“Does he do that often?” Hogan asked, hopefully looking at Ranger and not my dick. Then again, he could be planning an attack on it, so I couldn’t be too sure.
“He’s done it since he was a baby,” Garrett said from his position on the couch next to Rissa. “Usually it’s me or Raoul he does it to, but sometimes he just picks a random guy and shoves his head up in there.”
Realizing we were talking about him, Ranger moved away and went to walk over to Hogan, sitting down at his feet and waiting for attention. He was a big dog, granted, but he was the biggest baby you’d ever meet with four legs and a tail.
Sitting down in one of the chairs, Hogan reached out and caught Ranger right in the spot on his hear that he loved. “Don’t the other people mind?”
Deciding to risk it, I sat down next to Rose, hiding a smile when Rissa winked at me. At least her mom liked me. “A couple have said that he must smell their dog on them, but that just freaks me out.”
Humming in agreement, Hogan focused on what he was doing, not even complaining when Ranger leaned his full weight against his leg. After a couple of minutes, he broke the silence. “Look, when you’re a dad yourself, you’ll understand how hard it is to see your daughter with someone,” he began, finally looking up at me. “It’s never been a problem in the past, because she dated complete pissants who’d never last, so I could shrug it off. But with you, I know…” he stopped when Rissa cleared her throat. “Sorry, we know that it’s different, and it’s taking a bit of time to accept that.”
Leaning forward, I made sure I had his attention. “I get it, sir. And with what’s going on just now, it’s even harder. I can’t say I fully understand because I’m not a dad…”
Snorting, Garrett muttered, “At least, not as far as you know.”
Choosing to ignore the dick, I continued, “But I do care about Rose, a lot. The fact that the man that hit her is out there doesn’t sit well with me, and I’m doing everything I can to keep her as safe as possible.”
With a final pat on Ranger’s head, he sat back in the chair with an expression I couldn’t read on his face. “I know, and if I got my hands on that son of a bitch, I’d…”
“Do nothing because there’s a policeman in the vicinity,” Rissa snapped, rolling her eyes. “Where’s your head at? Leave the policing to the man who does it for a living and focus on making your daughter happy. He obviously loves her, or he wouldn’t be doing everything he is for her.”
I swear, you could have heard a pin drop ten blocks away with the silence that followed what she’d said, and the longer it stretched on, the more awkward it got. Did I say something? I’d never been in this predicament before, not even close to it. A glance out of the corner of my eye at Rose didn’t help me either, seeing as how she was staring into space.
After long minutes, I was finally saved by a knock on the door, signaling that the pizza had arrived. All the men in the room stood up at once, avoiding looking at each other.
“I’ll get the plates,” Hogan muttered, moving quickly out the room toward the kitchen.
“I’ll pay for the food,” I added, going toward the door, intending to give the delivery kid the biggest tip he’d ever get in his pizza delivery career.
Not saying a word, Garrett headed toward the kitchen, too, except the expression on his face was one of suppressed laughter. I couldn’t wait for the day he went through this shit, I was going to make sure it was torture for him.
I was focused on pulling my wallet out of my back pocket to pay the kid who’d saved me when I opened the door, so I didn’t see who was on the other side of it until I looked up.
And then the awkward situation got even worse.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“Uh, I may have told Mom what was going on,” Garrett called from the kitchen. “Surprise!”
I was going to kick his ass – the good side of it to even it up.
Chapter Fifteen
Rose
I thought by now that I’d definitely hit every stage of awkward possible. I’d been caught in bed with Raoul by my parents, they’d found his underwear on my bedroom floor, I’d had to make up a song about kicking Garrett’s ass in the bathroom, I’d been caught in the aforementioned bathroom with Raoul by my colleagues, I’d had my mom announce to everyone that Raoul was in love with me, Raoul hadn’t replied or said anything at all after that, he’d run to the door when he’d thought it was the pizza delivery guy… pretty much every stage of awkward should have been covered in that long list, right?
