by Katy Kaylee
“Well, there’s not much you can do right now, but you’re eager. That’s always good. They say that the willingness to learn is more important than what you learn, you know.” The pictures began printing, and she leaned back to prop her hands on her knees to flash me a pointed look. “I hope you’re not working like a mad woman.”
“No- no. I’m not. Ryan’s been a huge help. We’re supposed to open the restaurant half of my place in a few weeks- will you take some time to stop by?” She scoffed, a playful smile on her face, and I ran my hands through my hair absently.
“Not on the first day, no- It’ll be insane, and you shouldn’t expect anything less than crazy, Gwen. I’ll definitely make time for it, though.” Smiling sheepishly, I ducked my head in a nod, and I threw my legs over the side of the exam table. Ripping the long stream of shots off the printer, she folded them into neat squares, and Ryan helped me down before taking them. Stretching my arms taut above my head, I arched until my shoulders popped, and a soft groan escaped my lips. “So, I’ll see you in a month, and every time after that will be every two weeks until you reach 7 months- then, it’ll be every week until you give birth, Gwen.”
“Okay- yeah. Thank you.”
Within the time it took to blink, Ryan and I were suddenly in his car, and I sunk into the seat to heave a few, stabilizing breaths. He stared down at the pictures, a small smile on his face, and guilt struck my chest. I still didn’t understand what in the hell possessed me to tell him it wasn’t his.
Then again, I hadn’t expected him to be so enthusiastic about my being pregnant. I thought he’d take a little time to think about the implications, at the very least. He just… accepted it, and that was undoubtedly more terrifying than anything else.
Because he could realize that it was too much, and he could leave with some justification- no matter how twisted.
“He’s amazing- you’re amazing, Gwen.” Speaking up suddenly, Ryan shot me the sweetest smile, and my throat closed as my mouth quirked weakly. “We should celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” He’s so friggen good- just say it. Just say ‘I lied’ and deal with it like a big girl. Don’t be a wimp. But that simple phrase got stuck in my throat as Ryan stuck his key in the ignition, and the car revved to life. His expression turned thoughtful, and I licked my lips heavily as he rolled out of the parking space.
“Uh- let’s go to the casino and play in the arcade?” My brows rose at that, and Ryan smiled boyishly before turning onto the main street. “It’ll be fun. I haven’t been there in a while.”
“Yeah. Okay. I’ve never been to one, so it’s like… it’ll be an adventure.”
“You’ve never been to a casino? Seriously?” Giggling at the surprise in his voice, I nodded, and he frowned as he flexed his hands against the wheel. “Well, it’ll definitely be fun, then. I’ve never gone to one to gamble, exactly, but I love the arcades. They’re so much better than Chuck E. Cheese.”
“I went to a hotel once with a small casino…” Trailing off as I realized what I’d said, I wrung my fingers together and tore my eyes off Ryan to frown. The memory of that day that confirmed something I’d known for a long time rushed into my inner eye, and I stretched my toes in my sneakers. “Ah- my ex-husband… that was the day I caught him cheating on me. I knew for a while. It was weird. It’s not the actual cheating that bothered me… it was wondering why he was with me and didn’t file for divorce earlier. When the judge was provided with evidence, he was cut out of what I would owe him when I sold my restaurant. She really hated that for some reason.”
“I remember… the judge was particularly infuriated that Craig was dragging out the divorce because of my restaurant. I refused to sell until afterwards, but I had a buyer lined up who was pretty sympathetic to me. That was seven years ago that I first found out, but I just spent three years or so collecting evidence. The thing that tipped me off and made me file was realizing how much I hated living in San Francisco. It was one thing to go there and put up with it because of school and work, but when I was able, I just wanted to start over.” My little tangent paused when I needed to breathe, and Ryan’s jaw ticked even though he kept his eyes on the road. “My ex-husband wasn’t a loser, even if he was other things. After the first year, I just figured it out, I guess… he wanted to hurt me, and the way to do that was attack my restaurant- and that meant stealing it.”
“… He abused you…?” My palms held my swollen belly as Ryan ground the question out, and the blood drained from my face. “You- you can tell me. Maybe… not while I’m driving… but you can tell me, Gwen.”
