Homeless

"Good for you, Beth. Good for you."

"Thank you."

She yawned. I yawned. We both laughed.

"Good night Beth," I said.

"Good night Don," she replied.

Silence filled the room except for her and my breathing. I closed my eyes as I put my arm around her. She moaned and placed her hand on mine. I slowly fell into the darkness of sleep.

* * * *

I slept straight through 'till morning. Which was strange as I never did that anymore. I could feel Beth breathe as I lay as still as possible. She was still cuddled up to me. My arm was still draped over her side, my hand on her stomach.

"I'm awake," she said startling me.

"Oh. Did I wake you?"

"No. I've been up for a while. I didn't want to wake you, but I really need to pee," she said sitting up and climbing over me to get to the bathroom.

I chuckled, then realized I had to go too. I lay still, waiting. When she came out, I hurried past her and closed the door. I heard her giggle as I relieved myself. I chuckled as I pulled up my pants and went back out into the room. I found Beth sitting on her side of the bed, head down, arms crossed over her chest, hands on her shoulders. As quietly as possible, I sat down on my side of the bed.

"Thank you," she said sighing.

"Are you talking to me?" I asked.

"Yes and no. I was just thanking whoever is in charge, for you finding me and taking care of me. It's been a long time since anyone just took care of me without wanting something in return. I thank you for that," she said smiling at me.

"You are very welcome Beth. It's been a long time for me since I had someone to take care of. I really enjoy helping you and I enjoy your company."

"I enjoy yours too, Don. Very much," she said softly.

"Okay, then. If you want there is cereal in the cabinet and milk in the fridge."

"Cool," she replied getting up. "You want some?"

"No thank you, not yet. Do you drink coffee?" I asked.

"No. But if you have...I see that you do. A soda will do. Even if it's diet," she said giggling.

Beth sat on the bed, legs folded in front of her, the bowl of cereal carefully balanced on her knee. I had finished fixing the coffee and just had to wait for it to brew. I went to my desk and sat down. Beth watched me as she slowly ate her cereal. I started up the computer and waited for it to boot up. I also turned on the TV and placed the remote on the bed by Beth. She smiled, nodding and chewing.

When the coffee finished I poured myself a cup. I sipped the potent brew. I liked my coffee strong and black. I went back to my desk and logged into my computer. For the next hour, I typed and sipped my coffee. Everything else in the room was far, far, in the background. I was starting a new chapter.

"Wow, that's really good," Beth said from the bed.

Turning I looked at her, she had moved up and over closer to me.

"You can read that from there?" I asked.

"Yeah. You have the print kind of small, but I can read it from here, just barely."

"And you liked it?"

"I did."

"How far did you get in school?"

"I finished eighth grade before I left home. I graduated with honors."

"I think we need to check into you studying to get your GED. Don't you?"

"I don't know, I do pretty well..."

"You want a job flipping burgers or a job doing something with your life that you like and think you are making a difference?" I asked.

"I...what did you do?"

"For a lot of years, I was in the service, then when I got out I went back to school and learned how to program computers. I did that for the rest of my life."

"What did you do in the service?"

"I was a cop."

"Yikes...I..."

"Which I am not anymore," I said softly.

"Okay...I promise to..."

"Don't make any promises you might not be able to keep...yet." I smiled at her.

"I will do my best, then."

"Better. I'll check into an online GED program. Would that suit you better?"

"Yes, it would, thank you."

It was Sunday. I wonder if Beth even knew that.

"Do you know what day of the week it is?"

She screwed up her face thinking. Then her eyes got big and she shook her head.

"It's Sunday. Do you go to church?" I asked.

"Only if there is no other place to get warm, I'm sorry to say. But don't let me keep you from going."

"I don't go," I said and left it at that.

Beth had finished her cereal and soda. She washed the bowl and spoon, put the empty can in the trash. As she was going back to the bed, she plunked down in my lap and hugged me hard. I put my arms around her and just held her. I wasn't hugging her, just holding her. Then her lips were pressed against my neck. I didn't push her away. I couldn't. I found myself with feelings for her, that I shouldn't have.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Beth whispered.

I felt tears drop on my neck. I pulled her head back.

"Why are you crying?" I asked.

