"Yeah?" She watched Christian turn and head inland again.
"Everything's going to be all right. If worse comes to worst we could always become lesbian lovers and grow old together. Who needs men anyway, right?"
"Right," Carolyn muttered, not finding their old joke remotely funny.
"Have fun. And don't rush back. Just enjoy the sand and surf. There's no hurry for the ginger ale and crackers.
I'm going to lie down and sleep awhile anyway."
"All right." Carolyn hung up, her gaze on Christian as he swam the last ten feet to shore. He was a very good swimmer, she noted absently, but if he was allergic to the sun, she didn't think he should probably be out there in the water.
She sank back on the lounge chair, thinking that Bethany's efforts to encourage her had had the opposite effect and she was now depressed. Or perhaps it was the fact that she had apparently taken to having wet dreams about her poor g*y companion that was depressing her, Carolyn thought grimly. She almost felt like she should apologize to the poor man for dream-raping him.
Grimacing, she pushed her sunglasses more firmly up her nose, and watched Christian walk, dripping, out of the surf. He was a beautiful young man... and she couldn't help her dreams, she told herself. Besides, that dream sex had been hotter than anything she'd experienced in real life. It was also the most fun she'd had so far on this damned trip. And she was the only one who knew about it, so no one had been hurt by it. She just had to remind herself, firmly, that all it had been was a dream and that it would never happen in real life. Christian was gay, and that was that. He would never want her. Ever.
Chapter Eight
"So Bethany booked you for the shopping tour and the day sail to Soufriere," Christian murmured, looking over the pamphlets.
"I'm pretty sure she mentioned those two. She might have booked others, but if so, I don't recall her telling me."
Christian nodded. "Well, it looks like we're out of luck this afternoon. Most of the tours start in the morning."
"Probably because it's cooler then." She leaned closer to read the description of the Jeep jungle tour. That sounded interesting, they stopped at a banana plantation and there were some falls and stuff on that tour too. The zip-line adventure looked interesting as well, zipping along through the trees 150 feet above the ground to see the forest from such an unusual angle. They would have a bird's eye view, even of the birds. At least that's what the pamphlet claimed.
"Hmm." Christian frowned, and pointed out, "That leaves only the shopping shuttles this afternoon though."
Carolyn chuckled at his expression. "You look so thrilled."
"Yeah." He smiled crookedly. "Not keen on the shopping thing."
"Well, we don't have to do anything this afternoon," she pointed out with amusement. "I have to take some ginger ale and crackers up to Beth and check on her. Then we could lounge around on the beach for a bit. I mean, it's already after one and our food hasn't even come yet. By the time I get back from checking on Beth it will probably be two or three, we could lie around and read or talk, then get ready for dinner and..." She shrugged. "The rest of the night is pretty much spoken for."
"Yeah." He raised his eyebrows. "Would you mind?"
"No. Bethany and I planned to just chill for the first day or two anyway," she assured him and it was true, they'd planned to just relax and recuperate from the cares of the world. She supposed if Beth had to get sick, she'd picked the best time to do it. Surely she would be recovered by the time their tours came up.
"Okay, but I really think we should do the zip-line adventure or the Jeep tour tomorrow," he suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," she agreed, pleased that his interests seemed to coincide with her own. She then sat back as the waitress arrived with their food. Carolyn sighed with pleasure as the burger was set before her. She knew she shouldn't have it, she'd been trying to watch her weight since leaving Robert, but she was on vacation, what better time to have one? And Christian had ordered the same thing.
"Mmm, this is good," he announced around a mouthful of burger.
Carolyn shook her head with amusement. "Don't tell me they don't have burgers in Italy?"
"I'm sure they do, but I've never had one," he said, picking up a fry and popping it in his mouth.
"Never?" she asked with surprise and then smiled. "I suppose you eat a lot of pasta over there. It seems to be what Italy is known for."
Christian grunted, but his mouth was full of burger and she turned her attention to her own food. It was several moments before either of them spoke again and then it was Christian who said, "So what does a business lawyer do exactly?"
Carolyn smiled wryly and picked up a fry, as she admitted, "I don't really use my degree at all anymore."
When his eyebrows rose, she shrugged.
"Life kind of took a turn in an unexpected direction several years ago."
"Oh?" Christian asked curiously.