Yours and Mine (Friends with Benefits)

by Lacey Silks

  Chapter 16

  My Dearest Joelle,

  One more month and you’ll be in my arms. Thirty more days and I’ll kiss you until my mouth is sore and touch you until I have all the curves of your beautiful body memorized.

  The training is routine now. I have another physical screening test next week for a special project. If I pass, I’ll have more time with you this summer. If I fail, I’m coming home permanently. It shouldn’t be an issue, since I passed the first one nine months ago. Sometimes, when I lie here at night, I wonder whether it’s worth it. Then the alarm sounds, the boys jump out of their beds, and we all do what must be done to protect our freedom. The adrenaline keeps me awake most nights. I fall in and out of sleep and can’t wait for a full night when I have you in my arms. Maybe I’ll finally sleep in peace. I can’t wait to tell you all about the new friends I’ve made here. They’re awesome guys.

  I’m glad to hear that Carter’s doing better. You’re an amazing friend and he’s one lucky guy to have you in his corner. It sounds like a lot has changed at home. Have I really only been gone a year?

  Love you with all my heart,

  Nick

  The bell on the front door dinged just as I reached to stack the boxes on the top shelf. This had to be one of the worst chores ever, and given that the shelf was so high, it was usually Dad’s job. But this morning he was busy outside, preparing to begin the construction on the new bakery next door. And since Marge was in the back mixing fresh batter, that left me to tend to the customers and stock the shelves. Once the new building was complete, we could renovate Marge’s house to be a normal home we all lived in, with a family and a dining room. The store next door would be kept separate.

  “I’ll be right with you,” I called, concentrating on lining the square shapes evenly so that the stack would not tip over, as all the while my knees wobbled on the small ladder.

  Whoa!

  I felt myself sway from one side to the other as I tried to push the last box on the very top. The ladder flew from underneath me and I tensed my body, ready to hit the floor, but a set of strong arms caught me. I looked up and met Carter’s brown eyes as he held me close to his body.

  “What are you doing here?” I breathed heavily, a little shocked and relieved that I wasn’t on the floor.

  “Apparently catching you.”

  “No, I mean here. At the bakery.”

  “You invited me to come over more often, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “And your father offered me a job with the construction.” He slowly set me down on the floor and I straightened my shirt.

  “Thanks for catching me. I might have broken an arm or a leg.” I wiped the drop of sweat off my forehead. The rush of almost crashing to the floor had turned on my perspiration as if I had a sprinkler under my armpits and on my head.

  “Anytime. I promise there won’t be any broken bones while on my watch.”

  “So, you’ll be here…”

  “Every day until it’s done.”

  “That’s awesome! It means you’ll be a fresh mouth to taste my new cupcakes.”

  Carter looked like he was holding in a laugh, his lips straining at the corners.

  “What did I say?”

  He shook his head, mumbling underneath his breath, “I have a feeling that you and your beautiful cupcakes are going to drive me nuts.”

  “Hey.” I punched him in his arm. “Are we still talking about my cupcakes, or something else you shouldn’t be thinking about?”

  “I wouldn’t dare talk about something else.” He winked. “But I can’t promise that my mind isn’t elsewhere.”

  “Here.” I passed him another stack of boxes and pointed. “You’re taller. They go there.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He climbed up the ladder and easily shelved the remaining boxes. “Hey, listen. So last week I saw that the soil around the weeping willow was moved around.”

  “Yeah, I planted the daisies. You weren’t home, so I just went to the back.”

  “What about the shrubs?”

  “I might have cleaned up a bit too.”

  His brows rose.

  “And added two rose brushes, peonies, a few gerberas, and some lilies.”

  Carter opened his eyes wider each time a flower name escaped my mouth.

  “Okay, I don’t know what half of those are, but thank you. I now officially owe you.”

  “It was my pleasure. If you like, I can add some to the front of the house as well.”

  “Only if it’s not too much to ask, and if you’ll let me pay you.”

