Hardcore Vanilla

by Golden Angel

  No. She'd warned him.

  Besides, she was kind of curious to see how he'd react. Sometimes it felt like they were being a little bit more date-y than casual. And they definitely weren't going to be able to spend all next weekend having sex - which really was too bad. She'd much rather have a weekend of roll-around, off-the-walls, punani-pounding than have to spend time with her family. Anyway, the point was, it wouldn't be a terrible thing to just hang out with Jake without the expectation of sex.

  As long as he wasn't coming over expecting sex.

  Almost exactly twenty minutes later, her doorbell rang. Feeling strangely nervous, Sharon got up to let him in. His grin when she opened the door, his eyes sweeping over her, said that he liked what he saw just as much as when she was wearing her club gear for Stronghold. Seeing the flannel pajama bottoms he had on underneath his coat, Sharon gave him an answering smile. He had a bag in his hand, which he passed over to her.

  "Pajama party, huh?" he asked, stepping inside and shrugging off his coat. Underneath he had on a plain, well-worn, grey t-shirt that clung to his muscles in all the right ways. It was kind of unfair that he looked just as good in pajamas as he did fully dressed.

  "Sometimes I just need a lazy Sunday," she said, opening the bag to peek inside. To her delight, she saw beer, chips, dip, popcorn, and a box of chocolate chip cookies. "You brought snacks!"

  "Can't have a movie day without snacks," he said, his voice tinged with amusement.

  When Sharon lifted her head to beam up at him, he dropped a kiss on her lips... But only a brief one and then he headed into the living room. Huh. Well that felt date-y, she thought with bemusement as she followed him back to the television where Toxic Shark was winding up its reign of terror.

  ******

  Jake had no idea why he'd just kissed Sharon like that.

  In fact, he wasn't entirely sure why he was here.

  He'd wanted to see her.

  What he didn't understand was why he'd wanted to see her so badly that he'd come over even after she'd made it clear that it wasn't going to be like their usual get togethers.

  Maybe it was because both Michael and his mom had given him a lot of food for thought last night. Maybe it was because he was curious what it would be like to just hang out with her, without doing the sex buddy thing. Or maybe it was because he was starting to have feelings for her that he didn't want to examine too closely just yet.

  Feelings that weren't quashed by seeing her adorably mussed with her hair in a messy bun, and wearing pink pajama pants with purple hearts all over them along with the Bourbon and Beer Festival shirt that she'd stolen from him. It was a little disconcerting to realize he found her just as attractive as when she was wearing a corset and short skirt or lingerie...

  "Toxic Shark is almost over but I can restart it if you want," she offered, putting the bag of snacks he'd brought on the coffee table next to the cheese, crackers, and beer that she already had out.

  "I think I'm good," he said dryly. Clearly she was in the mood to watch the worst of the worst today, the ones that were so bad they were funny. Well, hopefully they were funny, the ones that weren't tended to just be boring. "I'm looking forward to Avalanche Sharks."

  The amused look she shot him indicated that she had heard the hint of sarcasm in his voice. He wasn't exactly lying though. Watching terrible shark movies might not be his number one desire on a Sunday afternoon, but watching them with Sharon... That was a different story. Mainly because she enjoyed them so much and he enjoyed her enjoyment.

  Sitting on the couch with her tucked under his arm, Jake settled in for some totally non-sexual time with Sharon.

  The fact that he carried her off to bed three movies and one large pizza later notwithstanding. It had felt more like a date-day than anything else.

  ******

  Friday and the time to leave for the shore came way too soon. It had been a good week. She and Jake had traded off staying at each other’s places every night. They hadn’t planned it that way, it had just happened.

  Meanwhile, the gossip train around them was going strong. Lexie was pretty grumpy that Jake had managed to sneak Sharon up to his room during her engagement party – not because she was upset they’d left the party, but apparently Jake wasn’t the only Standish with a childhood bedroom fantasy. She was just pissed her “prude big brother” had not only beaten her to it, but had done so during a party.

