Friends & Lovers Trilogy (15 page)

So far they got along; Nicole guessed they
would find out pretty quickly, if they would get along as
roommates.

Over the past few weeks, she and Roni had
gone shopping in anticipation of the move. They’d

decorated Roni’s room and some of the common
areas, so the apartment was looking really good.

This was the first day off they’d both had
in some time, so Roni was officially moving in. Nicole had gotten
up early to make sure everything looked clean and presentable. She
wanted Roni to be welcomed into a home that she could be proud of.
Plus, Nicole knew that Roni’s twin brother, Kent, would be helping
her move today, so she wanted the apartment to look nice the first
time he saw it.

He was very protective of his sister, and
Nicole knew that he’d tried to talk her into staying with him, but
Roni wanted to get out on her own.

In an effort to relax, Nicole sat down with
a cup of coffee and her laptop, when she heard the sound of excited
voices coming up the stairs.

When she heard Roni’s bawdy laugh, she
opened the door with a smile, and was faced with a faded grey
t-shirt stretched across the sexiest chest she’d ever seen. Without
looking up, she knew the owner of that chest. She’d been crushing
on him ever since her first day in this small town.

She felt the familiar tug in her belly, as
she allowed herself a moment to draw her gaze slowly up his chest,
over his broad shoulders, and into his striking face.

Kent was the most gorgeous man she’d ever
met, and no matter how many times she saw him, she always got
butterflies when he was near.

He grinned down at her.

“
Hey, Nic.” Kent was the
only man who had ever called her that, and she felt her heart trip
every time he did.

She tried to speak, but no sound came out.
She tried to clear her throat inconspicuously. “Um, Hi.”

“
Kent, could you please
move your butt? This box is heavy,” Roni’s voice said from behind
him.

Nicole moved a few steps back and out of the
way so he could come inside, allowing Roni access through the
door.

She chided herself for acting so weird every
time she was around Kent. She thought he was out of her league. She
knew that he could get any girl he wanted, and she was nothing like
the girls he usually went for.

“
Let me take that,” Kent
said to his sister, easily lifting the box from her hands and
taking it to the room that Nicole indicated was Roni’s.

“
Hi roomie!” Roni squealed,
jumping and doing a little spin around the room.

Nicole couldn’t help but smile at her
excitement, then watched, confused, when Roni’s demeanor changed at
the voice in the hall.

“
Hello… I’m looking for the
apartment housing the hottest ladies in town,” Rich yelled out as
his face came into view.

Roni rolled her eyes and turned to walk into
her room.

Nicole barely had a moment to register
Roni’s behavior, before she was enveloped by Rich’s strong
arms.

“
Hey baby doll,” Rich said
with a smile. “Kent told me his sister was moving in today, so I
thought you guys might need some help from a big, strong, sexy
man.”

Nicole giggled at his words and the wink
that accompanied them.

“
Thanks, I didn’t realize
you were coming by, I would have stocked the fridge.” Nicole
responded.

“
I’ve got it covered,” Rich
said, pulling a six pack from behind his back.

Nicole smiled and took it from him. She went
to put it in the fridge and said, “Leave it to you to think of
everything,”

Kent came back out and walked up to Rich,
his arm extended to shake his hand.

Nicole caught herself watching his movement
across the room, and quickly averted her eyes before anyone else
noticed.

“
Hey man,” Kent said in
greeting, “Thanks for coming out to help.”

“
No prob,” Rich responded,
his eyes following Roni as she came out of her room. “I don’t have
much going on since Colin and Bree left, at least not until school
starts back up next week.”

“
Oh, does that mean you’ll
be leaving town soon?” Roni asked a little too eagerly.

Rich just smiled at her.

“
Yeah, Sugar, I’ll be
leavin’,” he drawled with a wink. “But don’t you worry; I’ll be
back before you have a chance to miss me.”

Roni rolled her eyes again and snorted.

“
No danger of that
happening.”

