The Wrong Way Road Trip Pt. 04

I tried to avoid an answer, turning away. It didn't work. Her teeth buried in my shoulder muscle. "What?"

I kissed her forehead. "This is the first time since we've been married that I do not have privileges."

There was a long silence during which her tongue worked where her teeth had been. "Abstinence is good for the soul."

"Hogwash."

"It's true. Haven't you ever read about delayed gratification?"

We hugged and kissed and slept.

A very lazy start, with coffee served in your sleeping bag, resulted in our reaching the paved highway at ten o'clock. Kate announced that she was finding a suitable place to stay because there was cell coverage even out in the middle of open country.

"There is a Best Western near the campus. Two Queens or one King."

I said, "Two Queens." Robin said, "One King, he will be chasing us anyway."

Kate laughed and reserved a King. "Bad."

Anne-Marie reached from the back seat to yank my hair one way and another. "We must conference about this blog business. Maybe he has had enough pussy already."

I pulled over and moved to attack. She looked alarmed, but I diverted to putting the top down, asking if they wanted jackets. She climbed out of the car into my arms. "I apologize. That was nasty. I will provide reward when we get to the King bed!"

I pinched her bottom and got us back on the highway. We did need a blog conference. How did you launch one and attract followers? Could we do it without plunging into the Twitter mess? Questions were still rattling in my head as we approached Flagstaff and Kate guided me to the motel.

I was offered a suite upgrade for $25 and took it. Our rowdy group could use the extra space.

Chapter 11 - Regrouping in Flagstaff

The women decided a total reorganization of gear was required. In half an hour, the two rooms looked like a river tour prep area. I inquired, "How many nights?"

"Three, at least. Maybe more. And you need to shop. We will provide a list in a few minutes."

I used those minutes to scan the NAU website, looking for someone that might lead us to a blog expert. Anne-Marie looked over my shoulder. "I had a guy from here on a river trip. Knew a lot about the Internet. His name was..." She hesitated a minute and said, "Bruce McCarthy. See if he is in the Directory."

He was. Technical support in the computer center. "A-M, would you call him with an invite to dinner? I am doing errands."

"Oui. Good idea. Our nickel at a nice place?"

"Certainement!" She tried to punch me as Kate handed over the shopping list. On the way out, I asked the front desk for a restaurant recommendation. For a better than average restaurant with pasta dishes.

The woman suggested a place called Northern Pines. Not far away.

By the time I got back, the two rooms looked like a warehouse. A very tidy warehouse. My luck was holding. I tackled Anne-Marie to the floor. Before she could knock me out, I asked what luck she had with Bruce McCarthy.

"He is very nice. Says he will provide advice over dinner, but requires good wine and good steak."

I passed on the offered beer and sat up. "The three of you are being awfully good to me. Look what you have done with this room. Not your standard dorm mess."

My hair was pulled and my cheek slapped. Very gently. "You are more than a meal ticket, Brian."

They stared at me, and I stared at them. Silent messages were passing back and forth. Smart women on a mission. Damn.

I sank back into a soft lap and closed my eyes.

An hour later, as it was getting dark, they woke me with kisses. My fingers explored forbidden places, which brought slaps to my head. "None of that right now. We can be molested later. Of course, you will probably fail your French lesson again, and need punishment."

My threatening growls were ignored as bodies passed quickly through the shower and into better than average clothes for dinner with Bruce. I said, "Does Anne-Marie have the lead tonight? For the price of a good dinner, we need to extract lots of G2 about blogs."

Chapter 12 - Discovering Bruce and MaryLou

They looked terrific. I knew that three babes and a guy was going to attract attention. There was one large male at the bar when we walked in. A-M whispered that he was Bruce. "Football varsity," she muttered.

After introductions, I stepped up for a round of drinks. Bruce took a beer, saying he was watching his consumption because of training. Kate had a virgin Mary minus the Tabasco. The rest of us had margaritas and please hold the salt.

A few minutes were consumed with Bruce describing the incredible talents of Anne-Marie as a river guide. Our girl actually blushed. He quickly added that he was not making a pass because his girlfriend would take him apart. Kate poked me hard with a you know what kind of look.

We ordered and got into talking about creating Internet blogs. I was embarrassed when Robin, A-M and Bruce raced ahead, leaving Kate and me holding hands under the table and smiling. She kissed my ear and asked in a whisper if we should try to recruit Bruce.

