“We’re going to make a trip up to Michigan in the spring,” Maria said. “I’m just dying to get my hands on Emma’s baby, and meet her new husband too, of course.”
“If you come, be prepared to meet the whole family,” Damian teased. “Once my mom gets wind of it, you’re guaranteed to get a dinner invitation.”
Maria smiled warmly. “I would love that.”
The four of them enjoyed the food, the drinks (beer for the men, wine for the women), and the gorgeous ocean views while Maria and Frank kept the conversation flowing. Damian participated sporadically, in his usual fashion, but Kelly could tell that he was at ease, and she was happy with that.
“Well, Frank, I think we should let these two enjoy some of the beautiful Florida sunshine while we go home and start preparing for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner,” Maria said, signaling an end to the luncheon.
“What she really means is that I get to take a nap while she does all the work,” Frank teased.
“She still doesn’t let you into the kitchen, Dad?”
“Nope. Not that I mind. Your mother is an excellent cook, so I just stay out of her way!”
“I wish I would have inherited Mom’s cooking skills,” Kelly lamented.
“Yeah, me too,” Damian said drily.
Frank patted him on the back and said, “There’s always take-out, son.”
Everyone laughed, but Kelly was distracted by the term “son.” It had slipped out of her dad’s mouth so casually that Damian didn’t appear to notice, but she did. Kelly took it as a good sign and decided to ignore their teasing about her lack of culinary skills. They walked her parents out to the hotel lobby, where they said their goodbyes. Once again, Maria hugged Damian and said, “We’re so glad you’re here.”
Frank gave Damian another firm handshake and said, “See you tomorrow,” and off they went.
After they had driven away, Kelly turned to Damian and said, “Last one in the pool is a rotten egg!”
Chapter 32
After a refreshing swim, they lounged poolside, Kelly in her red bikini and a big floppy sunhat, and Damian in his black board shorts and dark sunglasses. They had brought their books out with them, but neither of them could concentrate. Damian kept trailing his fingertip down Kelly’s arm, and she kept giving him sly sideways glances. Every time either of them moved an inch, the other one looked over, and Kelly wondered how much longer this game would last.
“Want to take a walk on the beach?” she suggested, searching for a distraction.
“Maybe later,” he replied while pretending to be engrossed in his book.
“Want to go upstairs and get naked?”
He slammed the book shut without marking his place, stood up, and started gathering their things. “Finally!”
“Well, you could have asked me, you know!” Kelly huffed as they hurried into the hotel.
“Sometimes I like it when you initiate sex,” Damian said, tapping the elevator button impatiently.
“What are you talking about? I initiate sex all the time.”
Thankfully, they were the only two in the elevator on the way up to their floor. “Princess, is arguing your idea of foreplay?”
She couldn’t help it. She had to laugh. “You can be so infuriating sometimes!”
“Yet you love me anyway.”
“Yes, I do,” she conceded.
The second the door closed behind them, Damian backed her up to the bed. He was about to untie her bikini top, but she stopped him. “Damian? Sweetie? Can we please turn off the air conditioner and crack open the patio door? I’m still wet, and it’s freezing in here.”
Damian glanced down at her nipples as if he needed proof of her complaint. Satisfied, he did as she asked and returned to find that she had already untied the top for him. In fact, she had removed it completely and stood there in just her bottoms, waiting for his next move. When he just stood there, transfixed, she put her hands on the drawstring of his shorts and untied them. She slipped one hand inside and gripped him tightly, causing him to emit a groan.
His hands went to her bare breasts, and he caressed and teased them until she felt the heat between her legs. “Let’s get you out of these wet bottoms,” he said, his voice ragged and breathy.
“You too,” she whispered.
They hurriedly removed their bottoms and tossed them aside before tumbling onto the bed. Kelly was reminded of their time spent at the cabin when they were hidden away from the world in their own private cocoon. She wanted to savor the moment, and Damian seemed to be of the same mind as he lazily trailed his hand up and down the length of her body.
