Trust in Me (9 page)

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.

She swallowed, trying to remove the nervous
lump from her throat, then carefully opening the present. It was a
plain brown box. She struggled to get the tape off, so Kent grabbed
some scissors and handed them to her. She felt all eyes on her and
wondered if the agony would every end.

She finally got the box opened. She pulled
out tissue paper only to find that whatever was inside was wrapped
in bubble wrap and taped up.

She took the scissors again and began to cut
at the tape. When she got all of the tape cut and unraveled the
bubble wrap, her breath caught in her throat and she carefully
lifted each piece up. There were three figurines, each in a
different stage of dance. She looked at each one reverently,
holding it up and turning it, so she could memorize the beauty of
each piece.

Roni looked up at Rich, and cradling the
figurines to her chest, walked up to him, put her hand behind his
head, and drew his lips to hers. She kissed him deeply, allowing
her tongue a moment to sweep through his mouth. She pulled back and
rested her forehead against his.