Page 39 of Hardcore Vanilla
Monday night he showed up for dinner with his sister and Patrick only to find that they'd invited Sharon too. She hadn't given him a heads-up, even though he'd told her the night before that he was getting together with them and could see her afterward if she wanted. Later, he'd tied her hands to her bed and then gone down on her but hadn't let her orgasm until she'd promised to let him know when they were both invited to the same place.
According to her, Lexie had texted Monday afternoon to invite her and she'd thought it would be fun to surprise him, since she knew he'd be there. Surprising him was fun for her... And tormenting her was fun for him.
By Thursday he'd realized his clothes were disappearing. Mainly his shirts.
He was both amused and exasperated to find a small pile of them in Sharon's bedroom. Somehow, he hadn't even noticed she'd been taking them.
"But they smell good," she protested when he took them back.
Given that she looked adorable wearing them, considering she had to roll the arms up several times just to expose her hands and the hem of them fell close to her knees, Jake had a harder time than he'd expected taking them back. He'd ended up letting her keep two at a time - but no more than two. Sharon had smirked at him, and he'd vowed to himself that if he did find her with more than two, at any point, he was going to find out exactly what was so fun about punishment spankings.
He needed his clothes dammit.
Strangely, he kind of liked that she was stealing them though. It was girlfriend-y. Although, she was a lot more acquisitive than any of his past girlfriends. Most of them had just taken a hoodie or one shirt, and if he'd wanted it back they happily laundered and returned it. Not hoarded and hidden them.
They'd also found out that they had a lot of similar tastes in movies and tv shows, which had led to several nights of actually Netflix and chilling. He'd found someone who loved terrible movies even more than he did, although Sharon's focus was more on bad shark movies than on bad horror movies in general - but she was willing to watch as long as he was willing to protect her. Since Jake had no problem with her jumping into his lap or using him to hide when she found something scary instead of amusingly bad, it worked out well.
He still wasn't sure how to deal with the family thing.
Several times he'd tried to bring it up in conversation, but she always changed the subject or jumped him if he was too persistent. Finally, he figured he'd just see how the wedding went. It wasn't a big deal anyway, they weren't serious; even if he was finding that he really was starting to care for her in much more than a friendly or casual fuck buddy kind of way.
Besides, before her cousin's wedding, they had to get through Patrick and Lexie's engagement party and Sharon meeting his parents.
Chapter 10
There is no reason to be nervous.
Being nervous was for meeting a boyfriend's parents because things were getting serious.
It was not for meeting a not-boyfriend's parents just because they happened to also be the parents of one of her best friends whose engagement party she was attending. Seriously. Jake's parents didn't know there was anything going on between them - and they'd specifically warned everyone against bringing it up.
Not a single reason to be nervous.
Sadly, logic did not appear to be winning the day.
"Smile," Kate muttered under her breath as they approached the front door. "You look like you're about to pass out or something."
"Who says I'm not?" Sharon muttered back.
Andrew looked over his shoulder to give them both a quelling look. She wrinkled her nose at him. He was not happy about the 'not talking about Jake and Sharon in front of Jake's parents' edict. Sharon had explained that Jake wasn't ashamed of her, it just wasn't the time, and she wanted it this way. He still hadn't liked it.
Bossy man.
He looked good tonight, all dressed up for the engagement party. Normally Sharon saw him dressed either casually or in his leathers for the club. Tonight he was wearing what she had a feeling would be standard for the rest of the men as well - dress slacks and a button-down shirt. The forest green of his shirt set off the caramel brown of his skin and picked up flecks of green that usually weren't noticeable in his dark eyes. Kate had opted for a similar look, although she'd gone with a soft blue sweater instead of a button-down.
She'd said it was too freaking cold for dresses and she was right - but that hadn't stopped Sharon from putting on her favorite red sweater dress to go with her black tights. It was sexy without being scandalous and it made her feel more confident. Red was totally a power color.
Of course, right now they were all bundled up in their coats, but that would only be true until they got inside.
The door opened almost as soon as Andrew rang the bell to reveal a very pretty woman with a wide smile on her face. She had plenty of laugh lines around her bright blue eyes – no need to guess where Jake and Lexie had inherited their own baby blues from – but unlike her children’s black locks, her hair was a light brown liberally streaked with blonde highlights. Although it was dyed, Sharon figured they must have gotten their darker hair color from their father, because the lighter colors suited Mrs. Standish too well not to be close to her natural color. Like her daughter she was petite and quite thin, and looked very pixie-ish.
"Andrew!" she said, sounding delighted. "Come in, dear, come in." Her eyes flicked back to Kate's face as she hugged him and shooed him through the door. "And Kate – Lexie said you go by Kate now, correct?"
"Yes Mrs. Standish. It’s so good to see you again," Kate said as she stepped inside, half turning to gesture at Sharon before giving the older woman a hug as well. "And this is my best friend Sharon, whom I don't think you've met."
"Hello," Sharon said, pasting a smile on her face as her heart thudded inside of her chest. Please like me... or at least don't hate me... She made herself step forward, holding out her hand to shake.
To her shock, Mrs. Standish took it and pulled Sharon in for a hug too. Sharon automatically returned it, since she was a pretty tactile person herself, even as she blinked in stunned astonishment. Parents hugging her, especially right off the bat, was not someone in her wheelhouse.