“Yeah…” His cheek twitched at my acknowledgment- that he was right, or that I knew I could rely on him, even I wasn’t sure. Rubbing my bump, I sucked up a sharp breath through my nose and exhaled through my mouth before speaking up. “Can we pull over somewhere?”
“No.” Exhaling heavily, Ryan stopped at a light to cast me a wry glance, but the darkness in his gaze didn’t dim. “The last time we did that, I had to reupholster my seat and get the floors re-padded. You’ll just have to wait until later to wash away this conversation with my cum.”
“This is different…”
“Really?” Blushing furiously at the skepticism in Ryan’s tone, I glared down at my lap as I silently cursed myself. Reaching over the center console, he grabbed my hand to squeeze, and I glanced over to find him smiling tenderly. “Sex doesn’t solve everything, and while I am always more than willing, Gwen… there’s a better way this time. Not to say that I won’t fuck you later, of course.”
“Mm- of course.” Rolling my lips between my teeth, I reached to tuck my hair behind my ear before glancing out the window. The building began to slide backwards, and I licked my lips heavily as Ryan left my hand to put his back on the wheel. “You don’t deserve this.”
“That’s just what people say to make themselves feel worse about a situation. Why don’t I deserve this? I just saw my baby-“ My breath hitched harshly as my throat closed, and Ryan cleared his roughly when his voice cracked with emotion. Refusing to look away from the window, I flexed my toes as a throbbing pain built up in my legs. “No matter what you said, he’s mine. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again- I don’t give a fuck about the genetics. You can’t be a dad if you’re not going to take responsibility, and let’s face it, Gwen- what happened with whoever you were with, he wouldn’t take responsibility. Your birth control failed, which means that in some twisted way, you’re at fault. This is no one’s fault, baby.”
“… Thomas was really mad.” Desperately trying to change the subject, I blew out a hot breath, and Ryan grunted absently. My chest tightened, and I could still picture Thomas’ blowout when I blinked. “I feel so bad for making him go through this- making him feel this way.”
“At some point, Gwen, it stops being because of you being a workaholic that’s six years older than him, and it becomes his inability to change and grow.”
“You just have an answer for everything, don’t you…?” Chuckling as we merged onto the highway ramp, Ryan shook his head when I turned to face him. Smiling faulty, I inhaled a warm breath to sigh; the Spring weather wasn’t so bad today that we needed to open the windows. Despite the conversation, a worm of giddiness dug into my chest at the notion of how close Summer was.
Summer was my favorite season.
“The point is that Thomas needs to grow up and stop blaming his faults on everyone else. I mean- to a point, your childhood shapes who you are, right, but he’s just using a minor inconvenience as a crutch. He’s been complaining about you since we met, and I got sick of it a long time ago. He doesn’t even know I’m back, yet. I told him I wouldn’t be home until Monday.” Surprise lifted my brows, and Ryan shrugged carelessly without taking his eyes off the road as we accelerated. “I wanted to spend time with you. He’s my best friend and all, but our friendship was really getting rocky even before you came back…”
Ryan
“Mr. Shaw- can I have your au
tograph?” Twisting at the call, I smiled politely as a stereotypical, middle-aged woman came fast-walking towards me. “I love you on Selfless & Reckless.”
“Thank you.” Taking the pad and pen as she beamed at me brightly, I half-expected the stranger to just go on a tangent about how awesome I was. She just watched, overly interested in my arms, and I handed her back her things to smile. “I hope you’re excited for the next season.”
“I am! Thank you- I’m sorry for interrupting your date.” And, with that, she flicked back her streaked bob and walked off, and I grabbed Gwen’s hand again to shoot her a grin. Continuing our leisure walk through the casino, I couldn’t help but chuckle at how mystified she was.
“What were you expecting, Gwen? Tears and furious hand-shaking and stumbling over herself?” Nodding, unabashed, Gwen turned red, and I laced our fingers together as a chuckle escaped me. “No- the adults are usually pretty okay. There was this one time, this super old lady’s family came to the set and asked the director- like, I guess she was going to be put in hospice to die peacefully, and she wanted to visit the set and meet the cast more than anything. She cried- but, even then, it wasn’t, like, hysterical. She was sweet- she made us brownies, and they were delicious. Two days later, she died, but at least she got her wish.”
