Gina hurriedly let herself into Paul’s apartment and looked around for him. It was apparent he was home as the television had been left on but abandoned, some dodgy talk show prattling on in the background. With a shrug she wandered silently towards the bedroom, half expecting to find him still asleep, but infinitely pleased when she found him hunting through his wardrobe in nothing but a towel.

“Well, that makes things easier,” she grinned as she leaned against the doorframe, watching his all but naked frame jump in surprise at the sound of her voice.

“Gina!” Paul gasped, but the startled expression on his face quickly melted into a cautious smile. “About last night—”

“I know, I got your flowers,” Gina smiled, sauntering into the room. “There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness, hey?”

“You shouldn’t leave me alone,” Paul mused.

“Because when I do, you fuck other women on the floor of your living room.”

“How did you — she told you that?” he gasped, collapsing on the bed next to Gina.

“We’re best friends now, didn’t you know?” Gina perked with mock enthusiasm. “Freya likes to tell me every last detail of her life, even though I don’t want to hear it. She’s pissed I won’t tell her about Mad Rectum Plot.”

“I didn’t think she’d see the flowers.”

“Everyone in the office did I think. Which is why I’m here.”

“Hey?”

“Amanda told me to come thank you for the bouquet. In my usual fashion.”

“Usual fashion?” Paul asked hopefully. “What’s that?”

With a smug smile, Gina reached down and easily pulled the towel away from Paul’s body with one hand as the other cupped his cheek and pulled him in to a tender kiss. “So this is how you thank everyone, is it?” Paul asked with a cheeky smile when she pulled away.

“Well, I’ve been given a challenge,” Gina breathed, and he looked at her questioningly. “Freya said it was the best sex you’d had for a long time.”

“Uh huh?”

“Well, Tai Chi or no Tai Chi, I think I can do better than that,” Gina said in a sultry voice as she stepped away from the bed and led him from the bedroom, the towel long forgotten.

“Genie, I’ve told you already you’re the sex goddess,” Paul chirped.

“Does that mean you don’t want me to prove it?” Gina pouted.

“God no, prove it to me, please!” Paul cried, then broke into giggles as she pushed him onto the couch, stopping only to lean forward to pull her down with him, a mass of limbs, quickly discarded clothing, and passionate kisses.

“It’s too big,” Fenny announced, a bit nervous.

“No it’s not, it’s perfect,” Danny assured her.

“I’m gonna get hurt.”

“No you won’t. Here it comes.”

“It’s getting bigger.”

“Then don’t ride it.”

“I won’t.”

“Shit!” Danny gasped as Fenny dove into the water, diving under the monster wave as it crashed into him, tossing him around in the surf. He found Fenny’s leg when it kicked him in the head, helping him to regain his sense of up versus down, and they managed to surface together, Fenny panting from holding her breath, Danny choking on the water he’d inhaled on the rather surprising trip down.

“Told you that wave was too big,” she chuckled. “This is body surfing, darling, not longboarding. You ok?”

“Fine,” he said, sputtering a bit.

“C’mon you goof, let’s get back to shore before your sense of machismo gets one of us hurt.”

“Ruin all my fun,” Danny teased as they paddled back towards the shallows. “Here I am trying to show you a good time and you’re insulting my manliness.”

“There’s no way I could insult your manliness, sweetie. I’m just saying that maybe it’s time for another lathering of sunblock,” she smirked. “I’ll do you if you do me.”

“Isn’t that how we spent all morning?” Danny laughed.

“You’re hopeless,” Fenny giggled and grabbed his hand as they waded towards the clump of towels and discarded clothes they’d left on the beach, anxious for the opportunity to rub a little lotion into his flesh and letting him reciprocate the gesture.

Gina listened to Paul’s heart beat as she lay wedged pleasantly between the back of the couch and his body, arms around each other and sharing occasional kisses.

“I’m still craving chocolate,” she announced with a smile.

“We never did get that cake of yours finished, did we?” Paul snickered.

“Kept getting distracted. Brad’s probably found it by now anyway.”

“So do you have time before heading back to work for us to go get some chocolate?”

“If we can manage to finish the chocolate with our clothes on, yes,” she laughed.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he teased.

“C’mon, there’s more to life than mind-blowing sex.”

“Like what?”

“Like chocolate.”

“And?”

Gina looked up for a moment. “That’s about it. Sex and chocolate.”

“Even better if you get both at once.”

“We proved that last night.”

“Twice.”

“Come on, let’s go get some ice cream, take a walk on the beach. I was told to enjoy myself with my husband while Freya is kept busy, and I plan to do just that.”

