by Nikki Bloom
I giggled and patted her back as I tried to keep my balance and hold the flowers away from her. “I've been doing very well and life is good! How have you been, Alyssa? I haven't seen you in what, eight years now?”
She pulled away and beamed at me. “I've been good! I graduated from college early and got my degree in Graphic Design! Starting next month I will be working for a highly respected company in LA. I'm very excited and a little nervous to be away from home. But Kit has a restaurant there and he visits pretty often, so I'll be okay.”
“I'm so proud of you! I'll have to come and visit you when you get settled in and you can show me around!” I gushed as she looped her arm through mine and led me further into the apartment, sticking her tongue out at Kit childishly.
Alyssa and I caught up for a while as everyone mingled; those of us who were old enough drank wine and I snuck Alyssa a glass with a wink. She smirked at me and we laughed when Kit looked over at us with a questioning expression. It had been nice to catch up with her, and it made me realize just how much I'd missed being close to her. Alyssa may have been six years younger than me, but she and I had very similar interests and attitudes about a lot of things that made up for it.
“Oh, by the way, where did you get your tattoos done? They're beautiful,” she asked me as we sat down to dinner later in the evening.
I looked at the sunflower over my wrist and smiled at her. “I got them done in Chicago. A friend of mine from college asked if she could practice on me and I trusted her so I agreed. She actually moved to LA after graduation; I could probably hook you up with her if you're looking to get some done.”
“That would be great! I've been saving up for my first and I finally have the money. But I've been too scared to book an appointment with anyone because I don't want to have a botched tattoo for the rest of my life.”
“Oh?” I inquired, raising an eyebrow at her. “What are you getting done?”
She flushed sheepishly. “It's sort of cliché, I guess. But I have a whole floral sleeve planned for my left arm. Mostly roses and, funny enough, sunflowers. I want to start on my left hand and work my way up to my shoulder. And I'm going to break it up with some bands and shapes.”
I waved my hand at her dismissively. “It isn't cliché at all! Honestly, it is going to look great on you, I know it. I've been thinking about getting another couple of tattoos done myself, but I haven't had the money. The only reason I have so many is because of Bridget.”
“Maybe we can get tattoos together when you visit me in LA,” she suggested excitedly. “It could be a whole girls’ day. We'll go out to lunch beforehand, then afterward we can get our nails done or something!”
“I'd love that,” I told her and looked toward Kit when I felt his hand on my thigh under the table. He smiled at me fondly before returning to his own conversation with his mom.
We ate dinner and spoke casually for a while, enjoying each other's company and the delicious food Kit had prepared for us. I learned that it was his mother's favorite meal and it gave my heart a little sentimental squeeze to find out that's why he’d made it. Something about knowing Kit was so family-oriented made him all the more attractive to me, and I caught myself swooning over the fact as I listened to him speaking with his parents about the restaurant.
“Besides a recent mishap with one of my servers, business is going well. Acacia is not only my beautiful girlfriend but one of the most respected cooks. My kitchen manager is constantly telling me what a great job she is doing,” he casually said before taking a bite of his salad.
Kit's brother Jake smirked at him. “On a different topic, you two would have beautiful babies. Acacia's eyes, your dark hair and skin tone, and her freckles. You'd better buy a baseball bat now; you're gonna need it if you have girls.”
His other brother Quinton mimicked Jake's smirk. “Oh, absolutely! And imagine all of the cute outfits that Mom is going to get for them. Every day is going to be a mini baby photoshoot at casa de Harrison.”
I flushed deeply as they spoke of us having children, and when I looked over at Kit he was trying not to smile. But before I could react to that, he casually stood up, walked around the table, and smacked both of them upside the head playfully.
“No, seriously, when is the wedding?” Quinton egged on once Kit had returned to his seat.
