Sara's Unyielding Lover (The Lovers Series) (10 page)

An hour and a half later
Sara’s bedroom set had been unloaded and was almost completely set up; now all
she needed was a mattress. She could pop into a store really quick today;
hopefully get a next day delivery. The auction movers had arrived in the midst
of her bedroom set being moved in. For a few minutes she had a parade of
furniture and men going in and out of her house. She started worrying about her
carpet, Eric was right it’s gonna be a bitch to keep the white carpet clean.
Sitting at her new table Sara was enjoying a glass of Jamaica waiting for the
guys to finish.

They came into the
dining room side by side laughing at whatever they were saying.

“Done baby it looks
great in your room, the canopy was a bitch but we handled it.” Eric said
proudly with a cocky smile.

Rising up onto her feet
Sara went to the kitchen to open the frig and offer them a drink.

“You guys must be
thirsty after all that work, can I get you something to drink? I have juice,
Jamaica and mineral water.”

Gio answered before Eric
could “Uh no thanks Sara I still got Juan sitting in the truck; I should go so
he can get home. He normally doesn’t work on Sundays either.” As he was talking
Gio was slowly making his way toward the living room and front door, gesturing
with his thumb as if Juan was standing behind him.

“Oh” Sara piped out “We
also have 4 bottles of Dos XX from yesterday.”

That got Gio’s attention
he stopped in his tracks. “Dos XX huh, well Juan’s probably thirsty from
sitting in that hot truck so I’ll text him to come in for a beer.”

Sara watched Gio pull
out his phone to text Juan, smiling to herself at the thought that men always
stop for beer. She pulled 3 of the 4 beers from the frig and set them on the
counter; grabbing her tigger magnet bottle opener off the frig door to open
them. Eric watched Sara open the beers for them and he wondered why she had a
tigger magnet bottle opener at her age with no children or nieces or nephews? She
didn’t have any other cartoonish stuff or knick-knacks around so he knew it
meant something; he would ask her about it later.

Sara stretch her arm out
to hand Eric his beer but when he grabbed the beer he got her hand to and
didn’t let go; no he pulled her into his embrace. Snuggling into the crook of
her neck placing little kisses he spoke in a hushed tone.

“Now we just need to get
you a mattress so we can break it in.”

What was he doing, was
he purposely trying to embarrass her and make her blush. He relinquished his
hold just enough for her to stand next to him with his arm holding her around
her waist, allowing him to take a drink from his beer. Three minutes after Gio
texted Juan there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it it’s
probably Juan.” Gio offered raising his hand like he was back in school
volunteering for a project.

Gio was gone all of two
minutes before he was back with an older Mexican man who compared to Gio and
Eric was short but he was still taller than her small frame. Gio made
introductions; with his hand gesturing from Juan to Sara and from Sara to Juan.
“Sara this is one of our junior managers from Poway. Juan this is Sara Eric’s
uhmmm his...his friend.” He finally sputtered out. Juan stuck out his hand to
shake Sara’s in greeting.

“Nice to have meeting
you.” He spoke with a very heavy Spanish accent.

Taking Juan’s proffered
hand Sara returned his greeting.

 
“Very nice meeting you Juan, Gio said
you normally have Sundays off; thanks for taking time out of your day off to
help. I really appreciate it.”

Handing out the other
two beers, they all stood around the island making benign chit chat. Gio tried
to ask as many questions as he could without sounding like he was interrogating
her. He asked about where she worked if she liked it, where she was from, her
family and when he could he would fit in a question about her marriage and ex-husband.
He was trying to get a feel for her, because there had to be something really extraordinary
about her for Eric to fall so hard and do a complete 180 on his view of
relationships and women. And basically overnight. And whenever he started to
push a topic to much Eric would shoot him a back the fuck off look so he’d
change the subject and talk about himself or he’d bring Juan into the
conversation asking him a question.

By the time their beers
and conversation were done Gio had changed his assumption of her. She was a
good person he’d even go as far to say that she was guileless or unspoiled. The
way she looked when she talked about her family you could tell she really loves
them. When she spoke of her cousin Jen she would laugh or roll her eyes,
hearing stories about her craziness made him curious to meet her. When she
talked about her mom her eyes sparkled and with her father her eyes would
shimmer as thou holding back tears.

