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“An official fifth date?” she asks, tilting her head until her lips brush mine as she speaks.
“An official fifth date,” I murmur, and then I kiss her, long and slow and deep, letting my tongue dance with hers. She presses closer, and I press back until I can feel her heartbeat echo in my ribs, and every inch of me is buzzing with desire.
“We should stop,” I say when I finally pull away, breathing fast. “What if your family’s watching?”
“They’re not.” Her hands smooth down my chest. “They’re in the backyard. They probably don’t even know I’m trying to make my escape.”
“You slammed that door pretty hard,” I say, claiming her hand.
She shrugs. “So maybe they did hear. Whatever. I don’t care. Let’s do this. You’re right. We shouldn’t run. We should show them we mean business.”
She starts back up the walk with her usual, determined stride, and I’m right there beside her.
I’m going to impress the hell out of these people, no matter how hard I have to work to do it. Melody is worth sucking up to people who’ve decided to judge me before they even know me.
Melody is worth just about anything.
Chapter 18
Melody
I don’t usually drink more than one beer around my parents, but by the time the fajita fixings are on the table and everyone sits down to eat, I’m almost finished with my second Blue Moon and still so anxious I jump every time Felicity lets out a squeal of excitement.
Nick is doing great so far—being super polite with my parents, making easy conversation with Lark and Mason, and keeping things civil with Nash, despite the fact that his brother is doing a lot of worried glaring in Nick’s direction.
Nash is obviously concerned that Nick is going to say or do something to embarrass him in front of his in-laws, but Nick isn’t letting Nash’s stressed vibe throw him.
Of course, Nick has no idea what’s coming after dinner, once Aria takes the baby—who’s spending the night at her grandma and grandpa’s house—inside for her bath, and everyone else sits down to grill us.
I, however, have been part of more March family interventions than I can count. We’re a very nosy family, always up in each other’s business, and I can’t claim innocence when it comes to letting the people I love live their lives without butting in. I actually led a mini March sister intervention a few months ago when Lark was badly in need of a friendly push in a more positive direction, but I haven’t been on the receiving end of one of these since I chose culinary school over pre-law.
That afternoon was rough, but I pled my case, calmly and firmly, without backing down. I’d already paid the tuition for my first semester of school, after all, and knew, deep down, my parents couldn’t do much to stop me. They weren’t going to kick me out of the family for wanting to work in a kitchen, for goodness’ sake, not when they own a string of restaurants and we already had a pastry chef and a budding caterer in the family.
But I feel anything but calm when it comes to Nick. Logically, I know my parents can’t keep me from being with him, either, but the thought of facing even a half hour of pressure to break up makes me want to order everyone to keep their mouths shut and leave us the hell alone.
Not the most mature response, but when it comes to Nick, I’m more passionate than rational.
Which is why your parents are worried, a voice mutters in my head. Maybe you should be worried, too.
I sigh and drop my focus back to my plate, trying to concentrate on topping my steak fajita with the perfect ratio of guacamole to tomatoes. But my inner voice refuses to be silenced so easily.
You’re not acting like yourself, and it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing the past two weeks.
Since I set my sights on Nick and a wilder life, I’ve been attacked by a creepy drummer, had to walk miles in the near darkness after Nick’s car was towed, spent my tiny nest egg getting his car out of the impound lot and had to eat ramen noodles for dinner every night, lost the charm necklace Nana gave me for my sixteenth birthday while we were rock-climbing, tweaked my ankle learning to skate board and had to miss a much-needed catering job to keep ice on my swollen foot, and now I’m about to be the focus of a family intervention.
But I’ve also fallen madly and wildly in love with a boy who loves me back, a boy who makes me feel more alive than I ever have before.
Nick already means so much to me. The more I get to know him, the more I want to know. I find him…endlessly fascinating. He isn’t the kind of man I imagined I’d end up with when I was younger, but that doesn’t mean he’s the wrong man, just that my imagination had been stunted until I met him.