  Sharon had a feeling Patrick and Lexie would be disappearing for a bit during the next large gathering at the Standish household.

  Unfortunately, the fun was over and now it was time to face her family. It was only a two-and-a-half-hour drive, maybe more depending on traffic, but as far as Sharon was concerned that wasn't nearly long enough. She sighed as she got into the car, already feeling the dread that accompanied every trip home building in her chest.

  "Hey, chin up," Jake said cheerfully as he slid into the driver's seat and started the car. "It's going to be fine."

  "I would love to not be able to say 'I told you so' at the end of this weekend, but I know better than that.”

  Jake shot her a sidelong look, pulling out of the parking lot and heading toward the highway. His lips quirked. "Hasn't anyone ever told you about the power of positive thinking?"

  She scowled at him. She was supposed to be the annoying one, not the other way around. Then again, her family did tend to mess with her equilibrium like nothing else in her life. A moment later, her sense of humor returned, if only a little.

  "Later, I'm going to remind you that you said that," she retorted.

  He snorted and shook his head.

  "They're your family," he said insistently, and Sharon rolled her eyes, knowing that the statement meant something entirely different to her than it did to him. This was why she’d stopped trying to explain to him. He clearly thought she was exaggerating every time she tried to tell him what they were like. "It's a wedding. We'll have fun."

  Shaking her head, Sharon reached over to turn up the music. She didn’t want to get into it again.

  They'd had a good week together and it felt more like he was her boyfriend than her fuck buddy. They hadn't explicitly talked about it, but he just didn't get her family issues. To him, family loved each other unconditionally and, no matter how they got along, would come together if they needed to in order to support each other. He had no idea what it was like to live with parents whose love was conditional, he couldn't even imagine it.

  Not that she'd tried too hard, if she was honest. Getting herself worked up before she had to face her family wouldn't help anything and she figured he probably wouldn't believe it till he saw it himself.

  If then.

  She still remembered one of her exes insisting that her parents' manipulations and criticisms were just their expression of love and that she needed to learn to accept that.

  Yeah, fuck that. If constant criticism and wearing down her self-esteem was an expression of love, it was one she could do without. She shouldn't have to accept people being terrible to her just because they'd given birth to her.

  Did she love her parents and wish they were different? Sure. But they weren't and so she did what she had to do for her own mental health. If Jake didn't come around to understanding that by the end of this weekend... Well, whatever was growing between them as well as their fuck buddy time would be over.

  ******

  Sharon's parents' house was behind a gate, at the end of a very long driveway surrounded by very manicured lawns and bushes, and it was very, very large. In fact, it was close to being a freaking mansion, glowing a pristine white with green shutters against the immaculate landscaping. The fact that the house's lawn and garden were so meticulous in winter made it even more impressive. Just beyond the house he could see a hint of the Chesapeake Bay, which meant the view of the bay was probably stunning.

  "Holy crap," Jake muttered under his breath as he felt his palms start to sweat.

  Somehow, up until this point, he'
d convinced himself that meeting Sharon's parents wasn't that big a deal. Surely not a bigger deal than her meeting his last weekend, which had turned out to be not that big of a deal at all. He'd show up as her friend and date, charm her parents, and then show her a good time over the weekend. Her nerves hadn't infected him at all.

  Now, though...

  Just like with Sharon's apartment, it was one thing to know she was well-off, another to see it. 'Well off' didn't begin to describe it. He'd gotten used to her apartment because he was over there often enough, and she made it homey. It didn't hurt that she was a little messy too.

  This was an entirely different ball game.

  "Wow... You could play a seriously epic game of hide-and-seek in this house," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Sharon had begun the ride singing and dancing along in her seat when certain songs came on the radio, but as soon as they'd crossed the Bay Bridge she'd become more and more subdued.

  "Sure." She didn't look at him as she made the terse response, just stared up at the house like it was impending doom closing in on her.

