Friends & Lovers Trilogy (12 page)

“
Of course,” Briana assured
her. “Listen, I know you’re here temporarily, but I was wondering
if you were interested in getting a job while you’re
here.”

“
Actually, I’m going to be
staying longer than I originally thought, and I’ve been looking for
a job and maybe an apartment. I love Kent, but I can’t live with
him anymore.”

“
We have a hostess position
opening up here and Pam, the boss, asked if I knew anyone who would
be a good fit. It’s not the best pay, but it’s a job and it’s a
good place to start. Kara and Nicole both started as hostesses
here. I can take you back to talk to her if you’re
interested.”

Roni smiled, her dimple flashing, and Briana
had to blink at the brilliance of it. Roni’s beauty would have been
intimidating if she wasn’t such a cool girl.

“
That sounds great. Are you
sure she would want to see me now? Do I look okay?” Roni smoothed
her fitted top and pretty grey skirt.

“
You look amazing I’ll go
back and ask Pam if she’s ready to talk to you now. Oh, and I think
Nicole is looking for a roommate, so if you’re looking for a place,
you should talk to her.”

“
Thanks, I will.” Roni
smiled and looked excited about the new developments in her life.
Briana couldn’t help but feel happy that she had a part in
that.

Chapter Seventeen

Briana received a text from Colin, asking
her to come over after work, so she cleaned the kitchen as quickly
as she could and texted Colin that she was on her way.

She decided to walk, since it was just down
the street, and left her car parked behind the restaurant. When she
got about halfway down the street, she noticed Colin waiting in
front of the store. He spotted her and started down the street at a
jog in her direction.

“
Hey,” he said when he got
close enough. “I would have come to get you if I’d known you were
walking.”

She ran into his arms and laughed when he
swung her around. The streets were dark and still, and she heard
the strained sounds of her coworkers closing up and leaving for the
night.

“
It’s such a nice night, I
thought I’d enjoy the walk,” she replied. “I appreciate you waiting
for me.”

She snuggled her nose into the crook of his
neck, then gave him a little nibble.

“
Careful,” he joked, “Don’t
start something you can’t finish.”

She pulled back and looked at him. “Oh, I
plan to finish it.”

He grinned. “Big talk.”

She ran her hands over him, pausing at the
denim that strained against her hand. She felt brave in the cover
of darkness and stroked him seductively.

His breath caught and he closed his eyes,
seeming to enjoy the contrast of the cool wind against his enflamed
skin. He groaned softly. Her breathing grew shallow and her body
went pliant in his arms. She was getting turned on by giving him
pleasure and sensed that he knew it.

“
We should go inside,” he
whispered in her ear, as he tried to move his body away from her
eager hands.

She stepped forward, not willing to let him
go that easily. Placing her hands on his hips to hold him in place,
she rubbed her body against his as she kissed him.

“
I don’t want to go
inside,” she murmured, moving her hands up to stoke his hard
nipples.

He shook his head, as though trying to clear
it. He grabbed her hands by the wrists and kept them still.

“
We can’t have sex on the
street,” he said.

“
Let’s go behind the store
then, Colin.” She said, bringing their hands to her lips and
kissing his fingers. “I want you outside.”

Colin looked as though he’d been knocked
upside the head. He threw her over his shoulder, and carried her
around the corner to where his truck was parked and lowered the
tailgate.

He placed her down on the edge, unbuttoning
her pants, pulling them swiftly down her legs and throwing them to
the ground. Her panties went next.

She grabbed him by the waistband and
unzipped his jeans, pushing them down roughly, signaling for him to
take them off. Colin needed no such urging and pushed them down his
legs.

Briana wanted him so badly that she was
losing patience. She scooted up to meet him and put her hand
through the flap of his boxer briefs. She pulled his penis out and
pressed the tip against her, eager to have him fill her.

“
Wait,” he said roughly,
coming to his senses long enough to bend down to his jeans and pull
out a condom.

She grinned, “You’re optimistic.”

He chuckled as he put on the protection.
Once he was ready, he pulled her to him in a passionate kiss. He
stroked her lips with his tongue, then bit her gently, before
claiming her mouth.

He placed his hands under her bottom as he
entered her, and held her in place as he thrusted. She held onto
his shoulders, kissing, licking, and sucking any part of him that
she could reach.

When the pressure began to build, she leaned
her upper body back, causing her lower body to press even deeper
against him. He thrust faster and she came apart, moaning softly
and driving him over the edge with her.

Briana lay back in the bed of the truck,
panting, and started to laugh. Colin looked up from where his head
rested on her stomach.

“
What’s so funny?” he asked
with a smile.

“
I can’t believe we just
did that.”

“
I know. Who knew you were
such a deviant?”

She slapped him playfully on the back. “Shut
up.”

He scooted off of her and pulled his pants
up, handing her her clothes. Then they raced up the stairs to his
house, laughing at their brazen behavior all the way.

It didn’t take long for them to fall asleep
once they made their way to his bed. Briana snuggled into his side
and didn’t move all night.

She woke to Colin kissing the tip of her
nose, and she smiled up at him, thinking how happy she was in that
moment.

“
You’re off today, right?”
he asked.

“
Yes, off today, back on
schedule tomorrow,”

“
Do you wanna spend the day
together?”

“
Absolutely.”

He kissed her nose again. “Let me go grab a
quick shower, then I’m taking you to breakfast.”

“
Sounds good,” she said,
stretching languidly and looking up at him with a smile as he
watched the sheet slip from her body. “I’ll go make some
coffee.”

He growled and lifted the sheet to cover her
back up. “It’ll be the quickest shower ever.”

She laughed as he raced out of the room.

