UNDER CONSTRUCTION, CHAPTER 3

 

          Charlie was as good as her word and stopped at the bookstore on the way home. It was owned by a close friend she didn’t get to see as often as she would like because of their schedules.

“Hey, bless me, lookee here whose dropped in. You must be after the latest book on the environment or construction or business planning.” Sandi laughed as she greeted Charlie and gave her a big hug.

“Actually, I’m looking for books by the author A.G. Foster. Do you have any of those?”

“Oh, my Lord,” Sandi drawled, “What’s with you and erotic fiction or bodice rippers all of a sudden? Remember when we used to read those when we were in middle school? Our mothers would have had a conniption fit if they’d ever found us with one of those. You needing a little fantasy to help your libido?”

“You know I’m building my house out at the lake on the property Grandpa gave me? Well, I found out tonight the guy living next door is that author. I’m curious.”

“Y’all just met tonight? And A.G. Foster is a man?”

“Well, no and yes. Yes, he’s a man and we met a couple of weeks ago when he showed up at the building site. He announced himself by pulling out the main extension cord so everything came to a complete stop. Then he had a hissy fit about the noise. He was a writer. He needed quiet. He demanded quiet.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t let him get away with that.”

“Nope, I gave him a hard time and intimated he was so old he couldn’t change his schedule. Anyway, he left in a huff, but apparently he finished his book because he showed up tonight after the noise stopped to see what we’d done.”

“So, tell me, is he an old guy. One of those old nasty guys?”

“No, he’s quite attractive. Tall, thin, blond curly hair. I think he’d tan well if he got outside. Nice smile.”

“Oh, what’s that look on your face for? C’mon, share, you have to share with this old married lady, especially if it’s about sex.”

“Sandi, just get me one of his books, please.”

“C’mon with me.” Sandi said, taking Charlie’s arm.

In the proper section, Sandi pulled out several books and suggested, “Take your pick…or take them all. I’ve read a couple and my, oh, my, Len loves it when I read those because they make me get busy chasing him around the house until I catch him. I think he wishes I’d read one a day.”

“That good huh?”

“Yep, that good. Now are you going to tell me anything else?”

“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing. We shook hands when we met up tonight and I couldn’t believe the electricity that seemed to flow from him to me. Then, when he was leaving, we shook again, and I swear, every single hair on my body was standing at attention.”

“How about your lady parts? Were they participating or ignoring?”

“Lord almighty, but my nipples were hard and my lady parts tingling like they haven’t for a very long time.”

“It’s about time you found a man that makes you feel that way. All the ones you’ve ever been involved with have been so blah. I never said much, but I really felt you were seeing each one just to pacify your mom.”

“Pretty much, but what happens if Adam….”

“So that’s his real name, Adam?”

“Yes, but what if Adam doesn’t feel anything like I feel?”

“Only one way to find out, don’t you think?”

“We’ll see. I’m not going to chase after him based on my personal reaction, but I’d certainly be happy to see him again if he shows up.”

Together they headed for the front of the store where Sandi rang up every Foster book she’d pulled from the shelf. Bagged, she handed them to Charlie and said, “I’m so glad you stopped in. I think I’m going to take one of Adam’s books home myself. Len will be delighted you stopped in for more than one reason. And, you’d better not be a stranger. I expect to hear everything, and I mean everything about you and Adam.”

Charlie laughed and replied, “If there’s ever anything to report, I’ll take you out and buy you a drink…or two…or more.”

When Charlie arrived home, she removed her sweaty and dirty clothing in the mud room and added them to the pile waiting for her to do laundry. That would be tomorrow. Showered and dressed in jammies, she threw a frozen lasagna in the microwave and made salad from a bag.

While the microwave did its magic, Charlie pulled out her laptop and put it on the counter by her placemat. She googled A. M. Foster and discovered he had a web page. She had to laugh when she saw the photo because it looked an awful lot like the hunk that illustrated the cover of every book she’d bought. Adam didn’t look a thing like the hunk because while the hunk’s hair color and clothes changed from book cover to book cover, the eyes were almost always green. Plus, Adam certainly didn’t seem to have the muscle definition the hunk displayed. Well, at least he didn’t appear to have the same musculature. Charlie guessed maybe he didn’t want to post a real photo because every woman who read his books would chase after him, that is if they were as erotic as Sandi indicated they might be.

Lasagna, salad and a glass of wine in place, Charlie opened the bag of books and sorted them by publication date. Yep, the hunk on the cover did, indeed, look quite a bit like Adam’s photo on his web page. She giggled again and opened the one titled, Savage Surrender.

Whoa, the author didn’t waste any time getting down to business. The hunk, or at least the cover indicated he was a hunk, and his voluptuous lady friend were having wild mad sex before she’d gotten to page three. As Charlie continued to read, she barely tasted her food and she refilled her glass without even considering whether or not she should have a second glass. She left her dinner dishes on the counter and moved to the couch and the nest of pillows she’d made a couple of weeks before when her parents left.

Charlie’s mother said she’d taught herself to read before she’d ever started school and had been a voracious reader ever since, but she hadn’t read any books like this since she was a teenager. During summers before she first went to work, she would read a book a day. She sped-read, but always retained what her eyes input to her brain. By the time she was 100 pages into the few hundred-page book, she desperately wanted to meet Gerald, the handsome lover with the huge cock who left a bevy of breathless babes in his wake. He loved them and then left them because each one lacked something he desperately needed that would make him stay and be happy.  It wasn’t really clear what Gerald wanted from the perfect woman of his dreams.