No, it had just gotten even better seeing as how his mom, his dad, and his little sister were here now, too.
Oh, and just to add to that awkward – they were here because the Captain with the burned ass and big mouth had told them that I had a stalker. One who’d punched me – not that you could miss the fading bruising, but still – after I’d helped his abused girlfriend. And now they were meeting my parents. It was a whole new level of embarrassing.
“We came as soon as Garrett told us what was happening,” Raoul’s mom said to mine, pulling her in for a hug immediately.
Our dads were discussing something in the corner, their arms moving around manically. To be honest, it just looked like they were trying to fit a big fish in a little box to me, and maybe that was it? Then, it all changed to what looked like a version of whack-a-mole, both of them doing the gesture at the same time.
“Rose?” A soft voice asked beside me, pulling my attention away from them to see Raoul’s mom standing beside me.
I’d seen photos when I’d broken into his house, but she looked completely different in real life. I knew I was short because everything in the world was too high for me. Seriously, I couldn’t just move into a house knowing that everything was ok. Without a doubt the cupboards in the kitchen were too high, and the little holder for the shower would also be too high, too. In fact, in the first apartment I’d lived in, I couldn’t even hang my clothes on the rail without standing on something, because a giant had installed it. So, yeah, I was short. But Raoul’s mom was at least two inches shorter than me - meaning that I was finally taller than someone - and it threw me for a second because all the photos had made her seem taller than that. That said, I instantly felt at ease with her, regardless of how awkward the reason for meeting her right now was. She just had that look about her that was gentle and calming.
Giving her a bright smile, and hoping that she didn’t pick up on how nervous I was, I replied, “Yes, how lovely to meet you, Mrs. Evans.”
Reaching up (yes, up), she gently held my face in her hands, her eyes focused on what was left of the bruising on my face. “Call me Luisa, honey,” she murmured, her thumb sweeping gently over the bruising. Within the space of one blink – one tiny blink – her expression changed. “Raoul, Garrett, what are you doing about the man who did this?”
Both brothers looked at each other first and then back at their mom. “We have people looking for him, Mom,” Raoul reassured her. “She won’t be alone at any point because Garrett’s going to be with her during the day, and I’ll be with her at night.”
A choked growl came from my dad at the comment, but he managed to stop it when everyone looked over at him. Smiling tightly at Luisa, he gritted out, “I’m just so relieved about that.”
Lying ass! And from the expressions on everyone else’s faces, they were thinking the same thing.
Nodding at her sons like she was in agreement with their plan, she looked back at me. “Some people aren’t like the rest of the world. To hit and abuse women… that takes an evil mind and heart,” she shook her head sadly. “But I know I can trust in my boys to keep you safe, so at least he’ll never be able to hurt you again.”
“I’m worried about the woman who was in a relationship with him,” I admitted, wringing my hands together. “He beat her badly for a long time.”
Wise eyes skimmed my face. “She reminds you of your brother’s fiancée, yes?”
I wasn’t ups
et or surprised that Raoul had shared about Jose, and I knew that she wouldn’t be either. She was very open about what she went through after she had to face Ellis’s ex at the diner one night, and her exact words only weeks ago were, “Knowledge spreads awareness, and awareness is key to prevention.” Truer words never spoken.
“Yeah, she did.”
“We haven’t been introduced yet,” a deep voice belonging to Raoul’s dad said behind me. Turning around, I got a closer look at the man who was almost identical to his sons. The only difference was that he didn’t have the coloring they’d inherited from Luisa and he still had an English accent, regardless of the fact that he’d lived here for over thirty years. “I’m Harry.”
I was about to introduce myself back to him, but their daughter appeared beside us, holding her hand out and smiling brightly at me. “Catalina, but you can call me Cat. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Where the boys had dark hair like Luisa, she had her dad’s dirty blonde hair. She also had the same dark blue eyes as her brothers and olive skin tone, which looked striking against her hair. “Great to meet you both. I’m Rose.”