“
Hey,” Kent said with
authority. “You - turn off the charm,” he said pointing at Rich.
Then turned his finger on his sister, “And I know you have better
manners than that. Use ‘em.”

Rich just laughed and asked Kent what he
needed help with as the guys headed downstairs to unload.

“
What was that about?”
Nicole asked Roni quietly, once they were alone.

“
What?” Roni
asked.

“
That thing between you and
Rich?”

Roni snorted again, “I know
a million guys like him and believe me, there is no
thing
between me and
Rich. I just don’t buy his
aw
shucks
, southern stud act.”

Nicole chuckled good-naturedly and slung an
arm around Roni as they headed out to help the guys.

“
Oh, it’s no act… Rich is a
true southern stud.”

They laughed together as they descended the
stairs to help the guys.

Chapter Two

For their first night as
roommates, Nicole picked up some wine and brownie mix. Once the
guys left, Nicole got the brownies ready and put them in the oven,
then went to help Roni unpack.

Nicole paused at the doorway of Roni’s room,
struck by how beautiful the other girl was.

“
You know, if I didn’t know
you, I’d probably hate you,” Nicole said, startling Roni, who had
her head in a box.

Roni straightened and looked at Nicole with
a confused expression.

“
Why’s that?”

“
You’re gorgeous,” Nicole
replied. “And not just, wow, look at that pretty face. The whole
package. Perfect face, perfect body, perfect hair… shoot, even the
perfect feet.”

Roni looked down at her perfectly polished
bare feet.

“
Perfect feet?” She
asked.

Nicole shook her head in mock disgust.

“
Yeah, I mean, look at my
ginormous feet compared to yours.” She walked up and put her foot
up against Roni’s. “See, yours are positively dainty.”

“
If you say so,” Roni
answered with a laugh. “I’m just a girl you know. And you’re one to
talk; you aren’t exactly hard to look at yourself. You want to talk
about body… I’d kill for yours.”

“
Okay, now that we have
complimented each other to death,” Nicole said, picking up the box
of linens and walking over to the bed. “What do you say we get your
stuff put away, then get to know each other over some wine and
brownies?”

“
Sounds like a plan,” Roni
replied, and started unpacking boxes while Nicole made the
bed.

Since they’d already decorated most of the
common areas, it didn’t take long to get Roni’s room set up the way
she wanted.

They were sitting on the couch with a
brownie in one hand and a glass of red in the other in no time at
all.

“
So,” Roni asked, “What
made you move here from Dallas?”

“
Well, long story short, I
was engaged to my high school sweetheart, with whom I was supposed
to start a congregation, and grow old with in Dallas.
Unfortunately, that was my parents dream, not mine.” Nicole put her
glass down and looked at Roni with a sad expression. “I realized
that I wasn’t in love with Jake, and that I really wanted to be a
writer, not a Youth Minister.”

“
That must have been
tough,” Roni encouraged her to go on.

“
It was,” Nicole admitted.
“Jake is a great guy, and I hated hurting him, but I knew we
wouldn’t be happy in the long run. My parents were livid when I
told them, and they said that they weren’t going to support me or
my decision… so I left. I just picked a random spot on the map, and
here I am.”

“
Wow,” Roni said her grey
eyes wide. “So, you haven’t spoken to your parents or Jake
since?”

“
No,” Nicole admitted.
“It’s been two years. I haven’t heard from anyone since I left.
”

“
Well, I’m sorry about your
parents, but wow. Good for you!” Roni exclaimed.

Nicole picked her wine glass back up and
took a drink before asking, “What about you? What brought you
here?”

“
I married my high school
sweetheart right after graduation, but he ended up not being the
man I thought he was, so I left him.” Roni looked down at the amber
liquid in her glass as she spoke.

“
I had no idea you’d been
married,” Nicole said softly. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out. So,
rather than staying with your parents, you decided to come
here?”