I waited for a break in the conversation and asked, "Bruce, do you need a little extra income? What about a consulting gig with our company that doesn't have a name yet?"

He sat back, taking a big swallow of his beer and smiling. "That might work. These three are part of the deal?"

Anne-Marie waved a finger at him, "You'd better include MaryLou or your romance is history!"

It was Bruce's turn to blush. "I guess you are right. She is a lot smarter than I am and taking an honors degree in math."

A-M looked at me and said, "She is Captain of Women's Volleyball and all-conference MVP this year."

I pounded my head on the table, "Not another one!"

Fortunately, our dinners arrived just as Bruce was phoning MaryLou to suggest an instant rendezvous. We heard an angry squawk from the phone, followed by, "Save something for me."

Ten minutes later, hair still wet, a blond tigress was sliding in next to Bruce with a kiss and a big smile for us. "He is such a bum! Inviting me to the nice dinner you are having. I'll bet you have suggested something I can't be left out of?"

Bruce hemmed and hawed and said he was sorry. I said we were honored to be with both of them and suggested dessert back at the suite. The rest of dinner went by with relaxed chatter. I couldn't believe how four of us had suddenly become six of us, or something like that.

After a short ride, we were in the suite and opening the sofa bed in the parlor. The women ditched their pants and climbed in the middle. Bruce and I were instructed to make decaf, find the Bailey's, and fix six portions of the chocolate layer cake we had acquired on the way home from dinner.

In ten minutes, the men were serving dessert and invited to squeeze in on the outside of the pile.

In a low, submissive tone, I inquired, "We are going to talk blogs?"

The women, who had been chatting, turned and hissed, "This is not your party! It has been decided that serious work has to wait for tomorrow."

I groaned. Bruce groaned. When four smart, beautiful women land on two guys, submission is quick. Especially since they already were threatening loss of our privileges.

I maneuvered Kate to my side and asked what Jeremy thought of the new situation.

MaryLou asked, "Who is Jeremy?"

Robin and A-M laughed like crazy. "She is eight weeks pregnant and is sure it is a boy."

This required MaryLou climbing over for a hug and a kiss. "Are you married? Are you happy?"

"I am gloriously happy. That car was a wedding present. The baby isn't his, but he married me anyway!"

MaryLou was frozen with shock, falling back into Bruce's arms. "Honey, you remember what I said about risks? Look at the two of them. Just plunging ahead."

Bruce knew about risks, grabbing a MaryLou boob and applying a ferocious kiss. The rest of us cheered. I pulled up the covers and we all squirmed together. MaryLou said, "He has been experimenting with asking me to marry him."

Robin inquired, "What does it mean to experiment with proposing?"

The two consultants snuggled tighter and she replied, "He begins every sentence with, "If, by chance, you were interested in..."

My women laughed and giggled. "If, by chance..."

Now our guests were giggling at the fun conversation. MaryLou said, "He says he doesn't have any choice. He won't give up my divine body, and wants my math smarts for the networking company he is going to start after graduation."

I buried my head and the pregnant one pounded on my back. I wondered if it was permitted to fall asleep where I was.

Later, I was dragged out. "This is the guest bed, we are going to our own bed."

The morning sun was bright. I turned over to discover an empty bed. In the doorway were four female bodies rubbing on each other and promising breakfast in a few minutes. Their football jerseys were not concealing much. The eyes were teasing. ML walked over and bestowed a gentle kiss. "You are very kind to look after Marigold and Jeremy."

I pulled her head down for another kiss. "You and Bruce seem well bonded."

"We are. When he..."

Bruce was at the bedroom door, "MaryLou, Brian does not need to know everything about our relationship. Right?"

She scampered to him, grinning back at me, "Oh honey, I was..."

They disappeared with Bruce roaring. My women brought coffee, juice and toast to our bed. A-M said, "He is a take charge person. Saved a guy's life on the river. Smartass thought he would take a dip in an upstream pool right before a rapid. Bruce jumped in after him and just about threw him into the raft."

I said, "What about joining forces? I can put up some investment capital for the servers and other gear he will need. He and MaryLou can work on our technical plan. The four of us get to concentrate on quirky, kinky exciting venues." Upraised arms were replaced by smiles.