“I love your body, Kell. So soft, so curvy, so sweet.”
“Um-hmm. I love your body too, for being the exact opposite.” Her hand floated over his muscular pecs and abs before reaching his hard, swollen manhood.
“So, what’s the opposite of sweet?” he teased as he watched her stroke him.
“I would have to say…salty. But let me check.” With that, Kelly shimmied herself down his body until her head was even with his pelvis. Damian moaned when she took him deep in her mouth and sucked. When she released him, she said, “Yep. Definitely salty.”
“My turn,” he said and patted the pillow where he wanted her to lay her head. He nudged her legs apart with his hands and bent his head in between them.
Oh boy, she thought, looking around frantically for something to hold onto. She grabbed the empty pillow next to her and held on for dear life as Damian plunged into her with his tongue. He licked, and lapped, and nibbled until she was writhing beneath him and bucking her hips off the bed. I hope the people next door are out to dinner, she thought as she was getting close to the edge.
Damian popped his head up and said, “Pillow.”
It’s amazing how we communicate with so few words, she mused and then pulled the pillow over her mouth to muffle her cries.
Once her tremors had subsided, Damian lifted his head up and smiled proudly. He then licked his lips thoroughly and said, “Yep. Still sweet.”
“I’ll show you sweet. But first—condom.”
Damian scrambled off the bed, rifled through his toiletries bag, and came up with a condom. Once he was sheathed, she patted the space next to her.
“You drivin’?” he asked.
“Oh yeah.” She climbed on top of him and made quite a show of inserting him to the hilt. There was no talking after that, unless one-word demands counted.
“Harder…faster…yes,” Damian grunted as she rode him like an experienced cowgirl on her favorite steed. At the end, he clutched her hips hard and shouted, “I love you!”
I hope the neighbors are still out to dinner, Kelly thought again while she watched Damian reach his climax, and then she collapsed onto his chest.
A few minutes later, after Damian had cleaned himself up and returned to bed, he pulled her to his side and kissed her gently, almost reverently.
“Whatcha thinkin’?’ she said as he pushed the hair back from her face.
“I’m thinking about how good it is between us every single time.”
“It is, isn’t it? Why do you think that is?”
“I think it’s because you’re such a generous and loving person, and not just in bed.”
Kelly beamed at him and then traced the outline of his handsome face with her fingertips. “Funny. I think the same thing about you.”
“Don’t tell anyone,” he teased.
She giggled. “I promise to let everyone go on thinking that you’re big, bad Damian. Even though…the people who really know you believe otherwise.”
“You bring out the best in me, Kell.”
“And sometimes the worst too,” she added.
He chuckled. “Even when we argue, I still love you. I never stop loving you.”
Kelly’s stomach growled loudly in response. “Do you love me enough to take me out to dinner?”
Damian was already heaving himself off the bed. “I love you enough to take
you out for dinner and dessert.”
“I was thinking we could come back here for dessert,” she said and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“That’s my girl!”
Thanksgiving dinner was a quiet affair, the opposite of what it had been like the previous year at the Kostas’s house.
Kelly introduced Damian to her grandparents and one aunt and uncle (all from her mother’s side), along with her parents’ closest friends, John and Marsha, who lived a few doors down.
Her Latin American grandmother, Sofia, patted Damian’s cheeks and said, “Oh, such a handsome young man.” Damian muttered a “thank you” and blushed while Kelly tried to contain her laughter.
Her grandfather, Luis, shook Damian’s hand enthusiastically and said, “Greek? Italian?”
“Greek,” Damian replied.
“Ahh, it’s hard to tell, no?”
“Grandpa!” Kelly scolded, but he was already walking away.
Kelly’s Aunt Lucia was her mother’s youngest sister, and even though she was approaching fifty, she was still quite flirtatious. She held onto Damian’s hand just a little too long and practically batted her eyelashes at him. “Oh, if only I were twenty years younger…”
“Lucia! Behave,” scolded Maria.
