Reading Online Novel

Lifting the Lid(31)



He took another sip from his rum and Coke and set the glass down on the low table beside him. Donna was beginning to climb the ladder out of the pool, and he went to meet her with a gaudily patterned beach towel. She squeezed some of the water from her long and unnaturally auburn hair when she got to the top step, and Harry reached behind her to drape the towel over her shoulders. She hugged it around her and kissed him lightly on the lips.

‘Thanks, love,’ she said, looking into his eyes as if in the aftermath of the first passionate kiss on their first date.

Harry took a couple of paces backwards and gave a sweepingly flamboyant bow. ‘We aim to please, madam.’

Donna laughed and gave him a playful tap in the ribs with the side of her foot as she walked past him. He feigned falling sideways onto the tiled floor, theatrically rolling in fake agony until he fell off the edge and into the pool with a dull splash.

By the time he’d clambered out, Donna had already put on her sunglasses and had settled onto her own lounger, reading a Hello magazine.

Harry stood gazing down at her with the water dripping from his body and forming a small puddle by his feet. She still looked good even now, he thought, especially in that one-piece black swimsuit with the gold plastic clasp just under the cleavage. He hawked and then turned sideways to propel the resulting phlegm into the pool.

Donna dropped the magazine onto her lap and stared up at him. ‘Harry,’ she said with obvious disgust. ‘Why do you do that?’

‘Chlorine, love. Plays ‘avoc with me sinuses.’

She picked up her magazine and snapped it open with a long-suffering sigh.

‘Besides,’ said Harry, ‘it gives the pool cleaner something to do.’

‘Did I ever tell you you have the manners of a warthog?’ she said without looking up.

‘No, but you did tell me once that I was ‘ung like a donkey.’

‘Dung beetle, I think I said.’

‘Oh really?’ Harry manoeuvred himself into a position astride Donna’s lounger.

She snatched the magazine away from the dripping water. ‘Bugger off. You’re getting my Hello all wet.’

He squatted lower over her chest.

‘Zair was a time when zair was more of you I could get wet than your ‘Ello magazine,’ he said in an accent which sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Inspector Clouseau.

As he spoke the words, he tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his swimming shorts and eased it down slightly to reveal a glimpse of pubic hair. ‘Hee-haw, hee-haw?’ he said, still pretending to be a Frenchman rather than a mule.

Donna looked up at him and slowly removed her sunglasses. She lowered her eyes to his minimally exposed manhood, and a smile began to spread across her face.

Harry followed her gaze. ‘Aha, I see we eff lift-urf.’

She reached up her left hand and lightly caressed his cheek. At the same time, she rolled the magazine into a tight club with her other hand and whacked him in the area which was not quite so soft as before.

This time, Harry wasn’t faking when he rolled sideways onto the floor, clutching at the front of his shorts, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly like a beached guppy.

Donna replaced her sunglasses and unrolled the magazine. ‘Now stop being annoying and get me another drink… darling.’

‘I suppose… you think… that was… funny,’ said Harry, still gasping to catch his breath.

‘Hmm?’ She flicked over a page of her magazine. ‘What was that, love?’

‘Bloody ‘urt that did.’

‘Oh come here, you big wuss, and I’ll kiss it better.’

In the hope that this might be a genuine offer, Harry forced himself onto his knees and then onto his feet, his hand still firmly between his legs.

‘You all right, Harry?’

It was a male voice, and Harry turned towards it. A well-built man in his late thirties was standing on the veranda of the house, the short sleeves of his Hawaiian shirt rippling gently in the breeze.

‘Yeah yeah, I’m fine, Eddie. Just ‘avin’ a bit of a… laugh. Know what I mean?’

‘Right you are, boss.’

Harry picked up a towel and moved somewhat awkwardly towards the elevated veranda. ‘Something ‘appened?’

‘Just had a call from MacFarland.’

‘Oh yeah? And?’

‘You’re not going to like this, I’m afraid.’ Eddie shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again.

Harry stopped drying his hair with the towel and lowered it to his side in slow motion. He stared up at Eddie, waiting for him to continue.

‘Seems like there was a bit of a cockup.’

‘What?’ Harry felt his blood pressure beginning to rise.