  “Nope.”

  “Come on. At least for the bulbs and whatever else you used to plant them. You’re trying to get a business going as well, so I’m sure you’ll need all the funds you can get.”

  “Okay, how about… we’ll see.”

  “So long as we’ll see means I can pay you back.” He winked. “Anything special on the menu today?”

  “Morning glory muffins.”

  “Never heard of those.”

  “They’re like carrot muffins but with pineapples and nuts.”

  “Okay, I’ll have one of those and a coffee, then. And if you could keep track of which ones I’m trying, that’d be great. I want to be surprised every morning I come here?”

  “Every morning?”

  “Yes, until the job is done, at least.”

  Right.

  “Cool. I’ll make sure you get the fresh ones. Wait, what am I talking about? They’re always fresh.”

  Was I feeling nervous again? This was just Carter, my friend who wanted to try my muffins… our muffins.

  Geez, Jo. Get a grip on yourself.

  “See you around.” He waved.

  “Yeah, see you around.”

  Over the next month, Carter came in each morning, ordered his coffee, and grabbed a new muffin I’d prepared. After we’d gone through them all twice, he switched to tasting cupcakes. I’d never seen anyone devour our baked goods the way Carter did, but he’d done that ever since he first stepped into Marge’s bakery. These days he still moaned the same way he had as a kid, and his eyes rolled back in their sockets. Except now I enjoyed watching him do it more than I remembered doing when he was younger.

  After the construction day was over, we’d drive his father’s old car that he’d finally fixed back to his house in the late afternoon, where he’d work in the garage while I spent an hour getting dirty in the front garden.

  It looked almost perfect now, and when I took a few steps back, I couldn’t believe how much it had changed on the outside. The next step would be to take care of the old furniture inside. Half of it was good enough to keep, and the other half needed either a major revamp or to be trashed and burned so that no one’s eyes would ever hurt looking at it, the way mine did. I had yet to find a way to break that news to Carter.

  When I took another step back, I tripped over the curb and fell butt first into a bucket full of water.

  “Ahh!” I screamed, but it was already too late. I was sitting in the bucket, half-submerged, laughing, when Carter ran from the garage around the corner.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I… I fell.” It was difficult to get the words out between my bursts of laughter. “And I can’t get up.”

  That’s when Carter lost it as well. He fell to his knees, hands on the grass, laughing with me, physically rolling over. Actually, he was laughing at me.

  “Some help would be nice,” I managed, but still kept laughing. He finally reached for my hand and pulled me out of the container, bringing me close to his body and not letting go.

  “You okay there, Betty Crocker?”

  His hands were on my hips, holding onto the wet fabric. I in turn held onto his arms because I didn’t want to go back down into that bucket, and the way my legs were shaking underneath me, there was a good possibility of that happening.

  “Yeah, I think so. I’m all wet now.”

  Carter held
me so close, that the moisture from my jeans transferred to his. “Come on, I have a pair of old sweat pants you should fit into.”

  “Thanks. I got you all wet as well.” Especially the front of his garage jeans, which now appeared more fitted than before. I followed him inside. The place was looking much better each time I came here. New drapes hung in the windows, and Carter had bought a throw for the scruffy couch. The bright light coming from the back patio door made the home appear larger than it was. I followed him to his bedroom, and then waited at the threshold as he fumbled through the clothes in his chest of drawers.

  “This is the smallest pair I have.” He handed me the sweats and a t-shirt as well.

  “Thanks.”

  “I’ll go to the bathroom. You can change here.”

  “Okay.”

  As soon as he left, I pulled down my pants and panties, and then removed my shirt and quickly jumped into his clothes, which were quite loose. I rolled up the bottoms of the sweat pants as well as the band around my waist, folding it outward. When I was done, I went back out to the hallway. The bathroom door was open, and in the reflection I saw Carter in his boxer briefs. He flexed his arms in the mirror, then stood sideways and examined his toned abs, like most guys probably did every morning. Yup, they were definitely tight. But so were his ass, his legs, and the rest of him. There was not even an ounce of fat on this guy, despite all the muffins and cupcakes I fed him each day.

