Offshore (17 page)

Eddie
unzipped his own suit to allow a little fresh air to his baking
flesh within, and could smell his sweat on a wave of released heat.
The suits and thermals were excellent insulators, keeping the cold
out, but equally adept at keeping heat in.

With a
sigh of fatigue he dropped into her chair and raked his hands
through his hair, before propping his elbows on his knees and
covering his face with his hands.

After
five minutes, she emerged from behind the screen, smoothing down
the front of her coverall.

“
You calmed down yet?”

Eddie
parted his hands and looked up at her with bleary eyes.

“
You got a bit steamed there,” she said.

He sat
up in the chair. “With good reason, don’t you think?”

“
No.”

Lydia
helped herself to a tumbler of water from the small stainless steel
sink.

“
Do you want to know what really happened, or shall we just
skip the preliminaries and jump to guilty as charged and you can
chuck me in the brig and throw away the key?” she said.

“
I need to know … for my report,” said Eddie. “And we don’t
actually have a brig as such. We do, however, have a multitude of
broom cupboards.”

She
laughed. “Well I wasn’t drunk, and I wasn’t on drugs … at least not
the sort you think. It was down to nothing more noxious or illegal
than good old sea sickness pills.”

Eddie’s
face creased with incredulity. “What?”

“
Avomine.” She took a crumpled box from the pocket of her
overall and tossed it to him. He caught it mid flight and examined
it.

“
I suffer terribly from motion sickness and usually take
another brand. Mild but effective,” she explained. “I’ve been using
them for more years than I can count. Unfortunately with the bad
weather shaking this place like a baby’s rattle I’ve needed more
than usual, and I used up my supply. These were all I could find.
They have different ingredients to what I’m used to and I had an
adverse reaction to one of them. It made me a bit … doolally.” She
twirled a finger at her temple. “It’s never happened before and
I’ll be more careful next time. I’m sorry if I caused any trouble,
but it really wasn’t my fault.”

Eddie
barked out a sharp embarrassed laugh and tossed the packet
back.

In the
ensuing silence he remembered the high colour on her cheeks and the
icy coldness of her skin, like dipping his hand in a bucket of
seawater.

“
I suppose it would account for you looking like death
warmed over when I found you?” he said. “Pale, sweaty, eyes like
dinner plates, off on another planet?”

“
Sounds about right.”

“
How are you feeling now?” he said. “Any after
effects?”

“
Apart from a bit of a headache and some bruises, I’m
feeling quite normal, whatever that is. Still a bit cold though. I
could do with a brew to warm me up.”

“
There should be some coffee left in the pot in the galley.
You can probably reheat it.”

“
Yuk. I prefer fresh.”

“
And you would be the first to complain if it went to
waste.”

She
sooked on the cool water. “I suppose I should thank you for
rescuing me and tossing me head first into the lifeboat,” she said.
“I know you meant well, but you could have killed me in the
process.”

“
Are you sure you’re okay?”

“
Mr Reynolds said I was out cold for a few minutes, but I’m
fine now, although everything from the last couple of hours or so
is a bit hazy. I hope I didn’t say or do anything …
inappropriate.”

Eddie
smirked knowingly and she had her answer.

She
groaned. “Oh crap, I did didn’t I? What did I do? What did I
say?”

His
shoulders rose in a classic Gallic shrug.

“
Tell me, Eddie.”

Eddie
hauled himself from his chair, yawned and stretched. “It’s been one
hell of a night …” He looked at his watch. “... Actually, it’s
hardly worth the effort of going to bed. I’ve got to be up in less
than two hours and I’m too wired to sleep. I think I’ll get an
early breakfast. Wanna join me?”

She
cocked her head, considering the option. “Yeah, why not? Just so
long as you don’t expect me to cook, and it’s not something greasy
…” She patted her stomach and pulled a face.

Eddie
grinned and held the door open for her. “Do you mind if we stop off
at the locker room first? I’ve got to get out of this kit before I
melt.”

“
That would depend.”

“
On what?

“
On what you’re wearing underneath.”

“
Thermals, obviously.”

“
And under them?”

“
Tee shirt and …” Crap. “... shorts.” She threw him a sly
wink and waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Chapter 19

They sat
together in the economically lit dining room; Eddie now dressed in
a sweatshirt and jeans snatched from his cabin on the
way.

“
Better?” he said.

Lydia
sooked on her brew. “Much. Thanks.”

“
How’s the coffee?”

“
Cheap and nasty, but warm and wet, which is what counts? Is
there any more?”

“
You do know too much caffeine can be bad for
you.”

“
I don’t have any problem with it. Coffee, like chocolate,
comes from beans; beans are a vegetable, or a fruit, not sure
which, and as such can be counted as one of my five a
day.”

“
Excuse and denial, always the sign of a true
addict.”

“
Maybe, but think on this,
I
don’t have a
problem with it, but if my blood caffeine level falls below
critical mass,
you
very well might.”

She
stirred yoghurt into her granola. “I came on to you, didn’t I?” she
said. “That’s what you’re not telling me isn’t it?”

Eddie
scraped a generous layer of marmalade over a thick slice of
buttered toast, took a large bite and chewed methodically on it,
his silence confirming her suspicion.

“
Shit.” She dropped her spoon, pushed her dish away and
closed her eyes. “How bad was it?”

He swallowed his mouthful. “Pretty full on, and it wasn’t
bad
per
se
, just
rotten timing. Nice piercing by the way.”

