Not Looking for Love: A Cowboy Romance (19 page)

He pulled out of her and walked to the bathroom. When he came back he paused by one of his suitcases, the one that sat on one of the two luggage racks off to the side, and pulled something out. It was small and long and wrapped in Christmas paper.

“Here.” He extended his hand.

She sat up, tucking the sheet around her body and tilted her head. “It’s not Christmas yet.”

“I know,” he said as he climbed back into bed. “I have more for you to open then.”

She took it from him and gingerly unwrapped the pretty gold and white plaid paper, then stared at the Tiffany blue case. The last thing he bought her from Tiffany’s was the Tiffany blue sunglasses with the diamond keys on the temples he gave her a couple of years ago. She treasured those and even brought them with her on this trip. She gave him a quick look and then opened the case.

“Oh, it’s beautiful, Richie.” She was staring at platinum open heart pendant with pavé diamonds, attached to a platinum chain. She looked back up to him. “You shouldn’t have.”

“As soon as I saw it I thought of you.” He removed the necklace from the box. “Turn.”

She did as he asked and he clipped it around her neck. She turned back around.

“Beautiful,” he said. Then he kissed her as he brought her back down on the bed, and removed the sheet that was wrapped around her.

Normally, Richie would have ordered room service for breakfast for the two of them, like he’d always done when they spent time in a hotel, but that day, they were to meet up with his family in the restaurant on the premises for breakfast.

He held the door to the restaurant open for a trembling Kara and let out a little laugh. “I’m not used to seeing you so nervous like this. Relax.”

With big doe eyes, she nodded.

He guided them over to the side of the door in order to let a large family pass, and brought his lips down to hers. It took longer than he intended but he wouldn’t let go until he felt her physically relax.

He pulled back. “There.” He gave her a warm smile. Then he held her hand as he walked up to the hostess desk and graciously exchanged greetings and asked the two ladies how their families were. Both ladies had been working there for over eight years. He kept Kara’s hand in his, and without waiting to be escorted he walked her over to the automatic doors that led to the outdoor dining area.

The patio overlooked the beautiful blue-green water of the Caribbean. There was quite a bit of activity on the deck with diners coming and going. The sound of birds chirping got Kara’s attention. She witnessed a tropical mockingbird dip its head into a half empty orange juice glass at a table that looked to had just been vacated. A Bananaquit landed on that same table, the little gray and yellow bird chirping away. She scanned the area and saw a couple sitting at a large table by the back of the patio. He walked her in that direction.

An older version of Richie with a full head of dark-brown hair, a patch of gray by the temples, rose up when he saw them. The pretty woman next to him looked up to them and smiled. Her blonde hair swept up in a neat pile on the top of her head. Her graceful neck showed off a gold and diamond choker, which her yellow sundress complimented.

“Mom.” Richie leaned over the table and gave the woman a kiss on her cheek. He straightened up and hugged his father. They exchanged a few words before Richie turned around and introduced Kara.

“Kara, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Richard Warren II said to her as he extended his hand.

“Thank you. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” She turned to Richie’s mom. “Mrs. Warren.” She extended her hand.

“Please call me Bella,” she said as she took Kara’s hand.

“Bella.” Kara nodded.

“When did you get in?” Richie addressed his father.

“Around midnight. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“How was Monaco?”

“Oh, it was beautiful. We met up with the Glassmans and sailed around for the two weeks,” Bella said. “Louis asked for you.”

“Louis was there?”

“Yes. He brought his new wife.”

“He got married again?”

Both his mom and dad chuckled and nodded.

Richie turned to Kara. “My parents were at Prince Albert’s wedding earlier this year.”

“Grace Kelly’s son?” She turned from him to his mother.

Bella nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh, my G—”

“Bella! What a surprise!”

Everyone looked to the source. Kara and Richie turned around to see Rachel racing over to the group. Without acknowledging anyone she moved to stand next to Bella and bent down to give her a hug.

Richie turned to Kara and rolled his eyes, and Kara slightly shrugged. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving.” He leaned into her and whispered. “You gave me some workout this morning.” He chuckled.

She smiled at him as she let him drag her to the breakfast selections.

When they got back to the table, he introduced her to his aunt and uncle who were now sitting on the same side as his mom and dad. Rachel had taken up residence next to his mom. He sat Kara down opposite his aunt Lucille and was just about to sit opposite his Uncle Ted.

“Oh, Richie, before you sit, can you get me one of those kale smoothies?” Rachel asked.

“Uh, my omelet will get cold.” He quickly looked from her to his plate as he sat down and began talking with his aunt.

Kara laughed to herself as she looked to her own plate and picked up her fork. The nerve of that woman, especially since her hair was impeccable while her own hair was up in a ponytail, the humidity wreaking havoc. Rachel’s eyes were dramatically made up, while she was still wiping sleep from her own. And that loud noise coming from Rachel’s mouth was distracting from the beautiful sounds of the native birds except for that one Carib Grackle that was on the railing nearby. In fact, Kara amended her thought, the blackbird had a much better sound than what was coming out of Rachel’s mouth. She managed to tune her out when Richie introduced her to Will’s wife, Bridgette and his beautiful four year old twin girls.

Kara panicked when Richie got up. Her eyes grew wide and she grabbed his arm.

“”I’ll be right back. I’m going to get a bowl of oatmeal. Want anything?” he asked her.

“No, thank you.” Just looking into his eyes eased her anxiety and she removed her hand and she nodded once.

He brought a hand up to her face and caressed it. “I’ll be right back,” he said with a smile.

She nodded and smiled.

“So, Kara, is this your first time in Aruba?”

Kara looked up to Richie’s father. “No, I was here for a weekend once about four years ago.”

“How do you like it?”

