Uncommon Emotions Part 19

"It wasn't that bad, and her family's different from you guys."

"You're saying she actually likes them?" Marco joked.

"What would that be like?" Dad quipped. He grabbed me for a hug and kissed my forehead. "Just a quick meet if she's not up to having us stay, okay? I barely got to speak to her when we first met, and it's a father's prerogative to get to know your special someone."

Well, that was unfair. Like I could deny his request now.

"Fine, but let me break it to her when she arrives. Give her a chance to bolt if she's not ready."

"Show me to the grill, Jos. The Q-master has arrived.

Phoeb, bring on the steaks," Marco mock ordered his wife, knowing she'd already done all the unloading of groceries.

The men in my life never thought I had enough food for them to consume, and they were usually right.

Ten minutes later, Raven arrived. I was at her car before it came to a complete stop. I opened the door for her and pulled her into my arms. "Hi, lovely."

"Hey, sweetheart, I've missed you." She kissed me with so much enthusiasm it practically erased the past three days absence. I wasn't sure how I'd make it two weeks away *171 from her. When she pulled back, she glanced over at the other vehicles in my driveway. "Don't tell me you've traded in your cla.s.sics for two pickups?"

"Actually, we have some company. Surprise company.

Uninvited company," I stressed.

"If I'm reading the logos right, seems like the surprise company might be related to you?" She referred to the S&V Construction label painted on the door panels.

"I'm sorry, honey, they just showed up. We usually have dinner together before I go on extended road trips."

I couldn't get a bead on all the emotions that skittered through her expression before she smiled like a trooper. "Do they know I'm coming to dinner?"

"I told them I already had dinner plans, yes. They're a little hard to chase off, but they won't stay long. I promise it won't be that bad." Well, it might just edge out a short stint in a Turkish prison anyway.

"I liked meeting them before. I'm sure this will be fun."

She released a long breath and pushed off toward the house, not waiting for me. Determination, one of my favorite of her traits.

When we made it out to the back porch, we found Marco fighting with Dad about how much salt should be added to the marinade. My brother and I were both worried about his high blood pressure, so we took turns nagging him about it.

"Break it up, guys. I'll pull this whole backyard over if you don't drop the salt and step away now, Dad."

Phoebe and Marco laughed at my threat. The salt shaker stayed suspended in the air until Dad made a grand show of setting it down and stepping partially behind Marco. "I don't remember her being this bossy when she was a kid.

Must be your influence," Dad accused Marco.

"I taught her every decent thing she knows," he boasted.

I rolled my eyes. "Raven, you remember my dad, Michael, and my brother, Marco?"

172*

"Of course, it's nice to see you both again."

"d.a.m.n glad to have a chance to get to know you, Raven." Dad pumped her hand with both of his. He scrutinized her blatantly, only partly because she was so gorgeous.

"Give her arm back, Michael." Marco stepped up to give her a much shorter version of the same handshake.

"And this is my sister-in-law, Phoebe Ventano. Phoebe, this is my girlfriend, Raven Malvolio."

I felt Raven go rigid beside me through the length of her arm touching mine. A short burst of sound came from her mouth as she swiveled her head from me to them and back to me. "You-you told them? A-about us?"

My family looked at me in surprised silence. I found myself just as shocked by her question. "Is that all right? I a.s.sumed that, since you told your family, it was okay to tell mine."

Raven's mouth trembled. She nodded her head and buried her face in my hair, clutching me to her. Silent s.h.i.+vers grew to soft sobs, and I could feel her trying to gain control.

I looked over at my family with the same dismay they showed me. Phoebe cracked an understanding smile.

"Thank G.o.d, another crier." The men chuckled at the idea that Phoebe, who was very sensitive outside of her job, would have a comrade in crying jags.

Raven tipped back, her cheeks flushed pink with embarra.s.sment, eyes still moist from her rush of emotions.

