Friends & Lovers Trilogy (37 page)

Roni scooted back on the bed, a sexy little
smile still lingering on her face, and laid her head on a pillow.
Her golden hair fanned out around her, and the look in her eyes had
him crawling up to her.

Where last time was fast and feverish, this
time he planned to take his time and savor their time together.
What she said about him being only the second guy she’d ever been
with, made him want to show her how much pleasure he could bring
her.

He took his time on her throat, loving the
sounds she made as he licked and sucked the sensitive area below
her ear. His mouth traveled down to savor each breast. Her back
arched and he knew she was as turned on and ready to burst as he
was. He continued his descent, taking a moment to kiss her flat
stomach lightly, the quivering of her muscles causing his body to
grow harder.

Roni’s legs opened and fell to the side as
his tongue traveled lower. He felt her heat and her pulse as he
kissed his way to the place he most wanted to be. Her hips thrust
up and she moaned loudly as his tongue found her. He nuzzled her
slowly, taking his time, using his mouth to make her come. She
started to whimper and her body jerked slightly, letting him know
she was almost there. He concentrated on the pressure of his tongue
and brought his lips together to suck softly. His hands moved under
her firm behind and lifted her even closer to him.

Her release almost caused his own. His
senses were alive with the taste, smell, and feel of her. He was
surrounded.

He grabbed the condom off of the floor and
rose above her. He put the protection on deftly and looked into her
eyes as he slid inside of her, inch by inch.

He wasn’t in a hurry. He moved slowly in and
out, kissing her face gently, before pulling back and locking his
hands with hers. He watched her, feeling more connected to Roni
than he’d ever felt to anyone. Watching her eyes as he moved within
her was the most erotic thing he’d ever felt. He held off his own
release until he saw the pleasure building on her face. When he
did, he let go of her hands and brought her legs up over his
shoulders. He saw her eyes dilate at the deeper sensation and began
to thrust harder, running the tip of his cock against her
g-spot.

“
Yes,” Roni said softly,
biting her lips and closing her eyes as she tried to focus on what
she was feeling. “Right there.”

He loved that she wasn’t afraid to be vocal.
It turned him on that much more, and the look on her face nearly
did him in. He kept thrusting until she started to gasp and he felt
her tighten around him. Her legs dropped off of his shoulders as he
came. He kept his hands on her hips until he was spent.

Her legs relaxed on the bed and he laid
himself gently on top of her, careful to keep most of his weight on
his arms.

It took a few minutes to catch his breath.
When he did, he rolled to the side and curled her in to him. He
kissed her forehead and rubbed her back slowly.

When they were both breathing normally he
asked, “So, you ready to watch that movie now?”

Roni laughed and looked up at him. “Sure.”
She kissed him softly, then pulled back. “Rich?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Can we just keep this
simple?” She asked. “I mean, keep it between us for
now?”

At this point, Rich thought, she could have
asked him to dance around the room in a cat suit and he would have
agreed. He chuckled slightly and responded, “Sure.”

Chapter Fourteen

Roni felt a little awkward spending
Christmas Eve and Christmas at her brother’s house. She didn’t want
to impose on Kent and Nicole’s first holiday together, but she
didn’t want to be alone either.

Briana and Colin were spending the holiday
with their families, Rich was with his, and Pete had taken Kara
home to meet his parents in Vegas. She certainly wasn’t going to go
back to Detroit to spend Christmas with her parents, so when Kent
had told her to come stay with him, she’d agreed.

“
Are you sure I won’t be an
imposition?” Roni had asked him.

“
Roni,” Kent had replied,
holding her face in his hands. “You’re my family. You could never
be an imposition. It should never be a question; we will be
spending all of our holidays together.”

He’d pulled her into a hug and Roni closed
her eyes and let the peace that Kent always offered her, overcome
her.

When she’d walked into Kent’s kitchen, where
Nicole was making Christmas Eve dinner, she’d wanted to make sure
her friend was okay with her being there too. She didn’t want to
cause any trouble between the couple.