“It’s beauti—Ahhh!” She jumped when she spotted something scooting by her feet.

She realized it grew quiet and she looked back up from her feet to see everyone staring at her. “Lizard.” She shrugged and chuckled as she felt her face redden.

Everyone laughed. Richie’s father looked to the little blue lizard as it raced across the deck to an even bigger green lizard. “They’re harmless and all over the island, you’ll get used to them.

She nodded.

“Was that you?” Richie chuckled. “I heard you from all the way inside by the crepe station.” He sat down with a steaming bowl of oatmeal and a plate of blueberry crepes.

“She saw a lizard and freaked out,” Rachel said, staring at the necklace around Kara’s neck.

“Don’t worry, they’re harmless,” Richie said.

Kara looked away from Rachel, wanting to put her hand up to her necklace but willed herself not to, and looked to Richie. “I’m not scared. I’ve seen them before. I just wasn’t expecting it, is all.”

He threw his arm around her and pulled her in close and gave her a quick kiss. Kara peered over at Rachel, who watched the exchange with tight lips and quickly turned to Bella to ask her a question when she saw Kara watching her.

During the remainder of the breakfast the men talked about their upcoming fishing trip the next day, Christmas Eve. Richie had already explained to Kara that the men go fishing every Christmas Eve and add their catch to the other fish they’ll eat for dinner that night.

Kara sipped her coffee and listened. At one point Richie leaned back and turned to Kara. “Ready?”

She nodded as he pushed his chair out and extended his hand to her. “We’ll see you later, Kara and I are going jet skiing.”

Kara lay in bed a while longer after Richie left to go fishing, reliving the day before. After jet skiing Richie did a little wind surfing while Kara tried paddle boarding. She laughed to herself when she thought about the few times she fell off before she got the hang of it. That night they had shared an intimate dinner in their room and she presented him with two more wrapped presents. She got a kick out of his face when he unwrapped the one he chose. His eyes wiggled as he looked to her and he cooed ‘Oh, yeah’. In his hands was a package with three clamps attached to three chains connected to a metal ring. It took him less than a moment to realize that two clamps go on her nipples and the third one goes on her clit. He tore it open on his way to the bathroom to wash them.

The clamps were adjustable. He started out on the lightest tension when he clipped them on her nipples as he kissed her all over her body. When his tongue flicked her clit he looked up to see her tightening the clamps. After he flicked and sucked her clit till it was big and she was on the verge, he placed the last clamp on it. She let out a scream but quickly a moan had followed along with a little shudder.

He sat back on his haunches as he continued to play with her, dipping a finger inside her as he pulled on the chain and she screamed some more.

“You seem to know your way around these,” Kara had said before she let out a low moan.

He had looked up from her clitoris. “There was a girl, Paris, and—“

“A summer?” she asked on another moan.

He chuckled. “Two weeks.” He leaned in and kissed her breasts as he pumped his fingers inside her. His cock was hard, and his balls were starting to ache. He wasted no time in entering her. The two of them moved like jumping beans, slamming into each other as he tugged on the chain, and the moans and filth coming out of both of their mouths was enough to make a porn star blush. They didn’t last as long as they both wanted to, and when they both caught their breaths, Richie removed the clamps, kissing the areas to ease the pain.

“This is a keeper,” he had said as he got up to go to the bathroom. He went back to bed and they fell asleep within minutes, very satisfied and wrapped in each other’s arms.

She finally got up, showered and dressed, then headed down to the gym for a yoga class and then to a scheduled appointment at the salon for a blowout.

The salon was busy. There were three cutting stations on one wall and on the flip side of that wall were three more, with entranceways on both ends of the wall. To the left of the cutting stations were three sinks. Kara had just finished getting her hair washed and as she sat up while the washer was towel drying her hair she heard women talking.

“Don’t worry. Richie only likes them blonde and dumb for a good time. I should have mentioned you were coming again this year. He never would have brought that bimbo.”

Kara looked to the source of the voice. It was Fiona.

“I know. Did you see that necklace on her? It looks like a Richie special,” Rachel had said. The two girls cackled.

“Nina will style, Ms. Storm. Please follow me to chair,” the hair washer said, in an accent as she placed a clean, dry towel around Kara’s shoulders.

Kara looked to her and shook her head. She rose up and without saying a word, removed the towel from her shoulders and dropped it on the chair she just vacated, and walked, well, more like ran, out of the salon.

Both Fiona and Rachel grinned to each other when they saw Kara get up and run out of there.

“Fiona, I’m surprised at you. And you,” Bella addressed Rachel. “How dare you? You know nothing of my son, nor what he chooses to give women. For your information, he has been dating that girl for over three years and she means a hell of a lot more to him than being some bimbo, which I can assure you she is not.” Bella was furious at these two. She had seen Kara take a seat at the washing station as she was getting highlights done and knew she heard what the girls had said before running out of there.

Rachel’s face dropped, she was speechless.

“Aunt Bella, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were there.”

Bella did a double take. “It’s not about me. You knew that girl was here and could hear you.” She looked to Rachel. “Your true colors show, dear. Put the claws back in. You have no chance with my son.” She turned and walked back to her chair on the other side of the wall, and her stylist continued to remove the foils from her hair. If it wasn’t the crucial stage in the highlighting process, she would have gone after Kara. She would look for her as soon as she was done here.

Though she had just met Kara, she knew her son was seeing her for a few years now. For him to stick with her all this time meant she was special to him. Would it lead to anything? She couldn’t say, but anyone he showed interest in she would do her best to get to know.

“Aunt Bella, I’ll go talk to Kara and apologize to her when I’m done here,” Fiona said as she stuck her head around the wall.

Bella looked up from the magazine she was thumbing through without even seeing the pages. “You do that.” She dropped her head back down.