Friends & Lovers Trilogy (22 page)

“
Then what do you think it
is?” Nicole asked, hopeful that they could help her figure it out.
She really didn’t want him to pull away from her; she was beginning
to care about him too much.

“
Maybe he just doesn’t know
how to act.” Briana suggested. “He’s used to having sex with the
girls he sees. Not to sound crass, but it’s true. Maybe he isn’t
sure how to treat you, when he knows the end result will not
include sex. I’m sure it’s new territory for him.”

“
That’s true,” Kara added.
“If I put myself in his shoes, I have to admit, I wouldn’t know
what to do.”

“
Well, I’m not going to
have sex with him. No matter what my feelings for him are, I won’t
have sex with anyone who isn’t my husband.”

“
No, and no one expects you
to, least of all Kent. He’s going to respect your beliefs.” Briana
assured her.

“
I think you need to let
him know that there are other things you can do besides have sex.
Sexy things,” Kara said with a wink.

“
Yeah,” Briana added.
“Maybe you need to take the lead and show him that you want to kiss
him, that you want to make-out with him, and any other things you
may want to do with him.”

Nicole knew what they were saying was
probably true; she just worried that he would reject her advances.
She would be mortified if that happened. On the other hand, she
missed kissing him. She wanted him to see that she was a passionate
woman, and she wanted to deepen their relationship.

“
You guys are right,”
Nicole said aloud. “When we get home, I’ll tell Kent how I feel,
and let him know what I want.”

“
You go girl!” Kara said as
she put her sunglasses back over her eyes and lay back on her
lounge chair.

“
Don’t worry, Nicole,”
Briana said while she patted her on the shoulder. “I know it’ll
work out, and Kent will appreciate your honesty.”

They all laid back and enjoyed the sun until
it was time to go in and get ready for dinner.

Colin came home while they were getting
dressed. Nicole finished getting ready first, and went to sit with
him at the table while they waited for Bree and Kara.

“
Would you like some wine
while we wait?” Colin asked Nicole.

“
Sure, that sounds great,”
She responded.

Nicole couldn’t help but appreciate Colin’s
effort. He looked so handsome as he poured her a glass of red, and
she thought again how lucky Briana was to be living the life that
she wanted with the man she loved. Nicole hoped she could find a
love like theirs.

She had loved Jake, but she’d never felt the
passion for him that she felt for Kent. She’d never felt nervous
around him, or excited just to hear the sound of his voice.

When Colin placed the glass in front of her
and sat down, she tried to clear her head and focus on what he was
saying.

“
How’s everything going at
work?” He asked her.

“
Pretty good,” Nicole
responded. “It can get hectic some nights, but the money’s not bad,
and I love everyone I work with. I know it’s not a long term job,
but for now, it’s nice to go in and enjoy what I’m
doing.”

“
Yeah, you can’t ask for
much more than that.”

“
How about you, how’s the
job here? Is it everything you hoped for?” Nicole asked, then took
a sip of her wine.

Colin got a wide grin on his face, causing
the dimples in his cheeks to deepen, and his eyes to twinkle.

“
It really is. I love what
I’m doing. I miss my folks and I feel bad that I can’t take over
the store for my dad, but this is exactly where I want to be. I
can’t believe how lucky I’m.” Colin looked up and his smile got
even broader when Bree walked over to where he was sitting. “Not
only do I have my dream job, but I have the love of my life by my
side. It doesn’t get much better than this.”

“
Awe babe,” Briana cooed as
she leaned down to kiss him. “Ditto.”

Nicole couldn’t help but smile at the pair
of them and their obvious happiness.

“
Ya’ll ready?” Kara said as
she sauntered in from the bathroom. “This girl is
starvin’.”

They all got up and headed out to enjoy the
girls’ last night in Austin.

Chapter Twelve

It wasn’t that Kent missed Nicole, she’d
only been gone since yesterday, but as he got ready for the guys to
come over for poker night, he couldn’t help but picture her pretty
face and wish she was there.

