cleavage. A minute later his eyes flicked up to Zev and Carly, and he said, “I pulled off Alex brilliantly.”
“Your British accent wasn’t all that great,” Randi said flatly.
Ford scoffed. “My accent rocked. I got loads of phone numbers that night.”
Zev leaned closer to Carly for a kiss, and then he whispered in her ear, “Told you…”
“They need one of Char’s plans,” she said softly, catching his hand as it slid across her thigh beneath her skirt. She pressed her thighs together, as she’d been doing all night, and gave him a warning glare. But it just made the wickedness in his eyes hotter, which made her want him even more. “You’re going to lose the dare.”
He rubbed his whiskers along her cheek, his hand sneaking between her thighs again, as he whispered, “I don’t care.”
“Hello?” Randi said in a singsong voice. “We lost them again. They’re in some sort of lovers’ trance.”
Carly jerked Zev’s hand away and said, “Sorry.” Geez, she really was in a lover’s trance.
“I’m not,” Zev said smugly.
That look got under Carly’s skin, turning her on even more. She needed a distraction from her biggest distraction and said, “Who was right about the timing of your trip?”
Randi grinned and pointed at herself with both hands. “Me, of course. I knew it wasn’t last fall because Zev met up with Graham in Belize last fall, and it wasn’t the winter in Panama, because Zev wasn’t even there with us. He’d gone home to see his parents for the weekend and then he went to see Luis.”
“None of that matters anyway,” Ford said. “The only thing that matters is that you, Carly, missed Zev doing a Magic Mike dance that night.”
“Yes!” Randi clapped. “When all the ladies begged Alex Pettyfer to get up and do a Magic Mike dance, Ford chickened out. Have you ever seen a harem of angry, drunken females? I thought Ford was going to get his butt kicked, but Zev rescued him. He dragged Ford’s lame ass up to the stage, and they both did a horrible rendition of Magic Mike’s sexy dancing. Ford was the better of the two, in case you’re wondering.”
“But Zev was the best dancer in our high school, and he won a dance contest when we were in college.” She looked quizzically at him and said, “Zevy, have you lost all your sexy moves? Because I might have to rethink this relationship.”
“No, but I wasn’t going to outdance my buddy.”
“What?” Ford pointed at Zev and said, “I’m not that bad of a dancer.”
“That’s debatable,” Randi chimed in.
Zev put an arm around Carly and said, “Besides, I didn’t want any of those crazy women jumping my bones.”
They had a good laugh over that, but Carly knew from the look in Zev’s eyes that he was telling the truth.
As they finished dessert, Randi said, “I’m bummed that you’re going back to Colorado tomorrow. It was so fun having another woman on board.”
“And this guy has never seemed happier,” Ford said, motioning to Zev. “You’re not going to dump his ass and leave us with a weepy Braden, are you?”
“No way. I just got him back,” Carly said. “Believe me, going home is the last thing I want to do. I’ve had more fun today than I’ve had in a long time.” Her heart hurt thinking about being away from Zev, but this was their reality. When Zev returned to his boat Sunday evening, he would be embarking on a life-changing adventure, and who knew how long it would be before they saw each other again. She was honored to have been part of working on the concretions and to have taken part in today’s expedition, and she wasn’t going to let the fact that they’d be apart for a few—several?—weeks get her down. So she said, “I’m beyond thrilled for you guys. You’re going to make history, and I want to hear all about it. Every detail.”
“I’m going to buy stock in video-chat software,” Ford said. “I have a feeling its use is about to spike. Don’t worry about Zev, Carly. I’ll keep him warm when you’re gone.”
Zev shook his head, chuckling.
“Ford had a few too much to drink one night and wandered into Zev’s cabin thinking it was his,” Randi explained.
“Sounds juicy.” Carly bumped Zev’s shoulder and said, “Is there a side of you I don’t know about?”
“Hardly,” he said.
“That was the night we found out that Ford is very handsy when he’s drunk and Zev likes to sleep in