Friends With Multiple Benefits

by Luke Young

  “Huh?” He groaned groggily.

  She turned onto her back and wrinkled her nose. “Oh, it’s horrible.”

  “What?”

  “You are… uhhh…” She slipped out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. “I told you not to get anything spicy.”

  “Yeah…” He took a deep breath and rolled onto his back. “Sorry.”

  After flipping the light on in the bathroom, she sat on the toilet and peed with her eyes closed and her head slumping over. “What time is it?”

  “Huh? I don’t…”

  She halfheartedly washed her hands then returned to the bedroom just as George let go of another bomb. “You better get that out of your system before you get on the plane.”

  He grumbled something incoherently as she leaned down to look at the clock while holding her nose. “Shit!”

  “Wha…”

  “It’s five.”

  “Yeah?”

  Rushing to the front of the room, she flipped on the overhead light. “You said you set the alarm.”

  “I thought I did.” He shielded his eyes from the light and ran his tongue around his mouth grimacing. “I have a bad taste in my mouth.”

  “There’s a shock.” She stood over him glaring. “Get up. We’re late.”

  “What time does the plane leave?”

  “7:10,” she called back as she headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

  “We’re not that late,” he replied as he slowly made it to his feet.

  “Yeah we are. We’re supposed to be in the car right now. It’s an international flight.”

  He waved his hand at her. “They exaggerate how early you need to get there.”

  “Uh-huh.” She rolled her eyes at him as she stepped into the shower.

  “So, I won’t take a shower.” He staggered into the bathroom.

  “No, you’re taking a shower. A good one!”

  “All right.”

  “I’ll be out in one minute.” Looking out the glass door, she spotted him sitting on the toilet and cringed. “Hey, if you’re going to do that, please go in the other…” she stopped mid-sentence when she saw his face contort and heard the unmistakable sounds. She shook her head and turned away mumbling, “perfect.”

  While there are some bizarre things you get semi-comfortable with after nineteen years of marriage, this definitely wasn’t one of them. Thank God, she could count on one hand the number of times she’d shared this particular event with him, but she really didn’t need it, not today.

  “Sorry.” He flipped the switch to turn on the exhaust fan wearing a smile born of blissful relief.

  Victoria Wilde sat in her car less than two miles away, outside a large home in an upscale Miami suburb, staring at her cell phone with her thoughts swirling. Should she drive away, go alone and just call him to say she made a mistake? Was this really the right move for her after everything that happened? The moment she saw Ethan step out the front door to the brightly lit portico, her doubts disappeared. It wasn’t just his striking good looks, or his steely blue eyes, or his trim muscular physique. It was the confidence with which the young man carried himself. Yeah, it was that, along with the unbelievable night the two had spent together in that hotel room just a few days earlier. She shook her head and sighed. If he hadn’t showed up that day in Tampa and rescued her, she didn’t want to think about what might have been. Yes, this was the best thing to happen to her in over a year. And no, she wasn’t going to over analyze it—she was just going to do.

  He wore a huge smile as he headed to the car carrying a small suitcase. Slipping into the passenger seat, he closed the door then gave her a deep kiss.

  She pulled away first, grinning. “You’re full of energy this morning.”

  “Well, I missed you.”

  “I missed you too.” She gave him a skeptical look. “Your parents really don’t have a problem with you going with an old… I mean… Older woman?”

  “No,” he replied softly.

  “Wait…” She scoffed. “You didn’t tell them did you?”

  “Well, um, no. I said I was going on a cruise with this girl I was dating from school—that it was a last minute thing.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “We did actually meet at school, so that’s mostly the truth.”

  “Okay…”

  “I also said it was this girl’s graduation present. I think they felt a little guilty since their gift was sorta lame in comparison.”

  “What’d they give you?”

  “A wallet.”

  “A wallet?”

  “Yeah, but it had five hundred in cash…” he frowned, “…plus they just paid for my one hundred twenty thousand dollar college education.”

  “College is that much now?” Victoria scoffed. “I think you should be happy with the wallet.”

  “Yeah, probably.”

  “You don’t think they’d approve of me?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” Looking her over, he flashed her a grin. “My dad certainly would.”

  “Maybe I should’ve met them or—”

  “I’m twenty-one for God’s sake. I can make my own decisions.”

  “Okay.” She nodded. “I’m just glad you could go. I really need to get away from here for a while.”

  “I can’t think of a place I wouldn’t go with you.” They shared a smile until he gave her a hesitant look. “So you didn’t finish telling me about Rebecca. Is she still… breathing?”

  She put on a deadly serious tone and said, “If shallow breaths count then yes, when I left her she was still breathing.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I’m joking.” She held back a laugh. “If I learned one thing from watching all those Dateline Mysteries, it’s that you don’t kill when you have a motive.”

  He nodded in agreement. “I’m so sorry that I had to be the one to tell you she was sleeping with your husband.”

  “Look, it was a long time ago, and he’s not here for me to yell at or… I don’t know.” She exhaled deeply. “Let’s not talk about all that. I just want to have fun for a change. I’ve been depressed for longer than… it’s been over a year since…” She shook her head. “Let’s just change the subject.”

