by Golden Angel
"Oh..." He seemed to think it over. Maria was glad that he wasn't just brushing off her concern, considering that it wasn't exactly a logical one. But she couldn't help feeling that things did go better for them outside of Stronghold. Both times they'd gone there some sort of problem had cropped up. Everything they'd done outside of there, things had been great. Last night, for example. They had incredible sex, showered, and then fallen asleep in each other's arms. Maria hadn't even missed her own bed, she liked being in Rick's too much. He grinned at her. "Well you know what they say, third time's the charm. And we don't have to do anything there, sometimes I go just to hang out with my friends - although obviously that isn't the only place we go to hang out."
She giggled. "I hope so... just, do you think we could wait a little bit longer?"
She wasn't sure what he would make of the request. This definitely wasn't a time she was trying to top from the bottom, she really just wanted to get more comfortable with the two of them and all this new sex stuff between them before going back to Stronghold. It wasn't like she had bad memories there really, it was just that the thought of going back made her feel anxious and not in the sexy way.
To her relief, Rick just smiled and reached across the table to hold her hand, his thumb caressing her skin. "Of course, sweetheart."
Chapter 21
Two weeks later, Rick found himself facing an interrogation of the like he'd never experienced before. He'd met dads, brothers, mothers, but nothing compared to having to meet three sisters all at once. Three younger sisters who had benefited from their older sister's mothering their entire lives and were absolutely determined to do just as good a job now that it was their turn to watch out for her.
Off to the side, Maria was watching as she chatted with her mom and one of their neighbors, her eyes twinkling at Rick over her sister Ava's head. Seeing her amusement almost made the interrogation worth it.
He wasn't quite sure when he would say they'd started dating, since they'd started to really get to know each other at the pool before he'd taken her to Stronghold, but he often found himself adding up all their time together in his head as being their relationship. So far they hadn't been back to Stronghold yet, but that was okay. They'd hung out with his friends - would be hanging out with them again tonight in fact, since Adam was throwing a little party at his place to celebrate Hilary and Liam's engagement. Adam had always enjoyed having people over, and now that he was with Angel, the parties tended to be even more well organized than they had been before. Today Maria had taken the full day off of work so that she could bring him to her parents' for an afternoon bbq before the party.
"So what have you been doing over the summer since you don't start at your new school until the fall?" Ava asked. Out of all of Maria's sisters, she was definitely the least resistant to being charmed by him. Jackie had obviously liked him right away, Lara had warmed up to him throughout the interrogation when he'd been willing to answer all of their questions with both patience and charm, all of which seemed to make Ava even more determined to ensure that someone was still giving him the third degree.
Not that he minded. He could tell that Maria's sisters all loved her and were just looking out for her, so he had no problem taking the time to set them all at ease. Although he did find it kind of amusing that their Dad hadn't seemed to feel the need to join in. They'd talked for a bit when Maria had first introduced them, and then the sisters had descended. Mr. Arias listened to Rick's answers for the first couple questions and then had given Rick a sympathetic look and strolled away. Rick had decided to take that as a good sign.
"I've been making extra money where I can, since I'm used to teaching summer school. A couple of my friends have needed help over the summer with their businesses, not enough to hire someone full time, but perfect for someone like me."
"What do your friends do?" Jackie asked, obviously curious. She'd said a couple of things that made Rick think Maria had spoken with at least one of her sisters fairly frankly about some of the things they did in the bedroom. Girls talked, he didn't mind that. Especially since she'd mostly hinted around the spanking thing, which had turned Maria a nice beet red, and that had been kind of fun to watch.
"My friend Adam owns a company that does head-hunting and temporary employment; he's the one I spend most of my time helping out around the office. I also help with paperwork at a friend's dojo and another friend's club. Sometimes I do manual labor for my friend Andrew, who has his own carpentry business." When he said manual labor, he grinned as all three sisters immediately looked at his biceps. Jackie and Lara were frankly admiring, Ava a little more grudgingly so.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Maria drifting over towards them and he immediately felt himself straightening in anticipation. The three sisters all turned their heads to see what he was looking at.
"Isn't that Jeremy over there?" Ava asked as she turned back. Rick glanced over and saw that a dark haired guy, probably about his age, had joined the conversation with Maria's mom and neighbor. Fairly attractive, but kind of a sleazy look to him. Or maybe it was just that the name was ringing a bell.
Lara giggled. "No wonder she's coming over here then, she can't stand him."
"You don't think it's just to save me?" Rick stage-whispered to her, making her giggle again.
"Well she might just feel uncomfortable with Jeremy," Ava said smugly. "He's got a thing for her." Her eyes glinted as she watched Rick's reaction, probably to see if she was finally getting a rise out of him.
Nope. While he might feel a bit more possessive than he had a second ago, Maria had mentioned Jeremy's name before, but only as the obnoxious best man in her sister's wedding party. Definitely not someone he was going to feel threatened by. After all, even if Ava was right and Jeremy did have a thing for Maria, Maria had a thing for Rick.
