Page 71 of Hardcore Vanilla
"What took you so long?" she demanded to know even as she wrapped her arms around him for a hug. Sighing in resignation, Jake returned the hug and transferred his glare to her so-called-Dom, who was standing behind her.
"Aren't you supposed to control her?" he asked crossly.
Patrick shrugged, grinning at him. "Only when I want to."
Pulling away from Jake, Lexie pushed into the apartment.
"Hey Sharon, what are you doing here?" Her voice went from surprised to sly and pleased. He didn't have to look to know she was making a beeline to the couch.
It looked like all their friends were going to find out about this new shift in his and Sharon's relationship sooner than they’d anticipated. Raising his eyebrows, Patrick stepped forward so they could exchange a hug as well - more of a bumping of chests and slapping each other on the back than the hug he'd just had with Lexie.
"He what?!" Lexie's excited shriek was audible all the way down the hall, even though Sharon's answer hadn't been. "Patrick, Patrick, come here! They're going out! Officially!"
"What is this, middle school?" Jake muttered under his breath, stepping back so Patrick could come into the apartment. He shut the door firmly behind them so they could stop bothering the neighbors. He doubted Lexie was going to get much quieter.
The deep rumble of Patrick's laughter didn't help.
******
Almost as soon as Lexie had gotten confirmation from Jake that yes, he and Sharon were officially together, she'd practically dragged Sharon down the hall to Jake's bedroom. Sitting down on the neatly made bed, Sharon couldn't help but be somewhat amused at how much neater Jake's room was than her own. She couldn't remember the last time she'd made her own bed.
Maybe it was an Army thing? Or maybe Jake was a little bit of a neat freak. It was something she hadn't really thought about before, but it seemed to matter a little more now that they were together.
Shutting the door and cutting off the sound of the men's deeper voices, Lexie squealed, taking a running leap and jumping onto the bed. Even though she felt a little nervous, Sharon laughed at her friend's antics.
They might be siblings and have the same black hair and bright blue eyes, but Lexie and Jake were nothing alike in so many ways. She was a bundle of mischief and energy and looked like a little pixie, whereas Jake tended towards being serious, calm, and looked like the brawny soldier that he was. It was no surprise that Sharon and Lexie had hit it off right away.
"Oh my God, I'm so excited, you have to tell me everything! No, wait, I mean, not everything everything, but everything that's not going to traumatize me!" Lexie's eyes were sparkling, and Sharon felt her nervousness melting away as she realized that Lexie was one hundred percent thrilled about her and Jake making things official. This wasn’t going to be a sisterly interrogation, just a friendly one.
Happy warmth bubbled up in her chest and her excitement started to rise. Yeah, she hadn't even told Kate yet, but... Kate would understand. Lexie had gotten to her first, and she was Jake's sister.
"Well, let's see... Friday night he was a total dick - he said he talked to you about that?" Sharon asked, and Lexie nodded, still practically bouncing in her seated position next to Sharon. "I was a bitch too, so it kind of evened out. Saturday morning we talked and made up, but then we had to get over to the hotel and we didn't really get any time together until the wedding was about to start. We may have snuck away during the reception."
Sharon smirked as Lexie made an enthralled noise. She looked torn between asking for the gritty details and wanting to remain in the dark.
"Coat closet," Sharon added on, making Lexie squeal with delight.
"Okay, I have to stop you there, just because he's my brother, but holy fuck!" Lexie smacked Sharon's arm. "At your cousin's wedding too! Dirty girl!"
"Hey, he's the one who insisted," Sharon retorted. "I wasn't sure, but he went all Captain Caveman on me and... Well, I went with the flow."
Giggling, Lexie bounced again in excitement. "Is that his new nickname? Captain Caveman?"
"Yes, and it totally works. Your brother has the whole manhandling alpha male thing going on and it is hot."
"I can agree in theory although not in specifics, since he is my brother." Lexie laughed. "Patrick does the same thing sometimes, but since I'm so small compared to him it's not like I'm hard to manhandle."
"Exactly." Sharon wiggled a little, not quite bouncing like Lexie was, but just her own little happy dance. She'd gone from feeling kind of wary about having to share with her friends, especially Lexie, to being able to really enjoy the excitement of officially being with Jake. "Anyway, so Saturday night went really well and then this morning at brunch he said we needed to talk. I totally thought he was going to say that when we got back here we should go back to just being friends, although we were never really friends exactly, but instead he said he wanted to make things official and be boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Hey, he's not a total idiot," Lexie said laughing. "It might have taken him longer than it should have, but he realized he needed to lock that shit down."
Sharon burst out laughing. "That's almost how he phrased it too!"
Suddenly Lexie’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh… I just realized, you have a magic vagina!”
“I do not!” Sharon protested immediately. The magic vagina was something she’d teased Kate about, because Andrew had been a total slut before he and Kate had gotten back together, but once he was back with Kate he was locked down. It was something that happened a lot in the romances Sharon loved to read, and the idea amused her, but she had never thought to apply it to herself. “Jake wasn’t a man-whore.”
“No, but he was kind of a dick to you for a really long time, but after you had sex he realized he wants to be with you! That’s the magic vagina at work.”