She didn't say anything. She kissed me, hard. I pulled away looking at her in surprise.

"I want to thank you..."

"Not like that, not now," I said.

I pressed my lips to her gently. She sighed. I stood up with her in my arms and carried her to the bed...four steps away. I set her down gently, then stood up looking down at her. I shook my head but smiled hoping that would soften the rejection.

"If not now, when?" she asked.

I smiled. "Maybe after you get your GED and get a nice job."

"Sounds good. I guess I can wait until then. Thank you for the kiss though."

"It was nice," I said. She smiled turning to watch TV.

* * * *

Beth went with me to the gym each day I went. She was my guest, so she could use the equipment for free. It took her two months of hard studying and a lot of my help, to get her GED. I set my laptop up for her to use. She was doing what she needed to do whenever we were home. Which of course was a lot. Then she started to search for a nice job. She was pretty good at editing my stuff. She was actually better than the editor I worked with.

Beth was always up for reading my stuff. So far I had only let her read my sci-fi stories. Maybe in the future, I would let her read my other, dark side, stories. It's not that they were dark, dark. They were erotic, smut, porn. And what I wrote about was not common practice. I suggested she look at being a freelance editor for hire.

"I don't know about that. Your stuff is pretty easy to read. You write at a level that I can understand and what I'm sure others like. Besides is there any money in editing?"

"Let me ask around. I have several authors and publishers I can ask, if you could do it and what they pay for editors."

She nodded and went back to her search for an office job somewhere close by. I wrote a couple of emails and sent them off. We both sat around, me typing, her searching, for the rest of the day. I took her out for something to eat again. She thanked me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. When we got back she went in and took a shower. She came out in the pajamas. I then went in and took a shower and came back out in my sleepwear.

About eleven o'clock we turned off everything and hit the hay. She snuggled up against me. I had my back to her this time. Her arm came snaking over my ribs, pressing her hand against my stomach. She squeezed me hard.

"Goodnight Don," she said softly.

"Goodnight Beth," I said softly, patting her hand.

I closed my eyes and dropped into the darkness of sleep quickly.

* * * *

As I climbed up out of the darkness I heard Beth talking and I wondered who she was talking to. I opened my eyes, she was sitting at my desk, talking on the room phone. It was cordless. I know I didn't hear it ring, but then I might have been in a real deep sleep at the time. I sat up on the edge of the bed and Beth turned toward me smiling.

"Yes, I can be there then. No, no, problem. Thank you. I do. Third floor, room 3123, yes ma'am. Of course, Lilly. Thank you again, Lilly." She hung up.

I looked at her eyebrows raised. She was smiling so hard that I thought her face would crack.

"Well?" I asked.

"I have an interview with a local publisher who is looking for interns, paid interns, to learn the business."

"Ah, which publisher?" I asked.

"They are an established..."

"Don't give me their hype, what's the name of the firm?" I was almost scolding her.

"J.L. Kitt, LLC. right here in Houston." I started laughing. Beth was looking at me with a frightened look on her face.

"No, no, nothing wrong, that's who I use. I know the owner, although she doesn't live here, she lives in Michigan. Though she does come down here often." I leaned over Beth and typed something in the browser. "Yeah, she's in town this week. It'll be good to see her."

"Will I need business clothes?" Beth asked.

"Don't worry we'll get you a nice blouse with a nice skirt and some nylons and a pair of pumps. When do you have to be there?"

"Four this afternoon," Beth said softly.

"Plenty of time. Get dressed we'll go to breakfast and then to Walmart."

She picked up her clothes and headed for the bathroom. She came out right away setting the folded pajamas up by her pillow. She put her boots on, turned and looked at me. I smiled at her, grabbed what I would be wearing and went into the bathroom to change and refresh myself. I was out in just a couple of minutes. I brushed my teeth and combed my hair. Beth had done those things while I was in the bathroom. She was waiting by the door, still smiling.

I smiled at her as I headed for the door. She put her hand out to stop me. I turned to her, she jumped up, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. She was kissing me hard. I felt her tongue slip out and touch my lips. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her hard, but didn't open my mouth, although I could tell she wanted me to. I did kiss her back. Pulling my head back, I looked into her eyes. They were filled with joy and passion. I shook my head slowly.