Gio set his empty beer
bottle on the counter top, reached into his pocket to pull out his cell to
check the time.

“Well, Sara thanks for
the beer but it’s a little past three and my mom is probably having a
conniption fit. I told her I’d be a little late, but any longer and I’ll get
the wooden spoon.” Gio laughed as he spoke thinking of his mom and her wooden
spoon.

“Oh I’m sorry Gio I
didn’t mean to keep you here so long, I’d hate for you to get in trouble over
me.” Sara’s eyebrows pinched together in concern as she spoke.

Eric cut in to ease
Sara’s concern placing a little kiss on her temple he informed her.

“Don’t worry about it
baby, we’re doing Gio a favor.” Eric saw the confusion on Sara’s face and
continued “He always goes to his mom’s on Sundays but this Sunday she sorta
tried to play match maker and invited a blind date for him.” Eric started to
laugh making it hard to finish what he was saying. “She’s the daughter of a
woman from his mom’s new book club; so actually we’re helping him.”

Sara covered her mouth
to try and hide her snickering, but you could tell by the shine in her eyes and
the movement in her shoulders she was laughing at him. She cleared her throat
and tried to school her face before she faced Gio.

“I’ve never been on a
blind date so I can’t sympathize with you but I’m glad I could help you
procrastinate and hide from your mommy.” She could barely finish her little
taunt with her laughter burbling out. Eric and Juan both joined in the
laughter. Eric was also smiling at the fact that his little purring kitten had
claws, he was happy that Sara felt comfortable enough to tease his cousin.

“Ha Ha Ha.” Gio
sarcastically replied, just as he finished his mocking laugh he had a very
devious thought.

“You know Sara you guys
could actually help me out some more.” Leaving his bait in the air he waited.

Sara’s laughter dying
down curious and eager to help she asked. “I’d love to help, what can I do?”

Eric catching on to what
his cousin was doing broke into their conversation. “Oh no no no no no no no not
happening cuz I have plans for us tonight.”

Sara jumped right back
in. “What are you saying no to? What help do you want Gio?”

“Gio” Eric said his name
in warning but that didn’t stop him. He ignored Eric and kept talking to Sara
like they hadn’t been interrupted. Hands in his pockets toeing the carpet with
his shoe, he was laying it on as thick as he could. “Well it would take a lot
of pressure of me if you two join us at the family dinner tonight, My aunt
Nadia, Eric’s mom will be there, my younger brother and sister too.”

Sara turned to look at
Eric, she knew it was ridiculous they had only met yesterday but she felt a
little hurt that Eric wouldn’t want to take her to meet his family. Eric knew
right away he had messed up; he saw the hurt she tried to hide etched on her
face and her eyes slightly shuttered. She had taken his adamant no the wrong
way, her words confirmed what he was thinking.

“You don’t want me to
meet your family?” She was trying to control the tone of her voice when she
spoke but Eric heard the emotion in it. Eric casted an evil eye at his cousin,
who was smiling at him with Sara’s back turned. He stepped closer to her, held
her face in his hands so that she’d look at him when he talked.

“Baby, it’s not that I
don’t want you to meet them; I just had this whole day planned out for us.
After stopping at my house to change, we’d take an hour or so and look for a
mattress and then I was going to take you to Old Town. I wanted to show you
some sites and I know you like antique things, the shops down there always have
fun and quirky stuff so I thought we’d shop. I wanted to take you to my
favorite restaurant there. And then take you out for ice cream as dessert. I
wanted to surprise you with it all.”

He leaned in and kissed
her once, twice and then a third time waiting for her lips to move and respond
to his. Having her full attention he went on in a low serious voice for only
her to hear.

“I told you. You. Are. Mine.”
His voice rose and emphasized when he said mine. “The minute you said yes and
took me in, you became mine, only mine. I’m not going to hide you from my
family. I was thinking of taking you to meet my mom this coming up weekend. I
know I’ve been kinda pushy and that I’ve overwhelmed you already, so I didn’t want
there to be so much that it frightened you away.”

Juan had discreetly
turned his back on the couple giving them privacy by looking out the kitchen
window. Gio watched in awe as he saw with his own eyes the profound feelings
Eric had for Sara. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he spoke to Gio about an
instant bond and connection between them.

