Mommy Mouse (sequel to City Mouse)

Chapter 9: Two's a Crowd

Mouse watched Henry dive off the end of the boat. He did a beautiful dive into the warm water, hardly any splash at all. He surfaced, palming his dark hair off his face, smiling up at her. She noticed that she wasn't the only one watching him, either. There were sixteen people on the "tour boat," with snorkeling gear available for those who wanted it, and at least half of them were women who had nothing better to do than watch her gorgeous husband do various things in his swim trunks.

Henry had wanted a private boat for just the two of them, but when Mouse found out how much it cost, she'd nixed the plan, saying that a group situation would be fine. It was also one tenth the cost.

"You're so funny," Henry teased her as they stood in the hotel lobby, looking at the brochures. "We can totally afford the private charter, you know that right?"

"I don't care," Mouse retorted. "We could afford to pay for some idiot to put chains on our car last winter, too, but that doesn't mean we should waste the money, does it? Or pay for private cars to drive us all over the place when we could take the subway?" She looked indignantly up at Henry, brown eyes wide.

"Yes, dear," he replied, bopping her nose with his finger.

So it was her own fault that her man was parading around, putting on a free show for these drooling women who were avidly following his every move. And it's not like they were old, retired grandmothers, either. They were pretty young ladies with bodies to die for, who seem to have been born knowing how to pose and flirt.

Didn't they have husbands? Or boyfriends? Or fathers?

Henry seemed oblivious as he waved up at Mouse, who was leaning on the railing. "Did you see me, honey?" he called with a smile.

She nodded, smiling back. At least everyone could see his wedding ring twinkling on his finger, she supposed.

"Come on," he encouraged. "Join me. The water feels great!"

"Okay," she agreed. She shrugged off her beach coat and dove off the side of the boat, surfacing very close to where Henry was.

It was a very warm day, and the sky was light blue, with white, puffy clouds dotting the entire dome, from one side of the horizon to the other. The ocean was three different shades of blue and green, so bright it almost looked like a watercolor painting.

Henry put his arms around Mouse's waist under the water, holding her so she wouldn't drift away in the current. He looked almost sinfully good to Mouse, with drops of salt water clinging to his jaw and the ends of his dark hair.

"Are you having fun?" he asked.

She nodded. "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

He shrugged, looking around. "I don't know, I just thought you might be re-thinking the whole group charter thing, that's all," he replied.

"Henry, I figured out the exchange rate, and it came out to something outrageous for a private charter!" Mouse told him. "It was something like nine hundred dollars!" she whispered, horrified.

"I know," Henry answered, eyebrows raised mockingly. "So glad you saved us that money," he continued. "We really dodged a bullet, I guess. "Maybe we can get a bigger apartment with what we saved, huh?"

Mouse slapped at his chest. "Don't you make fun of me, Henry Gardener," she warned, drawing her eyebrows together. "It's a lot of money, and you know it."

"Okay, okay, don't get pissed off," he begged, hugging her, kissing her shoulder. "You're just so cute when you're all offended, you know?"

"I must admit, though, I might've thought twice if I'd known what a meat market it was going to be," Mouse admitted, putting her arms around Henry's neck. She looked down at him, admiring the little bit of his chest that she could see, where there were a few black hairs showing above the water on his well-toned chest.