"We'll see," I told her, she kissed me quickly, but still held on.

"We will," she said nodding her head. I squeezed her once more and let go.

She dropped her legs and loosened her grip on my neck until her feet touched the floor. She was still looking up at me a big smile on her face as she pressed her belly against my semi-hard cock. I just sighed and turned toward the door. Beth let go of me and followed. We stopped at the Mickey D's in the Walmart for some breakfast. Then went back to the women's section. Now that I knew her sizes, I picked a couple of nice blouses along with some camisoles. Then a couple of skirts. Then over to the nylons. I also picked out a pair of footies.

At the shoe department, I sat her down and measured her foot. Nodding I went and got two pair of shoes. One a three-inch heel the other a flat. Both in black. She took the flats first.

"Oh, these are nice."

"They fit okay?" I asked.

"They do. They looked nice too."

"They do. Now try on the heels."

She did. She put both on. When she stood up she was a little shaky. I grabbed her hand and helped her.

"Those might take some getting used to," I said.

She let go of my hand and took several steps. She smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. Then she was standing in front of me, looked directly into my eyes.

"This is much better," she said leaning forward and kissing me gently. "Yes, much better."

She stood there staring at my face. I stared right back at her. Sitting down she took them off and put her boots back on.

"Can I get both?" Beth asked.

"That's why I let you try them on," I said, tossing the boxes into our cart. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," she said taking my arm as I walked toward the front of the store pushing the cart in front of me.

We paid for everything and left the store. As I was putting the bags in the trunk, Beth took the receipt and shoved it into her pocket. I smiled to myself. She had taken the other receipts also. I figured she planned to pay me back when she was paid. I wasn't expecting to get paid back for what I have done for her.

When we got home, she went into the bathroom with the bags of clothes. She came out a few minutes later, dressed to the nines. She had on the white blouse that fit snuggly. Not tight but it did hug her curves. She looked nice. She had the black pencil skirt on with the black stockings. They were thigh highs. I had told her my thoughts on pantyhose. Although she had some in the bags, she wore the thigh highs. She also had on the four-inch heels. She was breathtakingly beautiful. I swallowed hard as I looked at her. I couldn't help but look at her. She was mesmerizing.

"Wow," I croaked.

"You like?" she asked.

"Wow!" I couldn't say anything else.

She walked over to stand in front of me, looking down at me as I sat in my chair. She smiled, spread her legs, pulling her skirt up and sat on my lap facing me. Her arms went around my neck, she pressed her lips to mine. I kissed her back. This time I let her tongue in. My breath exploded from my lungs. Her breath exploded from her lungs. We were both gasping for air as we looked at each other.

"You better go take that off...god you look so...beautiful."

"Thank you." She kissed me again. I didn't resist. "Aren't you going to hug me?" she asked.

"I don't want to wrinkle your blouse. Now go change before something happens to ruin your clothes." She nodded at me, her hand going to my cheek for just a second.

When she was back in the bathroom, I started to shake. I closed my eye and put my head in my hands taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart. The one thing I had forgotten was makeup, but after...she didn't need makeup. Just a touch of lipstick. A light shade of red...not quite pink. Just something to bring out her lips as they were almost the same color as her tanned skin. And some eyeliner and for the lashes.

She came out with her things on hangers. I got up and took some of my t-shirts down to let her hang her stuff up. I folded my t-shirts and stuffed them in a drawer. It wasn't even close to lunch yet. Beth paced the room. I watched her. She was nervous and excited.

"You know if you get this job, you'll probably be editing my stuff," I said.

"Yeah, you're stuff is easy."

"Not all of it," I said.

She looked at me a confused look on her face.

"What do you mean not all of it?"

"The stuff you have read so far comes from my light side."

"Light side? You kill people off left and right." I chuckled.

"Not that kind of dark. More like fifty shades of grey, but more explicit."

Her eyes opened wide.

"Really? Can I read some before I go...is that what Lilly was talking about...let me read one of what you send to them," she demanded.

