Chapter Two

Gripping her bag tightly, Charlie took a deep breath and marched up to the boat. She never took her eyes away from Joey and the blonde who had stepped away from each other but were still chatting away merrily. Joey was back to work but the fact that the blonde's eyes were firmly fixed on Joey's backside was not lost on Charlie. She swallowed hard, her mind overwrought with this being the reason why Joey had been doing so much overtime. She'd thought the two of them were so happy together. Their relationship had been so flawless for four whole years. Joey couldn't be attracted to someone else, could she? She couldn't be cheating. That was not the Joey that Charlie knew and loved so passionately. No, it wasn't possible. Convincing herself that she was jumping to conclusions, Charlie relaxed her grip on her bag, took a breath and plastered a smile on her face.

"Hey!" she called pleasantly, as she reached the boat.

Joey stopped and peered over the side. She spotted Charlie, grinned joyfully and waved. Her smile comforted Charlie immediately. There was no way that Joey would be that thrilled to see her if she'd almost been caught with another woman. Charlie smiled back, happy and relieved as Joey jumped over the side and enveloped Charlie into a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Joey asked, pulling back ever so slightly.

"I decided to ignore your lunch rejection," Charlie said.

Joey frowned at Charlie's choice of words.

"It wasn't a rejection. I just don't have time…"

"To come all the way home for lunch," Charlie finished. "I know. You said. So I brought lunch to you."

She tapped her bag and smiled. Joey grinned back.

"You're so sweet."

"So, can I steal you away from your precious boat for a few minutes?" Charlie asked.

Joey looked up at her boss, the blonde who was hovering nearby and watching their interaction.

"Do you mind if I have a quick lunch break?" she asked.

The blonde nodded and shrugged.

"It was you who said you couldn't afford the time, Joey," she said. "I'm not a slave driver."

"I know. I know," Joey replied. "Oh, Charlie, this is Lauren, by the way."

Charlie waved stiffly. She still didn't like her. The woman had obviously been checking Joey out earlier. Obviously Charlie couldn't blame her – she had a body to die for – but the only person who got to look and touch was Charlie and she was very firm about that. Lauren waved back and then ran her hands through her hair. Charlie eyed Joey for any signs of attraction but didn't find any, although Lauren was undeniably beautiful.

"I'll see you in half an hour!" Joey called, taking Charlie's arm and walking away with her.

***

Charlie and Joey walked a little way along the beach before settling down with their lunch. They sat side by side, facing the ocean. Joey leant against Charlie's shoulder for a couple of moments.

"Thank you for being so thoughtful," she said.

Charlie could hear the smile in her voice without even needing to look at her. She reached out to squeeze Joey's hand and smiled back.

"It was pure selfishness really," she said. "I kind of like your company."

"I guess I've not been around much, huh?" Joey realised.

"Understatement!" Charlie said.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she said, not sure she entirely meant it. "I know you're trying to save up the cash."

"I want to take you away, that's all," Joey said.

"We could pool our money together," Charlie began.

"I want to do it myself," Joey insisted.

Charlie nodded.

"So, how long do I have to put up with not seeing you as much as I want to?" she asked.

"A few weeks or so?"

Charlie nearly choked on her sandwich.

"It'll fly by," Joey insisted, amused.

She rubbed Charlie's back soothingly.

"And just think about the time we do spend together," she said with a grin. "We can make sure that it's real quality time."

Charlie felt herself be swayed slightly. After all, if paying for a holiday was that important to Joey then really, who was she to get in the way? She turned to face her girlfriend and smiled as she leaned in closer and pressed their lips together. Joey stroked Charlie's face and tangled her hands in Charlie's hair. Her breath caught slightly as Charlie permitted her tongue entry. Joey moved to lay Charlie back on the sand, leaning over her and letting her hands wander, their lunch quickly forgotten. She trailed kisses down Charlie's jaw and throat and then towards her cleavage.

"I've missed you," Charlie breathed.

Joey traced her kisses back up to Charlie's mouth, letting her hands drift to her chest. She smiled.

"I've missed you too," she said, even though it had only been a few days since they'd spent this kind of time together. Joey kissed her again and then pulled away sighing as they both heard the wolf whistle of some adolescent teenager. Both women turned to face the group of four boys who were walking up the beach on their lunch break from school, kicking at the sand and watching Charlie and Joey's display.

"I hate teenage boys," Charlie complained.

"I'd better be getting back anyway," Joey sighed, despising the group just as much.

In order to avoid trouble, they gathered up their belongings and their discarded lunch remnants and hurried up the beach holding hands.

***

Back at the boat which looked just about ready to sail out for the afternoon, Charlie reluctantly let go of Joey's hand. Joey leant across to kiss her goodbye.

"What time should I expect you today?"

Joey pulled an awkward face and Charlie's heart sank at the thought of yet more overtime. Joey kissed her again.

"Expect me at about ten," she said.

Charlie nodded and began to walk away.

"Oh, and you'd better be prepared to finish what you started," she called.

Joey grinned and headed back to work.

***

Joey was cheerful but aware that she was running late when she pushed through the front door that evening. Charlie was in the kitchen washing dishes noisily in the sink.

"I expected you at ten," she said sourly.

It was now quarter past eleven and Joey felt immediately guilty that she hadn't even bothered to send a text. She'd just lost track of time and got into what she was doing and before she knew what was happening, she'd gone over her overtime and was running the risk of making Charlie angry. She stood behind her partner and wrapped her arms around her waist, apologising profusely and attempting to explain. She felt Charlie sigh heavily against her and stop washing dishes.

"I've just hardly seen you all week," Charlie complained.