“I used to get a lot of requests to my bakery from people from the children’s hospitals in California. Even Nevada, and Oregon, and a couple other places. I had to make up special menus because it was so often- at least twice a month, I’d get an order. I ended up doing this thing where if you bought the package- it was, like, $150- you’d get the cake and a punch card for seven free meals at my restaurant. I also started doing take away specifically for hospitals in the area. The last year that I was open, I hired some delivery drivers to make deliveries there. The nurses and people that I knew threw me a party when I finally got divorced and sold.”
“That’s really nice of you to do that, Gwen.” Smiling wider, Gwen ducked her head, and affection burrowed deep in my heart. “See- it wasn’t all bad in San Francisco.”
“Yeah, I know. I was always at work because I didn’t want to be home, right, so I noticed that a lot of people that came in were at the hospital- some of them, for a long time, or for something really bad. I made the punch card thing out because there was this one girl whose kid sister was in the hospital for lymphoma. She’d almost always forget her wallet, run back, grab it, order, then sit in the corner and cry for hours. Anyone that I saw on a regular basis because of the hospitals got one. I’d already being doing the cake package thing, but, like… these people shouldn’t be worrying about food or money. They should be worrying about their loved ones.”
This was the first time that Gwen mentioned her home life and didn’t just deflate like a sad balloon, and my smile tenderized right between my cheeks. Her eyes sparkled with pride and sympathy, memories, and I tore my gaze off her to glance at the cobbled floor.
“Sometimes, I wish that I could do something like that- more than just throwing money at a charity, but actually impact my community. I hate that it gets twisted into being a publicity stunt, or that I’m made out to be exceptional because I did an act of basic kindness.” We took a turn, and I saw the sign for the arcade as I blew out a hot breath. “So, anyway- what happened to your old restaurant, do you know?”
“Oh, it went under within six months.” Barking out a loud laugh at the flippant declaration, I paused to grab my chest as Gwen blushed furiously. Mirth clung to my ribs, and I crouched as it leaked from my mouth boisterously. “What? The couple was nice about my situation, but they were really not prepared… my place was booming, and it was too much for them.”
“I’m- I’m sorry- I j-…” Sputtering as I struggled to breathe, I stood up to rake my free hand through my hair roughly. Huffing softly at the embarrassment and genuine confusion in her eyes, I tugged her to my side to wrap my arm around her shoulders. “It’s just- you love cooking, so you’d think that you’d also love your restaurant and be a little sad that it’s no longer.”
“O- oh… um- I mean, it’s not like I don’t care… I just- I do have my new place, and it’s not so much the restaurant that I love- it’s actually really stressful- but I really just love cooking and baking and stuff.” Leaning down to kiss Gwen’s cheek, I cut off her fumbling for an answer, and she sighed harshly. “I do care, but people need to know what they’re getting into. It’s not easy.”
“You’re so impressive.” The compliment earned me a giggle, and I kissed down her jaw to nibble the crest of her ear. “What do you say we take a detour?”
“Now, you want a detour? We’re already here, Ryan.” Gwen’s playful irritation lost its affect when her tone came out husky, and she huffed. Palming her baby bump, I kissed her neck softly, and her pulse jumped under my lips. “Why do you do this to me? You said ‘no’ earlier- this is payback. We’ll do it when we get home.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to blow me behind a potted plant… it’ll be thrilling.” My palm tingled when Gwen’s flesh tightened, and I glanced around before cupping her chin to bring her lips to mine. “Or, I could wait until we get home… and lay you down over the side of the couch… and fuck your face… while I play with your juicy pussy-“
Deeping the short kisses to punctuate each phase of my plan- or, well, hopeful idea- I slid my arm down to the small of Gwen’s back as her breath hitched. It was ridiculously easy to turn her on, and she gazed up at me under her lashes to nibble thoughtfully, seductively on her bottom lip. So sexy…
“I think we should wait until we get home, and you can apologize for being wrong in the car.” Capturing Gwen’s mouth at her mumble, I shoved my tongue past her teeth with a low, guttural groan. Her hips grinded against mine automatically, and her palms crept up my chest as she eagerly kissed me back. My fingertips itched to slip under the waistline of her jeans and squeeze her ass, but I managed to refrain myself with superhuman effort. Desire knotted my gut, and her tongue tangled with mine to slather her taste as saliva pooled underneath.