My blush deepened at the thought of marrying Kit – something I had daydreamed about quite a bit growing up. Isn't it a little early to talk about getting married though? Even if I could see myself marrying Kit, I don't want to scare him away by seeming enthusiastic about it, I thought as they teased each other.
I caught Emily's gaze and she smiled fondly with a wink.
“You two are going to get me into trouble,” Kit said and chuckled.
Jake winked cheekily as he bit into a breadstick. “All's fair in love and war, bro. Don't you remember what you said when we found out that Alison was pregnant? I believe you told mom to 'go all out' on the grandmother stuff.”
I smiled warmly at Jake. “You're going to be a father?”
He looked at me proudly. “In a couple of weeks, yeah. We're having a little girl, and to quote my wife: 'I'm so ready for this kid to be out of me already!,’” he rehearsed fondly.
“Congratulations! Where is your wife tonight?” I inquired, taking a drink.
He frowned softly. “She is on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy, so her sister drove into town to be with her until the baby is born.”
“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that,” I told him softly.
He smiled at me and waved his hand dismissively. “It's okay! She sends her love and I told her I'd bring her leftovers to make up for it.”
Emily stood up and cleared her throat once we'd finished speaking, raising her glass with a smile. “I'd like to make a toast to Acacia, the wonderful young woman who has made my Kit very happy. Seeing you again after so many years has been such a blessing and I hope to see a lot more of you in the future, my dear. Please, don't be a stranger.”
I beamed at her as we rose our glasses to her. “You can count on it, Emily. I'm going to be around so much you'll get sick of seeing me. Maybe next family dinner I can cook you a family recipe my dad always makes. He says it's a Canadian delicacy and I don't think he'd forgive me if I didn't make it,” I said on a laugh.
For the millionth time that night, I felt my face heat up as Kit and his family cheered, 'To Acacia!' and we rose our glasses once more. I felt accepted and appreciated by his family, and it made me think that it might be time for me to tell my own family about our relationship. Even if telling Patrick was terrifying, Kit and I were starting to get quite serious. He needs to know, I reminded myself as we drank.
17
Kit
“I think that went very well,” Acacia opined, walking into the kitchen where I'd begun doing dishes. “You were definitely right about Alyssa being excited to see me again; she wants to grab lunch sometime this week so we can have some alone time together.”
Turning the water off, I turned around and wrapped my arms around her. “I told you my family was excited, and honestly, I'm worried Alyssa is going to try and steal all of your attention from me. At least until she moves to LA.”
Acacia giggled as she wrapped her arms around me. “She could never steal all of my attention away from you. How could I spend even a single day away from that handsome face of yours?”
I smiled at her and brushed the lock of hair from her face. “I feel the same about your beautiful face and your captivating body. That dress was an excellent choice for dinner, but now I'm thinking it would look better on the floor.”
She smirked at me, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, really now? Well, why don't you help me out? The zipper on the back can be a little tricky.”
I grabbed her hips and turned her around, running my fingertips along her shoulders until I reached the zipper. She shivered when I pulled down on it, and I smirked confidently.
It went halfway down her bac
k, revealing that she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath and I took that opportunity to snake my hands into the front of her dress. The warmth of her bare breasts in my palms was appealing as I gently squeezed them, bringing Acacia's back against me.
“Why don't we take this to the bedroom?” she whispered softly.
I ran my hands under the straps of her dress and slowly slid it off her body as I kissed the back of her neck and shoulders. “I don't know if I can wait that long to get my hands on you, sweetheart.”
She shivered sensually as I ran my hand down her stomach and dove into her panties. I ran my middle finger against her wetness, dipping inside and swirling it around as she squirmed.
“It was incredibly sexy watching you bond with my family tonight,” I whispered in her ear, taunting the bundle of nerves at the apex of her core. “I had a very hard time not dragging you into that bedroom and showing you how much it meant to me.”
“Show me now, Kit,” Acacia moaned softly and she rubbed herself against my hardness as I continued to taunt her.
