Beautiful Mistakes

He glanced at the phone as if it had offended him.

The phone then chimed as if in response, and Julie opened up another text. "Does that mean this is a bad time?"

Making an "ugh" noise, she shut her phone and put it on the end table in disgust.

"What did he want?" Aaron asked.

"To be annoying, what else?" she retorted.

"I wish he wouldn't text you," Aaron muttered. "It's damn annoying."

Deciding to make light of it, she said, "No kidding. Here I am trying to cuddle on the couch with you and he chimes in just when I'm about to get up my nerve and make my move."

Aaron cracked a smile, which was exactly the reaction Julie had been hoping for. "You don't have to get up your nerve to cuddle on the couch with me. You spend every night in my arms; aren't we past being shy?"

Smiling, Julie said, "Does that mean I can come over there?"

"The movie's over now," he said, gesturing to the credits rolling.

Getting up on her knees, she playfully crawled across the couch and said, "Who said anything about a movie?"

He lifted an eyebrow, a slow smile spreading across his face as she approached. "Miss Kingsley, are you trying to seduce me?"

Chuckling, Julie answered, "Would that be a problem?"

Since she was about an inch from his face when she asked that, he replied, "I'm assuming that's a rhetorical question."

With a playful smile, she said, "You assume right."

Then, finished with words for the moment, she closed the distance between them and kissed him.

That was when the house phone began ringing.

Sighing a little and resting her forehead against his, Julie closed her eyes. "Seriously?"

Cracking a smile, Aaron stated, "Fate is against our union."

"It's not fate," she muttered. "It's stupid damn technology. Why do people even need phones? They're not that important."

He carefully moved her off of him and stood up, walking over to grab the phone.

Pouting, Julie rolled over on her back on the couch, stealing Aaron's spot and watching him answer the phone, hoping it wasn't Matt. He would ruin the mood for sure.

When Aaron referred to the person as Mom, she wondered if that boded any better for her sex life.

He was scowling, and Julie watched him pace around the living room with the phone on his ear. "What? Why would she…?" An unnamed expression flitted across his face, then annoyance.

Nope, her sex life wasn't going to get much better in the next 15 minutes, she easily concluded.

He sighed impatiently. "It's really none of her business, actually."

He was annoyed. Dammit, why did people have to call and annoy him on his day off?

"I'm not avoiding—yes, it's true. She is." There was a pause and he continued to look annoyed, then he went on. "It happens…Nope… Well, she was wrong. I know it's shocking, but… Yes, I'm sure… Well, I suppose Shannon is probably overly paranoid about it. Not every woman who comes into contact with me gets knocked up by my brother."

On that note Julie's eyes bugged out of her head and she immediately threw her feet over the edge of the couch, sitting up and paying attention as Aaron paced around the living room.

"I don't know, sometimes it happens, Mom," he muttered, glancing over at Julie. "Because we weren't going to tell anyone yet, we wanted to wait until after that 'danger period' or whatever they call it. Look, Mom, as much as I'd love to talk to you right now, Julie and I are actually on our way out the door, so I'm going to have to call you back… Yes, I really will…. All right, bye."