Paul rolled sloppily off the couch and wandered off towards the bedroom to find some clothes.

“Wait,” Gina called after him as she stepped into her panties, “I want to see this track suit of yours.”

“Just for that, no chocolate for you,” Paul scorned as Gina let a fit of giggles creep up on her.

“Think Andy’s noticed you’re gone yet?” Fenny asked as they lay on a blanket on the beach, propping herself up on one elbow to look down at Danny, who mirrored her pose and shrugged.

“I left him a message saying my kitchen was flooding.”

“Nice excuse,” Fenny smiled.

“That way it’s ok if I come into work late, wet and sweaty,” he laughed.

“Brilliant,” Fenny smiled until her face fell. “You’re going back to work?”

“We’ve got a meeting, big one, with clients tonight. Proposals are being made, it’d kill the project if I wasn’t there.”

“So long as you’re not rushing back to be Andy’s lap dog, I guess I’ll permit it,” she smiled.

“Oh as if you could stop me,” he chuckled.

“If I didn’t approve, I certainly could,” she asserted.

“How?” he taunted.

“Like this,” she purred, leaning him back on the blanket and kissing him hungrily, slowly crawling on top of him.

The rest of the world seemed to vanish as Danny wrapped his arms around Fenny, holding her against him, running his hands over every part of her body he could reach, pulling her deeper into the kiss with his sandy fingers in her tangled hair.

Without warning, she pulled away, shrieking, and after an instant of confusion, Danny understood why. “Jesus!” he screamed as the icy ocean water splashed onto his bare stomach and he glared up accusingly at none other than Paul McDermott, smiling wickedly down at the couple and holding a child’s plastic bucket. The child to which said bucket belonged was frowning and kicking sand at them all.

“Asshole,” Fenny mumbled under her breath, throwing her sneaker at Paul as he tossed the bucket over his shoulder to send the blubbering child chasing after it.

“Thanks mate, I think I needed that,” Danny chuckled, letting out a careful breath.

“Gina’s idea,” Paul declared, and Fenny changed her aim and tossed her other shoe at Gina.

“Well well, Gina Coleman,” Danny perked, jumping off the sopping blanket to greet her. “It’s been ages!”

“It certainly has,” Gina smiled, glancing at him approvingly. “I see you’re doing well.”

“Ah, yeah,” he giggled, grabbing a towel to wrap around himself as he suddenly felt nervous under her scrutiny. “You’re looking great.”

“Thanks,” Gina smiled as Paul watched Fenny go crimson, turning her face away as she wrapped her towel around herself and shook the sand from her clothes.

“Nice to see you again Danny,” Paul chirped as he extended his hand in a friendly gesture, glad he’d had the refresher course on who Danny was.

“Good to see you too,” Danny smiled, shaking Paul’s hand. “Could’ve done without the harsh surprise greeting though.”

“We could’ve done without having to see Fenny checking your tonsils. They in good working order, Fen?” Paul teased.

“Go to hell, McDermott.” Fenny stuck her tongue out at him playfully as she reached for the shoe she’d thrown at Gina.

“So tell me, what have you been up to all this time, Dan?” Gina said. “I mean apart from boffing my pal Fen here.”

“Um, yeah, about that—” Danny stammered.

“Oh forget it, I’m just teasing, Fen and I have already discussed it.”

“She, you, uh…”

“Don’t worry. Gave you four stars,” Gina chuckled and Danny closed his eyes as Fenny dropped her head. “Seriously, what have you been up to?”

“Well, I found out that leaving a job you love for a salary you love isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That’s about it really, not much more to tell,” Danny shrugged. “How about you?” he urged. “I can’t get much out of Fenny about you, says the stories are outrageous and I’d accuse her of making them up?”

“And she’s absolutely right,” Gina nodded. “Really we just vacation together a lot, lose things, get lost, suffer strange injuries in bathtubs—”

“And airplane bathrooms,” Fenny piped up as she crawled along the sand to retrieve her shoe from behind Paul.

Gina and Danny fell into a conversation about what the paper was like to work for these days which, with the influence of Paul, quickly descended into stories of the last time they’d seen each other, which involved an office party, a few bottles of tequila (just like all of Paul’s “good” stories), a handful of swizzle sticks, a permanent marker, and someone’s scanner.

