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Her brother snickered. “Yeah… we can see you in the driveway sucking face. Get in here.”
She closed her eyes for a long moment, taking a deep breath.
Teagan could hear Brad chuckling and Shea in the background. There were other voices as well, and she could only imagine Seth’s face, having a nice big laugh at her expense.
Well, she wasn’t sorry. They’d added another layer of protection to their fake relationship, so whatever. Let them laugh. She was pretty damn sure none of them had ever made out with Jaxon Lawson, so…
“What is it?” Jaxon asked, reaching up to wipe his hand over his mouth.
“Brad. They’re at the window, wave.”
He snickered, leaning forward to peer out the windshield. He blew kisses to the Maddens in the window. Even going so far as to go into as animated a formal bow as he could while in the passenger seat of her car.
“Stop it,” she hissed, swatting him.
He shot her a look. “What?Youknew they were there. I can’t play it up a little?”
Her eyes widened in shock. She absolutely hadn’t seen them, but if she admitted that now, how would she explain the kiss? “I mean… yeah. Yeah, I saw them.”
“Let me in on your plots from now on, though. I might get the wrong idea about you leaping into my lap, Teags.”
He grinned in that way he had. That Jaxon Lawson brand of asshole grin. And Teagan suddenly felt sick.
Jaxon had thought she knew they were being watched. Which meant he was acting just now. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “There wasn’t time. Sorry.” She grinned as well, and hopefully, it reached her eyes. He stared at her for a long moment.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just nervous about my mom. She can be kind of...” she trailed off.
He snorted. “Teagan, Ilivein fear of Cassandra Madden, so I know exactly how she can be. Come on, let’s go give her something to stroke out over.”
She laughed again, but it felt empty and hollow, but Jaxon didn’t seem to notice. He was already hopping out of the car, sending a wave and a tiny salute to Shea, who was still watching them from the back window.
He reached Teagan’s door, tugging it open and offering his hand. “You coming in, or do I just go do this without you?”
She took his hand, trying not to concentrate on how warm it was. She stepped up onto the porch and headed for the door, her hand limply hanging in his the entire way.
It was nerves. Nerves about her mother. Not anything to do with the fact that he was acting before. She didn’t have real feelings for Jaxon. She didn’t. She wasn’t hurt and nervous.
Taking a deep breath and swallowing back the lump in her throat, she wondered why anyone believed her lies when she didn’t even believe them herself.
She longed for Brittany. Another co-conspirator would have been a welcome sight upon entering Blacktown. But Brad hadn’t asked Britt to join them this time. He said it both felt too soon, and he didn’t want Britt’s first visit to happen at the same time as Jaxon’s. It went without saying that they were conflicting statements. Teagan held the opinion that he’d asked Britt, who had bluntly told him under no circumstances would she find herself meeting his parents when they hadn’t even shagged yet, but Teagan hadn’t brought it up with her friend either, so she couldn’t be sure.
It sounded completely on-brand for her brother to jump the gun and invite Brittany to meet his parents when all they’d done was meet for drinks with a group and kiss in her office. In his mind, he was planning their wedding. Britt just thought he was cute.
But she couldn’t focus on that when they entered the house and turned to hang up their coats on the tree by the front door. Teagan removed her ballet flats and slipped them into the basket on the floor. She wiggled her toes in her socks and turned to look at Jaxon.
“But if she wields a knife on me, I won’t be able to run if I leave my trainers here,” he whispered, smirking.
God, Teagan both loved and hated that look.
“Stop. She won’t. If you scuff up her hardwood floors with your shoes, she will strangle you, though.”
He shot her an incredulous look and bent to untie his shoes and leave them in the basket as well. “She cares more about scuffing up her floors or her daughter? Because I think--”
“I’m not scuffed,” Teagan snapped.
“Just trying to make a joke, Teags.”