  "You never did with your cousins?" he asked curiously. From the little she had divulged about her family, she had a pretty good relationship with the cousin that was getting married this weekend. Hide and seek in a mansion seemed exactly the kind of thing she would do.

  Sharon snorted. "Only if we wanted to be in a hell of a lot of trouble."

  "Why would you be in trouble for playing hide and seek?"

  "Because that's not what we were supposed to be doing. We were supposed to be learning how to be little ladies and gentlemen and how to ‘network’ with each other."

  "As kids?" He could hear the skepticism in his voice, but, to his surprise, Sharon didn't jump all over him for it.

  "Mmm." She leaned forward as he came to a halt in front of the house. The door opened to reveal a man dressed in a suit. He was tall and rail-thin with blond hair and didn't look a thing like Sharon.

  "Who is that?" Jake asked, nudging her with his elbow.

  "Butler. His name is Thomas, he's here on weekends."

  "A butler?" Now he really felt out of his depth.

  "He'll help with the bags and take the car around to the garage," Sharon explained. Which wasn't really an explanation. Seriously though, Jake was feeling intimidated now. She blew out a long breath. "Come on. They know we're here so no sense in delaying the inevitable. Just leave the car running so he can move it."

  Feeling more like he was at a hotel than a house, Jake did as she directed. Well, except that a hotel would have allowed him to take his own bags in. Sharon just told Thomas to bring them in and then took Jake's hand to lead him up the stairs and into the house where her parents were waiting for them.

  The grand foyer - he couldn't think of it any other way because it really was grand - stretched up all three levels of the house and there was an honest-to-God chandelier hanging down in the center of it. A gold one, with what looked like thousands of crystals shimmering from it, like something out of a movie. The floor was marble, the double staircase boasted delicate filigree rails and wide banisters ending in two marble columns.

  In the center of the room was a large plinth topped with a blue and white china vase holding an elaborate bouquet of flowers. Not roses or anything like that, but flowers Jake had never seen before and could definitely not identify. His first thought was that his mom would have loved it.

  His second thought was that the two people standing in front of the arrangement might look like Sharon, physically, but beyond that he didn't see the resemblance at all. Both of them were shorter than him but taller than her, although her mother only topped her by a couple of inches - then he realized that was just the heels she was wearing.

  Both of them had black hair without a hint of grey, their ages only showing on their faces, and both of them looked younger than he knew they were. They didn't look as though they'd had plastic surgery though. Not that he was an expert, but if they had had work done, he couldn't tell. They were both standing rather stiffly, several inches apart, with small, polite smiles on their faces.

  The smile on Mrs. Bianchi's face dipped a bit when she looked down at his and Sharon's joined hands, but only for a moment. For his part, Mr. Bianchi seemed to be studying Jake... and Jake couldn't help but feel that the other man found him lacking.

  "Hey Mom and Pops," Sharon said, cheerfully leading Jake forward. If he hadn't just spent an entire car ride with her and seen her anxiety first hand, he wouldn't have guessed she was at all nervous from the way she was acting now. "What's shaking?"

  Mrs. Bianchi's smile disappeared entirely, her lips pursing inward as if she'd just sucked on a lemon while Sharon's father sighed, and his expression turned to one of disappointed resignation.

  "Sharon," Mrs. Bianchi said, her tone clipped. "Must you be so vulgar? I’ve told you to call me ‘Mother’ a million times."

  "Good to see you too, Mom." The cheerfulness in Sharon's voice wasn't even the tiniest bit strained, but Jake had felt her fingers tighten around his slightly. He had to admit, he was a little bit confused as he and Sharon came to a halt in front of her parents.

  Granted, there had been plenty of times that he'd thought Sharon was being vulgar. This was not one of them.

  Sighing, Mrs. Bianchi stepped forward and Sharon let go of Jake's hand to clasp forearms with her mom and exchange air kisses. It looked extremely uncomfortable, as if they were holding each other at arm's length rather than hugging. Considering what a tactile person he knew Sharon to be, it made Jake feel even more ill at ease to witness.