Over breakfast, I asked Bruce if he had investors lined up for his company. ML smiled and laughed, "You know that saying about reach exceeding grasp? That's Bruce. I love him anyway. Do you know anyone willing to put money into a wild ass networking startup?"

Three faces were smirking, their fingers pointing at me. Bruce looked as though the two of us needed to apply some discipline. Instead, we did the dishes while the women disappeared to do what women do when men talk.

"There is a business plan, sort of. The idea is to develop customized packages that the regular carriers can't afford to match out here in northern Arizona. MaryLou and I like Flagstaff and would like to stick around."

"How much do you need to get off the ground?"

"If we work for nothing for a while, and find twenty to thirty customers in the first six months, a hundred thousand should carry us for a year."

"Is there a fiber hotel where you can rent conditioned space?"

I barely knew what I was asking, but it sounded good. His eyes lit up when I said I could find half of the hundred thousand, and would sign up our blog company as a founding client.

He smacked one fist into the other palm and said, "Come with me. We will fix those brainy women!"

The women were listening to ML describe attractions in Flagstaff and the surrounding area. Bruce raised his voice. "Forget that stuff, we have a serious deal for you. Brian is going to be a seed investor. The four of you are going to be investors also. You will have marketing and customer support jobs with the new company. Your compensation will be deferred, and come in the form of stock options."

The smiles turned to frowns. "Did he say we will work for nothing?" Anne-Marie looked fierce and swore in French. Kate said, "There goes Jeremy's college fund." Robin walked toward Bruce saying, "I don't think Bruce understands about kinky quirky."

With roars and growls, we gathered them up in a large pile on the bed. Kate sat on my chest. "Ladies, we may be able to salvage something from this mess. Remember that by graduation time, I need to not be galivanting around. I could be the office manager, the accountant, the personnel manager, maybe all of the above..."

MaryLou grabbed me and whispered, "She is such fun, and smart too!" I tickled and whispered back, "I

married the package. Are you going to be pregnant on your wedding day?"

"I think that has to wait. Bruce says I am to get my PhD in Applied Math."

"Do your folks live around here?"

"Sedona. My dad took an early retirement buyout and actually gets a partial pension and health care. Why do you ask?"

"There has to be an engagement party. The kinky quirky ones will organize everything if you let us use it for a blog episode."

The other women had heard me and there was a sudden silence. Robin said, "Sometimes he has good ideas."

Bruce looked shellshocked. "In Sedona? At your parent's?"

ML climbed into his lap. "Don't worry, they promise it will be a barrel of fun. Full of kink and quirk."

Bruce groaned. MaryLou motioned with the hand behind her for us to leave.

I paddled butts out the door to the convertible. "We are going for a ride. How long will it take for her to square him away? Shouldn't we make her wait until the re-enactment in Sedona for a ring?"

Robin and A-M forced Kate and me into the back seat. It was too chilly at seven thousand feet for the top to be down. We ended up at a shiny aluminum clad diner and stepped inside for coffee and Danish.

Kate said, with a terrible grin, "MaryLou has a problem. As soon as she starts giving orders, he is going to jam that big cock inside and she will lose it."

"How do you know how big his cock is?" I squinted threateningly at her.

Her pink tongue poked out in response. "She told us that she has been totally his since the night she had an extra beer and let him talk her into his back seat. I think her exact words were, 'It is a good thing it was dark, because if I had seen that thing in daylight, I would have fainted. Instead, I had the first two orgasms of my life on a real cock.' "

I got a jab in the ribs, "You see, Brian, it happens to other girls too."

I bowed my head, "Wayward, you are very kind to my cock."

They were giggling like crazy and beating my head when the waitress arrived with our order. She looked alarmed, "What has he done?"

They smiled up at her, "He is the kindest, nicest Papa Bear you can imagine. We were just saying thank you."

She looked confused, "You are not all in bed with him at once, are you?"

There was an explosion of giggles as they nodded vigorously.

She was walking away shaking her head when A-M's cell chimed.

"Oh hi, are your issues under control?" She flipped the speaker switch.

A sexy laugh came over the phone, "Oh, they very much are. You know, I start in on him and two seconds later he is fixing all my problems. Will it still work like that when we are married?"

A-M and Robin looked at Kate, who laughed and said, "So far, Brian and I haven't had even one fight."

