Chapter One Hundred Seven

“Here you go” she handed the remote to Ava and turned to face the rest of the kids.  They had all spread out across the room and each had their own bowl of popcorn, drinks and a small plate of cookies.  “You guys all set?”

They all nodded and a chorus of “yea’s” rang out.  “Okay.  Just a couple things” she said.  “Michael, because he’s the oldest, is in charge.  Ava,” she turned to look at the girl, “you’re second in command.”

Stephanie’s niece Marissa spoke up.  “Why does she get to be in charge after Michael?”  They were the same age.

“Because she knows how to run all the gadgets in here and in the game room across the hall.”

“Oh.”  Marissa settled back in her seat somewhat mollified by her aunt’s reasoning.

“Little B,” Stephanie turned her attention to her youngest niece.

“What Aunt Steph?”  Her blue eyes were bright with excitement.

“The bathroom is right over there” she pointed to the partially closed door near the front of the room.  “Just in case you need it.”

“’Kay” the little girl responded with a sweet smile that showcased her dimples.  “Can we watch the movie now?”

“Sure, sweetie.”  She headed for the door and Ava pressed ‘play’ on the remote.  “We’ll be out back by the pool if you need us.”

She pulled the door closed and rested against it for a minute.  She was glad to have her family here, but man was it exhausting trying keep everyone entertained.

Stephanie headed back toward the kitchen and picked up the two plates of desserts she had put together earlier before stepping out onto the patio.  Her family was scattered around on chairs and chaises talking and having after dinner cocktails.  With the kids tucked away in the theater room, everyone was at ease and enjoying each other’s company.

It was a good way to end the day.

She moved away from the door and set the platters she was carrying on the nearest table.  “Anyone up for dessert?”  She had spent some time in the kitchen earlier and had made cookies, brownies and apple slices wrapped in pastry dough and baked into individual apple pie bites.

Richie came over and handed her the glass of wine he poured for her.  She had worked in the kitchen most of the day, making dinner, dessert and taking care of everyone else.  He wanted her to enjoy this time with her family, not spend it slaving away waiting on them.  “Why don’t you go sit down with your sister and sister-in-law and enjoy that wine?”  He pressed a kiss to her temple.  “You’re working too hard.”

She turned her head slightly and pressed her lips to his cheek.  “I just want to be sure everyone is doing okay.”

He laughed quietly and shook his head in disbelief.  “Have you looked around, sweetheart?”

She glanced around.  “Yeah, why?”

“Everyone is doing just fine.”  Her mom and dad were fully engaged in conversation with Joan.  Her sister and brother-in-law and brother and sister-in-law were having a healthy debate on God only knew what and the kids were having a ball in the theater room. 

“I know, but-”

He shushed her with a kiss.  “No buts.  You done good here, Sweetheart.  It’s time for you to enjoy the party now.”

She sighed.  He was right.  She raised on her toes and pressed her lips to his.  “Thanks.  Why don’t we take one of these trays and go see what my siblings are arguing about.”  She picked up one dessert laden tray and together headed across the patio.

She no sooner sat down when Jess grabbed her left hand.  “Is there something you need to tell us?”  She had been eyeballing her sister’s hand since she noticed the new sparkling addition to the ring finger at dinner.

“Um, I got a new ring?”  She answered sarcastically.

Jess looked over at Richie, “she’s a laugh a minute, isn’t she?”  Before he could say anything she turned her attention back to Stephanie.  “Come on, are you guys getting married or what?”

Conversations around the table and between her parents and Richie’s mom came to a screeching halt at Jess’s question.

Stephanie nearly choked on her wine.  “No” she sputtered and coughed.  “We’re not getting married.”  Richie came to stand behind her and rubbed her back.  She looked up at him, “are we?”

He shook his head, “no.  But we are committed to each other.  That’s what the ring is about.  Neither one of us is quite ready for the m-word just yet” he explained.  Although he was closer to being ready than she was, he was sure of it.

“Oh, well” Jess started before taking a sip of her wine.  “Congratulations.”  She squeezed Stephanie’s hand.  “Just be happy” she looked up at Richie, “and you,” she pointed at him “you take good care of her.”

Richie nodded, loving the fierce protectiveness Jess had for her sister.  “You can count on that, darlin’.”

Stephanie finished her wine, “okay, this conversation has gotten entirely too serious.  You guys all have swim suits?  The pool is heated and the hot tub is a party waiting to happen.”

~

Stephanie and Richie were still chuckling quietly as they closed their bedroom door behind them.  The evening had been full of fun and laughter after the semi-seriousness of the whole let-me-see-your-new-ring-and-are-you-getting-married conversation. 

