When I turn around, my girl stands in the bedroom doorway holding a tray. She’s made omelets and toast, and she’s smiling at me. It’s soft, it’s warm, and I feel it all over.
“You hungry?” She shuffles toward me, handing me the tray so she can climb back into bed beside me, and it’s as though everything in the world makes sense in that one moment.
I’m absurdly in love with this girl, and I don’t know what to do with myself.
CHAPTER27
Eloise
Despite having seen Ares every day this week, I’m standing smoothing the front of my perfectly pressed dress for the millionth time while I wait for him and Athena to come pick me up.
It’s Turkey Day.
I’ve made more potato salad than I had any business making, and my stomach is in knots. Dad didn’t come home like he said he would. I checked in with him, and he told me he’s fine, he’s working. If he could have told me that on Tuesday instead of when I texted him this morning to see where he was, it would have saved me hours of cooking a turkey dinner for him to have when he got back that will now likely go to waste.
I don’t know why I thought turkey was a good peace offering, but it kept me busy yesterday and out of my own head.
A car honks out front. As I’m locking the front door, he whistles out the window.“Te ves muy sexy con ese vestido.”
My cheeks flame hot. It’s a constant state of being these days. I wasn’t going for sexy with this dress. I was going for pretty, conservative, sensible, parent friendly. But when I spin to face him, his tongue dragging across his teeth, I can almost hear his dirty thoughts.
I shiver. We haven’t had sex in days, and I’m starting to wonder if I should have worn pants because he’s already—as Tori says—eye-fucking me. I perhaps should have given more thought to covering myself up because he’s looking at me like he can see through my dress.
Athena leaves the passenger door open as she climbs into the back seat.
“I could sit in the back—”
She cuts me off with a look.“Siéntate.”
Leaning over the center console, I plant a quick kiss on Ares’s cheek. When I reach back to tug my seatbelt on, he grabs me, cupping my face briefly as his hand skims my jaw, and his fingers tangle in my hair. He kisses the breath from my body. I let out a dreamy sigh when he pulls back and clicks the belt in for me.
I chance a glance back to his sister, but she has her nose buried in her phone. Still, she totally knows what her brother did to me, and that clawing at my chest is level ten embarrassment.
He clucks his tongue before putting the car in drive and pulling away from the house. “She doesn’t care.”
“He’s right. I don’t care.” She meets my eyes in the side mirror and gives me a small quirk of her lips.
I stay silent the entire ride to their house, the butterflies in my stomach warring with bees, and making a flapping buzzy sensation that I really don’t like, and no amount of swallowing will get rid of.
The driveway up to their house is longer than my street. And as we round the final bend and their mansion comes into view, Ares takes the hand resting on my thigh and squeezes. “Tranquila, amor.Breathe. It’s going to be fine.”
Easy for him to say—he’s grown up with this life, this wealth, these people. This is all new for me, and I’m intimidated as heck.
And let’s not even get started on the “What if his parents don’t like me?” thought process.
The huge door to the house swings open and an older version of Athena steps out. She’s wearing a red dress that pinches a little at the waist before dropping to below her knee. Her dark hair is swept into a chignon at the nape of her neck, and her makeup—including perfectly matching red lipstick—is flawless.
She grabs Ares in the biggest hug and plants a series of kisses on his cheek before standing back at arm’s length and cupping his face with both palms. “You look good,mijo pequeño.”
He’s anything but a little boy, and the color of his face is approaching the color of her dress. “Mamá, this is Eloise.” He pauses, searching her face. “My girlfriend.”
A high pitched shriek penetrates the air as she hurls herself at me, awkwardly hugging around the Tupperware box of potato salad in my arms. Ares shrugs, grinning at me like he warned me this would happen, like he told me everything would be fine.
“Eloise, it’s so good to meet you at last. I’ve heard a lot about you.” She slaps Ares’s arm. “Not from Ares.”
He has the decency to look embarrassed, which makes her pinch his cheek and grin harder. Athena rolls her lips between her teeth. It’s clearly killing her not to laugh out loud at her younger brother’s expense.
A smaller, older woman stands in the doorway at the top of the steps taking everything in. Ares leans toward me and whispers in my ear that it’s his paternal grandmother. I recognize her from the restaurant, but she looks different, more polished, younger, and she’s wearing shoes as expensive as my entire college education.