He poured some chips into a bowl and placed
it on the granite counter top in his kitchen. He opened up the door
to his walk in pantry, and found a container of salsa to put out
with the chips.

He liked homemade salsa better, but didn’t
have any clue how to even begin to make it. He wondered if Nicole
ever made fresh salsa.

He shook his head, trying to clear away the
thoughts of Nic. He needed to get his head ready for the game and
stop moping around like a love-sick idiot.

He looked around the kitchen to make sure
everything was clean and straightened, the way he liked it.

He took in the glass cabinets, which were
streak free, and showcased his matching dishware. The countertops
were clutter free and his stainless steel appliances sparkled, and
everything was put in its place.

The guys gave him a hard time about the fact
that his house was always so clean and organized, and unlike most
guys his age, he didn’t live off of ramen served in plastic
ware.

He could handle their ribbing. He liked the
way he lived.

He noticed that they had no problem allowing
him to host poker night. They had gone to one of the regulars,
Steve’s, house once. That was the first and last time that had
happened.

As he walked through the tidy living room,
with the black leather sofas and matching accent pieces, he thought
about how much he wanted to see Nicole in his house.

He didn’t know why he hadn’t brought her
here yet, but he realized that he could picture her here. He could
see her helping him get ready for the poker night, or cooking in
the kitchen, and was surprised by how much he liked the vision.

Kent was saved from his uncharacteristic
thoughts by the knock on his door.

He opened it to a grinning Pete.

“
What’s up, Man?” Pete
asked putting his hand out to grasp Kent’s in a
handshake.

“
Not much,” Kent responded
with a smile. “Come on in. How’s it going?”

“
Pretty good,” Pete said as
he entered and headed towards the kitchen to put his beer in the
fridge. “I miss Kara and all, but I have to admit, it’s been nice
to hang around in my boxers all day and watch Sports
Center!”

“
I hear that,” Kent
responded, although he’d probably never sat around in his boxers
before in his life. If he wasn’t dressed for the day, well, then he
didn’t wear anything. That was another benefit of having your own
place.

Pete used the bottle opener to open a beer
and offered it to Kent, before opening another one for himself.

“
Thanks,” Kent said, as he
took a drink.

Pete went to go grab his seat at the table
as another knock sounded on the door.

Steve and a couple of the other poker
regulars came barreling in when Kent opened the door.

A chorus of “What ups” went around as
everyone put their beer in the fridge and joined Pete at the
table.

Kent joined the men and began dealing the
cards as they all caught up on what had been happening in their
lives since they’d last had a game.

After a few hands and numerous beers, they
guys became louder and the money began to flow a little faster.

“
So, Kent,” Steve asked as
he folded. “What’s up with you and that smokin’ hot waitress from
the bar?”

Kent knew that this was normal conversation
for their poker nights, but couldn’t stop his jaw from clenching as
he answered.

“
Nic and I have been on a
couple dates. Why?”

“
No reason,” Steve slurred
slightly. “I’ve been asking her out for months, and she always
turned me down. I thought she was frigid, but I guess not if she’s
seeing you.”

Kent stared over his cards at Steve, and
noticed that the rest of the guys had stopped talking and were
looking back and forth from Steve to Kent.

“
Be careful, Steve. I just
told you I was dating her.”

“
Awww, chill out man, it’s
cool. I just wanted to know if you’d hit that yet, and if those
titties are as luscious as they look.”

Kent was out of his seat in a flash and was
pulling Steve out of his by the back of his shirt before he had a
chance to register what was happening.

It was a flurry of motion after that, as all
of the guys jumped up from the table and tried to pull Kent off of
Steve.

“
Dude, that’s just Steve,”
Pete was saying to Kent, trying to get his attention, as the larger
man glared at Steve. “You know he didn’t mean anything by
it.”

