Sidetracked (The Busy Bean)

by R. L. Kenderson

  She led me back to her spare bedroom and pulled up the cover on her computer.

  I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look. “Before I Knew You by Charlotte Rose. You decided on a pen name.”

  “Kind of. Rose is my middle name.”

  “I like it.” I turned my head to look at her. “And your cover. It’s good.”

  Her lips were right there.

  “Thank you,” she said softly, as if she was thinking the same thing I was.

  She moved toward me at the same time I took her into my arms. I picked her up and carried her to her bedroom.

  We both ripped our clothes off as fast as we could manage, and Charli opened her bedside drawer to pull out a condom before I could even ask.

  She used her teeth to rip it open, and I stood and watched while she rolled it down my hard-as-steel dick. I knocked her hand away and made sure the rubber was down as far as it would go.

  She sat back, and I grabbed her ankle to pull her toward me.

  She laughed as I yanked her close, but the second I pushed my cock into her warm heat, it turned into a moan.

  She wrapped her arms and legs around me. “Harder, Gabe. I want to feel you tomorrow.”

  29

  Gabe

  “Oh fuck,” I said in between breaths. “I needed that.”

  Charli patted my naked stomach. “Me too. I had planned to write three thousand words tonight, but an orgasm was so much better than getting my word count in.”

  I forced myself to sit up. “I need to get rid of the condom.”

  I practically crawled out of bed and used the bathroom before coming back, collapsing facedown on Charli’s bed, and pulling the sheet over us. “Don’t mind me. You can go write while I lie here.”

  She laughed. “I think I have to wait for my brain cells to regain full function again before I go back to writing.” She curled up on her side, facing me, and yawned. “Lying here sounds good.”

  I pulled her pillow down and under my head and chest. “So, tell me about you and Lauren.”

  “I think I officially have a friend here.”

  I frowned. “What am I?”

  “My landlord with benefits. You would never get a pedicure with me.”

  “You got that right. I have man feet.”

  Charli rolled her eyes. “They’d still be man feet even if you had a pedicure.”

  “That’s still a hard no.”

  She held out one hand. “Women, what’s your hard no? Butt sex.” She held out her other hand. “And, men, what’s your hard no? Pedicures.”

  I had not expected her to say that, so I had no idea how to respond.

  “Your hard no is anal?”

  She shook her head and closed her eyes. “That’s not the point. It’s how different women and men are.”

  “Oh. But about the butt sex—”

  “Let it go, Gabe.”

  “Got it. Letting it go.”

  One of her eyes popped open. “I’m not saying no, but that’s something I only do when I’m in a relationship,” she said before she closed it again.

  I grinned. “Understood.” I rolled onto my back. “I’m glad you are getting along with Lauren. My brother has been with her for what feels like forever. She’s a good person.”

  “I like her so much. She told me that she and Max are sorry because you’re so grumpy.”

  “Those two need to mind their own business.”

  “She also wanted to set me up on a date with someone.”

  I froze in place, and my heart began to race.

  I didn’t want Charli going on a date with anyone.

  But if I said no to a relationship, then I really had no right to say she couldn’t date.

  This was why it was better to not get involved with anyone at all.

  Damn it.

  Thankfully, Charli had her eyes closed and hadn’t seen the look of horror on my face. But it occurred to me that I still hadn’t answered her.

  “Did she say who?” I managed to use the best steady voice I could muster.

  “She didn’t give me his name, but he sounds like a real snooze.”

  “So, what did you tell her?” That was a legitimate question. Right?

  “At first, I told her I would think about it.”

  Fuck.

  “But by the time dinner was done, I told her that I wasn’t interested. That I’d just gotten out of a relationship not that long ago.” She scooted closer to me and kissed my shoulder. Her eyes were open now. “And like I said, the guy sounded boring. If he’s boring outside of bed, he’s probably boring in bed.”

  She sat up and flung one leg over me. “I’d way rather fuck you,” she told me as she rubbed her wet pussy all over my dick, which was getting hard.

  I wanted to shift her, so I could slide inside her. I gripped her hips as I remembered when we’d first had sex. No barriers. Nothing between us.

  It was so tempting to do it again.

  “Someone’s ready for round two,” she purred.

  “Not surprising since there’s a hot, naked woman on top of me.”

  She rotated her pelvis over me.

  “You’re killing me. I want inside you, but I shouldn’t.”

  “Why not? I can grab a con—” Realization crossed over her face. “Ah, you mean, bare.”

  “Fuck. When you say it like that, it makes it even harder to say no.”

  “Do you want to take me raw, Gabe?”

  I flexed my hips. “Jesus Christ, Charli, you’re evil.”

  She laughed. “I want that, too, but since that’s also a hard no for you, I have the next best thing.”

  “Sex with a rubber? Hurry up and grab it before I explode.”

  She bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “Something better than that. For you anyway.”

  “What’s better than—”

  Charli pulled the sheet over her head, slid down my body, and took my cock into her mouth.