Eric went on. “If you
want to meet them today then we will I just want you happy baby.”

At hearing Eric’s words
her whole attitude and mood changed. He had said it again, that she was his and
she liked hearing him say it. It gave her hope that maybe his feelings were as
strong as hers. She raised her hand caressed his check then his lips and with
an excited smile announced. “I want to meet your family.” Eric’s answer was
simple. “Ok baby” he kissed her again then met his cousin’s eyes. “We need to
stop by my place so I can change. Juan.” The older man immediately turned
hearing his name. “Si” He answered simply.

“Thanks a lot for
helping today I’m gonna put a little extra in your check for helping.” Eric saw
Juan open his mouth to interject about the extra money. Juan was a polite man
and good worker always helping out when he could. Eric raised his hand in a
stop motion and cut Juan off before he could speak.

“Don’t give me any lip
about the extra money it’s your day off and you’ve been helping for hours. Just
go ahead and head back to Poway in the truck. After dinner tonight I’ll drop
Gio off at the store to pick up his car.” His piece said and plans made, he
told Sara to get her purse and keys. He made sure he had everything he brought
with him and they all walked out to the parking lot together.

After stopping at a Serta
mattress store and ordering her bed they stopped by Eric’s house so he could
change, then headed for Gio’s mom’s house. Sara was a little disappointed, she
had wanted to go inside his house and look around; but he had said he would be
two minutes and to wait in the truck. His house looked nice from the outside.
It was stucco in a tan color his roof matched but was a shade or two darker.
His lawn was cut and green well kept, a stone paved walk way ran up to his
front door. He had a two car garage and lots of windows.

It only took 15 minutes
to get to Gio’s mom’s house. She lived in a gated community where all the
houses looked just like each other. All stucco all nondescript. As they pulled
up to the curb Sara became very anxious. Now sitting outside the house she was
starting to think that this was maybe not a good idea. Eric noticed Sara
becoming uncomfortable; she was fidgeting in her seat and biting her lip. As
soon as they parked he turned the engine off, reached for Sara’s hand and
pulled it to his lips. He wanted reassure her.

“Baby if you’ve changed
your mind we can leave Gio here and still go to Old Town.” He patiently waited
for her response. Sara took in a deep steadying breath. So much had happened in
the last 48 hours; almost like they crammed months of dating and emotions into
hours. Her mind was whirling, she felt like she was on a roller coaster ride.
Going fast not knowing what twist or turn was coming next. But she had willing
jumped on that roller coaster. Nothing left to do but ride it to the end. Sara
turned so that her upper body was toward Eric; with a nervous smile she
answered him.

“No. I want to meet your
family. Just a little over whelmed you know.”

Gio picked that moment
to throw his two cents in. “If anyone should be nervous it’s me, remember I got
a blind date waiting in there and because my mom’s there I can’t make up an
excuse and bail if it’s a disaster.” Gio then opened the truck door and got out
heading up the walk way.

“Come on baby let’s go
in.” Opening their doors they got out and follow Gio into the house. Apparently
having entered the house first Gio had told everyone there that Eric had
brought someone. So as they entered the house they were converged upon. After all
the introductions were made they all went into the living room. Dinner wasn’t quite
ready yet. So as they sat the Q and A began. They asked all the normal questions,
how’d you meet, where did she work etc.

Everyone was polite and
nice, well Gio’s brother Matt might have been a little too nice. He kept
smiling at Sara and flirting in a subtle way. Making comments after she
answered a question like when asked if she liked her work, she answered yes and
she was happy she could handle the pressure of such a high paced job. Matt made
the comment “I bet you’re good at handling lots of things” and then he winked.
His subtle flirting wasn’t so subtle to Eric or Gio, where Gio just watched on
smiling, Eric put a possessive arm around Sara’s waist and pulled her as close
to him as possible without her being on his lap; giving Matt an evil glare that
if looks could kill Matt wouldn’t just be dead he’d be a pile of ash.

When dinner was ready
they all went into the dining room, Eric made sure to seat them as far away as
the table would allow from Matt. Eric’s aunt Sofia and his mom Nadia made what
she assumed was a traditional Mexican dinner. There was rice, beans, tortillas,
guacamole, salsa, some kind of white cheese she had never had before called queso
fresco and carne asada, which is thinly cut steaks grilled perfectly. It was
all delicious, everything was going great apart from the blind date, which just
as Gio called it was a disaster. She was nice enough, pretty, her name was
Jasmine, she was a medical transcriptionist and they had absolutely nothing in
common. Plus Gio’s mom Sofia kept trying to force a conversation between them.