“I really like your family, Sweetheart” Richie said as he dropped his damp towel in the hamper.  “You sister, man, she could go head to head with David in a smart ass contest.”

Stephanie laughed, “yeah, she has no filter.  Never has.”  She headed toward the bathroom even as her hands fumbled with the tie on her bikini top. 

Stepping behind her, Richie’s fingers nudged hers from the stubborn knot the tie had become.  “Let do that” he murmured. 

She watched him in the mirror as his long, dexterous fingers untangled the knot and unhooked the back of her suit top.  It fluttered to the floor and he lowered his mouth to her shoulder.  She shuddered under the butterfly light touch of his lips to her skin.  Her nipples hardened and goose bumps bloomed under his light caress.  She closed her eyes and dropped her head forward as his mouth moved across her nape.   When she felt his hands slip down her sides to the edge of her bikini bottom she opened her eyes and found his in the mirror. 

His eyes had darkened to nearly black and he didn’t ask, he just held her gaze and pushed her bikini bottoms down her thighs.  His fingers glided back up the inside of her thigh and his chuckle was husky with want when those fingers skimmed the edge of her lips and came away wet.  “I’m not asking” he growled quietly in her ear.  “I’m just gonna take you tonight, darlin’.”  He didn’t want to give her the chance to change her mind or just flat out tell him no.  The door was closed, they were in their own bathroom.  He wasn’t going to stop now.

His fingers found her clit and all she could do was nod in agreement.  She gripped the edge of the counter and widened her stance, giving him more room.  His fingers continued their dance on that sensitive bundle of nerves and two fingers from his other hand slid into her from behind.  He was everywhere and she was nearly ready to scream.  When his lips skimmed across her shoulder again, she whimpered.  “Come on darlin’, I know you can do better than that” he taunted.  “I want to hear you” he nipped her ear lobe and pinched her clit.  Her knees nearly buckled and she came with a not-so-quiet groan.  She pushed back against him, wanting the hardness that had been pressing against her ass, inside her. 

Before she could fully get her legs back under her, she heard the rip of velcro and felt the slight breeze of his shorts falling to the floor.  His hands were back on her hips and he pulled her closer, impaling her with a quick thrust.  He hissed at the feeling of her clasping tight around him.  If he could just stay buried inside her like this forever, he could die a very happy man.  Then she rolled her hips.  And fiery fingers of release raced up his legs. He pumped his hips, and reached around to slide his fingers across her clit again and encountered hers.  “That’s right darlin’, play with that pretty clit and come with me.”  He pumped his hips harder and his hand slipped up to cup her breast, pinching her nipple.  She cried out as she came, tightening around him, pulling him along with her, draining him of everything.

Chapter One Hundred Six

Richie sank down into the hot tub and surveyed his handiwork.  He had lit a fire in the small chiminea near the hot tub and the candle glow from the rock/table on his right mixed with the soft glow from the solar lights scattered around the back yard.  Her wine and wineglass sat in wait.  Now, if his girl would just get her ass out her, everything would be perfect.  He leaned back and let the pulsing jet massage his back as he took a sip of his near beer.  It wasn’t anywhere near as good as a real beer, but it would do.  He sighed and rolled his shoulders.  They had had a rough few weeks but things seemed to be evening out.  Still no baby yet, but he wasn’t going to give up after only a few weeks.  He wasn’t going to let Stephanie get down about it either.  And with her family and his mother coming for the holiday, she would be distracted enough not to worry about it.   He hoped.

He turned to set his bottle back on the table and stopped.  She was standing in the doorway.  “I was beginning to think you were gonna stand me up.”  He tracked her movement across the patio.  Watching as she slipped off her little cover up robe and pulled a hair tie from her wrist.  He reached over to the table again and picked up his phone and quickly snapped a picture of her as she pulled her hair up.  God, she was beautiful. 

“Never.”  She finished getting her hair into a messy knot on top of her head and she noticed the flash from his phone.  “Did you just take my picture?”

He manipulated the phone and looked at the picture.  The soft glow of candle light played over her skin and you could just see her profile as her hands slid into all that glorious hair.  He quickly made it the new wallpaper on his home screen.  “Yeah, I did.”  He glanced at the phone again, “you wanna see it?”

She stepped closer to where he was sitting in the hot tub.  “Just tell my all my chins weren’t noticeable and my stomach isn’t hanging over the top of my bathing suit.”

He held out his hand and helped her down the steps and into the tub.  “You only have one chin and” he tugged her around to stand in front of him, his fingers grazing the slight bulge of her belly. “Your stomach is fine.”  He turned the phone so she could see the picture.  “You’re beautiful and I couldn’t help but take your picture.”

