Ding.

I have the SLR camera ready to take that sexy money shot of the carrot cake coming out of the oven, pure food porn. Carly opens the oven up with mitts, and the shot is one of those Martha Stewart moments. The Martha Stewart fresh out of prison version after she got cool and started smoking weed with Snoop Dog.

"Do we write happy twenty-ninth birthday on it?"

"No, Zoey told me, he's not a big fan of his birthday. I think just let the cake rest, and maybe make it look nice," I answered.

We wait ten minutes for the naked cake to cool before she pops it out of the mold. Then she gives that second money shot of white frosting smothered over the carrot cake. Carly smiles at the camera with one of those I know how to work it, it looks damn good looks. I giggle behind the camera and ruin the shot.

"Cut the cake already and come out to the porch. You have got to see this," Eve yells.

We cut the cake up with an extra piece for Noah. I bring the food out to the table by the end of the deck with my notebook. Two men run together shirtless, both keeping pace with each other. They run past us and speed up.

Thick ropes of muscles work hard to drive the two big men. Jo-Lee's fork filled with the prettiest carrot cake is paused mid-air as she watches the men run past her. Jo-Lee has that hungry wolf look in her eyes.

"You did not tell me that was Noah," Jo-Lee says, waving her fork.

"She didn't tell me either," Carly says and gives me a quick dirty look.

"Does he do this all the time?" Eve asks me.

"8 a.m. every day like clockwork," I reply.

All forks hang in the air, the cake uneaten. The two men race past us again—one man in workout shorts and brown chest exposed like a platter. The platter is filled with big upper body muscles and a frame made for lifting a bus or thick sexy bitches. Noah has on a T-shirt and workout clothes. He runs by with his long hair out behind him like a commercial for shampoo. Just as thick and wrestling big as ever. The two men run together and push the pace, speeding up with each lap.

Jo-Lee licks her lips. "Ah, when was the last time you...?"

"Last week, but if I could get that brother's number, maybe later today," Eve replies.

"Four weeks ago, and if I could get both numbers, I'd be fine," Carly replies.

"Few months ago," Jo-Lee pipes in. "I'd take both at the same time." The thirst level rises to ten. They all look at me.

"What?" I stammer at the wordless prompt of all my friends' eyes on me.

"When was the last time you had sex?" Jo-Lee prods.

Pause...

I knew what she was asking, but the reply wasn't one I wanted to give.

More silence...

"Um, two years," I confess.

"What..." they all shout in unison.

"I thought you and—" Eve falters.

"Theo and I had a lot of problems. He didn't want to, and I didn't want to. It was a mutual decision. I wanted to see a couple's therapist, but we didn't have the money. With the virtual assistant business and his job at the prison, all those overtime shifts, we just were barely keeping our heads above water. Sex kind of gets away from you."

"You need to do something about that," Jo-Lee cuts in. "God made pussies to be joyful. That's why pussy is always smiling."

"There's always self-care," Eve pipes in. "Comes in discreet packaging from Adam and Eve." The little team they made went into full gear. Eve pulls out her phone and gets to the website. "I have this one," she points at a discrete purple bullet vibrator.

Carly, not to be left out, takes Eve's phone and pulls up hers. "A rabbit is an oldie, but a goodie." Eve says smugly.

Jo-Lee in full swagger grabs Eve's phone and pulls up hers. The machine was all metal with a dildo sticking out of the tip like a gun. Eve, Carly, and my heads tilted together at the small phone. Our minds just weren't ready to make sense of what we're looking at. Jo-Lee puts her thumb on the play button and the thing in the video looks like it was a mad science project. The Pussy Pleasure is printed on the side and looks like it could have been from a hardware store section. A drill with a dildo connected to it moves in a fucking rhythm, drilling into the woman's pussy automatically. The operator shows off each speed and the damn machine works her over harder at each speed. The woman orgasms enthusiastically. The little in stock number blinks under the satisfied woman. Bestseller, two left in stock, and next stocking date is one month.