At one point in the
night Sara had almost choked on her food trying not to laugh. Sofia had brought
up the topic of the new book she was reading Jasmine had commented that she
loved reading and asked an irritated Gio what book he read last. How Gio had
answered her with a straight face she don’t know; but he told her that the last
book he read was in high school and the last thing he read had a center fold in
it. That earned him a good kick under the table from Sofia. To say that the
conversation between them was strained after that comment was an
understatement.

Eric’s mom Nadia was one
of the sweetest people Sara had ever met. She was a very soft spoken woman a
peace maker whenever it got too tense on a certain topic she’d change it or
make a joke. You could tell by looking at her that she was related to Eric,
their eyes had the same shape and thick lashes only her eyes were brown. Their
skin tone was very much the same, but she was short right around her height
maybe an inch or so taller; Eric must have gotten his height from his father.

Now where Nadia was
quiet Sofia was the total opposite. Even thou they looked pretty much like
twins with just some small differences; like Sofia’s hair had a touch more
gray, her face was a little longer than Nadia’s
 
and she was taller. She was a very vibrant person, when
talking her voice was always the loudest, she had an opinion on everything and
even thou her kids were all grown and in their late 20’s early 30’s you could
tell she still ruled over them. Why else would Gio keep subjecting himself to
these blind dates?

Dinner and dessert done
we said our goodbye’s; Nadia actually hugged her and then gave her hands a
squeeze before they left. Gio got Matt to agree to take him to get his car so
that they wouldn’t have to zig zag and backtrack through town. Eric held her
hand the whole ride home, bringing it to his lips for a kiss every so often. It
was a quiet ride home but not in the bad way quiet but a companionable silence.
When they got to her apartment he parked in a visitor’s spot. The time on the
dash read 8:34 not late but she did need to get a decent amount of sleep; she
was going to have a busy day tomorrow. Without a word Eric turns off the truck
and gets out, he walked around up to Sara’s door and opened it for her.

Hand and hand they walked
to her apartment. Almost at her door Eric broke the silence. “Baby, I hope you
had a good time tonight.”

Swinging their hands
staring at the cement walkway her voice noticeably bright she answered. “I had
a great time, Gio was funny, but I feel bad for Jasmine he was kinda rude to
her.”

Eric laughed “Yeah he
was.” Then his face hardened as he continued. “Matt was out of line too, little
shit I almost stood up to punch him.”

Sara snickered. “Oh Eric
it was just a little flirting.”

They reached her door;
before she could take out her keys he pushed her against the door trapping her
in the circle of his arms. Leaning in close enough for them to exchange their
breaths he let her know how it was.

“Little or not he was
flirting with what’s mine. Family or not if he comes close to you or flirts
again I’m going to teach him what happens when someone messes with what’s
mine.” His voice was low and ominous, his face had taking on a hard appearance
and if it was possible she would have sworn his eyes darkened. Her breathing sped
up her breaths shallowed, was she scared, was she feeling fear; no she was
aroused. He kept saying she was his and she really liked it but she wanted to
know exactly how she was his. Gathering all the courage she locked eyes with
him an asked. After all no risk no reward right?

“How am I yours? Am I
your girlfriend? Are we a couple? And what if I don’t want to be yours?” She
did her best to keep her voice steady and nonchalant her body relaxed and in a
natural stance but she wavered at the end.

Eric’s hardened face
relaxed just enough for the one side of his lips to curl up in a knowing grin. She
tried but she couldn’t fool him; she acted like the questions she asked were no
big deal but her eyes showed her self-consciousness and thou she tried to keep
her body casual, she couldn’t stop fidgeting with her purse. That little space
between their faces evaporated as he came down nose to nose with her.

“Baby like I told you,
you became mine when you said yes and took me inside that sweet warm pussy of
yours and when I say mine I mean that in every way.” As they stood there their
gazes locked there was a silent conversation that pasted between them. “Now
open this door and I’ll show you.” With his piece said he stood to his full
height and let down his arms.