I chuckled erotically into her ear and flipped her around to face me. “Slow down, sweetheart. Tonight, I want to take things slower, more intimately. I'm very serious about you, Acacia, and I hope after tonight, you realize it, too.”
She grabbed my face and smiled at me affectionately. “I'm very serious about you, too, Kit. In fact, I'm going to tell my family about you, very soon. And I think you should be there for it.”
“It's a date,” I agreed, kissing her sweetly.
She smirked when we parted and stepped out of my arms. “No more talking. I want you immediately. Right here.”
I ran my hands down her torso to her thighs and grabbed the hem of her dress, lifting it over her body. She was bare to me, save for the thin, tiny fabric of her black thong and black stilettos. I drank in the sight as she hooked her fingers into the straps of her panties and pulled them down.
Impatience tugged at me as I grabbed her hips and lifted her onto the counter, spreading her legs with my body as I came to stand between them. And I smirked when Acacia quickly pulled my tee-shirt over my head, her eyes narrowing lustfully as she took in my bare chest.
Her lips turned up in a seductive smile as I undid my jeans and pulled my hardness from within. She wrapped her slender hand around my shaft and stroked as I left heated kisses along her chest. I could hear her breathing hitch when my lips grazed the sensitive nub of her nipple and coaxed her further with my teeth.
When she tried to position herself against my erection, I pulled away and sank to my knees. Acacia made eye contact with me as I pulled her hips forward to the edge of the counter and spread her legs to give myself full access to her. And when I lapped my tongue along her labia slowly, Acacia leaned back against the countertop with a pleasant sigh.
I devoured her in slowly building flicks of my tongue, tracing every contour of her labia, circling the bundle of nerves at the apex of her core, and dipping my tongue inside to taste her. Her vulnerable moans and panting coaxed my best effort out, and I gripped her thighs tightly when she tried to close them. She squirmed and tangled her fingers in my hair as she writhed in the pleasure.
And only when I knew she couldn't take anymore did I finally come up for air, quickly entering her with my throbbing hardness. She captured my lips hungrily and wrapped her legs around my waist eagerly as I thrust into her.
Acacia's whipped her hand around, swiping the container of flour off the counter and sending it clattering to the ground, spilling flour as we laughed. She moaned as my thrusts got rougher and hungrier as her walls clenched around me as she laughed, and I gripped her hips tightly. Her lips traveled down my neck and she left soft bites along my collar bone as her nails dug into the flesh of my shoulders, and her legs kept me close.
“Take me to the bedroom,” she demanded, looking at me with dilated and lustful eyes.
I obeyed her, stepping away from the counter with her legs tightly wrapped around me and my hands under her ass for support. She continued to leave heated kisses on my skin, the tip of her tongue tracing haphazard patterns up to my ear where she gently bit down on my ear lobe.
Once we were in our bed, Acacia quickly flipped us over, eagerly moving her hips as she rode me. I admired the way her breasts bounced and her lips parted slightly as she moaned. The intimacy and the eroticism of watching her let go made it incredibly difficult not to say those three words I had felt for years. But I wanted to make it perfect, to say ‘I love you’ in the right setting. So I bit my tongue and enjoyed being intimate with her.
I grabbed her hips and thrust into her movements when the pleasure built to a level that made me feel uncontrollable. Her eager hips faltered when I tried to take control, and I flipped her onto her back.
Acacia's legs found their way around my waist again and she rocked into my thrusts as I quickened them, her eyes lustful yet soft as she gazed up at me. I captured her hands and pinned them to the bed as I leaned down to kiss her passionately. She kept squeezing my hands tightly as each thrust brought both of us closer to the climax we desperately desired.
“Don't stop,” she moaned vulnerably as I slowed my pace down for fear that I'd finish too quickly. “I'm so close, Kit.”
