AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shook my head and sucked down some of my soda, wondering if what he’d said could possibly be true. Had Daire ever looked at me as anythingmoreand I’d been oblivious the whole time?
“So, is this your way of telling me you approve of me and Daire?” I said.
“I mean, he wasn’t on my radar, but at least I know with him you’ll be safe.”
After everything I’d told him, I couldn’t blame him for that being at the top of his list. And he was right—with Daire, I’d never felt safer. Among other things I wasn’t about to tell my brother.
Donovan snapped his fingers. “Hey, Mom and Dad are coming home this week. You should do a dinner or something and bring Daire.”
“Has all the hairspray gone to your head? I can’t do that.”
“Why not? He said it earlier, you’re dating.”
“That doesn’t mean bring him to have dinner with our parents.”
“Are you embarrassed or something?”
I balked. “What? No.”
“If you don’t invite him, he might think you are.”
“If I don’t invite him, he’ll probably be grateful. You know he hates small talk and dressing up.”
“I’m just sayin’.” Donovan turned his chair around, meeting my eyes in the mirror, as several stylists and models made their way inside. “Can’t hurt to ask. I bet he says yes.”
“Oh, are we betting now? How about twenty bucks says he’ll tell me I’m insane and to go by myself.”
“Twenty? That won’t even buy my lunch. Two hundred says he’ll be putting a suit on and sitting his grumpy ass beside you with dear old Mom and Dad.”
“Fine, I’ll take that bet,” I said, getting to my feet. “And don’t think I won’t mention you called Mom ‘old.’”
THIRTY-NINE
daire
OF ALL THE stupid things I’d agreed to do in my life,thismight be at the top of that list. The reflection from the mirror hanging on my door stared at the stranger standing in front of it, mocking my lust-hazed brain for writing checks I couldn’t cash.
Well, that wasn’t totally true. I had enough actual money to cover any check I’d be cashing tonight, but I was talking more emotional currency.
That, I was dirt fucking poor in. Always had been. And tonight that was going to be as obvious as the tie strangling me.
I reached up and pulled at it, slipping a finger behind the knot in an attempt to loosen the damn thing. But it was no use. It had been tied a year or so ago for an event I’d had to show up at, and after taking it on and off a handful of times since, the material had just cinched tighter.
Fuck it. I’d just have to grin and bear it. Too late to back out now.
Gavin had caught me in a post-climactic moment and sprung this invite when I was too blissed out to say no. Instead, I’d kissed him, promised the world, then fallen asleep—only to find him on the phone the next morning booking a table for four at one of New York’s finest restaurants.
He was a sneaky little shit, something I was coming to realize more and more each day, and the fact he was ballsy enough to pull those stealth tactics on me was all kinds of hot.
But dinner with his parents? That felt like some kind of test, one that came with expectations I knew I couldn’t live up to. What did I know about dealing with parents? It wasn’t like I had any experience to go off.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, wondering if I was going to be able to pull this off. I didn’t do this kind of thing. Go on dates, worry about another’s feelings, stress about meeting parents.
How could I, when I’d never had a relationship that went past the time it took to get ourselves off?
But this was Gavin, and things between us were getting…complicated.
What started out as a hot roll between the sheets had begun to feel more emotional over the last few days. I’d never really cared to get to know my hookups in the past, but the more I learned about Gavin, the more I wanted to.
