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Rick liked her curves. And he hadn’t given Meg a second glance.
Take that, bitch.
Maybe Meg and Jeremy should get together. They’d make a perfect couple. Although Jeremy hadn’t given Meg a second glance either. He’d also steered away from Maria all afternoon, which suited her fine. Hopefully he was embarrassed. Or intimidated by Rick. Either worked for her.
It felt good to be here with Rick and her family. A couple of her aunts and uncles were here too, and they were all suitably impressed by him. Not once, not once, in the past few hours had she been subjected to pitying looks or well-meaning comments that made her hackles rise. She was able to just relax and enjoy the company. Well, most of the company.
Barbara, her parents’ neighbor and good friend, sat down next to her, on the opposite side from Rick. The older woman’s eyes were gleaming with interest. She truly did love giving Maria and her sisters relationship advice. Maria often got the impression Barbara had been waiting for her to bring someone home she was serious about.
“You’ve got yourself a live one there,” she said, nodding to Rick, who was holding Maria’s hand but involved in a conversation with Daniel and Victor on the other side of him. “Where’d you pick him up?”
“The pool,” Maria said, grinning at the brash older woman. “He couldn’t resist my red bikini.”
Nodding approvingly, Barbara stabbed her fork into her potato salad. “Smart man. How long have you two been together now?”
Maria hesitated. “Well, we’ve been spending time together for over a month... I guess our first real date was a few weeks ago though.”
“Spending time together is important,” Barbara said sagely, with an approving nod. “Don’t knock it. Nowadays all you kids are just jumping right into bed together, it’s better to get to know each other first. Makes the sex better too.”
Choking on a laugh, Maria tried to stifle her hilarity, not wanting to draw too much attention. Sometimes Barbara said the most outrageous things. Maria wanted to be her when she grew up.
“Excuse me? What’s going on over here?” Rick was suddenly leaning across Maria, looking highly amused. “Sounds like there must be an interesting conversation happening.”
Barbara wagged her finger at him. “You just heard the word ‘sex,’ didn’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Completely unapologetic. Maria choked on a giggle, kind of shocked he’d immediately read Barbara’s personality so correctly.
“This one’s a keeper,” Barbara said to Maria and tipped Rick a wink. “You always want to hold onto the honest ones.”
“Thanks, I plan to hold onto him,” she said, squeezing Rick’s hand. Turning her head slightly so Barbara couldn’t see the hot, sensuous look she gave Rick. “Very tightly.”
“Tease,” he mouthed at her, before turning back to Barbara and formally introducing himself. It wasn’t too long before the three of them were laughing again, drawing more people to their conversation, including Barbara’s husband Gerry. The two of them together were like a comedy team. Barbara was in her element, enjoying being the center of attention as Rick drew story after story from her, Gerry always providing humorous counterpoint to whatever she said. Even though Maria had heard all the stories before, they seemed to have new life as she was able to watch Rick’s reactions to them.
Rick got along with everyone he talked to. Maria’s mother had been very impressed, not to mention charmed to the point where Daniel complained he was obviously no longer the favorite significant other of her daughters. Which, of course, Galio and Vincent had pretended fury at, insisting Daniel had never been the favorite. She loved watching Rick interact with her family; he really fit in seamlessly, in a way none of her previous boyfriends ever had.
They lingered to help clean up, Rick assisting her dad with the grill—a job all of her brothers-in-law were more than happy to give up to him, while she picked up trash around the yard with Jackie. Who whispered gleefully to Maria that she just adored Rick, a declaration which was followed by multiple whispered “I told you so”s and “aren’t you glad you listened to me?”s.
Yeah. Yeah, she really was. Ever since she and Rick had first slept together, they’d spent every night together. Sometimes at his place, sometimes at hers. They didn’t have sex every single night, but definitely most nights. Maria loved that when she initiated, he would usually give her control for a little bit before swiftly and unexpectedly taking it away. Her body had never been so well-satisfied.
Most mornings he teased her when they first woke up, with caresses and kisses that made her want to jump him, and then he’d leave her aching and needy all day so she was practically a sex-starved maniac by the time she got home. Then, most of the time, he’d tie her up and play with her until she was nearly senseless with need before fucking her into sensual oblivion. He never made her wait more than the length of the day for her orgasms, which she was grateful for. The withholding thing was hot, but she didn’t think she could go for longer than twenty-four hours without orgasming, not the way he liked to tease.
It was always different with him and always satisfying. Sometimes he tied her up so she couldn’t move an inch, sometimes he tied just her arms or just her legs, and sometimes he didn’t tie her up or hold her down at all. She couldn’t decide what she liked best. Usually whatever he was doing to her at that time. This morning he’d bent her over her kitchen table, held her down by her wrists and taken her from behind.
Maria still shivered just thinking about it.
The sex was just the cherry on top of the sundae though. They spent just as much time cuddling, talking, and just spending time together. She’d even started getting up a little earlier so she could swim laps with him. Not for his full work out, but she would wake up around the same time as him, move a heck of a lot slower, and join him for the last twenty minutes or so of his swim. It was surprisingly soothing. Not to mention fun when he would come up behind her and try to grab at her ankles to pull her under.
She’d love to do the same to him, but she knew she wasn’t ever going to be able to catch him, much less get a hand around one of his ankles.
They’d been on several dates, but a lot of the time they just stayed in and spent time together watching TV or movies and playing the occasional board game. He’d offered to teach her how to play chess, and then had ended up buck ass naked when she told him she played a little and asked if he wanted to play strip-chess. She had more fun with him than she’d ever had with any of her past boyfriends. At first she’d worried about how much time they were spending together, worried they might get sick of each other, but if anything, their time together was homey and domestic.
Well, homey and domestic plus hot sex. It was a pretty great way to live. Everything about her life seemed easier and happier. Even stressful days at work weren’t so bad because she knew she was going home to Rick. Things would probably change a bit once school started and he went back to work at regular hours, but Maria wasn’t worried about it.
By the time they headed over to Adam’s for Liam and Hilary’s engagement party, Maria was feeling incredibly cheerful. The day had gone so well. Her family liked Rick and he liked her family, she hadn’t had to deal with Jeremy or Meg at all, and now she was going to go hang out with her new friends. It was a little daunting to know they’d all be there at once, but she’d seen a fair bit of them separately over the past couple of weeks. The girls had come in more than once to visit her during happy hour at work. She enjoyed having real friends, especially ones she could talk about the sexy stuff with.
“Hey guys!” Angel greeted them exuberantly at the door, pulling Maria into an immediate hug. “Come on in. Everyone else is already here.”
“Oops,” said Maria, apologetically. “My family’s barbecue ran a little longer than I expected.”