Her words fueled the fire inside of me and I eagerly pushed her to the edge, groaning when her walls contracted around me and I reached the climax I had been pushing down for a while. Her gasping and loud moans echoed through the bedroom as she squeezed my hands tightly and kept me in with her legs.
I rolled to the side, panting and sweating alongside Acacia, smiling at her as she looked at me fondly. She smiled warmly as she straightened her shaking legs and then laughed softly.
“Oh, wow. I completely forgot that I was still wearing these,” she said as she sat up to take them off.
I caressed the softness of her back and smirked. “It was sexy, sweetheart. Maybe you should forget about them more often.”
She looked back at me with a sheepish smile. “But what if I hurt you with them?”
I laughed. “No pain, no gain, sweetheart.”
Rolling her eyes, Acacia lay across my chest. “If you say so, baby.”
I smoothed her sex-crazed hair, kissing her forehead affectionately, and then her lips when she turned her head up to meet mine. Her body felt warm in my arms as we kissed for a long moment, the occasional feeling of her racing heart against my chest a comfort in the after-sex glow.
18
Acacia
I had been in a deep slumber, wrapped up in Kit's arms, when suddenly I lurched from bed and bolted for the bathroom. Once the door slammed behind me, I emptied my stomach into the toilet bowl and gagged on the stomach acid. As I knelt in front of the toilet, gasping and dry heaving, I heard a knock on the door.
“Acacia? Are you okay?” Kit's voice carried through, concerned.
“I'm fine!” I croaked as I breathed deeply and tried not to focus on the wild waves of nausea rolling through my stomach.
A few moments went by and I vomited again, gripping the toilet seat heavily as my body heaved and my nose ran.
“I'm coming in,” Kit announced as the door cracked open.
I tried to protest, only to be stopped by another round of stomach acid.
He dropped to the floor next to me and gathered the stray hair from around my shoulders, rubbing my back soothingly with his other hand.
I groaned softly once I had finally stopped, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand sheepishly as I looked at him.
“What's wrong, sweetheart?” he asked, running his thumbs over my cheeks to clear the tears.
I sank to the floor against the bathtub and looked at him with tired eyes. “I think I might have eaten something bad. Or maybe I'm getting the cold that went around work last week,” I lied, as I did the mental math for my last period.
He looked at me sympathetically as he rubbed my thigh softly. “Do you want me to make you some chicken noodle soup?”
I ignored his qu
estion and furrowed my brows. “What's today?”
“Monday, the nineteenth,” he answered, tilting his head to the side. “Why?”
Two weeks late, I realized and tried not to look concerned as I thought of a lie to go back to my parents' house.
“I completely forgot that I'm supposed to help my parents today,” I said, standing on shaky legs with his help. “Can you drive me? I'll ride this sickness out there and come back tomorrow, okay?”
He put his wrist to my forehead and frowned. “You do feel a little warm. Are you sure you don't want to stay? I can take care of you, sweetheart.”
I smiled at him weakly. “I don't want you to see me like this, not yet anyway. We've only been dating a few months now, and I'd like you to still be attracted to me once I'm healthy again.”
He pursed his lips and looked like he might argue with me, but then sighed softly. “Okay, I'll drive you back to your parents' house. But please don't be afraid to let me take care of you, sweetheart.”
I touched his face softly and smiled. “I know, baby. Maybe next time, okay?”
The car ride to my parents' house was somewhat stale as Kit kept his hand firmly on my thigh, and I continued to stare out the window absently. I was a complete wreck as I thought about the possibility that I was pregnant and what it would do to our relationship.
We haven't been together for very long and I didn't want to be one of those girls who gets pregnant before they're married and have a steady career. And what if Kit isn't ready to be a father? What if he decides to leave me? Would I even want to keep the baby? I worried as we pulled onto my street.
I had been in my head for so long, when Kit pulled to a stop in front of my parents' house and put the car in park, I was startled to hear his voice.
“Are you sure you're okay, sweetheart?” he asked, squeezing my thigh.