  "Sharon," her dad said, stepping forward to give a kiss on the cheek before stepping back and resuming his study of Jake.

  "Mom, Pops, this is my friend Jake," she said, retaking Jake's hand. Mrs. Bianchi eyed the movement with distaste, although she quickly cleared it from her expression as Jake held out his right hand to shake Mr. Bianchi's.

  "Sergeant Jake Standish," Mr. Bianchi said, just a hint of question in his voice as he took Jake's hand with a cool, firm grip.

  "Yes, sir." Jake hesitated for just a moment. "Honorable discharge."

  “Yes, yes,” Mr. Bianchi said, nodding his head as if confirming Jake’s words. Jake blinked as the other man continued to frown up at him. “Now you work, ah... at a remodeling company?”

  “He’s a very good builder,” Sharon interjected, her hand tightening around his. Jake realized she had either told her parents a lot more than she’d told him she had, or they really had run a background check on him. He’d thought she was joking about that.

  But hey, their daughter was bringing a man they’d never met as her date to a family wedding, and they were obviously wealthy enough to have concerns over anyone she brought home. He supposed he couldn’t fault them for being protective. At least, that’s what he told himself.

  ******

  Seeing the blank-eyed expression on Jake’s face, Sharon really wanted to shout, ‘I told you so!’ at him, but she refrained. Barely.

  Reminding her parents that she and Jake needed to freshen up before the rehearsal dinner – which sent them off to their wing in a hurry as they needed to do the same – Sharon inwardly congratulated herself on her timing as she showed Jake to her wing. Her parents hadn’t had time to start harping on her before they had to get ready to leave.

  One point for the home team!

  “You have your own wing.” He muttered the words under his breath, full of disbelief. Sharon looked up at him as he glanced over his shoulder, that expression deepening. “Why aren’t you in the same wing as your parents?”

  She shrugged, as if it didn’t matter to her. And it mostly didn’t, not anymore. She’d liked her nannies better anyway. Yup, that’s me, the poor little rich girl.

  “I was a noisy kid. Here we are. This is you. My room is there.” She pointed at the door across the hall. Jake nodded, apparently not surprised by them having separate rooms under her parents’ roof.

  She couldn’t help bu
t wonder how he was going to react when she joined him in his room later. Because she was definitely going to need some stress relief after dinner.

  Fortunately, Jake didn’t question her any more about the separate wings for her and her parents’. She could tell he was still struggling to deal with the reality of what they were like and she really didn’t want to have to get into it. The guest room he was in, which was richly furnished and decorated in muted navy blue and forest green, was very comfortable and masculine (well, in her mom’s opinion). It was meant for male guests.

  “Bathroom is through that door,” she said, pointing to a door in the corner of the room. “I’ll meet you out here in half an hour.”

  “Great,” he said, sounding a little dazed as he looked around.

  Sharon smirked as she turned and went to her room. It didn’t take her long to get ready. Little black designer cocktail dress, hair smoothly coiled in a French twist, a dash of make-up with red lips and she looked presentable enough that her mom would probably leave her alone. Well, about her appearance at least. Chances were her parents were going to be more focused on Jake anyway.

  She thought Jake was going to faint when her parents insisted on them taking one of their cars to the rehearsal dinner, which was at her aunt’s house.

  “Why are we taking one of their cars again?” he muttered under his breath as her parents left the garage in her dad’s Ferrari.

  “Because their cars are awesome and I thought you’d enjoy the ride. Now get in the Mercedes and enjoy yourself.”

  Opening the door, Jake stared down at the ground. “Sharon.”

  “What?”

  “There’s a light on the bottom of the door making the Mercedes symbol on the ground.”

  “Yup. Also, the seats will massage you, don’t ask me how to work the radio, and if you ask my dad about the specs he will be happy to give you the full rundown. Now get in, we’re going to be late.” Since they were taking her parents’ car, Sharon was driving. She kind of wished she wasn’t though, just because she had the feeling she was going to need a lot of alcohol.