The red slowly began to clear and Kent’s
vision returned to normal. He realized that he had two of his
buddies holding his arms, Pete was standing in front of him trying
to reason with him, and Steve was on the floor looking up at him
with confusion.

“
I’m fine,” Kent said
gruffly, as he shook the other men off of him. He walked over to
Steve and crouched down so he could look him in the
eyes.

“
Don’t talk about her like
that again,” He said simply, then walked out his back porch and sat
down on one of his deck chairs.

He was fighting to calm his breathing, while
his brain was scrambling.

What the hell had come over him? He
wondered. It was poker night. They always talked about women while
they played. Sometimes the conversation got pretty graphic, much
worse than what Steve had said tonight.

Pete came out and grabbed the chair next to
his.

“
You alright, man?” Pete
asked softly.

“
Yeah Pete,” Kent
exclaimed. “Shit, I don’t know what happened; I didn’t mean to go
after Steve like that.”

“
It
was
crazy,” Pete said with a laugh. “But I get where you’re comin’
from. I wouldn’t like it if one of the guys was talking about Kara
like that.”

“
Yeah, but Kara’s your
girlfriend. I mean, shit, you guys live together. That’s different
than Nic and I going on a few dates.” Kent didn’t know if he was
trying to convince Pete, or himself.

“
Maybe you like her more
than you thought,” Pete reasoned. “Hey, you chill here for a
minute. I’ll see the guys out and grab you a beer.”

“
Naw, that’s alright,
Pete.” Kent said as he got up out of the chair. “I’ll go fix this
with Steve and see the guys out. Thanks though.”

“
That’s what friends are
for,” Pete replied as he slapped Kent on the back.

Kent walked inside as the guys were cleaning
up and grabbing their remaining beer from the fridge.

He went up to Steve and put his hand on the
other man’s shoulder.

“
Sorry I flew off the
handle like that, Steve.” He apologized.

Steve looked up at him, the regret apparent
on his face. “No man, I shouldn’t have said that about your
girl.”

Kent was about to correct him, but realized
that he did want Nic to be his girl, and for the other guys to know
it.

“
No hard feelings?” He
asked.

“
None,” Steve replied. They
shook hands, then Kent said bye to the rest of the guys and
apologized for the way the night ended.

When he turned he noticed Pete was cleaning
up and said, “Don’t worry about that, Bro, I’ll get it.”

“
It’s no big deal. I don’t
mind, it’s not like I have to rush home,” Pete said with a wry
smile.

Kent just nodded and went to clean up the
remnants of poker night.

Chapter Thirteen

Nicole fell asleep on the way home from
Austin. She woke up when Kara pulled into her parking lot to drop
her off.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
to fall asleep.” Nicole said as she sat up in the passenger
seat.

“
That’s okay,” Kara
replied. “It was a long night. I’m ready to go home and take a nap
myself. Hopefully I can talk Pete into getting under the covers
with me.” Kara laughed and wiggled her eyebrows, causing Nicole to
chuckle as well.

“
Thanks so much for
inviting me along. I had a lot of fun!”

“
No problem,” Kara
responded as Nicole climbed out of the car and grabbed her bag. “I
had a blast. See you at work!”

Nicole waved as Kara drove away. As she
walked up the stairs to her apartment, she couldn’t help but wonder
what Kent was up to.

The conversations she’d had over the weekend
kept coming back to her.

Kent had been acting strange ever since
she’d told him about her beliefs, but she was positive that he was
still attracted to her.

Well, almost positive.

She worried that maybe the fact that they
wouldn’t have sex would be a deal breaker for him. No matter what
he’d said about being fine with it, it was obvious that he
wasn’t.

Nicole decided that she was going to take
Kara’s advice and show him that she wanted more from him than a
kiss on the cheek.

After she put her bag in her room and saw
that Roni wasn’t there, she sent her a text to ask her where she
was.