  “Don’t worry, Carter. You look good.”

  He turned toward me, showing off his physique, flexing like a professional body builder.

  “You think?”

  My gaze inadvertently traveled lower to his crotch. Yeah, he definitely looked good.

  “Trust me, when you’re ready, the girls will be clawing at one another just to get close to you.”

  “What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Would you want me?”

  Well, that was a loaded question. Carter had a knack for surprising me with questions I didn’t know how to answer. I had a boyfriend. But if I said no, I’d offend him.

  “Ahm, yeah. I would.”

  His mouth curved in satisfaction.

  “Nick will hardly recognize you,” I said.

  “I don’t think I’ll recognize him either. I bet he’s all buffed up for you. How long do you have left now?”

  “Two more weeks. I think he’s busy with his final tests.”

  “Probably. Hey, we should throw him a welcome back party. Isn’t Molly coming home from school as well?”

  “I think so. Doesn’t it feel like we’re the only two left from our class in town?”

  “I think we are. Okay, so I’ll get the word out for a little gathering. Will you do the same? My house?”

  “I’ll bring cupcakes.” I perked up.

  “You better.”

  His brows wiggled again. Whenever he did that, I wondered whether he was truly thinking about my cupcakes… or my boobs.

  * * *

  “Carter, you gotta try this,” I said, carrying the tray full of fresh cupcakes toward him. The construction crew was putting up the framing today. The sun was wringing the last beads of sweat from the men. I’d finally got a tan on my legs as well; working in Carter’s garden had definitely helped.

  “New recipe?”

  “Sort of. Marge loves black forest cake, but there isn’t a black forest cupcake at the bakery, so I just made one up.”

  He took a bite, cutting halfway through the cupcake, moaning as if he’d just eaten the most delicious food ever.

  “Jo, you know how much I love your cupcakes.” He winked. “But this one’s the best one yet.”

  I’d also been using Carter as my test dummy, making him eat anything new that I baked. “Oh, my God, the cherries inside are perfect. How did you make this frosting?”

  I saw my father watching us out of the corner of his eye and shaking his head.

  “Wait, are you playing with me again?”

  He’d done it before when I misjudged the amount of nutmeg for my pumpkin spice recipe. Carter hadn’t wanted to be rude and had gulped down the most disgusting muffins I ever made.

  “No, I’m serious. I wouldn’t dare play with your cupcakes.”

  I smacked him in his arm. “Carter! You’re so annoying sometimes.”

  “Just sometimes? Man, I must be slipping.”

  “You have some…” I pointed to the corner of my mouth to indicate the cream he had left on his, but that only confused him. I reached toward him and wiped it off with my thumb, and then licked it off. I mean, it’d be a waste of cream if I didn’t. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t done that to me before. Carter froze, and I wondered why. His mouth opened slowly as he pointed to something behind me.

  When I turned, it felt like everything went into slow motion, and at first I thought I was dreaming. In fact, when I laid my eyes on Nick, I barely recognized him. A black duffle bag was draped over his wide shoulders. His crew cut had grown out to a more pleasant length. I scanned the rest of his rough yet lean body in awe. Even his face was chiseled. Everywhere I looked, Nick was full of pure muscle. There were muscles upon muscles, layers of lean tissue in places I didn’t know could have been beefed up — ever. The gray t-shirt he wore barely fit him, the limits of its seams tested around every curve.

  Holy shit!

  “Surprise!”

  I dropped the remaining cupcakes I was holding into Carter’s hands, which were thankfully ready to catch anything I threw at him, and jumped into Nick’s arms. He spun me around in a circle, pressing his hot lips to mine, holding me as easily as a feather. The pure strength emanating from him was so intense that I had to pull away, let him set me down, and look him over again, because I still couldn’t believe that this was my Nick. My soul felt like it had just been given a new life.