Fenny was only listening halfheartedly, suddenly feeling the odd man out. Her history lasted only a few days with Danny, and that was a relationship founded on a mutual distaste for the advertising world and a mutual appreciation of good sex, and even though she liked him a lot, he was right, she didn’t love him. Gina and Paul were obviously in love, so much so that even Freya couldn’t break them apart, and Fenny found herself jealous of that. Andy was wonderful, when he wanted to be, and that was happening less and less, and the more time she spent with Danny, the more she realized that maybe that wasn’t what she wanted, maybe they weren’t as in love as she’d thought. And as she sat on the beach, her thoughts wandered back to Brad’s completely unorthodox beach proposal…

Gina noticed Fenny shifting as she stood up and gestured towards the restrooms in the distance, and she nodded. As soon as Fenny’s back was turned, Gina nudged Paul and nodded towards her. With a roll of his eyes, he got up and followed Fenny.

“What was that?” Danny asked.

“Fen’s got issues, and Paul’s the only person I know that can talk any sense into the woman,” Gina sighed.

“Brad issues, right?”

“You know about Brad?”

“I get the feeling I don’t know the whole story, but I know she should be with him instead of Andy,” Danny declared. “And that you should be with Paul.”

Gina raised an eyebrow. “Fenny sure has a mouth on her,” she smiled.

“You’re a great woman, Gina, and you deserve to be happy. I’ve always thought so.”

“I am happy,” Gina assured him with a smile. “What about you, you can’t like this job of yours, not if you’re Andy’s yes man. I’m surprised you haven’t taken to him with a chainsaw yet.”

“Oh, it’s on my list of things to do,” Danny chuckled.

“Fen, wait up,” Paul called.

“What?” she sighed, exasperated for no real reason as she slowed down but kept walking.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” Paul asked as he caught up with her and matched her pace.

“What?” Fenny asked.

“You’re beating yourself up over the men in your life when the answer is really simple.”

“Is it really?” Fenny scorned.

“You’re in love with Brad. You’re dating Andy out of some delusional need to have a simple, soulless relationship where you aren’t going to get hurt because there’s no real emotional attachment. If you were in love with Andy, you wouldn’t be sleeping with Danny.”

“You love Gina and you slept with Jenna,” Fenny countered, “Gina slept with Greg. I slept with that surfer and Greg when I was seeing Brad.”

“That was different,” Paul sighed. “One off things, mostly, that came from loneliness or confusion, all of them. This is you being friends with Danny, acting more like a couple than you are with your actual so-called boyfriend. You’re trying to find the fulfillment you felt with Brad.”

“Brad is finding fulfillment with Ritza Crispin.”

“Brad is trying to make amends with her because he sees her as a caring human being and he’s concerned about her kid. Pull your head out of your arse, get over your pride and your selfishness and just ask yourself if what you’re doing is what you really want.”

Fenny stopped and turned to face him. “Paul?”

“Yes.”

“As much as I love getting your spectacular advice, I think you’re being really inept here. I’ll pull my head out of my ass as soon as you pull your head out of your ass. You love Gina. Dump Freya.” And with that, she turned on her heel and marched into the bathroom, leaving Paul frowning at the door in a way that made the group of teenage girls walking by giggle at him before turning and heading back to where Gina and Danny were talking about their cadet days.

“So Fenella, what’re your plans for tonight?” Gina asked when Fenny returned from the restroom.

“Well, Andy and Dan have a meeting,” she answered, rubbing Danny’s arm as she sat next to him, “so probably a night in my hotel room with my sketchbook and a B-movie or two unless someone’s got a better idea.”

“I was thinking about dinner at my place,” Gina perked.

“Sure,” Fenny agreed. As soon as the word slipped from her mouth, she realized that there was every possibility that Brad would still be there, and that brought on a whole barrage of contradictory emotions. She was dying to see him again, but still couldn’t really cope with the idea of him being hung up on the woman who’d nearly killed both of them. Best not to think of things like that, she told herself. “It’ll be nice to have real food for a change as opposed to the gourmet stuff Andy’s been shoveling at me and Freya’s – interesting – meal choices.”

“Just say it,” Paul chuckled. “It was bean curd and it was awful.”

“It was positively atrocious,” Fenny agreed. “Is Pauly invited?” she asked Gina hopefully. “I’ll bet he could do with a good dinner.”

“I’d love to,” he sighed, “but Freya and I’ve made plans.”

“To do what?” Gina asked curiously.

“Some film she’s been wanting to see,” Paul shrugged.

“Postpone it,” Fenny ordered.

“I can’t,” he whined. “I’m already in hot water for coming home so late last night.”

Paul smiled naughtily at Gina, and Fenny grimaced. “Please, I don’t want to know about your romp.”

“Romps,” Paul corrected.

“It’s better than making you watch it,” Gina scorned. “You two out here in public making everyone watch as you work sand into all the wrong spaces. Disgusting.”