Throwing on her clothes from the night
before and wandered out in search of coffee.

She’d just hit the brew button when someone
started pounding on the door. She heard the water running in the
shower, so she went and opened the door.

Standing on the other side was a very tan,
very pretty, very annoyed looking girl.

“
Is Colin here?” she asked,
seeming irritated that Briana answered the door and not
Colin.

Briana crossed her arms over her chest and
frowned.

“
Who are you?” she asked.
Not liking the feeling of jealousy that boiled in her
gut.

“
I’m Shawn. Who’re
you?”

“
Briana.”

“
Oh…figures. I’ve heard
about you,” she said with a smirk.

“
Funny,” Briana spat back,
“I’ve never heard of you.”

“
Was that fast enough?”
Colin asked as he came out of his room wearing only a pair of
unbuttoned shorts.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw who
stood at the door. “Shawn, what are you doing here?” he asked,
coming up behind Briana and putting his arms around her.

Briana wrapped her arms around his, grateful
for his thoughtfulness. He probably knew that she’d be upset, and
was showing her and the tanning bed victim at the door, that he was
one hundred percent with her.

“
I tried emailing you and
texting you, but you ignored me. I figured if I showed up in your
little town, you’d be forced to deal with me.” Shawn
explained.

“
We ended it back at
school. I ignored you because we have nothing left to say to each
other.”

“
Maybe you were just busy
hooking up with an old flame.” She replied, not hiding her derision
as she looked Briana up and down.

“
What do you want, Shawn?”
Colin asked, his tone conveying his impatience.

Shawn brushed past them and walked into the
living room, forcing them to move aside and follow her in. She
walked into the kitchen and came back out a few seconds later with
a cup of coffee in her hand.

“
Make yourself at home,”
Briana said sarcastically.

“
Thanks, I
will.”

“
What is this, Shawn?”
Colin asked again, running his hands through his still damp hair.
“You need to just leave.”

Shawn smiled over the rim of her cup,
obviously enjoying the tension she was causing.

“
I’m pregnant.”

It was like a bomb had been dropped in the
center of the living room. Colin exhaled and crumpled down onto the
couch. He looked at Shawn in disbelief.

Briana couldn’t think, couldn’t process. She
went with her first instinct, turning on her heel, and walking out
the door.

When she reached the other side, she stopped
and leaned back against it. It was silent. Then she heard the faint
sounds of Colin and Shawn talking inside.

Shawn was pregnant.

Briana closed her eyes and thought about
what this meant. She knew Colin, so she knew that he would do the
right thing, which meant he would help Shawn with this baby.

She knew that he had feelings for her, and
didn’t have feelings for Shawn, so she didn’t think that he would
offer to marry Shawn, but she supposed there was always that
chance.

Could she handle it if he chose to marry
Shawn?

Yes, but she really hoped that didn’t
happen.

Could she handle being with Colin as he went
through Shawn’s pregnancy, then as he helped raise a child with
her, if he didn’t marry her?

She thought that she could.

She breathed deeply in and out, trying to
clear her head, and calm her shaking body.

She knew that what she and Colin had was
special, and she wasn’t willing to walk away without letting him
know that she was going to stick with him no matter what. She knew
what she had to do.

Chapter Eighteen

Colin sat in silence, his head in his hands,
trying to make sense out of what Shawn had just said.

“
We always used
protection,” he said quietly, unable to accept her declaration as
the truth. “Are you sure it’s mine?”

“
Fuck you,” Shawn replied,
finally losing the smirk that had donned her face since her
arrival. “You know I never cheated on you, and I haven’t started
seeing anyone new… yet.”

“
I thought you said you
were on the pill, and we used condoms. I just don’t get it.” He
hung his head, shaking it as he tried to come to terms with yet
another life changing event.

This didn’t have to ruin his plans, he
assured himself as it sank in. He could be a coach and help Shawn
raise their child. People did it every day.

When he looked up, Shawn was staring at him
as she drank her coffee, studying him as if his every thought
played across his face.

“
All right,” he said
loudly, as if speaking at a higher volume would convince him that
everything would be okay.

Before he could finish his thought, Briana
came storming back in the door. He was surprised at the relief he
felt at seeing her. She walked over to him and sat down, putting
her arm around his shoulder.

“
Are you okay?” he asked,
kissing her lightly on the cheek and brushing her hair back from
her face.

She nodded, closing her eyes briefly at his
touch.

“
I just needed some air,”
she explained, giving him a small smile that didn’t quite reach her
eyes.

Colin held her gaze and tried to convey his
feelings for her. He hoped that she trusted him enough to
understand what he was about to say to Shawn.

Then he looked at Shawn again. She looked
very annoyed at having to wait for him to respond to her little
bombshell.

“
All right,” he began
again. “I’ll help you with whatever you need. I’ll be there with
you through the pregnancy. I’m sure we can get you a place here if
you want to be close until you have the baby. Then I’ll share joint
custody with you and help you raise the baby. I’ll help with
expenses and be a part of his or her life in every way
possible.”

He turned back to Briana, to see if she was
freaking out at what he’d just said, but she nodded and held her
hand out for him to hold. She squeezed it and relief flooded
through him.

She was going to stick with him.

He noticed that Shawn still hadn’t said
anything. She was staring at him with her mouth open, as if
surprised by what he’d said.

“
Have you lost your mind?”
she sputtered, putting the coffee cup down with a thud. “You
actually think I’m going to keep this baby? You think I’m going to
ruin my body for some washed up loser? No. I plan to marry someone
who can take me places, and that won’t happen with a snot nosed
brat at my hip.”

“
What are you talking
about, Shawn? Why are you here then?”