Lucia’s husband, Rich, took it all in stride and shook Damian’s hand warmly. “You like football, Damian?”
“Absolutely.”
“Game’s on in the living room.”
Damian looked to Kelly for guidance, and she nodded her head. As soon as he left the kitchen, the women all began chattering at once.
“Marty will be so disappointed when I tell him that you’re off the market,” Marsha said as she carried some dishes to the table. Marsha had been trying for years to set Kelly up with her son, but Kelly had never been interested. He was a nice enough guy and decent looking, but there had been no chemistry between them whatsoever. Besides, he lived here in Florida, and Kelly lived in Michigan, so she rarely even saw him.
“Your babies will be so beautiful,” Lucia said while she stirred the gravy on the stove.
“When are you getting married?” Sofia said.
All heads popped up at once when Damian reentered the room.
“Um…excuse me, ladies. I just came in to grab a beer.”
Kelly hurriedly stuck her face in the refrigerator to avoid eye contact with him and came up with a beer. When she handed it to him, he smiled broadly. “Thank you, princess,” he said and sauntered out of the room.
Maria crossed her hands over her heart and said, “Oh, how sweet. He calls you princess.”
Kelly rolled her eyes and said, “Ok. That’s enough, everyone. Time to talk about something else.”
Damian was relaxed and attentive toward her throughout the rest of the afternoon. If he had overhead the conversation in the kitchen, he never let on. While Kelly helped her mom clean up after dinner, she heard him yelling at the football game along with the rest of the men. At one point, he came in the kitchen to grab another beer, and this time, he kissed her on the cheek. “Come and join us when you’re done,” he said sweetly.
Maria and Kelly were the only two left in the kitchen, since Maria had shooed the other women out. She hugged her daughter tightly and said, “I can see how much that man loves you.”
“I love him too, Mom.”
“I know, and I’m so happy for you.”
Kelly peered through the doorway to make sure that no one was coming, and then she said, “Damian’s going to buy a house in the spring, and he wants me to move in with him.”
Her mother didn’t flinch. “Oh. Well, that’s a good thing, right?”
“Yes, it is, but…”
“But what, sweetie? What are you worried about?”
Kelly peeked out again, and satisfied that they were alone, she continued. “There’s a part of me that wishes he would have asked me to marry him first.” There. Finally, she had shared what had been bothering her ever since Damian had shown her the house. She hadn’t realized that she was a traditionalist until he had asked her to move in with him. While she wanted to be with him always, she wanted them to commit to each other first—to truly commit to each other, in front of their families and before God. Kelly had been struggling with her revelation and was trying to decide how and when to tell Damian, but now she felt better just having shared it with her mom.
“Oh, sweetie,” her mom said and gathered her in for another hug. “Maybe he wants to take things slow.”
“But that’s just it. Damian and I don’t do slow. Our relationship has been full speed ahead since the beginning.”
“Well, then I think you need to tell him how you feel.”
“But I don’t want to pressure him into it.”
“Pressure me into what?” Damian asked, strolling back into the room.
Think quick, think quick! “Um…Dad wants to take you to see Gary’s truck tomorrow morning, but I didn’t want you to feel pressured into going.”
“Ha! That’s no pressure, Kell. Your dad and I have already talked about it. He’s picking me up at ten tomorrow morning.”
“Oh. Ok, then,” Kelly replied, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Terrific! While you two are gone, I’ll get to spend some more time with my daughter,” Maria said smoothly.
Shortly after that, Kelly and Maria served dessert in the living room and enjoyed it with the rest of the guests. When the football game ended, Kelly announced that she and Damian were leaving. “He promised me a walk on the beach,” she said to the room, and there was a collective “Ahh.” Everyone understood that the lovebirds wanted to be alone.
After a hearty round of goodbyes, some more pats on Damian’s cheeks from Sofia, and a wink from Lucia, they were out the door.