“Damn sand,” Danny chuckled, pulling at his swimming trunks.

“Hey,” Fenny defended, “you kissed Paul in the middle of one of his shows.”

“Yes, but that was after he’d rubbed his crotch in your face,” Gina countered.

“Oh yeah,” Fenny sighed, defeated.

“It may be best if I didn’t ask,” Danny smiled.

“No need, you’ve seen his shows,” Gina countered.

“Point taken. Shit, look at the time, I should be getting back,” Danny cussed. “Want me to take you back to the hotel, Fen?”

“Yeah, probably should, Andy might be back. Gotta wash the salt off me before dinner.”

“Well it was great seeing you again,” Danny said as they all dragged themselves to a standing position. He reached out to shake Paul’s hand again and Fenny roughly shook the sand from their towels. “Bye Gina,” Danny continued, wrapping her in a hug. “I hope I see you around.”

“Me too,” Gina smiled. “See you tonight Fen, seven ok with you?”

“Great,” Fenny agreed. “See you ’round, Paul.”

A round of goodbyes and Fenny and Danny headed for his car, Gina and Paul moved back up the beach towards Paul’s home.

“Matchmaking for Brad and Fen?” Paul asked.

“Maybe,” Gina shrugged. “He’s over Ritza I think. Desperately wants Fen back, but when doesn’t he? Did you talk to her?”

“Yeah. Told her she belonged with Brad. It might have worked.”

“I hope so, I hate when those two pout like they do. They belong together and should be able to see that.”

Paul nodded, and Gina caught his gaze until both looked away at the same time.

“Hmm, maybe I should be getting back to work,” Gina declared. “Get something done with my day.”

“Excuse me, but I think you’ve done an awful lot with your day,” Paul declared.

“I mean something to justify my paycheck,” Gina corrected, then realized she shouldn’t have.

“Hey, I’d pay you but that’d make you a prostitute.”

“You did buy me chocolate ice cream,” she mused.

“Back to the old routine,” Paul said, shaking his head as he clicked his tongue, “sex for chocolate.”

Gina laughed, wrapping an arm around his waist. He put an arm around her shoulder and they walked down the beach together in silence for a while. “I wish you could come to dinner tonight.”

“Me too,” he said, having to remind himself of why he couldn’t go, and not sure he agreed with the logic anymore.

“Thanks for the ice cream. And the flowers,” Gina said when they got to Paul’s apartment.

“Thanks for thanking me,” he grinned. “Thank Amanda for me. But not in the usual fashion.”

“Bye Paul,” Gina said, shaking her head as she reached up for a goodbye kiss before heading back to work to avoid Freya.

Fenny looked at the phone accusingly as it rang, then back to the page in her sketchbook. She’d gotten as far as a layer of midrange conté and was frustrated at the interruption of her newly found artistic inspiration. “Hello?” she questioned the receiver as she reluctantly answered.

“Hi sweetheart, where were you all day?”

“Huh?”

“I tried calling you a few times earlier,” Andy explained, “and you never answered.”

“Oh, I went to the beach for a while, met up with Gina and Paul.”

“Oh.” Andy paused a moment. “Would you apologize to him for me?”

“What, Paul?”

“Yeah. I feel kinda bad the way I’ve treated him.”

“Oh, now that you know he’s a celebrity, he’s an okay guy?” Fenny scorned. She swallowed the rapidly rising temper tantrum she’d been wanting to throw ever since they’d gotten to Australia.

“Well that and he’s your friend. You’ve made the effort to be nice to my friends, hell, you and Danny get along great.” Fenny smiled sardonically to herself as Andy continued. “I just wish you’d told me he was famous before I met him.”

“Would you have treated him differently then?”

“Absolutely.”

That wasn’t the answer she wanted, but she decided to let it go. “Are you coming back before your meeting?”

“Don’t have the time,” he sighed. “I’m sorry baby, I know I said we’d spend more time together, but it just hasn’t worked out that way.”

“I know, that’s okay, we’re here for your work, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Fenny cooed. “I’m going to have dinner at Gina’s tonight.”

“You do that. It’ll be good for you, have some fun.”

“Thanks sweetie. I don’t know when I’ll be home. Well back to the hotel, anyway.”

“That’s okay, neither do I,” Andy laughed. “With any luck we’ll get to spend a little time together tonight. But look, I’ve gotta get back to work honey, alright?”

“Yeah.”

“See you soon, have fun tonight. Bye sweetheart.”

“Bye.”

Fenny looked down at the page of orange and closed the book, her sudden inspiration gone without a trace.