He flipped through the fresh pages, found the place he sought and began to read. It was time to shake things up a bit.
“…the grocer was unlucky enough to be the sole person with a grudge against the woman. After all she was his ex-wife, and the alimony payments were high.”
“They were pretty expensive. Come on, Baeren paid her ten thousand a month, plus child support.” Amelia replied to his recitation and Ben laughed.
“Yeah, that was pretty steep. Worth killing over? Maybe.”
“Well, Ben, at least the grocer didn’t do it.” Amelia shrugged her shoulders in an imitation of innocence.
“Yeah, I would have had a hard time swallowing the pill of murder, Amelia… Or actually should I say Ambrose?”
She sighed. “Guilty as charged.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I don’t know for sure. All I can say is that I would have kept it a secret as long as I could.”
“Really?” She was telling the truth. Ben was fairly sure that she would have kept it a secret for ever, but she was her own worst enemy. Now that he thought about it, the cadence and speech in the books even sounded like her. He should have put that together a long time ago.
“Yeah. You are the only person to ever meet Ambrose Jenner and just one of four people who knows my real name. So yeah, it would have taken a while.” She didn’t seem sorry, more like sorry that she got caught. Ben smiled and thought that he could have plenty of fun with this woman.
“Damn Amelia, I love the way your mind works.” He really did. She was smart, witty, beautiful…amazing. Everything that he had attributed to Kylie, the so called perfect woman for him, he had found in Amelia.
“Thanks.” She seemed shy, as if embarrassed. The concept was cute. Amelia was usually so secure and self-contained. Ben liked the change, liked that he could see the woman beneath the turtlenecks and stiff demeanor she used to brush people off.
Ben crooked one finger to ask her to come to him.
She shook her head and backed away from him. “Nu uh. I have to take a shower.”
“That sounds like the best invitation I’ve had in the last few hours.” He stood up, even as she backpedaled, his every step towards her was matched by two of hers in the other direction.
Before he could blink twice, Amelia bolted. She ducked into the bathroom, but he was too quick and her attempts to shut the door behind her were quelled with his shoulder. She laughed and fell away from the wood as he strode inside the well-appointed space. He couldn’t help chuckling at the picture the two of them made in the large oval mirror on the other side of the room.
Amelia was half-way onto her knees and weak with cachinnation. Though, he wasn’t much better, half-bent over and his chest locked in a vicious cycle of chuckles as well.
“Okay…” the breaks in speech were accented with huffs of air filled with mirth. “Okay. But I wasn’t inviting you with me. It was planned to be a solo event.” She had one hand held up and the other cradled the middle of her abdomen.
“Haven’t you heard Amelia?”
“What?” She looked askance at him.
“Save water, shower with a friend.” That was all she wrote. Amelia fell to her knees and he watched two tears escape her left eye.
But being the environmentally conscious man he was, Ben was really happy to save water.
After lingering in under the water for thirty minutes, the output of warmth had dwindled to a lukewarm temperature and he shut the spray off. They dressed, if underwear and robes could be called actual garb. Although, there were many jokes about the options he had for his robe. Amelia didn’t own a single one that was plain. His choices were a pink plaid, red with hearts, or a lavender cloud theme, and all seemed to threaten his masculinity.
Amelia’s homemade chili was delicious and Ben devoured half of the crockpots contents on his own. She joked that his hearty consumption of the meal was to compensate for the less than manly options offered for clothing. He was lucky that she ate considerably less than he did or there would have not been enough for the two of them.
Ben cleaned up as Amelia was kind enough to make sure that there was a hot meal waiting for him. Afterwards, Ben wanted a replay of the morning, but no sooner than he got the erection, realized that there were no more condoms.
“Damn it!” Ben cursed.
“What is it?” Amelia forehead scrunched the rest of her face into a frown.
“I was about to pounce on you, but I forgot.”
“What?” She seemed even more perplexed than before.
“Condoms.” Just mentioning the lack of latex sheaths made his mouth droop south into a frown.
“Oh… yeah.” Amelia didn’t look any happier about the dearth than he did.
She turned her hands up. “Well, how about a game of Parcheesi?”
That was the beginning to a beautiful relationship. They did play a laughable game of Parcheesi, along with a game of Twister that led to a night to remember.
He never got those condoms that evening, but neither of them minded. There was much they could explore without them, although, he did make a promise to carry his sorry behind to get some the following morning.
Although, the funny part was, he had to open the store and needed to be there anyway.
Jennifer Willows is the pen name of a romance author who prefers the Multicultural and BDSM genres. She is a newbie single and a pro at being a mother of two. She still fixes other people’s mistakes by day, but she makes plenty of time to write at night. No website yet, but just be on the lookout it will be coming soon (okay, she really has no idea, but she’s working on it). Also she wants to give a reminder: Don’t forget that reviews are an authors’ best friend and please feel free to speak your mind or tag her books as needed. If anyone would like to hit her up for a chat, complaint, or questions feel free to email or Facebook at jenwritesureadATgmail.com or tweet her @wildinthewillow
Happy reading!
Jennifer
Also by Jennifer Willows:
Another Man’s Woman
Loganne’s Run
One Night Stand
Please Me: Parisian Passion (Pt. One)
Please Me: Parisian Punishment (Pt. Two)
Scarred
The Virgin Chronicles
Published by Siren Bookstrand:
Bound by Accident (Book One of the Moreland Brothers)
Lust for Life (Book Two of the Moreland Brothers)
A Harem of One (Book Three of the Moreland Brothers)
Coming Soon:
Not Just a One Night Stand (February 2013)
The Laughing Assassin (April 2013 available at Siren Bookstrand)
Scarred Page 12