Minding Amy

Sebastian reached past her head and lifted his watch from the nightstand.

"I make it twenty five minutes to ten."

Oh no. No, no, no. Reality was fast getting a grip on her.

"You've slept round the clock," he added, smiling benevolently.

"Oh my God." She sat upright, knocking him back onto his pillow in the process. "It's Thursday." She turned to look at him, aghast. "My deadline is at ten." A vision of Fiona's face flew into her mind, and in it she wore an expression of contempt. "That's in twenty five minutes. Shit!"

Pushing back the covers she leapt out of the bed and darted across the room to where their bags were thrown haphazardly on a velvet-covered Ottoman. She pulled out the bag containing her laptop and swung round, her gaze darting across the room looking for the wifi spot. Sebastian sat up in the bed, resting on his hands while he watched her with a small frown and a half smile.

"Can I help at all?" He eyed her up and down with a lazy smile.

"Oh yes, please. I need to get my laptop hooked up to the wifi." She set the laptop bag on the dresser then turned back to her overnight bag. Naked wasn't good, not when she was trying to be professional. Rummaging in the bag she found a T-shirt and jeans and grabbed them. She hurriedly pulled the clothes on, hopping back toward the bed as she climbed into the jeans. She pushed her hair back, taking a deep breath.

Sebastian was moving. She tried to ignore the casual stretch of his strong, attractive body as he reached over to unzip her laptop bag. He was so nonchalant about it. It was almost as if he wasn't aware that he was drop-dead gorgeous.

"You could put some clothes on, you are such a distraction."

He grinned at her then sidled past her to the bags, glancing at her and winking. He was such a tease. How could she not smile? Amy shook her head and took another deep breath. She instructed herself to concentrate on the job at hand. She had her laptop, she had wifi. She'd be fine. Reporters often got their copy in at the eleventh hour, that wasn't a problem. She'd just mail them what she'd written up yesterday. She'd been hoping to spend the previous evening speaking to the duty staff at Tall Gables to give the article even more substance, but she had forgotten all about, lying in Sebastian's arms. It would have to do as it was. What she'd prepared had a solid hook, baiting the readers' curiosity for the second part of the story, that's what counted. She turned back to the bag and began to hunt for the power cable.

"You are one sexy woman when you're being all professional like this," he whispered from behind her as she plugged her cable in, arresting her hips with his hands. He pulled her back against him and kissed her cheek. Glancing back, she saw that he was dressed. That was a small mercy.

When she switched the power on, her laptop didn't respond. "Perhaps you are confusing profe

ssionalism with the onset of hysteria," she murmured, her concern levels rising rapidly.

"Is there a problem?"

She flicked the switch on and off, then reached for the light switch for the dresser. The light didn't come on either. "No power, big problem."

Sebastian checked the other lights. None of them responded.

"Let me check with the housekeeping staff." He strode to the door and into the corridor.

The rising tide of panic inside her was just about being held in check. She picked up the bag and turned it around, opening up a document pocket at the front. Reaching inside, she pulled out a stack of papers. To her great relief she found the last printout of the draft she'd done at the office the day before. Although marked up for minor changes it was there in its entirety.

Sebastian reappeared. "It's been out for an hour. No idea when it will be back up. Apparently it was out yesterday morning…for three hours."

"Damn it. I'm going to have to try to fax this copy, which means I'll have to phone and tell her it's coming via that route instead." It was a good thing she hadn't eaten, because her stomach was beginning to churn.

"The expression on your face tells me that telling "her" is not a good thing."

Amy shook her head. It was too true. "My senior on this feature is expecting me to mess up and every little error is like a bad mark against my name."

"Give her a call. We'll find out where we can send it from at reception." He gave her an encouraging squeeze and a kiss on the forehead.

"Thanks, Sebastian. I really appreciate your help."

He saluted as he walked away. He looked pleased with her remark. Well, she'd given him nothing but hassle about his role in her work and in fact he had been a total star, supportive and reliable. Not to mention the added extras. They were highly appreciated too.

He was hunting under the bed, a single shoe in one hand. She remembered him taking them off when he'd carried her to the bed. Last night. She sighed, then reminded herself she had to stay focused. She grabbed her mobile phone and scrolled to Fiona's number. It was dangerously low on power, but there was enough for the one call.

"Fiona, hi, it's Amy Norton here." She injected her voice with much more enthusiasm than she currently felt.

"Ah, Amy, I was just wondering where your copy was."

Amy shut her eyes and forced herself to smile, imagining she was standing in front of Fiona's desk and had to give the right impression. She could picture Fiona tapping her red talons on the desk expectantly, like an uptight headmistress waiting for an explanation from a deviant schoolgirl.