She gave me such a look of, well, if I had to guess: love. The realization made me dizzy and hopeful and serene all at once. "I'm sorry, I can't explain that away." She turned to face them. "I wasn't expecting this tonight. I didn't realize that Joslyn had told you. It's such a surprise."

"A good surprise, I hope, young lady?" Dad asked.

"The best, actually."

*173 "Good to hear. My Jos is a tremendous girl. She tells me you're special to her, which makes you special to us." Since Raven looked like she was going to crumble into tears again, Dad wrapped his big arms around her. G.o.d, I loved that man.

"And if you keep crying, Marco won't feel so ostracized every time he bursts into tears at a family gathering,"

Phoebe kidded, making everyone laugh.

"I'm sorry, it's very nice to meet you, Phoebe." Raven pulled back from the hug and shook Phoebe's hand. "I hope I haven't ruined the first impression."

"Don't be silly," Phoebe a.s.sured. "We're all so happy for Jos that she has you."

"It doesn't matter that I'm a woman?" Raven asked tentatively.

"You're smarter, kinder, and way better looking than the other people she's dated," Marco joked and got an elbow to the side from his wife.

"As long as Jos is happy, we're happy. From everything she's told us, you seem like a wonderful person. She deserves someone like you," Dad announced, and my own eyes misted up.

"Only one question remains." Marco turned serious enough to garner everyone's attention. "How do you like your steak prepared?"

"All my life I've been dealing with this loon." I jerked a thumb at him.

When I turned my grin to Raven, I saw that look again.

This time there was no mistaking the interpretation, and my heart took control of my conscious thoughts. Oh yeah, no more falling, I'm all the way in now.

Chapter 23.

"I know that was embarra.s.sing." Raven settled in beside me on the couch after we'd said goodnight to my family.

For a moment I wasn't sure what she meant. Then I remembered her teary reaction to the introduction of her as my girlfriend. I turned to face her, bringing a knee up on the couch. One of her hands immediately reached for my thigh, squeezing gently. I took her free hand in mine and brought it to my lips. "I believe you a.s.sured me that crying is nothing to be embarra.s.sed about." Brown eyes tracked the path of her hand, closing slowly as I pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. "Everything all right now?"

"You surprised me by telling them."

"Why wouldn't I tell them?"

Raven took what I'd come to recognize as her calming breaths before she spoke. "In grad school I got involved with someone who'd never been with a woman before. She seemed sincere, and I knew there was a risk that she'd consider it a college fling, but the relations.h.i.+p grew deeper than that. The only problem was that she wanted to keep everything completely private. She didn't even want me to tell my friends and certainly not my family." She glanced away, pain tightening her expression.

*175 "Months go by and she's still not telling anyone. That's when I realize she hasn't even admitted it to herself.

Coming out is difficult for almost everyone, but what we had should have been worth it." Her hand squeezed mine, but she kept her face turned toward the window. "I let this go on for another couple of months before I confronted her about not admitting that she was a lesbian. She denied being gay, and even worse, she said that what we were doing amounted to foreplay, so she couldn't be gay. She'd told me she'd be embarra.s.sed if people knew that we'd been together. It felt worse than betrayal because she'd rather continue to lie to herself and deny her feelings than accept our relations.h.i.+p and stay with me."

The straight woman that I'd overheard Dax mentioning, the one who'd hurt her. Burned her, more like. No wonder she had such a strong resolve to stay away from the same possibility. "That's horrible, Raven," I whispered, pulling on her chin to face me. "I'm sorry you were hurt so badly like that."

"Thank you. It wasn't an easy time to say the least."

"It couldn't have been." I leaned forward to kiss her cheek then brush her lips. I tilted back and caught her eyes.

"What made you think that I'd want to keep us a secret? I mean, we had your family over, and Ray even saw us together that first morning."

"The same morning that you wanted to get out of there before Kelly arrived," she added.