“You drive me insane, Gwen.” My murmur tugged a laugh out of her, and I rocked back on my heels to sigh in a futile attempt to cool my body. “What am I gunna do with you, huh?”
“You could… get me lots of tickets…” Only shaking my head at that, I hoisted my arm up over her shoulders once again, and she giggled faintly. “Fun-fun, now, sexy-fun later.”
I caved easily, and determination bubbled up in my chest to just enjoy this time with Gwen. We had so much sex, so much work, and recently spent so much time apart that we needed this trip. Emerging into the arcade, I let her run off to the prize wall as I sauntered over to the register.
Gwen
Gasping harshly, I tangled my hands in Ryan’s hair as he shoved his tongue into my channel, and my eyelids fluttered closed. Warm, shallow breaths tickled my folds, and a shiver raced up my spine when he licked my clit with enthusiasm. Grinding as I shamelessly held him down, I relished this pleasure, and big hands reached up to pinch and squeeze my breasts.
“Oh-h- oh- yes- right there…” Arching sharply, I sputtered a breath when Ryan suckled the bead, and my thighs quivered as they clung to his shoulders. “Yes- y-y-yes- yes-s-s…”
“Fucking tasty- fuck!” Slurping and sucking, Ryan pleasured me with every part of his face from the nose down, and my eyes rolled slightly. The coil in my abdomen tightened when each stroke of his tongue- each swipe of his chin between my folds. Loudly voicing his pleasure, he left my breast to pinch my clit, and I moaned gutturally as he speared me with his tongue.
“I’m gunna cum-“ Grinding the words out through clenched teeth, I gasped when Ryan’s groan reverberated down to curl my toes. Pressure built behind my eyes, and I tightened my grip on his hair with stiff fingers. “Oh-h- God- oh, my God!”
“Yeah-h-h… you cum so pretty, baby- you taste so damn good-” Crawling up my body, Ryan circled my clit furiously before smashing his lips on mine, and I shivered with need
. His hard cock seared my folds, and he tore his head back to shuffled to sit on my chest. Careful of my bump, he held his weight off me almost entirely, and I groaned in expectation when he dribbled spit along the valley between my breasts.
“Hold these gorgeous tits so I can fuck ‘em.” Bracing his arms on the board above my head, Ryan splayed out above me in all his glory. Squishing my breasts together, I pinched and pulled my nipples as he thrust, and his gasp ruffled the hair sticking to my forehead. “Fuck yes-s-s- Gwen…”
Gasping with each thrust, I moaned more at the fact that Ryan was enjoying it than myself. His cock pulsed, the veins throbbing as he plunged back and forth between my breasts. Lifting my head, I stuck out my tongue to taste his head, and he growled as his bare thighs flexed in my field of vision.
“Shit- baby-“ Pulling back, Ryan climbed over the edge of the bed to grab my arm, and I kicked out my feet as hunger gnawed at my gut. Gulping down the saliva that threatened to clog my airway, I opened my mouth and took a huge breath in preparation. Surging down my throat, his sac blocked my nostrils, and his girth stretched my lips as he reached down.
“Fuck! Take it- just hit me when you need to breathe, baby…” Bracing his forearms alongside my hips as I struggled not to gag, Ryan thrust hard. Squeezing my eyes shut so I didn’t have to look up his butt crack- which was, admittedly, cute at other angles- I gripped the sheets as goosebumps welted my skin. The head of his cock hit the back of my throat, and I gulped furiously to draw a gasp and jerk from him.
“Oh- fucking suck that cock so nice…” Tonging his veiny, throbbing length as he stayed true to his promise, I gagged when Ryan rubbed my clit hard. Pleasure popped colorfully behind my shuttered lids, and I clenched as my hand flew to his side. The short slap had its intended affect when Ryan jerked his hips back, and I gasped and wheezed. Circling my nub fast, his breaths quickened- as if he knew exactly when I would cum.
