Page 53 of Here You Are

He dares a peek at me and gives me half a smile. “Hey, yourself.”

Continuing to avoid eye contact with me, he mutters, “They don’t come over for breakfast on Saturdays, do they?”

I let out a breathy laugh and say, “Nope.”

“About five minutes after you left last night, Jenkins texted me and asked me over for breakfast. Then this morning, she said there was a change of plans, and you were hosting. I already had the girls up and ready with the promise of donuts. But I knew. I fucking knew,” he groans.

I reach for his shoulder and give him a squeeze, “It’s okay, big guy. It’s better not to fight it. You won’t win.” I turn my chair toward him, forcing him to face me. I squeeze my legs inside the space between his legs, forcing some closeness.

“The good news is, I don’t have to wait seven to ten days to see you again,” I whisper, giving him a wink.

He responds by groaning and plopping his head on the counter, grabbing the attention of the kitchen ladies.

“What’s wrong, Ben? Didn’t get enough sleep last night?” WJ asks as casually as a meddling old biddy can.

“I’m good, Jenkins. Thanks for the invite to breakfast. Can’t wait to make this a weekly ritual.”

WJ stutters a bit while walking across the kitchen. “Well, we might not do it next weekend. We’ll see. It’s like semi-weekly.”

All of the ladies are giggling and obviously know their cover is blown. In a bold move, I say, “So, which one of you saw me coming home from Ben’s last night?”

Holly immediately yells and points. “It was Emilia! We had nothing to do with it other than her plan for breakfast seemed fun.”

“Uh huh. And would you guys like to know what we did last night?”

Ben looks at me with terror in his eyes while all three ladies shout, “YES!”

I gestured for them to come in close, so the kids in the adjacent room wouldn’t hear.

In a hushed voice, I start to explain. “Well, Ben needed help setting up the new swing he got for his sex dungeon. He prefers much older women, but didn’t have a lot of options and needed a female body to make sure it was set up right. I obviously volunteered because I have become accustomed to having no boundaries with the neighbors. My shirt got caught on the swing and just ripped right off, so he took that opportunity to do a line of coke off of my abs. He offered his abs to me, but I prefer to snort cocaine off of butt cheeks, so we went that route. He’s a lightweight, so he passed out right away, and I came home.”

All three ladies are glaring at me, arms crossed. “Do you want to tell us what really happened, young lady?” Holly asks.

“We watched TV, one of his kids barfed, and I came home.”

The ladies all groan, and Ben is still bent over the counter, hiding his face in his arms. His body is shaking, so he seems to be laughing inside the safety of his man cocoon. Tension breaker, had to be done.

I lean over and nudge Ben in the shoulder. When he looks up at me, I ask him, “Do you want to come see my cows?”

“Is that code for something?” he asks, looking genuinely confused.

“No. I have bedroom cows. Come on.”

Ben and I slip away to my bedroom at the back of the house. I make my way over to the curtains and open them. “Sorry, my room is kind of a mess. I wasn’t expecting company. Obviously.” I wave him over to the window since he is still lurking in my doorway. “See, my cows.”

He comes and looks out my window, standing shoulder to shoulder with me.

“Oh wow, you have baby cows. I’m jealous.”

“As you should be.” In the boldest move of the century, I grab his hand and pull him to face me. He does, but then drops his gaze to his feet. “Hey. you're making me nervous.”

“I’m sorry. I’m nervous, and still a little embarrassed, and talking about it is even more embarrassing.”

“Please don’t be. Because eventually I'm going to do something that I'm going to be embarrassed about, possibly even today, and I need to know you can recover quickly.”

“I don’t want to erase last night from my memory because it was so good, and I would like to have the opportunity to repeat it, but more effectively.” He pauses, and I can tell he has something else to say, so I decide to just wait it out. “I think I really like you. I don’t want to screw up again.”

“You didn’t screw up. I’m choosing to take it as the ultimate compliment and requesting we try again.”