Ritza pulled nervously away from Brad, her eyes begging for more but her mind screaming for her to stop.

“We shouldn’t have done that,” she breathed, running her fingers through her hair.

“But it felt so right,” Brad countered, trying to take her in his arms again.

“I can’t just fall in and out of relationships anymore, I’ve got others to think about. I’ve got…” She paused and looked suddenly over at the door where Gus was standing with a Teletubbie in one hand and a shocked expression on his face.

“Why are you crying, mummy?” Gus asked, padding across the floor to Ritza and giving Brad an annoyed look.

“It’s hayfever baby, Brad here was just…” She paused and looked from Gus to Brad. “Thomas will be on in a minute, why don’t you go get comfy and mummy will be there in a second.”

Gus’s face broke into a smile. “Ok,” he perked and dashed off into the living room.

“This is the part where I should probably leave, huh?” Brad sighed.

“Sorry, Gus’s father has never wanted anything to do with him, and he latches on to every man I date, and when they leave…”

“It’s ok,” Brad soothed and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. “Please tell me I can see you again?”

Ritza crossed her arms and looked at the floor for a few seconds, before she looked back at him. “We’ll see.”

He didn’t know what else to say and headed for the front door. As he closed the door behind him , Brad heard Ritza walk into the living room and Gus ask, “Can we have ice cream?”

Fenny stepped out of the mall and turned to head back to the hotel.

“Want a lift?” a voice announced.

She turned to see Danny leaning against the wall chucking his keys in the air with one hand. “You just keep popping up, don’t you?” Fenny mused, her body tingling at the sight of him.

“Well, it was either this or another round of Andy crapping on about the time he met the President,” Danny mused.

“I feel I should apologise,” she sighed.

“I’m sure there are other ways you can make it up to me,” he winked.

“I don’t know what you’re getting at,” she smiled.

Danny chuckled. “So what have we been buying?”

“Nice clothes,” Fenny shrugged as Danny took the liberty to look in her bags.

“I’m sorry but you’ll have to take them back.”

“Why?” she pouted.

“Because if we’re going to be stuck at a lot of crappy, snobby cocktail parties, then I want something to look at.”

“They’re not for you.”

“Fine, we’ll make it so they are,” he grinned, grabbed Fenny’s hand, and dragged her back into the mall.

“You think Paul will like my top?” Freya asked as she followed Gina back into the office.

“I’m sure he’ll love it,” Gina replied, trying to hide the disdain in her voice.

“It’s just, he’s been really weird the last few days,” Freya continued as Gina slid into her swivel chair.

“He’s always weird,” she countered.

“You’ve known him a while, haven’t you?” Freya asked, a hopeful look on her face.

“Something like that,” Gina shrugged.

Freya’s face seemed to lighten and she grabbed a chair and pulled it over near Gina. “The thing is, I think he’s going off me.”

Gina had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes and mumbled, “God help me.”

“Forget Paul. Woman to woman…I feel like his mind is always somewhere else, like he’s thinking of someone else.”

“He’s a man, of course his mind is somewhere else. You can’t expect him to think about you all day,” Gina mused.

“But we’re in love, he should think of me,” Freya said adamantly.

“I’m sure he does, between whatever else is running through that slightly fragmented, intoxicated mind of his.”

“But I wore this cute little sheer negligee the other night, smothered him in kisses and he gave me some excuse about having a headache.”

“Ok, that was way too much information…”

“And you know what else? I tried to seduce him in the shower the other morning, he was all soapy and I grabbed his — ”

“Freya.”

“You know what really upsets me though? He went out drinking when he promised me he wouldn’t. He and Brad, you’ll like Brad by the way, they were totally inebriated, it was disgusting. Well I made him spend the night on the couch,” Freya said matter-of-factly.

“You made him sleep on the couch?” Gina gasped. “That’s hardly going to help your relationship.”

“Well, what should I do? I mean you must have seen him with other girlfriends.”

Gina looked at the pleading expression on Freya’s face and felt compelled to thrust her dictionary in it. How dare this woman ask for relationship advice to hold onto a man that wasn’t even hers. Gina knew every little trick to keep Paul happy and she wasn’t about to share.

Brad looked up from the kids television programme he was watching as Paul wandered through the door, dumped his bag in a chair and fell onto the couch next to Brad.

“Nice lunch?” Brad mused.

“Not really, the pasta was cold and I was craving beer,” Paul replied. “How was Ritza?”

“Sad,” Brad breathed as he switched the television off.

“That’s it?”

