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The Moores were fawning over Barry so intently that they didn’t even notice when Xolani left the kitchen to take his bag upstairs to her room.
Clearly, her family was made up of rabid Barry fans.
Sometimes, Xolani even felt like they loved him more than they loved her. But she didn’t mind.
Barry deserved every morsel of love that he got. He treated her family like they were his own. When her dad had had a health scare, Barry visited him in the hospital every day and even spent a few nights with him. Stanley now considered him a second son and often invited him to sports’ events that he and Xolani were attending (Camryn wasn’t into sports).
Barry and Camryn’s relationship was also enviable. The two had become so close that Camryn now considered Barry his confidant. Most of the time, Barry knew what was going on in Camryn’s life before Xolani.
Her mother and grandmother had gotten close to him too. Ever since they’d discovered his cooking expertise, he was their go-to person for recipe creation and taste-testing. That was great for Xolani because she no longer had to spend her holidays dodging her mother’s valiant attempts to make a chef out of her.
As for Barry’s biological family… well, they’d made several appearances.
It was always to ask for money.
Barry had gotten much better at saying ‘no’, but he often felt guilty about it afterward. Xolani always reminded him that it was okay not to want to be treated like an emotionless ATM. If his family wanted his help, then they needed to realize that came with strings attached. They had to first treat him like a member of the family.
His older sister, Siobhan, seemed to have learned the lesson. Nowadays, she called him just to say hi. She had even emailed him pictures of her family and talked to Xolani on the phone. It wasn’t much… but it was a great start.
Hopefully, the rest of his family would follow suit soon.
But meanwhile, she and her family were here for him. They loved him like he was their own.
“What are you thinking about?” Barry asked as he came up behind her. She hadn’t even heard him coming into the bedroom.
“Nothing much.” Xolani smiled when his arms came around her waist and his chest pressed into her back. Staring out the window, she said, “I’m just enjoying watching the snow fall.”
“I thought you were a summer girl.” He lightly nipped the side of her neck with his teeth. “Isn’t that why you won’t marry me until then?”
“Ow!” She spun in his arms while rubbing her neck. “What was that for?”
“Punishment.” He bent to press a fast hard kiss to her lips. “For making me wait to see you in a wedding dress.”
She protested, “I thought we said we’d table the discussion until after Christmas.”
“Hey, you can’t blame a guy for wanting to make you his wife sooner rather than later.” He smiled boyishly. “You’re too fine, and these streets are filled with predators.”
She wanted to be angry at him for pressuring her, but that smile turned her insides into jelly.
“The only predator I see here is you,” she scolded even as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Maybe I should use some of that predation to drag you to the altar.” Barry pulled her even closer until her body was plastered to his.
She should’ve reprimanded for trying to use his manly charms on her, but being this close to him immediately trashed her ability to think clearly. Now that the only layers between their upper bodies were their shirts, she felt every inch of his firm muscular body pressing into hers. Her senses lit up at the intimate contact, and her breasts swelled.
She lifted up to tiptoes until her breath whispered against his lips. “Maybe you should.”
He captured her lips so fast, it took her breath away. What followed was a fiery kiss that almost scorched the clothes off of her. He stoked the fires within her until it felt like she was burning from the inside. She needed him to cool her down. No, she needed more, more, more heat.
“No, no, no.” Barry captured her hands when she went for the buttons of his plaid shirt.
“Why?” she whined, her lips still swollen from the kissing.
He reminded her, “We’re in your parents’ house.”
“So?” She asked. But a second later, reason swooped in. “Ah!” She disentangled herself from him then moved towards the door. “I’ll lock the door.”
“Locking the door won’t change anything.” He said, “I’m not doing it with your parents’ downstairs.”