"We are still in this nice bed, cuddling, but I have a class this morning, and he needs to check in at the computer center. Should we get together for dinner?"

I said, "Absolutely. Rendezvous at the suite. Take one of the keys from the entry table and come over when you are free. The four of us need to get our act under control." I quit the call.

Three pairs of eyes stared at me. "Four of us?"

I tried to stare them down, but it didn't work. A-M spoke in a harsh French accent, "Monsieur will behave, or else. We will guide you in le discussion."

"What if we take latte's to go, and have a conference on the recently vacated bed?"

"Oui. No more talk about control."

In the suite, control was exercised by sitting on various parts of me. Being holed up in a Best Western in Flagstaff was not all bad. My friends and lovers were relaxed. "How is Jeremy this fine morning," I inquired?

Wayward stretched out on Robin, sighing, "He says that being surrounded by loving friends is the nicest way to grow."

"What would you think about finding a place here while we work out a plan? MaryLou and Bruce are already good friends."

A-M shoved the others into a tighter embrace and aligned her body with mine, wiggling suggestively. "There are worse places, Brian. Much worse. Is it true you are keeping poor French girl with you?"

I had a wrestle with poor French girl on my side of the bed. Kate and Robin watched and laughed. "Yes, very poor French girl with lots of muscles. Will she teach us to ski? There is snow at Snowbowl."

A-M was now on top, muttering about how no one had any clothes or equipment, and making me hard. "You are truly a devil, tempting us with visions of the snowy mountain." I kneaded her ass and flexed upward.

"Non! We must work!" She rolled into Kate and Robin. I growled and crouched over the three of them, licking here and there. I was pushed to the floor and they sat up.

"Brian, every time we get close to talking about the blog, you change the subject. What gives?"

"Approach-avoidance syndrome. Terrible problem."

Kate gave me her fierce face. "You have a choice, go for a run and we will do the blog, or stay here and prove you can man up!"

By the middle of the afternoon, we had half a dozen pages of planning info in a document on my laptop. Robin was playing secretary, and typed like a wiz. The more we talked, the more I liked the idea of staying in Flagstaff. Or at least using it as a base. I wondered what housing ideas Bruce and MaryLou had?

At three-thirty, I declared a running break. The sun was sinking, but the temperature was still 53, ideal for a run. I gave Kate a worried look and she punched me. "I will be outrunning you for months, lazy one."

As we headed down the street toward the NAU campus, I was smiling to myself and received another punch. "You are having Daddy thoughts, aren't you?"

I swatted the delicious rear and asked, "Still think you love me?"

She stopped and did the full body clinch thing with wet kiss. Felt very nice.

"Is that an ok answer?"

My fingertips grazed her chest as we raced to catch up.

Bruce arrived at six, his arms full of warm pizza boxes and a twelvepack of IPA. "We need nerd food for our work session. I have been busy."

I fixed Kate a glass of ice water and we sat together so she could steal sips of my beer. Ever since the run, her hand was clasped in mine. I guessed we were having a romantic breakdown. MaryLou watched us and smiled.

"They are so in love!"

We smiled back, thinking of her altar date after graduation. "Your time is coming!"

Bruce interrupted his description of our new blogging site for a kiss. ML pushed him to the floor and kept it going for a long while. The other three women cooed.

Bruce finally picked himself up and gave me a "Gee Whiz" look.

The site was not public and wouldn't be until we had content on it and had an opportunity to test what we posted. In other words, a training site. I said, "I guess we are in blog kindergarten for now?"

Robin recited notes from the afternoon session, mostly getting nods from Bruce and MaryLou.

Chapter 13 - Finding a Home in Flagstaff

With my belly full and eyes drooping, I said, "We are thinking of making Flagstaff our home base for a while. Do you have any housing suggestions?"

ML giggled and said, "This is fun. Our landlady asked me this morning if I knew anyone who would like to move into the downstairs unit. The tenants are graduating a semester early and leaving in a week."

I responded, tongue in cheek, "How could you stand having our rowdy bunch so close?"

I stared at A-M, daring her to dispute rowdy. Her arm came up for a smack, but Robin grabbed it. "He's right, we are a bit rowdy. But it's all because of him."

Kate asked, "What will she think of four tenants in one unit, with another on the way?"

Suddenly, this was a serious question. Maybe the landlady was not into one guy and three women.