“She’s living in some run down area with nothing but her kid to keep her alive.”

“Fucking hell mate, you’re feeling sorry for her.”

“She’s sorry for what happened.”

“Tell it to someone who fucking cares,” Paul hissed as he got to his feet again.

“Hey, don’t take your bad mood out on me,” Brad cussed.

“I’m not in a bad mood, I’m just frustrated,” Paul countered as he removed his jacket and hung it over the back of the couch. “Speaking of which, you’ll never guess who I ran into today?”

“The Pope?”

“No.”

“Not that prick we ran into in the pub?”

“No, just shut the fuck up,” Paul grumbled. “Fen and Gina.”

“Yeah, how was she?” Brad asked, his mood lifting.

“Gorgeous,” Paul replied dreamily.

“And Fen?” Brad sighed.

“Huh? Oh yeah, she was picking a nice frock for Andy,” Paul mused. “Speaking of which, they’re coming for dinner tonight.”

“They’re what?” Brad gasped. “I should go out.”

“Sorry mate, you can’t. Freya thinks you and Gina will make a lovely couple.”

Brad’s eyes rolled back and he fell back onto the couch. Paul let out a cackle. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a nice bottle of red we can share.”

“Won’t that set Freya off on another spiel about how precious our livers are?” Brad groaned.

“Not if we start it before she gets home,” Paul grinned. Brad returned the grin; he would need something to cope with seeing Fenny, and if it was half a bottle of red wine, then so be it.

“You are a bad influence on me,” Fenny smiled as she let her fingers play over Danny’s toned stomach.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he mused as his hand stroked her hip. “I have to ask, what’s with the monkey?”

“A mad moment in Paris,” she breathed almost dreamily.

“You must have loved him,” he sighed, taking a closer look at the monkey.

“Why do you say that?”

“The ‘B’ has gotta stand for something.”

“Brad. It stands for Brad.”

“And what went wrong with Brad?” Danny asked, falling back on the pillows, the sparkle in his eyes making Fenny almost lose herself.

“What hasn’t gone wrong. Every time we make progress, something goes wrong to fuck it all up,” Fenny shrugged. “Usually me overreacting about something.”

“My, someone sounds commitment phobic,” he teased.

“Shut up,” she pouted.

“So, what happened to Brad?”

“Ok, this is where how fucked up my life is comes into play,” Fenny mused. “Andy and I are going to dinner at Gina’s husband Paul’s place, with his new woman Freya.”

“Gina and Paul broke up?”

“Oh wait, it gets better. Freya doesn’t know that Paul is married and thinks that he and Gina are ‘just friends,’ and since she works at the same paper as Gina, she thought it’d be nice to invite her.”

“Oh to be a fly on the wall,” he laughed.

“Add to that, Brad is staying with Paul, and Freya is trying to matchmake Gina and Brad,” Fenny smiled.

“You’re right babe, that is fucked up.”

Fenny reached for Danny’s arm and checked his watch. “Shit, I better go.”

“Yes, I’m going to want a detailed report on this dinner,” he mused as he watched Fenny slide out of bed and start to pull on her clothes.

“Yes Mr Brannigan, anything you say Mr Brannigan,” she jeered as she grabbed her bag.

“Miss Grey, I want to see you for some dictation in my office…” He paused to look around the room. “First thing tomorrow.”

“Make sure you have a sharp pencil waiting for me,” she said, pouting and fluttering her eyes.

He leapt out of bed and pulled her into his arms, they fell into a heated kiss which Fenny had to pry herself away from. “I’ve really got to go,” she gasped.

“Let me get some pants on and I’ll give you a lift,” he breathed.

“How do I look?” Freya asked as she sauntered into the kitchen in a figure-hugging pale blue dress and matching sandals.

“Stunning,” Paul smiled and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

“You sure? I can always change,” she grimaced.

“No, babe you look beautiful,” he cooed, glad he and Brad had had half a bottle of wine between them.

“Are you going to change?” she asked.

“I did,” Paul replied, looking at his black slacks, striped shirt and black shoes.

“What about your hair?”

He ran his fingers through it. “Done,” he grinned and then looked innocent. “What?”

“Nothing,” she sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“All the napkins are out,” Brad declared as he wandered over from the table and looked at them both blankly. He too had donned black slacks, along with a blue shirt.

“Thank you,” Freya breathed as the oven timer went off just as there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll go,” Paul perked and hurried from the kitchen, Brad shrugged and followed Paul.