Hey, Nic,” Roni said, giving the other girl
a hug. “Merry Christmas.”

“
Merry Christmas, Roni,”
Nicole responded with a big grin.

“
I hope it’s okay that I’m
here.”

Nicole had stopped what she was doing and
put her hands on her hips. “Of course it’s okay. Kent is your
brother. I know how close you are, I envy you both for that. You
will always be welcome here, not matter what the occasion. You’re
my family too, Roni. We are the only family we have, and I hope we
spend all of our important moments together.”

Roni felt her eyes tear up at Nicole’s
words. She pulled her into another big hug, then pulled back and
wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Do you need any
help?”

They made dinner and enjoyed a quiet night
together. They’d exchanged gifts between the three of them and Roni
had gone to bed to give them some time together.

Now they were in the kitchen again, this
time prepping for their Christmas get together with their
friends.

Roni was wearing the new emerald green
blouse that Nicole had given her for Christmas.

They were putting out appetizers when the
first knock sounded on the door. Kent opened it and said, “Merry
Christmas,” to Briana and Colin as they walked in. Briana handed
him a bottle of wine and Colin asked where to put the presents.

They were all hugging and saying hello when
Rich snuck in behind them.

“
Merry Christmas,” Rich
bellowed, announcing his arrival. “Let’s get this party
started!”

He gave Kent a half hug, then asked where he
should put the two bottles of champagne he’d brought. When he
passed Roni on the way to the fridge, he leaned in close and
whispered in her ear, “Merry Christmas. I’ve been waiting to see
you all day.”

Roni didn’t respond, but she felt the shiver
spread from her ear down to her toes. She just smiled and took his
coat, along with the others, and put them on Kent’s bed. When she
turned to go back out, Rich was standing in the doorway, a
dangerous look on his face.

She started to speak, but only managed a
squeak before his lips were upon her.

When he pulled back she was breathless,
“What was that for?”

“
You smelled so good, I
wanted a taste,” Rich said with a wicked grin, before turning and
walking back out the bedroom door.

Roni gave herself a moment to regain her
composure. She pulled out her chapstick and ran it over her lips,
before returning to the party.

She went into the kitchen to help Nicole
pour the champagne and pass it out. When she had her glass, she
took a big sip and breathed in deeply, closing her eyes as she
thought, “Rich is harder to resist than I thought he would be.” She
bit back a giggle before joining the group in the living room.

They were settled in listening to Briana and
Colin talk about their Christmas Eve with his family and Christmas
day with hers, when a cheerful knock sounded on the door. Roni
wasn’t sure what tune they were trying to play, but it brought a
smile to her lips. The smile bloomed fully as Kara came bounding
in, dragging Pete behind her.

“
We got married!” Kara
yelled.

Everyone got to their feet, scrambling to
get to Kara and Pete and shouting their congratulations. Pete’s
face turned as red as his hair, but the look on his face was pure
bliss.

“
Oh. My. God.” Briana
yelled. She held Kara’s hands in hers and they jumped up and down.
Shouting and laughing.

Rich slapped Pete on the back and
congratulated him, while Kent handed him a glass of champagne.

“
Tell us everything,”
Nicole said over the shouts, her eyes glazed over with unshed
tears. Roni smiled as her future sister searched out her brother
and held him tight as they listened to Kara’s excited
explanation.

“
So, we went and spent time
with Pete’s family and everyone was super sweet and nice to me,”
Kara held Pete’s hand in hers as she spoke. “Pete’s parents are
unreal, like something off of TV. Anyway, we were having a great
time and we decided to hit up some casinos. When we were driving
down Las Vegas Boulevard and I saw all of the chapels it just hit
me, so I proposed to Pete.”

Pete’s face was on fire, but he continued to
smile and nodded, “She did. I’ve been wanting to ask her, but she
was so against even starting a relationship, that I was afraid I’d
scare her if I asked.”

Kara reached up to give Pete a kiss. “I love
you.”