“Let’s not interrogate her and scare her away,” Raoul requested, joining us and putting his arm around my waist.
“Oh, I’m not going to interrogate her, brother,” Cat assured him mischievously. “I’m going to congratulate her on making your life hell for so long, and for messing with your coffee and surviving it.”
The gasp that came out of Luisa was almost comical… if you weren’t meeting the man in your life’s mother for the first time, that was. If you were, then not so much.
“Uh…”
Turning to look at her youngest son with raised eyebrows, Luisa muttered, “Well, it must be love. The one time I mixed your coffee up with your brother’s, you wouldn’t speak to me for weeks.”
Why did people keep assuming it was love? Maybe it was a mutual appreciation for each other? A form of neighbor torture syndrome, which could be a variation of Stockholm syndrome? Maybe it was even that he understood that he deserved what I’d done back to him?
Unfortunately, I knew that for me it was love. I just didn’t know what it was for him.
* * *
Five hours later…
I was tired, but I was also wide awake after the events of the evening, so I’d decided to jump in the shower to see if it helped. I’d just turned the shower on and was waiting for it to heat up while I took my clothes off and threw them toward the hamper while I replayed how my night had gone.
The pizza had finally arrived shortly after Luisa’s comment, so we’d all sat down to eat it cutting off any further discussion about Raoul’s feelings for me. Fortunately, Mom had over ordered as always, so it wasn’t like there wasn’t enough to go around, plus Cat was all about the Keto life so she’d eaten salad instead.
It was almost like a normal family occasion, except my brother and his family weren’t there, and not to mention the fact that a lot of us had only just met. After we’d finished, it had been decided that Raoul’s family would stay at his house because he had three bedrooms and my parents would stay here – with me and Raoul.
Yes, he wasn’t backing down from his declaration to his mom that he was watching me at night regardless of the fact my dad was going to be under the same roof. I wish I’d had my phone ready to take a photo of Dad’s face when he’d realized what was happening, but thankfully Mom had been prepared with hers so she was going to send it to me. And just to say - Raoul didn’t react or acknowledge the death glares being shot at him once. Even Ellis gave into those stares when he was on the receiving end of them.
Getting in under the hot water, I did that thing most women do after they meet their boyfriend’s family – or at least I figured this was what they did. I overanalyzed shit, thinking over everything I’d said, every reaction I’d gotten from them, whether or not I’d embarrassed myself or said the wrong thing… things like that. It wasn’t something I’d ever done before, or even understood when my friend’s had done it, but for some reason it was front and center in my brain tonight. I wanted them to like me, so I was trying to make sure that I hadn’t done something that would ruin that for me.
Groaning, I turned to put my face under the spray, safe to do it tonight seeing as how I had three people under my roof that I didn’t normally have with me.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Raoul’s deep voice said next to my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind at the same time.
Leaning my head back against his chest, I wiped the water out of my eyes and blew out a breath. “Whether or not I made myself look like a dick in front of your family tonight,” I told him honestly, not seeing the point in trying to bullshit up a scientific anomaly type of lie.
Running his hands down my arms until he got to my hands, he lifted our joined hands up and then wrapped both of our arms around my waist this time. “They think you’re the shit.”
“Only because I’m still breathing after messing with your coffee.”
Turning me around to face him, he cupped my neck with his hands. “I think you’re the shit, too.”
Raising up onto my tiptoes, I went to kiss his chin seeing as how it was the only place on his face I could reach, but he tipped his head down at the last second, meaning I hit his lips instead. The kiss quickly turned heated, and when his hard cock skimmed along my thigh, I decided I was going to do something I’d wanted to do for a while. So, with the water still hitting my back, I released his mouth and dropped down to my knees on the tiled floor.
“Baby, you don’t…” he started, but then stopped when I reached up and gently wrapped my fingers around his length. “Shit.”