“
What else did I do? Did I damage anything? Hurt anyone?
Please tell me.”

“
No, but …” He feigned disgust. “ …your language! I’m
flabbergasted you even know such words. Do you kiss your mother
with that mouth?”

She
pressed a hand over her mouth, her face creased with
mortification.

“
Not only that, you seemed to have some weird fixation with
cutting off my balls, deep frying them and serving them up with
chips and gravy,” Eddie said.

Lydia
covered her face with her hands and groaned. “I am so sorry.” She
peeped through her fingers. “Are you going to put it all in your
report?”

“
That depends on what you put in yours.”

“
Mine?”

“
Hmmm. You said you were going to file a complaint with my
soop-eer-rior for, and I quote, shouting at you, manhandling you,
kidnapping and sexual harassment. I don’t think I missed anything
out.”

She hid
her face again and keened pathetically.

Eddie
took another bite of his toast, catching a shred of sticky orange
peel from the corner of his smiling mouth with his
tongue.

“
No, I’m not going to mention you in my report,” he said,
pushing her dish back. “But I might put you in my book.”

They ate
the rest of their meal in the company of convivial chit chat. When
they had done and cleared away their dirty dishes and cups, Eddie
escorted Lydia to her cabin.

“
You want to come in,” she said, keeping her voice low so as
not to disturb her neighbours.

“
Best not,” he said. “We don’t want to stir up any more ill
feeling than there are already.”

“
Who’s going to know?”

“
Walls have ears.”

“
Don’t be so stuffy. It’s nobody’s business but ours where
we choose to spend our time. We’re not doing anything
wrong.”

“
What are we doing?” he asked.

“
I’m going to make you a cup of proper coffee from my secret
store and you are going to tell me all about your
books.”

He
looked up and down the corridor to see if anyone had been disturbed
by their talking and felt the need to neb in.

“
Okay,” he said. “Coffee and a chat. I can handle
that.”

Her
cabin was neat and tidy and smelled of vanilla and sandalwood. On
the pillow of her bunk sat a small brown teddy bear wearing a green
satin bow tie. Eddie picked it up.

“
Mr Brown,” she explained, taking the treasured toy from him
and placing it on her table. “He goes everywhere with me. He’s my
good luck charm. Why don’t you sit down and make yourself
comfortable?”

She
filled the kettle from the bathroom sink, set it on its base and
turned it on. From their hiding place under her bed she took out
separate canisters of granulated coffee and creamer and prepared
two mugs.

“
Secret stash,” she said. “Sometimes I want quality over
quantity.”

She sat
beside him on the bunk to wait for the water to boil.

“
How’s your head?” Eddie said.

“
It’s still fine.”

“
No headache?”

“
No.”

“
Any more bumps and bruises I should know about? For the
record?”

“
You said you weren’t putting me in the record.”

“
Out of interest then.”

“
I think I might have one on my knee.”

She
rolled up the leg of her overall, exposing a fine slender calf, and
a small purple stain about the size of a ten pence piece over the
knobbly bone below her knee.

“
Is that interesting enough?”

Tanned.
Smooth. Very nice.

“
Aye … ahem … they’ll do … I mean … doesn’t look too
bad.”

From the
corner of his eye he became aware of her watching him, appraising
him as he measured up her attributes. When he looked at her
directly, she held his gaze with the most beguiling eyes he had
ever seen, a combination of greys and blues and greens; all the
colours of the sea.

As he
looked into them, the pupils dilated the merest fraction. Were they
reflecting her interest in him, or were they just adjusting to the
lack of light?

He settled for the latter, because even though he was
interested in her, she sure as hell couldn’t be interested in him.
Not in
that
way.

She laid
her hand on his cheek and stroked it with her thumb. Face closer,
lips parted, the tip of her tongue just visible. Lips touching his
cheek, soft and warm and tender against the scratchiness of
emerging bristles. Against the corner of his mouth. Timid pecks.
Testing the water? Seeing how far she could go?

Maybe she
was
interested.

“
Will you stay?” she said, her voice as smooth as brushed
velvet as she kissed the soft spot just below his left ear. “I’d
like you to stay. For the company.”

He felt
himself blushing. “Aye. Sure. If you like. For the
company.”

A kiss
to his throat sent a tingle running through him from the roots of
his hair to the tips of his toes.

“
I don’t really want to cut your balls off,” she said,
kissing the tip of his nose.

“
I’m pleased to hear it. I have become rather attached to
them.” And now she had both hands under his sweatshirt, under his
tee shirt, against his skin. Intimate physical contact with a
colleague flouted all the rules in the book. Such fraternisation
could have him before a disciplinary board …For once the rule book
could go screw itself.

He took
her in his arms, pressing his mouth against hers, his tongue
feeling the smooth edge of her teeth, tasting the sweetness of her
breath.

She
broke the kiss, lay back and unzipped her overalls down to the
crotch, exposing her brassiere and a strip of pale stomach, giving
him a close-up look at the jewel glinting in her pierced belly
button, an eye winking at him, giving him the come on. This time,
he obeyed.

He
peeled the shapeless overalls from her, leaving her once again in
her tiny underwear. She grabbed his sweatshirt and pulled it over
his head, as he unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans.

Within
seconds they were both naked and engrossed in exploring new
territories, tasting, smelling, kissing each other all over. She
was receptive, he was forceful. They both climaxed.