“
I love you,
too.”

“
So,” Kara continued. “He
was shocked for a minute, but then he said yes. We did all of the
paperwork and stuff yesterday and got married this
morning.”

“
What did you wear? Were
Pete’s parents there? Why didn’t you call me right away?” Briana
shot out the questions one after the other, causing everyone to
laugh.

“
I’m sorry, Bree,” Kara
said, hugging her friend. “I wanted to call you right away, but
then we decided it would be more fun to tell everyone in person.
Yes, Pete’s entire family came, which I thought was pretty sweet,
since we gave them one day’s notice and got married on Christmas
morning. And I wore my yellow dress with white lilies in my hair
and in my hand. We have pictures, wanna see?”

Everyone went back to the living room and
passed around the pictures of Kara and Pete’s impromptu
wedding.

Roni looked around at her friends, they were
all so happy and in love with each other. She felt a tug in her
stomach as she caught Rich’s eye and he winked at her. She gave him
a small smile, then focused on the pictures that were being passed
her way. Kara and Pete were glowing in them. Roni laughed at Pete’s
expression in one, he was looking at Kara like he’d just won a
million bucks. It was so sweet.

Nicole announced that dinner was ready.
Everyone got up to make their plates and sat around the table. They
feasted on ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, salad, cranberries,
and sweet rolls.

Roni ate so much that she considered opening
the top button of her pants. Rich was finishing up his second plate
and Roni just had to say, “How can you keep eating, Rich?”

“
I gotta maintain this sexy
physique,” Rich answered back with a grin as he pushed his stomach
out to make it look like he had a big belly instead of the hard as
steel abs he possessed.

Roni rolled her eyes and shot back, “It’ll
take more than a good meal to make you sexy.”

“
Jeez, would you two just
do it already?” Colin asked with a grin.

Roni blushed as Kent yelled, “Hey, watch it
Colin.”

Roni avoided looking at Rich, but she felt
his eyes on her. She got up and started to clear the table. The
girls all helped while the guys went into the living room to catch
up on the football game.

“
Why do the guys always get
out of cleaning up?” Roni asked. She was not a fan of doing the
dishes.

“
Kent usually helps, but I
figured since it’s a holiday and football is a Christmas tradition,
I won’t give him a hard time about sitting this one out.” Nicole
said.

Once they had everything cleaned and put
away, they went out to join the guys and Briana said, “Present
time!”

Nicole went to the tree and started bringing
presents over, passing them out, she said, “Let’s wait until
everyone has their present before we start. Do we want to open them
one at a time or all at once?”

“
One at a time,” Briana
said eagerly. “I want to see everyone open theirs.”

Roni hated everyone watching her as she
opened presents. She always worried that she’d get something she
didn’t like, then she’d have to try and pretend she did. That was
how just about every Christmas had gone while she was growing up.
Her parents always got her the most random gifts: a toaster oven, a
pack of knee high socks, a candy bar… One year she’d opened a six
pack of beer. She was eight. It turned out it was for her dad, but
still.

Colin began to open his first. She’d had his
name and had asked Briana for some suggestions on what to get him.
There limit was twenty dollars, but she’d been able to find a place
to engrave his name and team logo on a name plate for his desk.

“
This is great, Roni,”
Colin said with a smile. “I’ll put it on my desk as soon as I get
back.”

He stood up and she met him for a hug.
“Merry Christmas.”

They went around the room
opening their gifts. Briana got an apron that said
Kiss the Cook
, Kent got a
couple new ties, Kara got the new Florence and The Machine C.D.
with temporary tattoos, Pete got a deluxe wine opener set, Rich got
a new Dallas Cowboy’s hat, and Nicole got a new bracelet. Kent
picked Nicole’s name and admitted he went over the twenty dollar
limit.

Roni was the last person to open her gift;
she looked down and turned the box in her hand. It was from Rich.
She looked up at him, but he didn’t smile or wink at her, he just
watched her with a serious expression on his face.