  I groaned long and low.

  She was right. It was almost as good as having sex without a condom.

  Almost.

  30

  Gabe

  I sipped my coffee as I stood, looking outside the window. I had woken up to the first snowfall of the season, and I couldn’t help but wonder how Charli was going to take the change in weather.

  Things had been good between the two of us. In all the weeks we’d been hooking up, she had been true to her word, and she never pushed for a relationship. She never convinced me to hang out with her, only to have her spring a date on me. She hadn’t even asked me to go to a Halloween party last month as “just friends.” She seemed happy with just the two of us sleeping with each other.

  So far.

  I still couldn’t trust her one hundred percent because in my experience, when my guard went down completely, that was when the other person pounced.

  I finished my coffee and went to put on my snow boots and coat. I had to run errands today, and Charli had to get to The Busy Bean. I doubted she was walking today, and the right thing for a landlord to do would be to clean the snow off their Southern tenant’s car before they went to work.

  I grabbed my snow shovel from the closet and headed outside. When I walked out, I saw a shovel being raised behind my truck and a pile of snow being flung to the edge of the driveway. I looked around, figuring my brother had come over early to help Charli, too, but there weren’t any extra vehicles parked in front of the duplex.

  I circled my truck to find out who was shoveling. “Charli?”

  She spun around at the sound of my voice and smiled. “Hey, Gabe.”

  Her nose was red, but she had on a winter coat, a scarf, gloves, and a hat. She looked very prepared for the season.

  She tilted her head. “Why the surprised face?”

  “Huh?”

  “You look very shocked.” She stuck the bottom of her shovel in the snow and sighed. “I’m doing it wrong, aren’t I?” She shook her head. “I should have known to ask you
before I started. Are you going to scold me for not doing it the Gabe way?” she asked with a smirk.

  “What?” I frowned in confusion. “No. And I’m not that bad. It’s just shoveling.”

  “Then, why do you look so flabbergasted?”

  “I guess I thought you’d be unhappy about the snow and not want to deal with it unless you had to. I’m very impressed that someone who came from Virginia has already bought a shovel.”

  She laughed. “First of all, it did snow every once in a while in Virginia, but it always melted right away. It’s at the top of the Southern states. But besides that, I grew up in Minnesota. I’m literally from one of the coldest states in the United States. Growing up, we didn’t get school called off for snow even though we had plenty. We had school called off because the temperatures would drop dangerously low.”

  “I had no idea,” I said, still stunned.

  This whole time, I’d thought Charli was a Southern lady, and instead, she was a Midwestern woman.

  Her nose wrinkled. “Really? I can’t believe we’ve never talked about me being from Minnesota.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “To be fair, when we’re together, we don’t do much talking.”

  Charli giggled in agreement.

  I looked around. “I’d say you got a good start. Let me help, and you can tell me how you ended up in Virginia.”

  Charli and I got to work, cleaning off the driveway, and she began telling me her story.

  “I always wanted to go to college somewhere far away. I’d lived in Minnesota all my life, so I applied to schools all over the country. Virginia was the first to respond, so I took that as a sign that I was supposed to go there, and I did. Then, while in college, I met Felix. We didn’t start dating until our fourth year, and when we graduated, it was either I stayed there and we stayed together or we would break up when I moved away.” She shrugged. “By that time, Virginia had grown on me, and I liked the warm weather. When I got a job right away, I took it as another sign that I was supposed to stay there, so I did.”

  “How did you end up in Vermont then?”

  “My boyfriend and I broke up. Then, my job eliminated my position without any notice, so I figured it was time to leave Virginia. I felt like the universe was sending me a message that it was time to get out of Dodge, so I did. I actually wasn’t sure where I was headed when I got on the interstate. I thought if I didn’t find a place to call home at a certain point, I’d head west and go back home. But I came here, and it called my name.”

  I shook my head. “I was just beginning to think you were practical with your winter clothing and shovel. But then you tell me how you ended up in Colebury on a whim. You are one wild chick.”

  Charli’s mouth fell open. “You jerk.” She scooped up a pile of snow we had just shoveled and flung it at me.

  I gasped as the cold, wet stuff fell inside the collar of my coat. It was freezing.

  I dropped my shovel. “You are in for it now.”

  I reached down and started packing the best snowball in all of Vermont.

  Charli ran to the other side of our cars, but I chased her down and threw it at her.

  She lifted her leg and used her arms to block the snowball, but it still hit her in the bicep.

  I threw my fists up in the air. “Victory,” I shouted.

  “That’s what you think.” Charli made her own snowball and whipped it at me.

  I ducked out of the way just in time. “Impressive,” I told her.

  The two of us continued to throw snowballs at each other, each of us missing the other. But when she caught me right in the chest, we both stood in place, staring at one another. She looked as surprised as I felt.

  Charli burst into laughter, and I ran over and scooped her into my arms. There was a large pile of snow that had been shoveled from the driveway, and I dumped her into it.