It was after midnight by the time Charlie finished the first book and while Gerald finally found the woman he desperately desired, she still didn’t know exactly what he’d been searching for. Not only that, but her panties were very damp, her nipples hard and she desperately wanted sex. If a real Gerald had walked through the door, she would have tackled him to the floor right then and there. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and Charlie definitely understood why Len loved it when Sandi read erotic fiction.

It was tempting to open the next one, but she had to be at work the next morning. So, Charlie put her dirty dishes in the sink to soak, changed her damp undies, brushed her teeth and climbed into bed. It didn’t take long before she was able to bring herself to orgasm, and even less time before she was sound asleep and dreaming.

In her dream, the hunk was Adam, and he knew every single thing about sex, foreplay and satisfaction that Gerald did. Charlie moaned in her sleep and moved about as though responding to a lover. She barely woke when Adam, her dream lover brought her to orgasm. He was simply amazing.

When Charlie woke the next morning, she was astonished by the memory of her dream and the fact she thought she’d had an orgasm while dreaming and sleeping. It certainly seemed and felt that way. She stretched, yawned and forced herself out of bed. There was no time to lay back and think about Adam and her dream or his writing and whether or not he could possibly be as good a lover in real life as he was at writing about his male protagonists.

For the next couple of weeks, Charlie continued to read Adam’s books, satisfy herself sexually, have such erotic dreams that sometimes they woke her up, and waited for Adam to come visit again. Every day, after the crew left, Charlie sat and waited, but Adam never showed up. She wondered if he was even at his place. Maybe he had to go to see his publisher. Maybe he was busy writing another book. Maybe she should go visit him. Maybe she could offer to read his rough drafts. Hell, maybe she could offer to be one of his temptresses.

On Fridays, Charlie usually treated the crew to a beer at the local tavern. They always stopped work an hour or so before quitting time so they could have a beer or two before heading home to their families. That particular Friday, they made their usual wise-cracking, noisy way into the pub. The bartender was used to them by now and began pulling a couple pitchers of beer which he would bring to the table with glasses.

Charlie was laughing at something Todd had said about his little girl’s inability to yet say some of her words correctly when she glanced toward the back of the establishment. There, in a back booth was Adam and he wasn’t alone. She couldn’t see the front of the woman, but it was definitely a woman and they appeared to be having a serious discussion. Charlie was surprised at how annoyed she felt and chose a chair so her back was to them. She didn’t want to watch whatever was happening there.

For once Charlie was the most silent member of the crew. Usually, she joked and kidded the guys and acted as though she were one of them. Gordy, who usually didn’t notice much of anything mentioned her silence and withdrawal before any of the other guys.

“So, what’s up boss lady. You’re awful quiet over there. You thinking serious thoughts? You planning to fire one of us?”

His comment caused Charlie to start just a bit, but she was quick to respond, “Wasn’t sure I’d be able to get a word in the way you hens were cackling and carrying on. Certainly have no intention of firing anyone, although if I did, I guess I’d have to start with you Gordy for picking on me.”

“Hey I wasn’t pickin’. I was just wondrin’. You’ve seemed a bit off fer a while now.”

“I have? I can’t imagine why or how, unless it’s knowing my folks will be back the end of the month and mamma will be wanting to know if I’ve found Mr. Right yet. Hey, one of you want to volunteer for that job, just to help get her off my back?”

Her crew all knew her mamma and as one, shook their heads negatively.

“Aw, c’mon, we don’t have to really get married, just act like it’s gonna happen one of these years.”

Todd, who’d known her mamma longer than any of the others said, “Hah. If your mamma thought you had an actual live fish on the line, she’d have the church reserved, the minister prepped and the unlucky groom in a tux and saying I do before the sun went down. Your mamma wants grandbabies. Besides, we’re all married or promised, so we couldn’t help you out anyway.”

“Okay, you’re right, but do any of you know of any live male person, age doesn’t matter, who wouldn’t mind making a bit of cash while mamma’s home for a month or so.”

Again, Todd responded while the others all laughed, “Nope, we don’t know a soul that’s single. And if we did, your mamma’s month at home would become however long it would take to get a ring on that finger and a bun in that oven.”

Charlie laughed with her crew and admitted her mamma could be fierce when it came to wanting those grandbabies. She finished her beer, stood up and said, “Well, just for that, I’m outa here. Y’all have a good weekend because I’m gonna work your butts off come Monday.”

Charlie went to the bar and gave the bartender her card. She purposely kept her head turned away from the back of the room. As she headed for the door, she detoured by her crew and flipped a couple of hats over faces, laughing and saying goodbye.

In her truck, Charlie took a deep breath and blew it out. What was that all about, she asked herself. It was like you were back in high school, determined not to let the popular guy know you might like him just a bit. I can’t believe you acted that way. You should have gone over and said hi. It’s not like you’ve dated Adam except in your dreams. Seriously, girl, you’ve only met him once, well twice, but the first time doesn’t count.

Charlie started her truck and headed for home as she continued to castigate herself for acting like a teenager interested in a boy. She told herself she was lucky she’d now read every single one of Adam’s books. There wouldn’t be any more titillating paragraphs to make her panties wet and her lady parts interested. Just because Adam had come to occupy her dreams on a nightly basis didn’t mean a thing. Besides no matter what he wrote in his books, he was probably a really bad lover with a seriously poor personality. She told herself she was only interested in Adam because of what he wrote. She didn’t have to give it another thought because her interest in eroticism was over, done, finished.