Sarah sighed. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“No, really,” Abby insisted. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
Sarah paused and turned to Abby. She chewed on her lower lip then peered around Abby at the doorway to the kitchen. “Okay,” she finally said. “But not here.”
Intrigued, Abby watched Sarah adjust the flame on the chili she was simmering and both women headed upstairs to Chris and Sarah’s master bedroom, away from the men.
Abby gaped at the huge framed picture of the badlands in the moonlight that hung over the bed.
“That’s where we got married,” Sarah informed her, perching on the edge of the bed.
“It’s beautiful,” Abby replied.
Sarah nodded, but then was quiet again.
“You can talk to me, Sarah,” Abby assured her. “Whatever it is, I won’t tell anyone. Not even Mark.”
This seemed to have an impact because Sarah nodded. She sighed heavily. “We’re trying to have a baby,” she announced.
Abby gasped and threw her arms around her newest friend. “Oh my God, that’s awesome!”
Sarah returned the hug but not as enthusiastically. “Yeah, it is, but...”
“But what? He doesn’t want a baby?”
“No, he does,” Sarah said quickly. “A lot. And so do I. And that’s the whole problem.”
Abby frowned. “I don’t follow you.”
Sarah scowled. “It’s not working,” she confided. “It’s been months now. Plural. And nothing. And now my bathroom is filled with ovulation test kits and a thermometer and other things you don’t want to know about, but we’re not getting anywhere. And I’m okay with that,” Sarah assured Abby. “I was on the pill and the doctor says it can take a while sometimes for things to go back to normal. But the problem is...” She trailed off and looked away.
“The problem is...” Abby prompted.
“The sex,” Sarah wailed. “It’s awful!”
Abby gaped at her, shocked. “Oh. Um...” This was really awkward. Not because Abby was uncomfortable talking about sex. God knew in her time with Mark she’d loosened up a lot when it came to physical pleasures, but Chris? Bad in bed? Abby couldn’t picture the buff, handsome ex-Special Forces lieutenant being bad at anything at all. Least of all that.
“It didn’t used to be,” Sarah confided. “But now it’s all scheduled and timed and all I’m ever thinking about is ‘Is is going to work this time?’ And I know he’s frustrated. It’s not fun for him anymore, either. I mean, we...we do some stuff.”
Sarah blushed and Abby could not picture what it was that Sarah Sullivan did that made her face so red but she couldn’t help but grin.
“We roleplay,” Sarah whispered fiercely, as though Abby had forced the confession out of her even though Abby had done no such thing. “Or we used to,” Sarah corrected. “But now the babymaking thing has tainted everything! The sex is more mechanical now. Tab A, slot B. I know he’s not having as much fun as he used to.”
“Ah,” Abby said sagely. “I see the problem. Maybe...” She thought for a moment. “Maybe you could try to spice up your sex life in other ways.”
Sarah looked like a deer in headlights. “I can’t do what you do.”
Abby laughed. “No, you don’t have to. You could do some other things though.”
Sarah chewed her lip, nervously. “Well....like what?” she asked cautiously.
Abby grinned. “I have some ideas.”
****
Shooter stood at the bottom of the staircase, listening to Abby and Sarah giggle through the closed bedroom door. He turned to Tex. “What are they doing in there?” he demanded.
Tex, relaxing on the couch, shrugged.
“Hey!” Shooter bellowed up the stairs. “Eating is cheating! Especially if I don’t get to watch! What are you doing up there?” Shooter turned to Tex and scowled at him. “What are they doing?”
Tex laughed. “No idea.”
Shooter looked over at Tex, pouting. “Well, how to you get Vegas to obey and tell us what’s going on?”
“I don’t. She only obeys me during playtime.”
Shooter seethed. “Well, what good is that?!” He threw up his hands. “I can’t believe two hot-ass women are getting it on in my bedroom and I don’t even have a keyhole I can look through.
This house needs keyholes!
”
Tex laughed again and shook his head. “I have no idea what they’re doing, but like I said, they’re not getting it on.”
Some minutes later, the women emerged from the room, still giggling hysterically. At the poker table, they kept exchanging knowing looks with each other which caused them to burst out into hysterics.
“What is going on?” Shooter demanded.
“Nothing!” his wife insisted.
“What where you doing up there?”
“Just girl talk!” Abby replied.
Shooter pointed his finger at both of them. “I sense shenanigans. Slick? What’s up?”
Sarah merely shook her head. Shooter looked to Tex for help, but Tex merely shrugged. “We could torture it out of them,” Tex suggested. “But it probably wouldn’t work.”
Shooter grumbled and returned to his hand.
The next day at the garage, Tex headed to the office to print out an estimate for a customer who was dropping off his chopper for some custom work. When he opened the door, the sounds of loud moaning filled the room.
Shooter’s mouth dropped open at the intrusion.
“What are you doing?” Tex asked loudly.
Hawk came up behind him in the doorway and glanced in. “Is that porn?” he asked, looking at the computer monitor which was turned away from them. “Are you looking at porn?” Hawk nearly yelled.
Easy came over, having heard the commotion from the garage area.
“I was not looking at porn!” Shooter insisted, even though the sounds of a woman clearly enjoying herself could be heard.
Hawk swept past Tex and reached for the computer screen. “I expressly remember the no porn speech,” he said.
But instead of the monitor, Shooter was fumbling frantically with his phone, which he was trying to shut off. He finally did and slammed it down on the desk.