  We both continued to laugh, and she lifted her arms. “I surrender.”

  I held out my hand. “Let me help you up since you so graciously let me win.”

  She put her glove in mine, and I pulled her into a sitting position with the intention of helping her to her feet, but she unexpectedly pulled her hand from mine.

  “Are you okay?”

  She placed her hand over her abdomen. “Yeah, just an upset stomach all of a sudden. Give me a second.”

  “Take your time.”

  I watched her for signs that she might throw up or pass out or anything else, but after about a minute, she said, “I think I’m okay now. Can you help me up?”

  I offered her both my hands. “Slowly now. I don’t need you fainting on me,” I joked.

  She smiled. “I think you’re in the clear.”

  Once she was standing, I told her, “Go inside. I’ll finish up. We’re almost done here anyway.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No thanks needed.” I jerked my chin toward her door. “Now, go inside and warm up. And maybe eat something.”

  “Good idea.”

  I watched her as she walked to her place to make sure she was okay. She made it there without any problems, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  31

  Charli

  Normally, I loved the smell of coffee. I even used to have a set of coffee-scented candles, but today, the odor wasn’t sitting well with me.

  “Are you okay?” Audrey asked me as she came around the corner.

  “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

  “Your nose is wrinkled up, like something stinks.” She pointed her finger at me. “It’d better not be my baking.”

  “Oh.” I chuckled. “Your baking is phenomenal. And it’s not that anything stinks per se. It’s just that it doesn’t smell good to me.”

  Her eyebrow rose. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

  “Typically, I would say yes, but it’s coffee. I love coffee. But this morning, it just doesn’t smell the same to me.”

  “Are you feeling sick?”

  I shook my head. “No. I’m not nauseated or anything. It’s just that I’d rather not be around the smell.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Anything else unusual?”

  “I dropped my shampoo bottle in the shower and saw stars when I stood up. But I’m sure that was due to the hot water.”

  She tapped her chin. “How long has the smell been bothering you like this?”

  “Just today.”

  “But you had the last two days off, correct? So, you really can’t say for sure it didn’t bother you yesterday or the day before.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” I answered.

  “Maybe you should go to the doctor.”

  My eyes widened. “Do you think something is that wrong with me?”

  “I think you might be pregnant.”

  “But I can’t be.”

  “When was your last period?”

  “About three months ago, but that isn’t unusual for me.” I told her about my PCOS and my irregular cycles and how it was unlikely that I would get pregnant without fertility medication. “I went seven months without a period once.”

  “Did you have sex without protection?” she pointed out.

  “Only one night. And my ex and I’d had sex for years without using any birth control, and we hadn’t had a single scare.”

  “Once is all it takes.” She put her hand on my forearm and squeezed reassuringly. “And I know you think PCOS makes it improbable, but from the stories I’ve heard from some women, improbable is definitely not the same as impossible.”

  I swallowed hard as I thought back to earlier that week when I hadn’t felt well after Gabe and I had our snowball fight.

  “Can you recommend a good OB/GYN?”

  The rest of the day sped by in a haze, and before I knew it, it was time for me to go home. I thought part of the reason work had gone fast was because I didn’t want to go home and see Gabe.

  I took my time in gr
abbing my things and going outside to my car.

  If by some miracle I really was pregnant, I knew no matter what, he would not be happy. Not with his parents’ past and how untrusting he already was. Just the thought of him thinking I’d tricked him or something made me want to throw up.

  I groaned. Maybe I really was pregnant.

  No, I thought a second later. I can’t be.

  I needed to stop thinking about it because I couldn’t get into the doctor until early next week. There was no point in stressing myself out until then.

  When I got home, I noticed Gabe’s truck was in the driveway, and I crossed my fingers that he would be too busy to hear my car pull in.

  I made it to my door and inside the house without seeing him at all. I thought I was in the clear when there was a knock at my back door.

  There was only one person who would come to the back of the house.

  I needed to try to play it cool because I was the type of person to show every emotion.

  “Hey,” I said nonchalantly after I opened my door.

  It turned out, I didn’t have to worry about giving anything away because Gabe seemed to be excited about something.

  A grin was spread across his face. “Can you come out to my workshop? I need to show you something.”

  “Sure. But should I be worried?”

  His brow furrowed. “Why would you need to be worried?”

  “Because you’re so happy. You’re not planning to murder me, are you?”

  “Hardy-har-har. No, wiseass. Just come outside.”

  “Let me get my shoes and coat.”

  By the time I went to the front door, slipped on my footwear and jacket, and made it outside, he’d gone into his workshop.

  I briefly considered turning around and going back into my house, but I figured he would just come looking for me again.

  The door was open, so rather than knocking, I walked right in. “I’m here. What do you want to show me?”

  “Come over here,” Gabe said, motioning me over to where he was standing.

  I stepped around a few items of furniture that seemed to be half-finished and stopped when I reached him.