She took the phone from his hand, taking a good look at the picture before setting it back on the rock/table.  It really wasn’t all that bad.  “You’re pretty good with that phone camera” she told him as she maneuvered herself around to sit next to him.  She looked around the tub, gauging where the jets were.  She floated over to sit across from him and the jet massaged her lower back.  She groaned out her relief as the jet eased her aching muscles.  “That feels soooo good.”

She had finished up her last project with Habitat for the holidays and had spent the bulk of the day getting ready for her family and Richie’s mom to arrive.  They all would land at LAX tomorrow for the Thanksgiving holiday.  And Richie’s mom was staying through until Christmas. 

“Here, Sweetheart” he held a glass of wine up in front of her.  “You look like you could use a little of this.”

She gave him a grateful smile.  “Thanks, babe.  This” she waved her free hand around the setting he had created, “it’s wonderful.  Just what I needed.”

He toasted her with hit nearly empty bottle, “what we both needed before the invasion tomorrow.”

Leaving the massaging jet, she resettled herself next to Richie and laid her head on his shoulder.  “Thank you.”

He drained his bottle and set it back on the rock/table before turning and pressing a kiss to her head.  “For what?”

She raised her head and sipped her wine.  “For opening your home to my family for the holiday.”  She wasn’t going home for Christmas this year, she was going to Hawaii with Richie and Ava so she had asked if her family could come out for Thanksgiving.  He had readily agreed and had even offered to fly them all out for her.  She hadn’t let him do that because she had planned on doing it herself.  So after a flurry of phone calls and emails, everyone was coming and they were going to need a convoy to get everyone from the airport back to the house.

“Our home” he corrected her.  He still couldn’t get her to think of this as her home for some reason. 

She looked around, it was still hard for her to believe sometimes that she lived in this huge, beautiful house.  She looked up at him and pressed her lips to his.  “Our home” she conceded.  She finished off her wine and moved to straddle him so she could set her glass on the little table.  She wiggled her hips a little and settled against him.  She smirked knowingly when he pressed his hips up against hers.  “Want something?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight against him.  “What do you think?”

She rocked against him, “I think we’d better get our freak on tonight before the troops descend on us tomorrow.”

He raised a disbelieving eyebrow, “what are you saying?”  He feared he knew what was going to come out of her mouth next.

“There is no way I’m having sex with you with your mother and my parents under the same roof as us.”

His fingers dipped into the back of her suit and slipped down to stroke the top of the crack of her ass.  “You do realize that our room has a door that locks, right?”

She squirmed against him, “I know, but-”

Before she could finish her answer, his hands changed direction and slid up her back, unhooking and untying her top.  He dropped the scrap of material and gazed down at her.  Her nipples were hard, straining points under his gaze in the cool night air.  With every intention of changing her mind he dipped his head and took one of those tight tips into his mouth.

She rolled her hips against him.  Whatever she had been going to say was forgotten once his mouth was on her.  She gripped his shoulders, her short nails digging into his skin as he shifted his attention to her other breast.  Her hips moved against him, pressing harder, searching for that friction that would send her spiraling.

His hand slid to her hips, slowing her movement.  “Darlin’” he murmured.

She shifted, trying to break his hold.  She was so damn close.  “Hmmm?”

His grip tightened and he drew his mouth from her skin.  “Darlin’ stop.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him, “you want me to stop?” she nearly whined.

He knew she was right on the edge of orgasm and fuck if he wasn’t going to be inside her when she came.  He eased her off his lap and his fingers hooked into the silver links that crossed her hips, “just for a minute” he told her as he pushed her suit bottoms down her thighs.

She reached out and palmed his erection through his swim trunks before letting her fingers wander up to the string holding the shorts closed.  She made quick work of the bow and his trunks floated off to join her bathing suit on other side of the hot tub.  She reached for him again, trailing her fingers down the hard length of him, slipping lower to cup his tight balls before making the return trip up his length to gently squeeze the tip. 

He hissed out his pleasure and gently pulled her hand from him.  “Come here” he breathed as he stepped back and sat on the edge of seat.  He pulled her over him and groaned in relief when she straddled him and took him completely inside her.  He gripped her hips as she rode him.  There was no way he was going to give this up while their families were here.  His gaze locked on her hers, she was as close to bliss as he was.  His grip on her turned bruising and he pumped his hips up to meet hers.  Water sloshed over the edge of the tub and their groans of satisfaction rang in the air as they came together. 

She relaxed into him, her head resting on his shoulder with him still buried inside her.  She pressed her lips to the side of his neck.  “Always so damn good” she whispered.

He banded his arm around her waist, holding her to him, wanting to stay inside her as long as possible.  “You still wanna put a moratorium on sex while our families are here?”

A husky, sated laugh was her only reply.