The Birds and the Bees by Milly Johnson Page B

gesture of defeat.
    ‘Really? Ad there’s be thinking dat’s your sbeciality!’ said Stevie, and with as much dignity as she could muster in the circumstances, she turned on her heel and headed towards the changing rooms, leaving a stunned Adam thinking,
    Now whit the hell did the stupid woman mean ba’ that?

Chapter 10
    Matthew packed the little red-hearted G-string into the side of Jo’s case, sighing as he remembered the fun they’d had with it the previous night. Jo came out of the bathroom, brushing her teeth as if she had sensed that his brain was occupied with some very naughty thoughts about her.
    ‘All set for tomorrow, darling?’ she said.
    ‘No, I want to stay here for ever,’ he said, adjusting himself as his pants suddenly felt very tight. She noticed the impressive bulge and her eyes rounded.
    ‘Well, it’ll be like this from now on, won’t it?’
    ‘Exactly–only colder.’
    ‘I’ll think of lots of ways to warm you up,’ she said smokily and his pants got even tighter. In fact, they were in danger of exploding. He hadn’t thought it was possible to sweat as much as he had done this week. If he died tomorrow, he would have enough memories to keep him happily entertained for all eternity. Although really, he shouldn’t joke about dying tomorrow, because he just might, if Adam MacLean got hold of him. That thought made his pants suddenly have more than enough room in them.
    ‘Will you be okay, going to pick up your stuff from yourhouse? Do you want me to come with you?’ he asked Jo softly.
    ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘It’s not as if Adam knows about us.’
    ‘If he did, then he’d be pretty angry, right?’ said Matthew with a gulp.
    ‘He’d be waiting for us at the airport with a flamethrower if he did,’ said Jo. She stroked his face soothingly. ‘But he doesn’t, so relax.’
    ‘No, of course not–how can he know?’ said Matthew, more to himself than to Jo, but wondering if they sold Kevlar body armour in the airport duty-free shop all the same.
    ‘So, you’re going to tell Stevie tomorrow to move out then?’ said Jo.
    ‘Well, I’ll have to give her a bit of time to get packed up and find somewhere else. She has got Danny to think about.’
    ‘Poor little Danny,’ said Jo, sniffing sadly. ‘This is going to be awful for him too. I can’t bear to think about it. She’ll probably…’ Jo cut off and shook her head.
    ‘She’ll probably what?’ urged Matthew.
    ‘Nothing,’ said Jo. ‘Forget it.’
    ‘No, what were you going to say?’
    ‘No, it’ll come out wrong if I say it,’ said Jo. ‘Just leave it.’
    But Matthew wouldn’t.
    ‘Well, I think that you should be very careful how you handle Stevie,’ said Jo. ‘She may turn…feral.’
    ‘She won’t. She’s not like that,’ said Matthew. Jo gave him an ‘I know better than you about women’ look.
    ‘Trust me, I’m not trying to be awful,’ she said. ‘Godknows, this is going to be a living hell for the poor darling. It’s just that…well, she herself told me how it was–last time.’
    Matthew had to conclude that, actually, Jo might be right on that one. He rewound to some old conversations he’d had with Stevie about how she had reacted to Mick’s infidelity. There had been lots of shouting, ripping things, throwing things, emotional blackmail, even a bit of stalking, and generally going nuts–totally out of character for the gentle person he knew and had loved. Had loved . He noted that he was already thinking of her in the past tense. It was just as well that all he was going to tell Stevie was that he needed some space and it might be better if she moved out for a while. Once she was out of the way, he would pretend to get together with Jo, who would move in soon after, of course. Playing it that way meant that they (hopefully) wouldn’t have to worry about coming home to a bunny stew.
    After this week, he hoped Stevie would be out of the way pretty soon because he could