Tilting my head back, I looked up his long body, seeing that he’d tipped his head back as I slowly moved my hand up and down. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” I admitted, nibbling on my lower lip. “Every time I saw you running, it was like it was waving at me through your sweats, and I’d picture us doing what we’re doing right now.”
Tipping his head forward to look down at me, he leaned over to brace his hands on the wall above my head. “What else did you imagine?” he rasped, his voice sounding deeper than I’d ever heard it sound before.
Straightening up as much as I could, I flicked the tip of it with my tongue. “Licking you,” I murmured, angling my head so I could lick up the length of it now. “Sucking you,” I added, moving back up to the tip and gently doing just that on it. “Trying to get as much of you as I can into my mouth.”
Leaving one hand on the wall, he lowered the other and gently fisted a handful of my hair. “How much do you think you can get?”
Pulling back to look at his fully erect cock, I thought about it as I tightened my hold and jacked it with firmer strokes. “I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.”
I didn’t give him a chance to say anything else. Instead, I placed my lips around him and then lowered down, keeping my lips tight, and the movements of my hand constant. When I’d got half of him in, I moved my head back so that I was at the tip again, and then lowered down it, sucking as I went. Each movement of my head got a corresponding response from his hand, his fist telling me which way he wanted me to go and his groans spurring me on. This time when I lowered back down, his tip hit the back of my throat and I gagged slightly.
“Jesus Christ,” he growled, moving the hand out of my hair and down to cup my jaw. “Breathe in through your nose and relax your jaw.”
Doing just that, I held his eyes as I pushed down a little further, relieved when I didn’t gag as I took more of him inside my throat this time. When he realized that I’d taken as much of him as I could, he nodded down at me and moved his hand back to where he’d been holding my hair before, tugging on it for me to move back up. As I did it, his hips jerked when my tongue touched the little band around the corona, giving me an idea. I absolutely wanted him to lose control, but I also wanted Raoul to be in control of what we were doing, so
I moved both hands to his thighs and squeezed, hoping he’d understand.
Looking up and meeting his eyes, I watched as they widened slightly when he realized what I wanted him to do. Not wanting to remove my mouth to say it - or even wanting to say the words if I was honest - I sucked hard on his head and flicked my tongue again. Sure enough, that was all he needed, because he started moving his hips slowly back and forth, now in control of the depth his cock got to. When I urged him again with another squeeze and a hard suck, he started moving faster, plunging deeper each time. That’s when it got too much for me and I lowered a hand between my legs, moaning when I rubbed over my clit.
I was certain he was going to come, and I was ready for it, but suddenly he yanked himself out of me, squeezing down at the base of his length at the same time. I was about to ask if he was ok, but he bent over and lifted me until I was standing facing the tiled wall with him behind me.
Leaning over my back, he whispered, “Are you on the pill?” Unable to form words now, I nodded and ground my ass back into him. “We need to be quiet,” he reminded me as he shifted so that he was now between my folds, the tip hitting the hard bundle of nerves each time I moved my hips. “Can you do that?”
The thought of my parents hearing us was so abhorrent that I didn’t think the question even needed to be asked, but I was grateful for the reminder, regardless. They might have been staying in the guest room upstairs, but sound traveled, especially at night, and I had no way of gauging how thin the walls were in this house. The most I’d ever heard was footsteps when someone had been staying with me, but sex sounds? They might be so distinguishable that even if you were quiet, people would know what you were doing. That said, I wanted this badly, so if I had to be quiet, I’d damn well be quiet.
Bracing his hand above my head on the wall, Raoul notched the head at my entrance with his other hand, and started to push into me. I loved the burn as he stretched me, loved the way he did it slowly like he was savoring every second, but I needed more. With my hands on the wall in front of me, I used them to push back the next time he thrust gently in, gasping out, “Shit,” when I almost got all of him at once.
Classy AF: Cheap Thrills Series Book 3 Page 15