  “You’re home, you’re really home. Dad, Marge, Nick is back!” I just couldn’t stop screaming and crying and laughing all at the same time. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be back until next week. We had a party planned out and everything.”

  “We’ll talk about that later. I got a chance to leave early and thought I’d surprise you.”

  “You did!”

  Oh, my God, did he ever!

  “Welcome back, Nick.” My father broke away from the construction work, shook Nick’s hand, and then hugged him, patting him on the back in that feral way only men knew. Carter was next, greeting his best friend. They exchanged a few quiet words I couldn’t hear, and I wondered what it was about. Marge wiped her hands on her apron and ran out to embrace her son. All the while, I couldn’t stop staring at this new man who’d come back into my life. There was so much commotion around Nick’s surprising arrival that I felt a little dizzy. As if sensing it, Nick was at my side in a second.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just a little overwhelmed. We weren’t expecting you until next week, and now here you are. There’s so much I want to tell you.” My heart was misbehaving in my chest and my mind was still spinning.

  “And there’s so much that I want to tell you as well. Looks like we’ll have to get through a family reunion first before I can have you alone.”

  Alone. I couldn’t wait to be alone with him. Part of me felt like I’d have to get to know this new man all over again, and I was excited to do so, but when I watched him talk to his mom, Carter, and my dad, I knew that my Nick was back. In a different body perhaps, but back.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jo.” Carter waved at me and I waved back. “Don’t worry about a new cupcake in the morning. I’m pretty sure you’ll have a busy night.” He winked, and my cheeks heated. I wished he wouldn’t say things like that in front of my father and Marge.

  I prayed that Nick and I would have a busy night, but given that we were about to spend our first night in the same house as our parents, I wasn’t sure how we’d make it work.

  Since the construction stopped for the day, we went insi
de and I helped Marge set the table for dinner. We had spaghetti. I watched Nick eat one plate, and then get seconds and thirds. I wasn’t sure where he was fitting all the food, but apparently the new body needed more fuel than the old one.

  When evening came, I realized that I’d been using Nick’s room. When I got up from the table and went upstairs to move my things to the guest room, I startled when Nick walked in.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Giving you your room back.”

  “No, that’s okay. You stay here, and I’ll take the guest bedroom.” He then lowered his voice. “Although ideally I’d stay here with you.”

  “Nick—”

  “I know. I know. I won’t be disrespectful to your father or my mother. But I do insist on you keeping this room. I’ll take the guest bedroom.”

  “Okay.”

  “Wanna head up to the rooftop?”

  “Yours or mine?” I joked, knowing full well that my house and rooftop were long gone.

  “How about ours?” he asked.

  I smiled, biting my lip. He always knew the perfect thing to say.

  We climbed up the ladder from his balcony. It felt like years since we’d been there together, but as soon as I lay back, with Nick’s arm underneath my head, everything came back to me. Everything was normal again.

  Chapter 17

  “It’s hard to believe we’ve been looking at the same sky at night but were so far away,” he said, sighing. “It feels so good to be home, to have you in my arms.”

  “Aren’t you tired? Do you want to rest?” I asked.

  “No, baby. I have so much adrenaline pumping, I won’t be able to fall asleep for a while.”

  “How are you feeling, emotionally? I mean, you’ve been gone and secluded, and now you’re back.”

  “I couldn’t be happier to be back, but I’m also proud of what I accomplished.”

  “I’m proud of you too, Nick. You set out a goal and never gave up.”

  “And you – I mean, from the looks of the new cakes, cupcakes, and pastries, it looks like you’ve had your hands full.”

  “As soon as the new bakery’s running, I’m going to open the online store. We’ll start shipping to nearby cities. I’ve planned a marketing campaign. I’ll be able to have a delivery system with a larger radius than I originally thought, which will also reduce our shipping costs. And I followed through and sent samples the way Carter suggested. I already have two large orders for cupcake wedding cakes this fall, and the website design is almost complete.”