I picked up the laptop and logged her out. Then I logged me in. Opening MSWord I brought up one of my most liked tales. Then I handed the laptop to Beth. She looked at me with narrow eyes. I just nodded at her. She nodded back and sat down. She took one last look at me and started to read. She read for the next hour, although I knew it only took twenty minutes to read the short story I gave her. She had been moaning and groaning the entire time she was reading.

"Oh my god!" she groaned finally. "You pervert. I love it. I'm so glad you have Denise and Jack getting together in the end. That was a marvelous story. And it was so hot. And Rudy, he sounds adorable."

She was on my lap, kissing me hard. I kissed her back.

"How much of this stuff do you write?" she asked.

I turned to the computer and clicked an icon in the browser. A page appeared.

"All that is your stuff?" Beth asked.

"Yes," I croaked my throat almost closed with...what? Excitement, embarrassment? I didn't know.

"Can I get to that site on the laptop?"

"Yes," I croaked again.

"Good. I have a lot of reading to do tonight," she said looking at the URL of the site.

Well, now she knew I was a pervert. Not really, but I did like writing erotica. The more explicit the better. What I had given her to read was not all that explicit. It was more along the lines of romance stories.

We went out for lunch, then to the drugstore for a little makeup for her. When we got home she jumped in the shower. I just plugged away at my current story. It was the ninth short novella in a series of nine and I was struggling with filling the pages with words. When Beth was finished she came out wrapped in just a towel. I closed my eye and put my head in my hands.

"You can look if you want," Beth said her voice husky with emotion.

I just sat there, eyes closed, head in my hands. I didn't answer her nor did I move. I wanted to look at her. I really did. She had to be beautiful, but I had made a promise and I was going to keep it, no matter what.

"Okay, I'm dressed sweetie," Beth said. "Will you help me with my makeup?"

I opened my eyes and slowly turned my head toward where her voice had come from. She was dressed. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were standing in front of the mirror. I was showing her how to put her makeup on. I started with her eyelashes. She got the hang of that quickly. Then I showed her the eyeliner. She got that one fast too. Finally, it was the lipstick. She took it from me and put it on.

"I have used Chapstick before, so I got this."

She watched herself in the mirror and applied the lipstick. When she was done she looked at me. She was beautiful.

"Marvelous," I said.

"You think so?" she asked.

"Yep. You look good."

"How long will it take us to get there?" Beth asked.

"We have to leave now," I told her looking at the clock on the wall.

It was twenty to four. It would take us fifteen minutes to get there. We went out to the car and drove off. Fifteen minutes later we pulled into the parking lot of a small office building. Beth was shaking with nerves and anxiety.

"You'll do fine. Just pretend you're doing it for me."

"What?"

"They will probably give you a manuscript to edit, just do what you do. You are very good with English grammar, word usage, and spelling. Just do what you do for me."

"Okay." She took a big deep breath and exhaled. "Okay, I got this," she said.

"You do, you got this girl," I said.

She nodded as she opened her door. I opened mine and we both walked toward the building and went inside. It was a four-story building, so we took the elevator to the third floor. Then I let her search for the right room. She found it to the left of the elevators. I nodded as she turned to look at me. She opened the door and stepped in. I followed right behind her. It wasn't a large office as offices go, but here there were no partitions dividing up space. There were three desks in the space. Right now only two had people sitting at them. I knew both people but didn't say anything. I sat in one of the two chairs by the door. Beth cleared her throat.

"Hello," she said. Lilly looked up and smiled.

"Beth?" she asked.

"Yes. Lilly?" Beth asked.

"Yes. Come on over and have a seat. Hi, Don. How are you doing?" Lilly asked.

"I'm fine Lilly, just fine. And you, dear?"

"Fine. Now Beth, have a seat. You look wonderful, but you won't have to dress so formally once we take you on if we take you on. Jeans and a t-shirt will be good enough. If we want you to dress up, we'll let you know. Okay?" Lilly was a fast talker.

"Okay," Beth said, shaking her head from the barrage of words.

The woman at the far desk rose and headed my way. I knew who she was, but I had only met her once before. We had talked a lot on the phone though. She came up to me, I stood. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. I kissed her back. It suddenly got very quiet in the office. I pulled back from her luscious lips and looked over at Beth. She was staring wide-eyed at me and the woman.

"Don't worry, they have known each other for a very long time, Beth."