"Hey sweetheart," he said loudly, reaching out his arm to Maria and ignoring Ava. Maria grinned at him as she slid underneath his arm, wrapping her own around his waist. "Are you here to save me from your sisters?"
"Are you admitting that you need saving?" she asked, teasing.
"Only from Ava," he whispered into her ear, loudly enough that all three of her sisters would be able to hear. "I think I have the other two fooled."
Giggling, Maria elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted. Giving her a look, he slid his hand down to her waist and patted her bottom warningly. Unperturbed, she just smiled up at him.
Turning his attention back to her sisters, he noticed that Jackie was staring at his hand where it was on Maria's hip, fascinated. Neither Lara nor Ava seemed to have noticed though.
"He'll do," Ava said, giving him an amused look. Now that Maria was here she seemed to have dropped the animosity and was actually looking at them with approval. Guess he'd passed her test, although he had no idea exactly what had done it.
Maria's arrival seemed to indicate it was time to break up the interrogation and the sisters drifted away one by one, allowing him and Maria to wander and find their way into another conversation group. This one close to the food, which was good because Rick was starving.
******
Okay, so she was showing off Rick a little bit. Maria couldn't help it. She felt incredibly smug about proving to Jeremy that her boyfriend wasn't the least bit imaginary. Plus, Meg, an obnoxious and superficial brat that used to live across the street from Maria and was now home visiting her parents (and therefore unfortunately invited to the bbq) was practically drooling over Rick. But he had eyes for no one but Maria. The slender redhead looked like she was drowning in jealousy and Maria felt incredibly vindicated after having endured years of Meg's taunts about how she was fat.
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 embarras
sed. 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 that Barbara had been waiting for her to bring someone home that 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 that he’d immediately read Barbara’s personality so correctly.
"This one's a keeper," Barbara said to Maria and tipping 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 that 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 that he talked to. Maria’s mother had been very impressed, not to mention charmed to the point where Daniel complained that he was obviously no longer the favorite significant other of her daughters. Which, of course, Galio and Vincent had pretended fury at, insisting that Daniel had never been the favorite. She loved watching Rick interact with her family; he really fit in seamlessly, in a way that none of her previous boyfriends ever had.
They lingered to help clean up, Rick assisting her dad with the grill - a job that 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?"
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 that 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 that 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 Sunday though. They spent just as much time cuddling, talking, and just spending time together. She'd even started getting up a little earlier so that 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 hairy 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, 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 that 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 that 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 that 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 bbq ran a little longer than I expected."
"No worries," Angel reassured her breezily. "Trust me, this is a casual kind of thing. None of Adam's parties have a real start time. Olivia and Andrew have been here for hours. Come on, let me give you the tour."
Rick's hand on the small of Maria's back propelled her forward down the hall after Angel. Adam's house was gorgeous, all the rooms impeccably neat, except for one room that looked like a study converted into a sewing room for Angel's projects. Adam, Patrick and Jessica were in the kitchen, snacking on the food that was laid out on the counter. It looked delicious, but Maria was so not hungry yet, although she and R
ick each picked up a drink while they were there.
After that, Angel led the way downstairs to Adam's basement, and the obvious social center of the house. There was more food, as well as a huge television and a ton of video games.
"Hey guys! We're having a tournament, want in?" Chris asked, grinning as he glanced up from looking at the screen. He, Lexie, Liam and Hilary were all sitting on the floor with controllers in their hands and were focused on whatever they were playing. Olivia, Jared and Andrew were sitting on the huge sectional couch with them, along with three guys Maria didn't know.
Looking at the television, Maria blinked in surprise. "Is that Mario Kart?"
"Yeah, the version for the Wii," Andrew said, trying to distract Chris by putting his foot up near the other man's face and slowly bringing it closer. "It's the only game that Jessica and Hilary will play."
"It's the only game I'm not entirely terrible at," said Hilary cheerfully. "Oh no, no, no!" Her words belied her first statement as she wailed. "I hate Rainbow Road."
"Everybody hates Rainbow Road, honey-girl," her fiancé said, his voice filled with false sympathy. Hilary leaned over and knocked into him with her shoulder, sending the Yoshi on the screen careening off the edge of the road. "Hey!"
"Oops," she said, smirking at him. Everyone laughed, except for Chris and Lexie, they were too focused on their own characters.
"So you guys want in?" Chris asked again, focused on the screen. Going by the quadrant he seemed to be looking at, Maria guessed that he was Donkey Kong, which meant that Lexie was playing as Mario. Hilary was Princess Peach of course.
"Not me, thanks."
"I'm in," said Rick behind her. "Unless Sam's playing."
"I've been disallowed," said the skinniest of the three guys on the couch. He was dressed kind of nerdy fashionable, with skinny jeans, a striped green and orange shirt that was only a little loose on him, and thick glasses. "I'm just here to offer impartial judgments, when needed, and occasional advice."