nodded impatiently as if she wasn’t that much of an idiot.

“Well, we had a good night at the Atlantic View club.”

She again indicated her frustration that he was telling her something she already knew.

“What about the cabaret?”

“No, I don’t remember that,” she said with a perplexed look.

“Didn’t think you did. Well, they had a sort of troop of exotic dancers. It got very lively with the drinks becoming ever more weird and large. You got up and did your own version of a Turkish Belly dance.” Billy paused to study Sarah’s reaction.

She sank her head in her hands and groaned.

“Then Bolan and Meo were dragged up on stage. The last I saw, Bolan was chasing off-stage after a little tarty number and that two-timing Meo was being carried away by a husky Cossack bitch.”

“And then?” Sarah hurried him along.

“I had no idea if you had a place to stay so I brought you back here.”

“And,” she prompted.

“This apartment is very small—only one bed—so I tucked you up next to me,” he said in a matter-of-fact way.

“And,” she continued.

He screwed up his twinkling big brown puppy eyes, then opened them wide. “Bolan doesn’t know what he missed.”

“I thought that didn’t appeal to you,” Sarah threw back.

“I’m a vegetarian as well, babe, but I still like looking at the cows in the field.”

Sarah roared with laughter and hit him with a pillow.