“Pervert,” Easy teased.
“You!” Shooter said, looking angry now instead of contrite at being caught out. He jabbed a finger at Tex. “This is all your fault!”
“I didn’t send you porn,” Tex replied casually.
“No!” Shooter nearly shouted. “But my sweet, innocent, loving wife just sent me a 10 minute video of her shaving herself and using a vibrator! Where the fuck did she get a vibrator?!”
Hawk grinned. “I think the real question is if the video is only 10 minutes long, how come you’ve been in here for almost half an hour?”
Easy guffawed. “Because he watched it twice!”
Shooter surged up out of his chair, gathered up his phone, and shoved it into his pocket. He stormed out of the office, across the garage, and toward the parking lot.
“Don’t spank in anger, Lieutenant!” Tex called after him. “And before you do anything rash like smash the thing, try doing her while putting it on her clit!”
Hawk and Easy laughed hysterically as Shooter, not bothering to look back, flipped them the bird as he stalked to his truck.
Almost two hours later, Shooter Sullivan returned, and to Tex’s eyes, seemed a lot less angry than he’d been when he left. Tex grinned at him, but didn’t say anything.
“I smashed the thing,” Shooter announced as he walked past the men.
“Poor Slick,” Tex mused.
“She can have one in any color but motherfucking purple,” Shooter declared. “And as long as it’s not bigger than me.”
Tex bit his tongue to keep from laughing. “You know it’ll tighten back up afterwards.”
Shooter glared at him over his shoulder as he headed toward the office. “You have rules. I have rules.”
“Yes, Sir,” Tex replied with a grin.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Abby felt trapped behind her desk and ran her hand through her hair. She glanced at the clock for the thousandth time. She loved the Custer, but paperwork was not high on her list of favorite things. She picked up a vendor sheet for Blue Orchid Floral Services and frowned at it. Earlier that morning, she had done a walkthrough of the hotel. There were a few arrangements in the lobby. A pair of potted fruit trees that flanked the large grand staircase that led to the ballroom and a small arrangement in the elevator lobby of every floor, but that was all. Certainly nothing to justify the exorbitant fees the company was charging for providing and maintaining the Custer’s floral arrangements.
She’d already submitted a claim to her boss to look for a cheaper company, as per instructed. But he’d informed her that they would be keeping the Blue Orchid as a contractor, and then proceeding to tell her she wasn’t finding enough cuts in the budget. She’d wanted to hit him. Instead she’d picked up the phone and dialed Blue Orchid to try and negotiate a smaller monthly fee. She’d gotten no answer then and she got no answer now as she held the receiver to her ear with one hand and drummed her fingers on the desk with the other.
Unwilling to leave another voice mail, she scooped up the vendor sheet and decided to kill two birds with one stone. She could get out of her office for a bit while, hopefully, slashing her budget at the same time.
She stood up and smoothed down her knee-length black skirt. Her blazer was new, and fitted, and her dark blue silk blouse showed not a hint of the matching bra and panties that Mark had gotten for her. But she knew they were there and she had to admit it had always made her feel sexy to wear pretty underthings. More so now with the memory of Mark choosing them for her.
She grabbed her purse and headed to the parking garage on the corner. Traffic was light for a Monday and she only had to circle the block once to find the building she was looking for. She’d expected a nursery or a garden center, but then with that the Blue Orchid was charging for replacing a few lilies every month, they could afford to have an office space as well as a nursery.
She parallel parked on the street and headed through the three story building’s lobby doors. The glassed-in bulletin board put Blue Orchid on the top floor and she slipped into the elevator. The doors opened across the hall from a pair of glass doors that were propped open. Abby walked through them and spotted a receptionist to the left. Which was a little irritating since every time Abby had called, she’d gotten no answer.
She smiled anyway at the woman behind the desk. The woman smiled back.
“Do you have an appointment?” the woman asked.
Abby shook her head. “No, I was-”
“That’s okay. Helen isn’t booked this afternoon. Did you bring headshots?”
Abby hesitated. “Um. No.”
The woman shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. Helen’s got a photographer that she likes to use, so between you and me and the lamppost she would’ve made you get new ones, anyway.” She looked Abby up and down. “You from around here?”
“No,” Abby replied.
The woman nodded. “I can tell. You’re prettier than a lot of the girls we get here.” She pressed a button on the phone and it rang back to the desk. The receptionist answered it quickly. “I’ve got a walk-in.” She listened for a moment and then looked up at Abby. “Did you see us on the website?”
Playing it safe, Abby nodded.
The woman hung up the phone and gestured to the door off to the side. “Good luck!” she called enthusiastically.
Abby adjusted her purse on her shoulder and walked through the closed door. To her relief, an older woman in a fitted business suit was on the other side of the door, sitting on a couch. Abby glanced around to make sure they were alone.
The woman gestured for Abby to take a seat and so Abby did, even though she would have rather made a beeline for the elevator.
“Well, I haven’t seen you before,” the woman noted.
“No, ma’am. I haven’t been in town long.” To Abby’s relief, the woman did not ask for a resume. Did hookers even have them? Abby doubted it.
“Tell me about yourself,” the woman prompted.
Abby smirked inwardly. A typical question she, herself, would have asked any interviewee. She straightened in her chair. “Well, I just graduated,” she replied, sticking as close to the truth as possible. “And I have student loans.”