"Jo-Lee, we brought a pen, and you brought a fucking machine gun. A pussy machine gun!" Eve is tickled.

"I'm a woman of a particular age. I need to make sure it's always well serviced and well oiled." Jo-Lee offers with feline-like dignity. Her reckless Cheshire cat smile in full effect, and yet again the cat got the cream. "Team juicy must stay juicy."

"Jo-Lee you're only thirty-six," Carly snorts.

"See, you got that young pussy you're all ready to play around. All fun and games until some idiot dries you up. But you should stay on top of it. Wisdom from the wise." Three heads turn to me, waiting for me to take the phone for my toy show and tell.

Pause...

Three sets of eyes look at me together, a jury of my peers waiting for the answer. The damage report of my life.

"It's not a lack of toys. I stopped trying. I mean...err...it's been about the same time. I haven't been able to get there." Every syllable of that sentence is agonizing to say.

Silence...

Jo-Lee breaks in, "I've been there before. After Marty died and I had to go to that funeral. He might not have been the best husband in the world, but he was mine. I couldn't for more than a year." A bitter grimace crosses her normally smiling face. "Lost it. It happens. Remember to take your time."

That sneaky Jo-Lee smile crosses her face again. "Then again, when the O door opened back up, I was hitting it like a teenager." We all laugh together.

God, Jo-Lee's pussy drilled for sure.

The guys' next lap comes faster than the last. They move those thick bodies quickly. Neither has a natural runner's shape. It looks like they both could eat a skinny natural runner's shape for breakfast this morning. Noah's friend eyes us as we sit and watch. He smiles at us in that drop-dead Black Kryptonite way.

"They are smoking hot though," Jo-Lee says with her Cheshire Cat smile back on display.

"Must be like waving food in front of the starving," Carly says. The men run past again in another lap. Sweat drips from their bodies. Large muscles work in overtaxed muscle groups to propel them faster.

"Yup." I keep it simple.

"Like sex walking," Jo-Lee says. "All I need is some vanilla ice cream so I can eat it off his abs."

"Noah looks like Thor," Eve says.

"He has beach hair. Dudes, probably more a Neptune. Think saltier," I say to her.

"Fine, salted vanilla ice cream. It doesn't matter what we eat off each other...as long as I get to touch and fondle him." Jo- Lee finally puts that hanging piece of cake into her mouth. It's the most obscenely eaten carrot cake I've ever seen in my life.

We laugh together.

Carly shoves me in my side, and in a sing-song voice she says, "They are coming."

The two men stop in front of us. Noah's dark ocean eyes are familiar to me. I've been editing videos of him and his friends for the ForNoah YouTube channel. A burnished gold hand of his friend extends out to me first.

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet you, Tari. My name is Maurice Lora." His smile is smooth Black Kryptonite, indeed. I shake his hand. Noah's sharp blue eyes meet mine, and I notice them narrow at the handshake. The eye contact is fleeting and extremely rare for him.

"It's nice to meet all of you. I am a firefighter at the station up the street," Maurice says. He's so casually cocky, it's hard to miss. Sweat rolls down his rock-hard chest. As my brain connects to the rest of my body, I realize I'm still shaking his hand. Shit. I drop it quickly.

"I've got a fire right—" Jo-Lee is cut off by a kick from Carly mid-lust.

"If you need help, just call," he smiles. "I work right up the road at the fire station you passed. It's small, but it's home."

I ask Noah, "Would you like to try some carrot cake, Noah?" He takes the plate from me and tastes the cake. He turns his head to the side and takes another taste. It's slow, but it's like the sun comes out over a beautiful beach. His long hair glows, and he smiles at me for the first time. Well, that's progress.

"Happy Birthday, Noah," I tell him.

A/n

I thought I'd put Mr. Black Kryptonite himself and Noah together here. lol I am posting at 11:33pm because I was rewriting the last chapter thanks to input from la3yun1c0rn and Nep2918 . Thank you !!!

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