There was another impatient knock as Paul hurried. “YES I HEARD,” he yelled before he unlocked the door. As he threw it open, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Oh fuck,” he breathed as Andy’s eyes fell to a glare.

“Hi Paul,” Fenny smiled somewhat weakly. Paul assumed that the figure hugging, floral dress she was being made to wear had something to do with it. She stepped forward and they gave each other a polite kiss on the cheek.

“Paul this is Andy, Andy this is Paul. Although I believe you’ve already met.” Fenny mused.

“Hi, that pissing in your face thing…I’d been drinking a bit, well, a lot,” Paul mumbled and held out his hand. Andy looked at it mortified and Paul quickly moved out of the way. “Come in, please.”

Fenny stepped inside and dragged Andy, who wore an expression that said he didn’t want to be there. This was further emphasized when he laid eyes on Brad.

“Brad, meet Andy, Andy this Brad,” Paul declared, shoving Brad forward.

“Hi Andy,” Brad beamed and grabbed his hand and shook it. “Nice to finally meet you at last.”

Fenny stifled a giggle as she let go of Andy’s hand, her eyes focussing on Brad, her heart doing back flips when he looked at her. She might be with Andy and be fucking Danny, but Brad still made her heart beat that little bit faster.

“Fenny,” Brad smiled, that adorable wonky smile, and pulled her into a hug. “That dress is atrocious, burn it,” he whispered into her ear, making her giggle even more.

“Well this all looks very friendly,” Freya announced.

“Oh hey, Fen, Andy this is Freya. Freya, you’ve met my good friend Fenny, and this is my not so good friend Andy,” Paul perked.

“Hi, so lovely to see you,” Freya smiled and took one of Fenny’s hands in hers as a gesture of friendliness; it made Fenny’s skin crawl and she raised an eyebrow in Paul’s direction.

“So who are we waiting on?” Brad asked, “I’m getting hungry.”

“When aren’t you hungry?” Fenny teased.

“When I’m sleeping, maybe,” Brad shrugged.

“What about when you’re fucking?” Paul asked.

“Paul,” Freya scolded.

Brad laughed. “No, I’m very hungry then.”

Paul giggled as there was another knock at the door. “That should be Gina,” Freya perked as she wandered over to answer it.

“Hey,” Gina smiled as she greeted Freya and then sauntered into the room. She looked Fenny up and down and then looked at Andy. “Did you pick that, because if you did you should be taken out the back and shot.”

“And you would be?” Andy asked, looking angrily at the small blonde woman who dared to criticize his taste in clothes.

“Gina Coleman, Fen’s best friend,” she perked. “And you’re Andy, I assume?” she added extending her hand. Andy cautiously shook it.

“Gina,” Freya cooed. Gina turned to look at her. “Have you met Brad?”

Brad was biting his lip in an attempt not to laugh, Paul’s hand was covering his mouth and Fenny was looking at the ceiling.

“Oh hey, you’re that guy from Whose Line,” Gina chided.

“Yeah, you know the show?” Brad perked.

“I’ve seen it a couple of times,” she nodded as the oven timer went off again.

“Excuse me,” Freya announced and hurried off into the kitchen.

Brad cracked up laughing, followed by Gina, Fenny and Paul. Andy was nothing short of bewildered.

“What’s the joke, guys?” he asked.

“I’ll explain it to you later, hon,” Fenny mused and patted his arm.

“I hate to break it to you Brad,” Gina mused, placing a hand on Brad’s arm. “But you’re not my type.”

“Damn, and I thought we were so perfect,” he over acted.

Gina turned to look at Paul who had his arms crossed and was smiling and shaking his head. “Please don’t cause trouble.”

“As if I would,” Gina mused as she wandered over to him. “You look hot,” she whispered as she brushed her lips against his cheek.

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” Paul replied and Gina noticed he was looking straight down her low cut top.

“I don’t think I’m the one who’s trouble,” Gina cooed, their eyes not leaving each others.

“I’ll throw a bucket of water over the pair of you in a minute,” Brad declared as Freya reappeared and Paul and Gina moved away from each other.

“Are we ready to eat?” she perked, everyone gave nods and grunts. “This way then,” she added and led everyone into the kitchen where the table was set immaculately.

“If there’s 500 different forks, I’m going to embarrass myself in like a second,” Fenny whispered to Gina.

“Please, this is Paul’s place, you’re lucky to find a butter knife,” Gina mused.

“Ok, Fenny and Andy, you’re that side, Gina and Brad, you’re the other side, and Paul darling, you’re at the end.