  “Okay.”

  They shared a tender smile before she asked, “Hey, have you ever been SCUBA diving?”

  “A couple times.”

  “That’s what I wanted to hear.” She shot him a sexy grin as she put the car in drive.

  2

  An hour into the flight both couples were safely in their seats on the plane bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico. Jillian and George were enjoying cocktails in first class while Victoria and Ethan were cramped in their tiny seats back in coach on the flight scheduled to land just before ten for their Caribbean cruise ship departing later that day.

  Victoria sat by the window with Ethan in the middle seat. Next to him a heavy set man occupied the third seat, both blocking them in and spilling over the armrest onto Ethan as well as into the aisle.

  “Do you have enough room,” she whispered in his ear.

  “I’m okay.” He shrugged.

  “You want to switch?”

  He leaned to her and said softly, “No, I couldn’t do that to you.”

  “I tried to get us in first class, but it was sold out.”

  “It’s a short flight, but maybe we could put up your arm rest.”

  “Sure.” After lifting the rest, she gave him a sorrowful look. “Is that better?”

  He shifted in his seat a little closer to her and said unconvincingly, “Yeah.”

  She flashed him a smile. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

  “I was hoping you would.”

  About thirty feet away in the comfortable part of the plane, Jillian returned to her seat carrying a neck pillow. She rolled her eyes and said, “I forgot I bought this for you last week.”

  George wrapped it around his neck. “This is great.”

  She smiled
. “Now I won’t have to watch your head bobbing up and down for the next two hours.”

  “Thanks babe.”

  As he reclined his seat back and closed his eyes, she pulled her laptop computer from her purse and opened the lid. A woman approached her wearing a hopeful expression and carrying a book. “Jaclyn West?”

  Jillian looked up wearing a cheerful grin. “Yes, that’s me. Well, my pen name actually. I’m Jillian.”

  “I absolutely love your books.” Beaming, the woman held up her copy of Knight Rider. “I’m Heidi.”

  “Oh, thank you, Heidi.”

  “I have all my friends reading them.”

  “I appreciate that. I’m actually on my way to a romance writer’s cruise. Theresa Wade and Gloria White will also be there. Are you taking the cruise?”

  “No.” Heidi frowned. “I didn’t know anything about that.”

  “You should definitely come next year.”

  “I would love to.” Heidi asked hesitantly, “I know you get bothered all the time, but would you mind signing my book?”

  “I’d be happy to.”

  In economy class, the large man next to Ethan was now sleeping with his mouth open, pointed right at him. He was wheezing loudly, and his breath was horrible. Ethan dry heaved then covered his nose as he turned his head toward Victoria.

  She cringed. “You poor thing.”

  Sighing, he leaned close to her and whispered, “I think he ate a pound of salami for breakfast.”

  “Oh, I can smell it too.” She shuddered, grimacing.

  “Maybe nudge him with your shoulder and he’ll shift to the other side.”

  “Really?” He gave her an uncertain look.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” He moved a little to his right and gently pressed his shoulder into the large man but there was no result.

  “Harder,” she said softly as she nodded her head wearing a stern expression.

  He tried again, but only a little more forcefully and still the big guy didn’t budge. Suddenly Victoria pushed on Ethan’s arm and knocked him into the problem man’s shoulder. The man made a horrible phlegmy gurgling noise, stirred, and his head flopped over safely away from them. Victoria shot Ethan a satisfied look, and they shared a wide-eyed smile.

  In first class, Jillian was typing away on her laptop as George slept comfortably aided by his amazing neck pillow. She stopped typing and looked up as she mulled over exactly how to word her current thought. Glancing to him, she smiled, before picking up her glass of champagne and taking a sip.

  A flight attendant approached her carrying a bottle. “More champagne?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Packed together liked sardines, but not minding all that much, Victoria asked cheerily, “So what do you want to do first when we get on the ship? They have an ice rink and a rock climbing wall. We can do whatever you want?”

  “Anything I want… let’s see…” Pressing his tongue to the side of his mouth, he put on a sexy grin.

  “What is it?” She giggled.

  “Ice skating sounds like fun, but…” Leaning over, he whispered, “… um, I really want to lick you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, I’ve been thinking about nothing other than doing that since, well, since I last did that.”

  “That does sound like more fun than ice skating.”

  “I think so, and I don’t think I spent enough time doing it, you know, when we—”

  She widened her eyes. “Screw the ice rink.”

  He took her hand and said softly, “Sorry, don’t get me wrong, it’s not just about the sex, but I can’t get you out of my head. You’re so amazing and beautiful.”

  “This is the kind of thing I need to hear more of and…” Chuckling, she tilted her head against his. “I agree… I think that you could spend a little more time with that activity.”

  “You’re incredible.”

  “Keep going.” She wagged her fingers in front of him. “Keep going.”

  He paused a moment then nuzzled close to her face and said, “When I look at you I can’t even remember what I did like two minutes ago. I forget about everything else in the world.”