"I know," Joey said. "It's been hard for me too. You have no idea how hard."

Charlie turned round to face her, pouting slightly.

"You can stop doing all the overtime then," she said hopefully.

Joey smiled.

"If I keep going like I am then it'll only be a couple more weeks before I can take you away," Joey said. "And then just think of all the time we'll get to spend together then. You'll be sick of the sight of me by the end of the trip!"

Charlie placed her soapy hands on Joey's face and kissed her lips. Joey hugged her tighter and smiled.

"I'm going to jump in the shower," she said.

She invited Charlie to come and keep her company.

***

Joey stood in the shower cubicle and enjoyed the rush of hot water cascading down her tired body. It was refreshing to scrub the grime of the day from her, although she could hardly bear to think about the fact that in five hours she would be heading right back to the boat. She knew Charlie was choosing not to believe it, but the truth was that Joey hated the overtime just as much as she did. Early starts, long days and late nights, all away from the woman she loved, were torture but she had to keep in mind exactly what she was doing it for.

"Oh, I might be getting a promotion at work," Charlie said, over the sound of the water from where she sat perched on a stool.

"Well done!" Joey enthused.

"So, maybe we could use the extra money for our trip?"

Joey opened the door and poked her head out.

"Nice try," she said.

Charlie felt a thrill go through her at the hint of Joey's naked body. She thought it was special that even after seeing her pretty much every day for the last four years they were still just as excited by the sight of each other as they had been when they first met. Joey ducked back into the shower and Charlie fought the urge to join her.

"Oh, Charlie, I had a favour to ask you," Joey ventured, sounding a little shy.

"What's that?"

"Well, I'm not working tomorrow night," she said. "And nor are you. And I was wondering if we could maybe take Lauren out to dinner."

Charlie let images of busty Lauren gazing at Joey's bottom invade her mind. She shuddered. She did not want to go and spend an evening with that woman at all. When she didn't respond, Joey poked her head out of the shower again and peered at her girlfriend.

"Charlie?" she asked. "Would that be okay?"

"Why?" was all Charlie managed.

"Because she's just spilt up with her girlfriend of nine years and she's really lonely," Joey said, slipping back under the water again. "Plus, she's my boss and my friend and I think it'd be nice if you two got to know each other."

"Okay. Sure."

"Great!" Joey said, not noticing the disdain in Charlie's voice.

Checking that all the shampoo was out of her hair, Joey turned off the water and opened the door. She smiled at Charlie and felt around for her towel, locating it and drying her face.

"I think it'll be a really good night," she said.

Thoughts of an evening with Lauren evaporated as Charlie's eyes fixed on Joey's glistening, wet body. Before she'd even given her a chance to dry anything but her face, Charlie had sprung up from her seat, bounded over and begun to smother her in kisses. Taken aback with delighted surprise, Joey allowed herself to be led back into the shower. Charlie pressed her back against the wall, accidentally shouldering the 'on' button and causing the water to start flowing again.

***

Charlie was trying to have a nice time but it was proving to be quite an effort. Even Joey's company and watching her laugh, relax and enjoy herself wasn't compensating for the fact that Lauren had basically been having a conversation with her cleavage for the entire night. She couldn't believe that Joey hadn't noticed the effect she seemed to be having on her boss but she genuinely seemed oblivious. Still, the little voice in Charlie's head kept telling her that Joey was pretending and that there was more to this overtime business than met the eye. And then she felt terribly guilty for being so accusatory. Then she lost the thread of the conversation and felt even more left out. She studied Lauren. The woman was undeniably beautiful. She was tall and slim with curvy hips and a generous helping of cleavage that made Charlie wonder why she had to keep staring at Joey's. If she wanted boobs, she had plenty of her own to focus on. Lauren was blonde haired and blue eyed; she had a voice so husky and sexy that it had to be false. She had a light laugh and a flawless face. Charlie nodded as Joey excused herself to go to the bathroom. She gratefully received a gentle hand-squeeze and then watched her go. Looking back at Lauren, she noticed that she was also watching Joey leave. Charlie tried to smile but she was aware that it looked more like a grimace. It felt like more of a grimace too.

"Sorry for stealing her away," Lauren said evenly.

Charlie couldn't fail to miss the loaded sentence. It was dripping with double meaning. Or maybe she was just paranoid.

"Well, I know she's got a lot of overtime to do," she said, ignoring the unspoken part of the comment.

"Yeah. I'm sure I meant her time," Lauren replied, sipping her wine.

Okay, maybe she wasn't just being paranoid after all.

"Excuse me?" Charlie challenged.

"I'm not proud of it, Charlie and I don't want to hurt anyone but Joey and I just have a connection," Lauren said.

A fake smile was plastered on her face. Charlie let her mouth hang open.

"I think you're barking up the wrong tree here, Lauren," she eventually said.

"Am I?"

"Joey would never…"

"Keep telling yourself that."

Charlie fought the urge to reach over and slap Joey's boss. How dare she sit there and make out that she and Joey were or would be having an affair? Joey would never do that to her. The whole reason she was doing all those long hours at work was because she was trying to make a romantic gesture to take Charlie away, wasn't it? It wasn't because she and Lauren were getting it on in the sunshine on deck.

"How dare you?" Charlie said, her voice low and threatening, trying to hide her panic.

"Look, Joey and I belong together," Lauren said. "She's so close to realising that and I thought you should know. That's all."

They both looked up as Joey cheerfully returned to the table.

"Did I miss anything exciting?" she asked, sitting down.

"Nothing," Charlie said firmly.

Lauren raised an eyebrow.

"Who wants dessert?" she asked.