I Choose You (11 page)

             
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, its 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.

             
Roni shot back right away and said that she was having dinner with her brother at the bar.

             
“Are you back? You should totally come join us.”

             
“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

             
Nicole brushed her teeth; freshened up her makeup, and put on one of the tops that Roni had made her buy last time they’d gone shopping.

             
It was a floral print that looked sweet off, but the cut was low enough to show off her ample cleavage and became much sexier when it was on.

             
She was hoping Kent would not be satisfied with a peck on the forehead when he saw her tonight.

             
She hurried over to the bar, then paused suddenly nervous before opening the big wooden door.

             
Nicole breathed in deeply, then went inside and looked around as her eyes adjusted to the dark room.

             
She walked around the hostess stand, looking around the booths as she searched for Roni and Kent.

             
She saw him standing at the bar talking to Pete. He looked so good, perfectly groomed, well dressed, and sexy as sin.

             
She started to walk over to him, when she noticed a perky little red head saunter up to Kent and say something, causing him to turn to her.

             
It was obvious that the girl was flirting with him. She had her chest pushed out, head cocked, and she was twirling a lock of that striking hair around her finger, as she looked up at Kent with big eyes and a sexy smile on her face. When Nicole saw the girls tongue dart out and lick her lips, the feeling went out of her body and her head felt like it was going to explode with jealousy.

             
Kent just looked down at the little siren and gave her a polite smile as he shook his head, then turned back to give his full attention to Pete, leaving the girl standing there.

             
When the girl frowned, then turned and stomped off, Nicole couldn’t stop the smile that broke out over her face.

             
A sigh of relief escaped her, and the feeling slowly began to return to her body.

             
She hurried happily over to Kent and tapped him on the shoulder.

             
“Look, Sweetheart, I’m sorry, but I’m just not…” Kent stopped talking when he realized it was Nicole standing next to him.

             
Nicole knew she wasn’t being subtle, but couldn’t stop herself from going into his arms. She was so happy to see him.

             
Kent’s arms came tightly around her and he pulled her in for a hug. She breathed in the scent of him and closed her eyes as she let the pleasure course through her.

             
“Hey, Nic,” Kent said into her ear. “Did you just get back?”

             
She pulled back and nodded up at him. His eyes were drawn immediately to her cleavage. Since she was still pulled up against him, she could feel the reaction his body had to the sight of her exposed breasts, and she couldn’t help the thrill that started at her toes and raced upwards.

             
Kent cleared his throat and backed up a step. “It’s good to see you. Did you have fun?”

             
Nicole couldn’t stop but smile at his attempt to get space. “Yes, it was great. Bree and Colin are just wonderful.” She answered as she closed the gap between them and put her arms around his neck.

             
“I missed you,” She said softly as she stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his.