  “You’re adorable.” She smiled. “That’s a great idea. Let’s both forget about everything else in our lives for the entire trip.”

  “I can do that.”

  Up a few rows, George woke from his nap and pulled a notebook computer from his bag. Jillian was looking over a brochure from the cruise line. “Wow, you can actually ice skate on this ship.”

  After running his hands over his eyes, he pushed the button to power up his computer and got no response. He groaned. “Crap.”

  “When’s the last time we skated?”

  “Huh?”

  “They have an ice rink on the ship. Isn’t that amazing?”

  “Did you charge up my computer like I asked?” He frowned.

  “What?”

  “I asked you to charge up my computer when you did yours, but it doesn’t have any power.”

  She sighed. “Yes, George I plugged yours in when I did mine.”

  “But did you make sure the light came on, on the side— you know that the charger is flaky.”

  “You know what… I didn’t make sure the light was on. I was sorta busy yesterday, picking out your clothes for the trip, ironing them, packing them… doing all the things I asked you to help me with when you were sitting on your ass all day watching TV.”

  Ignoring her, he closed the lid on the computer then turned it over to fool with the battery and mumbled, “I hate this stupid thing.”

  “You remember that?”

  “Huh?”

  She shot him an incredulous look.

  “What?” Giving her a confused look, he shrugged.

  “Nevermind,” She grumbled.

  “What am I supposed to do now?”

  She scoffed. “I’ll tell you what you can do… you can…” Curling her lip, she covered her mouth with her hands. “Sorry, let’s not start this trip off on the wrong foot. God knows we’ve done that a few times.”

  “Yes, I forgive you for not charging it up so let’s move on.”

  She looked at him like he was from another planet.

  “What?” he asked.

  Frowning, she opened her mouth to speak then curled her lip for a moment before taking a deep breath. “So about the ice skating… Do you want to?”

  He gave her half a shrug. “If you do… I guess… Yeah.”

  “Great,” she replied rolling her eyes.

  “Can I use your computer?”

  She let out an exhausted sigh then handed her computer over.

  3

  A little more than four hours later, Jillian was unpacking the carry-on bags in their superior penthouse suite as they awaited the arrival of their suitcases. George was plopped down on the sofa surfing channels on the television. Their large room featured a balcony, a circular queen-sized bed and bathroom with a small soaking tub and separate shower.

  She stepped up to the large glass door and looked out. “This is really nice.”

  “Huh?”

  “I said this is a really nice cabin.”

  “There aren’t that many channels.” He grumbled without looking away from the screen.

  She chuckled and sat down next to him, placing her hand on his knee. “What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know the casino doesn’t open until we leave the port.”

  “Oh…” She sighed. “You aren’t going to spend all your time in the casino are you?”

  “No, but I’m going to gamble a little.”

  “Okay, but, you know, don’t go crazy.” She shot him a tired look.

  “I promise I won’t overdo it.” He put his arm around her, and she nestled her face on his shoulder.

  “Good, because we’re supposed to spend some time together on this trip.” She pulled away from him and looked him in the eye. “I know I have some responsibilities with the bo
ok signings and all that, but I’ll have plenty of free time.”

  “I know. I know.” He raised his eyebrows. “We did talk about getting a couple’s massage.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, I do want to do that.”

  “Where’s your schedule for the signings?”

  Reaching over, she grabbed her purse and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Let’s see I’ve got one tomorrow at one then on Wednesday at two.”

  One floor below the marginally happy couple, Victoria placed her purse down on the desk as her gaze traveled around their luxurious junior spa suite. It was a slightly smaller room than the famous author’s, but it featured a large jetted tub right next to the circular queen-sized bed along with a separate large two-person spa shower directly off the living area.

  “Wow.” She pulled open the sliding door and stepped out onto the balcony.

  Ethan dropped his carry-on bag to the floor and followed her outside.

  “Nice. Huh?”

  “Yeah.” Placing his hands on her shoulders, he pressed his chest into her back and kissed her neck. She gasped and tilted her head to one side as he sucked her flesh gently.

  She brought her hands back to his hips and pulled him into her. His quickly growing erection now pressed delightfully into her rear end.

  He groaned with desire as he pressed his hips into her more firmly. “I missed you.”

  “Show me.” Slipping away from him, she took him by the hand and led him inside. As he pulled the door closed, she kicked off her shoes and fell back onto the bed, motioning with a finger and a sexy look for him to join her.

  Standing beside the bed, he exhaled deeply as he looked her over. “God, you’re adorable.”

  “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  He lay down on her gently and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as they kissed, his tongue slipped into her mouth and hers followed back.

  Sliding a hand up to her breast, he rubbed it roughly as the heat between them grew and grew. Her hands found their way into the waistband of his shorts as she kneaded the firm cheeks of his ass.

  Panting, he pulled up from her and went to work on the buttons of her blouse as she brought both hands to the front of him and stroked his erection through his shorts. He moaned with his eyes rolling back in his head as she squeezed his bulge.