9
When Hunter saw where the phone had ended up - in a very inaccessible spot behind the wardrobe almost equidistant from the two ends - he wondered how it might have got there. However, he was too tactful to ask Tina, who was sitting on the edge of the bed sobbing into a handkerchief. She was still wearing her yellow bikini and the cover-up she had worn at lunch, which was in a similar colour (a bit like the colour of French mustard - a bottle of which Hunter always kept in his kitchen cupboard; you never knew when you might need it) and had a very maritime design, based, as far as Hunter could tell, on a fishing net motif.
'Look, I'm sure I can sort this out,' he said to her, approaching her but not daring to get too close and certainly not to touch her. 'Why don't you change into something a bit more comfortable? We don't want you catching your death with the air con going full blast!'
Tina perked up immediately (we all need a bit of TLC occasionally, Hunter thought) and out of consideration for him went off to the bathroom to change into something more sensible. He suddenly felt fatherly again; giving sage advice to this young girl as he had done so often to Hayley when she was growing up. And look how she's turned out, he thought! So sensible and balanced and considerate of the needs of others.
As happy and contented as he had been for a long, long time, Hunter applied himself to the task of extricating the phone from its hiding place. The wardrobe was very heavy and he realised that before he could move it, he'd need to shift some of the other furniture around a bit and move a rug that was right in front of the hefty item of furniture. That done, he was almost ready to manhandle the wardrobe away from the wall, but first he realised he needed to check nothing was on top of the thing and then take anything out of it that was either heavy or fragile. It was turning into quite a kerfuffle.
Eventually, all the preparations had been made and he was in a position to start work on the main job. Inch by inch he was able to move it until finally, dripping with sweat, he was able to retrieve the phone. Then, of course, he had to do everything in reverse. He was just performing the last few tasks when Tina stepped out of the bathroom.
Hunter's heart nearly stopped. She was wearing not so much a dress as a flimsy piece of material that hardly covered any of her and which - he was sure -
wouldn't
cover any of her (especially the bits that needed covering) if she moved suddenly or if there was a gust of wind. Thus, his first action was to walk over to the aircon unit, turn it down and shift the slats so that the air was being blown into the upper part of the room. My god! thought Hunter, as he walked past Tina to retrieve his own phone preparatory to leaving, the black dress was chock full of holes and slits. Anyone could see that she wasn't wearing a bra and the slit came up her legs so high that he was afraid that she might not be wearing any underwear either.
'Where do you think you're going?' said Tina, in the poshest voice she could manage.
'Look, Tina, your phone's over there. You'd better check that it's working then I'll be off. Very happy to help you out and all that but I need to get going.'
'But why the rush? And look at you - you're all sweaty. I'm not letting you out of this room until you've had a nice shower.'
'No, Hunter, no arguments. You get in there and clean yourself up. There's everything you need in there.'
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Hunter thought about making a dash for the door, but Tina had moved over there and any escape attempt would involve him grappling with her, which was the last thing he wanted. For starters, that dress was sure to come off, or fall apart, and what sort of jam would he be in if she screamed and hotel staff had to break the door down? He might have to live the rest of his days banged up in a Greek jail. He'd seen a film about those years ago with Mia and pleasant, they were not!
Reluctantly, then, he made his way into the bathroom. He thought about locking the door, but decided that would be an impolite thing to do in someone else's place and anyway he wouldn't be in there long. Five minutes maximum. No, make that four.
He whipped off his clothes in super quick time and entered the cubicle. It was quite a bit bigger than the one in his (and Julia's) room, which he liked, as it meant he wasn't always banging his arms against the glass. He wasn't far from finishing when he saw the door opening and Tina (it must be Tina, though all the steam and condensation made it difficult to see) come in.
'I brought you a towel,' she shouted, so she could be heard over the noise of the water.
'Thanks, Tina,' Hunter shouted back, his heart set at rest after a moment of panic.
Instinctively, he had turned his back so that his privates wouldn't be visible - even in outline or silhouette or what have you. That's why it was too late to do anything when he realised that Tina was joining him in the shower. His final, failed attempt to prevent her entry had been to reach out to catch the white towel that was falling from her body onto the bathroom floor just in front of the cubicle. Instead of catching hold of the towel, however, he found himself raking his fingers through her closely cropped bush.
'O Mr Jarvis!' cried Tina, as she kicked the towel out of the way and squeezed past him, 'a little bit of patience, please!'
Hunter started to say something, but it was the easiest thing in the world for Tina to pretend she couldn't hear him above the noise of the shower. He could also have just got out of the shower, but he had been so ruffled by the way she had ambushed him that he wasn't thinking straight.
'Be a gentleman and do my back,' said Tina, turning her back to him, which at least meant that he didn't have to make a point of averting his gaze from her firm tits.
He fumbled with the bar of soap and watched as it fell onto the tiles and skidded about until it came to rest beyond Tina near the end of the cubicle.
'You clumsy thing!' she yelled. 'Here, let me get that.'
Before he could object, she was bending down trying to get a grip on the slippery bar. He stood there helplessly, trying not to look at her buttocks but finding it impossible to take his eyes off those shapely mounds. At the same time, he became aware that his penis was starting to swell quite significantly. He decided to hold it in the hope that it would return to something like its normal condition.
When Tina had finally snagged the soap, she stood up to find Hunter still holding this pose.