“
My parents are going
through a rough time, and stuff with my ex got too intense, so I
asked Kent if I could stay with him for a while.” Roni smiled
absently. “I can always count on Kent. Anyway, once I got here, I
realized have nothing to go back home for, so I decided to get a
job and move in with you.”

It was obvious to Nicole that there was more
to the story, but that Roni wasn’t ready to open up about
everything, so she refilled their glasses and changed the
subject.

“
Are you really not
attracted to Rich?” Nicole asked Roni with a big grin on her
face.

Roni rolled her eyes.

“
Like I said, I’ve met tons
of guys like Rich. Smooth, sexy, flirts, who go through girls like
they’re disposable… My ex is the same type of guy.” Roni admitted.
“I’m not blind, of course I see that Rich is a very good-looking
guy, but I’m not falling for that act again.”

“
Well, I haven’t known him
long, but I think there’s more to Rich than that,” Nicole said in
his defense. “Sure he’s a flirt, and he enjoys women, but from what
I’ve seen, they enjoy him back. I wouldn’t say he uses
them.”

“
Well, until I see
different, we will just have to agree to disagree where Rich is
concerned.” Roni replied. “I’m not in the mood for guys right
now.”

Nicole laughed at that, the wine started to
make her feel relaxed and happy.

“
I haven’t talked to anyone
since Jake,” Nicole admitted. “Well, Jake’s the only guy I’ve ever
dated. That’s horrible, right?”

“
Really, you’ve only ever
been with one guy?” Roni asked incredulously, grabbing the wine
bottle and turning it upside down. “Looks like we need another
bottle.”

Nicole jumped up, and chose another bottle
out of her little wine rack on the counter.

“
No fear,” She giggled. “We
have more.”

She uncorked the wine and refilled their
glasses before settling back in on the couch.

Roni nudged Nicole’s knee with her toe to
prompt her to keep talking. She put her feet up and stretched out
to get more comfortable.

“
So… you were saying, just
Jake.” She prompted.

Nicole looked at Roni, trying to figure out
how honest she wanted to be. She had a feeling that she and Roni
were going to be friends for a long time. She trusted her enough to
tell her the truth.

“
Yeah, I
was saying Jake’s the only guy I ever dated, and was engaged to,
but I’ve never
been
with any guy.” Nicole waited for Roni’s
reaction.

She didn’t have to wait long.

Roni sat up quickly, causing the wine in her
glass to slosh around. She looked at Nicole in disbelief.

“
You’re
a
virgin
?”

“
Yes,” Nicole admitted. “My
family is very religious and I was raised to believe that sex is
something that takes place between a woman and her
husband.”

“
Whoa… I can’t believe it,”
Roni said shaking her head and chuckling slightly. “You have a body
that guys drool over, and you’ve never used it… Wow. I mean, I
think it’s totally cool that you made that decision and stuck to
it… I just can’t believe it.”

Nicole laughed at Roni’s candor.

“
It’s never been a problem,
or a hard decision,” Nicole explained. “Jake had the same values,
so we always planned to wait. The whole time I was in college, I
was engaged and since I’ve been here there hasn’t been anyone that
I’ve been interested in.”

“
Do you still plan to stick
to it?” Roni asked, curious. “I mean, if you did meet someone, or
decided to date casually, do you still plan to wait until you are
married?”

“
Yes.” Nicole
said.

“
Wow,” Roni said again. “I
don’t know if I could marry someone without knowing whether or not
the sex was good.”

That made Nicole laugh, and Roni joined
in.

“
Wait… I’m not a slut or
anything,” Roni clarified. Then she looked back at Nicole and said,
“Well, shoot, I guess compared to you, I am.”

Nicole shook her head fervently, feeling the
room spin slightly as she did.

“
No way. Don’t talk like
that. You don’t have to compare yourself to me or worry that I’ll
judge you. This is a decision I made for myself. Besides,“ Nicole
said with a wicked grin. “Just because I haven’t had sex, doesn’t
mean I haven’t done other stuff.”