On the way back to their hotel, Kelly asked, “So, what did you think?”
“I think your Aunt Lucia’s a trip!”
Kelly giggled. “But did you have a good time?”
“Yes. Compared to my family gatherings, that was easy! I enjoyed myself.”
“Good,” Kelly said, turning her attention out the window.
“I am curious about one thing though.”
“What’s that?”
“All the whispering going on in the kitchen. What was all that about?”
Kelly kept her eyes trained out the window. “Oh, that. That was nothing,” she said dismissively, and she hoped like crazy that he believed her.
Chapter 33
While Damian was off with Frank the next day, Kelly and her mom went shopping in downtown Naples. It was Black Friday, but it was difficult for Kelly to get into the Christmas mood when it was eighty-five degrees out! She snapped a picture of herself and Maria in their shorts and sandals and sent it to Emma. A few minutes later, she received Emma’s response in the form of a picture of Gracie playing outside in the snow!
Kelly enjoyed the one-on-one time she got to spend with her mom as they meandered in and out of boutiques, behaving more like friends than mother and daughter. Kelly even bought a few racy pieces of lingerie that she knew Damian would love while Maria pretended to look the other way.
When it was nearing lunch time, Damian sent Kelly a text letting her know that he would be eating lunch with Frank and his friend Gary and that he’d meet up with her later at the hotel. Kelly tried not to feel disappointed (he was with her father after all!), but she couldn’t help it. Today was their last full day in Florida, and she wanted to enjoy the time with Damian as much as possible.
Maria suggested a popular gourmet hamburger restaurant for lunch, and they sat outside at a table with an umbrella so they could enjoy the breeze. Kelly giggled after the waiter had set down their heaping plates of hamburgers and fries.
“What’s so funny?” Maria asked.
“Oh, it’s just that before Damian, I dated someone who didn’t eat red meat,” Kelly replied.
“Well, that never would have worked,” said her mother.
Kelly la
ughed again. “I know! Damian and I are much better suited.”
Kelly and Maria had been operating under an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t talk about Damian today, but since she’d brought him up…
“So, when are you going to tell Damian how you feel about moving in with him?” Maria said.
“I don’t know for sure. Maybe tonight. Although it is our last night here, and I don’t want to ruin it.”
“Being honest with him shouldn’t ruin things, Kelly. Honesty is the cornerstone of a good relationship. Well, that and a few other things…”
“Mom! Are you talking about sex?”
“Shh…I might know some people around here,” she scolded, although she was fighting back a smile.
“Anyway, I’m just not sure how to bring up the topic of marriage without scaring him off. Damian was engaged once before, a long time ago, but he still bears the scar from it.”
If Maria was surprised, she didn’t show it. “You’ll figure it out, sweetie. Don’t worry. You might even discover that Damian is on the same page with you.”
“Hmm…we’ll see.”
Maria dropped Kelly off at the hotel in the middle of the afternoon, but Damian wasn’t there. He sent her another text stating that he and Frank were at a coffee shop talking and not to worry. Coffee shop? Damian? In the middle of a hot Florida afternoon? None of it made any sense, but Kelly figured that he was probably too polite to tell her dad that he wanted to get back to the hotel.
Since she had some time on her hands, Kelly decided that she might as well go for a swim. She donned her red bikini and a mesh cover-up, grabbed a towel, her book, and some sunglasses, and headed down to the pool. Kelly received more than a few admiring stares from some of the men lounging outside, but she barely noticed. She was too busy thinking about Damian and wondering what she might say to him later.
She settled into a lounge chair furthest away from the majority of the sunbathers and cracked open her latest romance novel. She immersed herself in the world of fiction for a while until she felt overheated, due in part to the sexy scenes she had just read, so she set down her book and then dived into the pool. Some of the same men who had taken notice of her before perked up and watched the dark-haired beauty in the red bikini swim laps across the pool.
Twice as Tempting Page 23