Page 23 of Cookies and Control

I take a deep breath, trying to steady my voice. “I’ve been caught up in Jasmine’s hype using the auction to gain confidence that I’m attractive so I can be a better bikini barista…”

Bull grabs my arm. “What was the second thing you said?”

I stare at my feet. “Bikini barista. The coffee franchise Jasmine is starting.”

Rocky asks, “Bikini barista? What the hell is that?”

Bull’s grip on my arm tightens slightly. “I don’t like the way it sounds.”

I sigh, not wanting another defeat. I should be basking in sexual afterglow according to my romance novels, not arguing about my future business. I face them. “It means we serve coffee in bikinis.”

Bull and Rocky exchange looks, their expressions disapproving. Bull’s voice is stern when he speaks. “You can’t be serious. You think women should be serving coffee naked?”

His words sting. But he doesn’t need to blow it out of proportion. “I won’t be naked.”

Rocky exhales hard. “This might be even harder to accept than CNC, Betsy. But trust me, I’m trying. Jasmine didn’t detail bikinis in the business plan she presented to us.”

Bull nods in agreement. “There’s no way we would have funded that.”

I thought I averted a disaster by not ruining Sabrina’s night at the auction, which I now know went crazy anyway, with her ending up with her stepbrothers. I can’t let Rocky and Bull create a new disaster and pull their funding after all the work Jasmine put into her business plan.

I grab Rocky’s hand since he’s most likely to take my side, and plead, “If you actually love me, don’t hurt my friends.”

Bull interrupts. “It’s because we love you that we object.”

Fourteen

Betsy

I swing by the drugstore on my way to apaint-your-own potterynight with my girlfriends and grab a pack of pregnancy tests. My stomach’s been churning, and I think it’s more than the stress of my stepdad and his brother both saying they love me. A couple interrupted sexual experiences. And an uncertain business future.

It would be a long shot for mydo the right thing stepfatherto have gotten me pregnant, but I need to know. It’s been ten days since the auction, barely enough time for the cheap and easy tests to work. If the first one is negative, I’ll have the second test to fall back on in a few days.

This evening will also give me a chance to talk to Jasmine about Bull and Rocky getting pissed over the bikini barista thing.

Jasmine, Naomi, and Sabrina arrive at the same time as me, and the second Jasmine steps inside, she clamps a hand over her mouth, beelining for the bathroom. Retching has commenced by the time I follow her inside.

I hand her a wad of paper towels then help her off the bathroom floor.

“Do you think you’re pregnant?” I feel the answer in my heart. We’re both pregnant, which is kind of cool that we can go through this together. And judging by Naomi and Sabrina’s faces, we’re not alone.

Jasmine recoils. “What? No. It’s probably just food poisoning or a flu.”

Naomi rubs her back. “When was your last period?”

“It’ll be in two days. My birth control makes it super easy to predict.” She almost retches again.

I grab the box of pregnancy tests from my purse.

“Why do you have those?” Sabrina asks.

Anyone who saw what happened at the Aubergine Affair might question if it’s even possible. “I was going to take one tonight.”

With the weight of the bikini barista thing adding to the possible pregnancy, I opt for tackling one problem at a time. I open the box, pull out two plastic packages, and hand one to Jasmine. “We can take them together.”

“Not the kind of bonding I was hoping for tonight. I’ll put my faith in my birth control pills and wait two days. Anyone else need it?” She waves the stick.

Sabrina and Naomi admit that they have tests at home, which leaves Jasmine to confirm whether she’s pregnant or if she’s sick and needs to go home.

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