"Oh no, you thought that was because I didn't want anyone to know? Honey, I was thinking about you. You're Kelly's boss. I thought you might want to maintain some professionalism with her. I figured Ray might tell her eventually, but it wouldn't be the same as if Kelly'd run into us that morning. I was trying to save you from becoming the juiciest piece of office gossip."

176*

She smiled and shook her head in amazement. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I should have known it wouldn't be like that with you."

"That's why you wouldn't let me answer your nephew's question about me being your girlfriend? You thought I'd be uncomfortable?" She shrugged in response. "I'm honored to be your girlfriend. Every time you call me sweetheart I can't believe how lucky I am."

"I feel the same way." She brought her hand up to cup my face gently. "Until you introduced me as your girlfriend to your family, I didn't think it was possible to love you even more."

"What was that?" My heart erupted into a high paced clattering inside my chest. I leaned forward with a grin that threatened to spread to every cell in my body.

Raven's hand flew from my face to clamp over her mouth. Clearly, she hadn't meant to say that out loud, but her gorgeous mind worked through it quickly. The delighted expression I wore probably helped a bit. When she dropped her hand, she gave a silent laugh. "I think you heard me."

I wiggled my eyebrows and widened my grin. "You're madly, head over heels, hopelessly, desperately in love with me."

"Desperately may be going a little too far."

"But not by much, right?" I teased and watched her fight a telling smile. "I knew it!"

She laughed out loud this time. "What gave me away?"

"Oh, I don't know, you can't seem to keep your hands off me, you're always staring at me, you're bringing me home to meet your family." I ticked off each item with my fingers. "Or it might be because I recognize in you all the same things I'm feeling myself." Those tempting lips trembled again as she registered what I meant. "I love you, Raven."

*177 "I love you, too, Joslyn. I've wanted to tell you for so long, but I didn't want to scare you away."

"You can't scare me." For the first time in my life, I knew that was true.

"Your last relations.h.i.+p lasted six months and you weren't in love. I didn't want to rush you."

"I already told you, you're not like anyone I've ever known," I a.s.sured her. "I must have been waiting for you to come along before I could feel everything that you make me feel. I don't care how long it's been, I know I'm in love with you."

"Desperately?" A sly grin inched her mouth wide.

"Well..." I kidded back.

She gripped my face. "Your eyes are giving you away.

I'm willing to bet that you don't know they've been my very own mood ring for you all along."

I c.o.c.ked my head, confounded by her statement. "Mood ring?"

"Your hazels are so beautiful. I love when they move from amber-gold to silver, but my absolute favorite shade is smoky grey because it doesn't happen very often. The first time I kissed you, when you first asked me to take you to bed, the first time I made you-"

"Okay, I get it," I cut her off, feeling heat burn my cheeks. I'd seen my eyes turn many different shades of amber and grey, but never the color she was describing.

"We need to get you to a mirror right now, s.e.xy. They're smoldering, and you should get a look at your best tell."

"It's a good thing you love me or this knowledge might be something you could sell to my clients and ruin my unforgiving reputation."

"You better not be showing that color to a client!" Her fingers tightened on my jaw. "That's for private moments only."

"Private like when I do this?" I slid my hands under her s.h.i.+rt and inched it upward until I had it over her head. My 178*

mouth went dry at the sight of her red lace bra and already flushed skin. I unb.u.t.toned her pants and encouraged her hips up so I could bring them down her toned legs.

Matching lace panties started my own heavy breathing.

"Private like when I do this?" I leaned over her semi-p.r.o.ne form and took a nipple into my mouth through the satiny lace.

"I'm on fire, Jos," Raven moaned, grasping my head as the smooth material got wetter under my mouth.

"For me?"

"Yes, G.o.d, yes. You make me so hot." Her hands forced my head up to look at her. "Get naked now."

I laughed with a seductive throatiness that never existed outside of making love with Raven. I went up to my knees, and she helped me shed my clothes. Her hands immediately grasped my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, flicking over my nipples as I'd tantalized hers. Without my having to tell her, she knew how sensitive mine were and how much they liked the attention.