Page 52 of Hardcore Vanilla
Pissed-off vanilla at the moment. She could see it in his eyes and the set of his jaw. Heck, she'd ticked him off enough in the past to know what it looked like, although she hadn't done it recently. It wasn't as much fun now as it had been before.
Maybe a drink would help cool both of them down.
Steering him to one of the waiters walking around the room with a tray of cocktails, Sharon picked up one for each of them. They were going to be here for a while, so she could have a few drinks in the beginning to kill the edge she was feeling and then have plenty of time to sober up before driving back to her parents.
"Don't do that again." Jake's voice was low and hard as he whispered in her ear. To an outside observer it probably looked like he was whispering something intimate.
Sharon sighed as she handed him one of the drinks she'd picked up. She had no idea what her aunt was serving tonight, but she knew it would be strong. "I probably won't need to. Here, have a drink."
"I'm serious, Sharon," he said as he took the drink from her, his blue eyes almost cold. "Don't do that again."
She glared back up at him. Yeah, she got it; she'd embarrassed him by being herself, just like she did her family. Just what she needed, another parent judging her.
"Don't tell me how to behave," she snapped back, spinning on her heel as she stalked away from him, drink in hand.
Even though she didn't look over her shoulder, she knew he was following behind her, like a grim reaper haunting her steps. That was how she felt about her parents a lot of the time too. The biggest difference was that she did have some obligation to Jake to introduce him around and make sure he wasn't left standing alone in a corner.
Spotting her cousins gathered on the edge of the room, she veered towards them, knowing he would follow. Yeah, some of them were just as snobbish and obnoxious as their parents, but not all of them. Joining them, she introduced Jake around and finally started to relax again, especially when Melinda and Mark joined them.
It didn't surprise her that Jake managed to hit it off with all of her cousins, charming them effortlessly. Of course, it didn't hurt that he really was hot, muscular, and looked damn good in a suit. Rina, Melinda's older sister, who could give Aunt Lorraine a run for her money when it came to being the biggest snob in the family, practically fawned on him. Jake was polite to her, which only seemed to encourage her - and considering how chilly he and Sharon were being to each other at the moment, she didn't take it very well.
Which was why she pulled Rina to the side to inform her that he was currently working in construction and remodeling.
"And you brought him as your date?" Rina asked, her voice dripping disapproval.
"Well if you had brought the man you were actually fucking, you'd be here with your gardener and not your husband," Sharon pointed out icily. Rina's jaw dropped open, her face going bright red and then paling to almost pure white, quite the feat since she had the same olive complexion that Sharon did. "Yeah, I heard about that. Now fuck off."
"You're so... so.... crass," Rina hissed at her. "Why can't you just be normal?"
She stalked off before Sharon could respond, which was probably for the best. Whatever. If cheating on her husband with every handsome male member of her staff was normal, Sharon would much rather be crass. Turning back to the conversation, she saw the severe disapproval on Jake's face again before he turned away.
There was no way to know how much he'd overheard of what she and Rina were saying to each other, but whatever he'd caught, he was being a Judgy Mcjudgerson about it.
Sharon glared at the back of his head as she finished off her cocktail. Dammit. She should have brought Brian instead of him. Yeah, there would have been no chance for hot sex and stress relief over the weekend, but at least there wouldn't have been this sinking unhappiness burrowing a pit in the center of her stomach either.
Pressing her lips together as she blinked back several tears, a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Oh geez, it looked like she and Jake weren't the only couple having trouble. Courtney, the youngest of Lorraine's daughters, was having a very quiet but very obvious fight with her boyfriend. What was his name again? Joseph or something like that?
They'd apparently been together for a while, but it was pretty obvious that Joseph was kind of a jerk. He kept flirting with the other women - not because he was really going after them, but just to make Courtney jealous. What Sharon didn't get was why, since it only took one look at the two of them to realize that Courtney was head over heels for him for some reason.
Unfortunately, with Lorraine for a mother and Rina for an eldest sister, she was also kind of a people pleaser and a doormat. The fact that she was standing up for herself at all to Joseph, especially in public, was surprising.
When Joseph turned and stalked off, Courtney's lower lip trembled, her big brown eyes making her look like a wounded fawn as they filled with tears. Sharon could immediately tell her young cousin was going to go after him, begging for forgiveness.
Hell no, fuck that.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back," Sharon said, giving Jake and Mark a sweet smile. They both nodded to her before diving right back into their conversation. Mark had always had an interest in architecture and engineering and was having a grand time talking to Jake about the actual nitty-gritty details and mechanics of actually building.
Since Melinda was involved in a conversation with two of her friends, Sharon didn't bother trying to catch her eye. She went straight to Courtney, linking her arm through the younger woman's and totally surprising her.
"Hey honey, let's step away for a minute," Sharon said sympathetically, directing her cousin towards the privacy of the hallway instead of deeper into the room after Joseph.
******
Watching Sharon out of the corner of his eye, Jake couldn't help but frown as she led her younger cousin away. At least, he assumed it was one of her cousins. He hadn't been introduced to her yet, but she looked like just Melinda and Rina.
Speaking of Rina, she popped up next to his elbow, interrupting Mark's next question about building materials.
"Mark, so sorry to interrupt, but mom says we're going to start seating for dinner in a few minutes, so she'd like you and Melinda there to lead us all into the dining room."
