Forgotten Lover

He looked at the other man. ‘Well?’

‘Why not?’ Paul shrugged. ‘It’s too hot to work in the afternoons anyway.’

‘So gracious!’ Carly grimaced.

Paul quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘I thought you wanted me to drive you to the Everglades?’

‘I do,’ she nodded eagerly.

‘Then shut up.’

Velvet laughed. ‘Don’t mind them, Greg,’ she advised at his worried frown. ‘They love each other really.’

‘Huh!’ Paul scoffed.

‘I have vays of making you suffer,’ Carly said in her most ham German accent.

‘Sexual threats, no less,’ Paul taunted.

‘Are you sure they love each other?’ Greg teased.

‘Very sure,’ Velvet laughed. ‘They just have a strange way of showing it.’

‘You’re not kidding,’ he drawled.

Paul put his arm about Carly’s shoulders. ‘I might even make an honest woman out of her one day.’

‘You should be so lucky,’ she answered in a disgruntled voice.

He nuzzled his lips against her earlobe. ‘I will be.’

‘Huh!’ but Carly was obviously weakening towards him, and snuggled into his arms for further kisses.

‘It’s enough to put you off your breakfast,’ Velvet teased.

‘It sure is,’ Greg grinned. ‘So about this afternoon …’

‘Come with us, if you like,’ Paul invited.

‘I’d like to, but I don’t really have the time to go that far. I have to be back on duty at six,’ Greg explained regretfully.

‘How far are the Everglades?’ Paul groaned.

‘About an hour’s journey either way, and then there’s the two-hour trip round. You won’t see anything if you don’t take the tour.’

‘Oh God,’ Paul moaned. ‘I hate organised tours.’

‘Then cycle round,’ Greg suggested. ‘It’s only fifteen miles, and you can hire a cycle there.’

‘Cycle!’ Carly burst out laughing at Paul’s stunned expression. ‘When did you last ride a bicycle, darling?’ she mocked.

‘When did you?’ he scowled.

‘About six months ago, for an advert I was working on.’

‘As I recall you sat on it, you didn’t ride it,’ he scorned. ‘I think we’ll skip the bicycle ride,’ he told Greg, ‘and take the tour after all.’

Greg nodded. ‘It’s worth it. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it. But don’t expect the Everglades to be like the Hollywood producers would have you believe in the films they make about it. It’s basically flat, no tall trees, with occasional small tree islands.’

‘Oh.’ Carly sounded disappointed.

‘Parts of it are like they show in the movies,’ Greg consoled her. ‘I’m just warning you that the majority of it isn’t.’

‘Still want to go?’ Paul asked her.

‘I’m not sure …’

‘I didn’t mean to put you off,’ Greg sighed.

‘You haven’t,’ Carly gave him a bright smile. ‘We’ll go,’ she told Paul. ‘Maybe I’ll feed you to an alligator.’

‘Sharks, and now alligators! I’m beginning to think you don’t love me any more,’ he mocked.

She gave him a sweet saccharine smile. ‘Maybe I don’t.’

‘Liar!’ he laughed.

Greg grinned, ‘You two are really something!’

‘Aren’t they?’ Velvet laughed.

‘Where shall we go this afternoon?’ Greg asked her.

‘How about Ocean World?’

He grinned. ‘Why is it that all the girls I date want to go to Ocean World?’

She couldn’t help smiling. ‘How many times have you been?’

‘About fifty—this year!’

Paul spluttered with laughter. ‘You poor devil! Was it worth it?’

The other man smiled. ‘Most times, yes.’

‘I think they’re getting personal,’ Carly told Velvet in a stage whisper.

Velvet knew they were. She liked Greg very much, but she had no intention of sleeping with him. ‘Are we going to get any work done today?’ she asked in a stilted voice.