Fenny was opposite Brad, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other. Gina was begrudgingly opposite Andy but close to Paul, who was at the end. She rested her foot on top of his and he didn’t seem to care, so she didn’t move it. Freya appeared carrying a lasagne dish between her oven glove-clad hands and placed it on the table.

“Vegetarian lasagne,” she smiled. “Sweetie, will you get drinks for everyone?”

“She’s talking to you,” Gina said, snatching Paul’s napkin that he was busy fiddling with and therefore not paying attention.

“I know,” Paul said in a hushed voice and then smiled as he got up from the table. He grabbed the remainder of the wine from the fridge.

“Where did you get that?” Freya scorned.

“I bought it,” Paul replied nonchalantly as he sauntered around the table to pour Brad a glass.

“Thank you my good man,” Brad chided.

“Andy, you want a glass of wine?” Paul asked.

“Sure,” Andy nodded, watching the liquid fill his glass.

Paul wandered back to Freya who was already looking miffed. “Do you want a glass?”

“Just half,” Freya breathed. Paul shrugged and filled her glass before heading back to the fridge, sculling the last bit in the bottle. He left the bottle on the sideboard and grabbed a bottle of Pepsi.

“Where did you get that from?” Freya gasped.

“I bought it when I bought the wine. It didn’t just appear in the fucking fridge,” Paul grumbled.

“Yes, but why did you buy it?”

“For the guests,” Paul shrugged as he filled Fenny and Gina’s glasses and then left the bottle on the table to spite Freya. By the time he was seated again, everyone had had lasagne served and was ordered to help themselves to bread, salad and any of the other vegetarian concoctions that were on the table. Gina looked suspiciously at her food, while Fenny stabbed a bit of broccoli with her fork.

“This cheese tastes interesting,” Brad declared as he swallowed a mouthful.

“It’s a new Soya cheese, all my friends have been recommending it,” Freya smiled.

“I’m so not eating that,” Gina muttered.

“Oh for a plate of fucking fish and chips,” Paul mumbled. Gina caught his eye. They were forced to look away when then started to snigger.

“So Andy, what do you do?” Freya asked, trying to initiate some conversation.

“I work in advertising. Actually I work for the top advertising agency in the States. We’ve done some of the biggest campaigns, mostly during Super Bowl and other large events.” Andy beamed.

“You’re not behind all the ‘celebrating’ of September 11, are you?” Paul asked. “I mean all those fucking ‘we remember’ ads and shit, they fucking piss me off.”

Fenny suddenly became interested in a nearby salad while Gina sniggered into her Pepsi. “I don’t think that’s very funny,” Andy scowled. “We’ll get Bin Laden, you know.”

“Mate. He’s what, nearly two metres tall, and wears a fucking turban, how hard can he be to find. Do you know how he escaped into Pakistan? In a fucking Toyota Corolla. That’s like shoving a kitten into a matchbox car,” Paul jeered.

Andy looked furious. Freya looked equally as annoyed. Gina and Brad were sniggering and Fenny had turned away from Andy so he couldn’t see her amusement.

“You’d never get a kitten into a matchbox car,” Gina declared and received a bemused look from Paul.

“Ok, so my metaphor was a bit out…” Paul scorned.

“A bit? It’s impossible unless it was like preshrunk by some mad scientist,” Gina chided.

“Like in Honey I Shrunk the Kids,” Paul enthused. “That’d be so cool, imagine what you could shrink and fit into a matchbox car…”

“Maybe that’s how Osama escaped, in a matchbox sized Toyota Carolla,” Gina cut in.

Paul went wide-eyed. “Oh yeah, that’s why no one can find him ‘cos he’s tiny.” He made a tiny gesture with his fingers. “Tiny, weenie little Osama.”

“You two have problems,” Brad mused, causing Gina and Paul to snap out of their inane conversation.

“I can’t believe I gave up an important dinner for this,” Andy muttered.

Fenny noticed Brad shot Andy daggers and looked like he was about to insert his fork into Andy’s left eye. Gina kicked Paul under to table. He looked at her annoyed and she gave him a look that expressed more than words.

The dinner continued without incident, or at least none that was seen by Freya.

Fenny found herself unable to take her eyes off Brad. He always looked sexiest in blue, and this was no different. Every time he looked in her direction and gave her a smile, there was the temptation to reach across the table and capture him in a hungry kiss. Fenny couldn’t decide whether it was just something Danny had awoken in her or whether she really was still in love with him. Brad looked at her amused and pointed to that spot above his heart and mouthed “It’s still there – Fenny.” She stifled a giggle by sipping her Pepsi and then looking at her hip, Brad raised an eyebrow as she looked back at him and smiled.

“Brad, I think you dropped your spoon.”

Brad looked confused and then bumped his spoon subtlety off the table. “Oh so I have,” he mused and bent down to pick it up. He peered under the table finding the array of legs more amusing than he probably should have. Andy’s polished loafers gleamed, almost screaming to have sauce deposited on them and Gina and Paul’s legs were practically entwined. Then he noticed Fenny’s, she’d hitched one side of her dress up enough to show off her monkey tattoo. Brad felt himself needing several deep breaths as he quickly grabbed his spoon. He managed to smack his head on the table as he sat back up and placed his spoon back on the table. He looked over at Fenny who smiled wickedly. Brad undid the top button of his shirt and pretended to fan himself with a napkin. Fenny covered her mouth to giggle and found herself having a hard time trying to keep that kinky night in Paris out of her head.

Gina and Paul, had been trying to avoid cracking up laughing at just about everything, not helped by the fact that Paul hadn’t had wine for a while and it was effecting him a lot more quickly than usual. There was a lot of deliberate brushing of legs together, which resulted in Paul wrapping his feet around one of hers and not letting her move it. The more numb Gina’s leg went, the more she was having trouble repressing her giggles and Paul sat there as innocent as a child. They had also found themselves inadvertently touching hands as they reached for drinks, bread, just about everything. When they touched hands it was like they’d both received electric shocks and they’d pull their hands back almost embarrassed.

“Would anyone like more?” Freya asked, looking at her guests.

“No, I’m stuffed,” Brad declared.

“Me too,” Fenny added.

“Couldn’t eat another thing, babe,” Paul piped up.

“No, it was lovely though, thank you,” Andy smiled.

“God no,” Gina mumbled, copping a raised eyebrow from Paul.

“Well then, if you want to wait in the living room, I’ll clean up and then we can all have some tea,” Freya perked.

“Hey, why don’t you take a break and I’ll do the dishes,” Paul offered.

“Yeah, I’ll help him,” Gina piped up. “You’ve slaved away over this, it’s the least we can do.”

“Well, ok thanks,” Freya peeped and got up from the table.

Brad, Fenny and Andy followed, with Andy asking, “Do you get CNN?” as they left the room.

“You arse lick,” Gina mused as she got to her feet and began collecting dishes.

“Please, anything would be better than being left with Andy,” Paul scorned. “I’ve had bodily functions more fun than him.”

Gina giggled. “Oh you don’t have to convince me, the guy treats Fen like she’s a bloody doll.”

“He picked that dress, right?” he asked as he shoved the plug into the sink and turned the water on.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gina shrugged as she placed the plates in the sink. “Hey, you want some really good gossip?” she asked as they stood shoulder to shoulder.

“Of course,” Paul mused.

“Fen is fucking Danny, who happens to be working with Andy.”

“Danny?”

“You know, my mate Danny. He was at our wedding. You fed him tequila until he was comatose.”

Paul sniggered. “Oh yeah. So she’s with Andy, fucking Danny, and flirting with Sherwood?”

“Pretty much.”

“The little tramp. I’ll have to have words with her,” he mused. “How about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“Of course I’m not,” she huffed. “In fact, my libido was seriously damaged by Freya’s decision to discuss your sex life.”

“You’re kidding?” he gasped, looking mortified. “Do I want to know what she asked?”

“Just how to please you, basically,” she shrugged.

“Did you tell her?”

“Tell her what?” Gina asked and caught his eye. She moved a little closer and let one hand slide onto his rear. He swallowed, trying to block everything he’d been feeling since she’d arrived on his doorstep.

“You know what,” he managed to breathe as she planted several soft kisses on the exposed bit of his chest.

“It’s been a while,” she cooed as her kisses trailed from his chest, up his neck and nipped at his chin.

“Too long,” he gasped, no longer able to hold himself back; he brought his lips lustfully and longingly to hers. His hands were reaching for her body and hers were making their way up to be entwined in his hair. Paul moved the hand that had been firmly planted on her arse to turn the water off, his lips not even breaking the kiss.

“We should stop,” Gina breathed, her hands aching to rip his shirt off. “What if someone walks in?”

“Who gives a shit,” he panted, catching her in another kiss and moving one of his hands to work on the button of her pants.

“Paul, your girlfriend is in the other room,” she gasped, her fingers working on the buttons of his shirt.

“Just shut up and fuck me,” he mused as she wrapped her arms around him and they sunk onto the lino.