“Good. I’ve got to take Nyx out before calling it a night, so I better let you go. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night, princesa.”
“Good night, Vera,” I said softly before hitting the end call button.
I sat there for close to five minutes just staring at my phone, fidgeting with my fingers.
Meeting the family. Wow. That was a big thing. I know she said it wasn’t and it was just a casual soccer game, but to me, it was a huge deal. I’d never met the parents before, and I knew how close she was to her brothers.
I’d be fine. If they didn’t like me, she’d break up with me and I’d be wrecked, but I’d be fine. It was going to be fine.
I stood up and made my way to the kitchen. It was not going to be fine, and I was stressed, so I did the one thing that calmed me when I got too much in my head and my thoughts started to spiral like they were now. I baked.
A lot of people in my life didn’t know I baked when I was anxious. Only Blair, Drea, and Eloise knew. Eloise knew only because she had showed up to my kitchen covered in flour and powdered sugar and tears streaming down my face.
Without asking questions, she slowly lowered us to the floor and let me cry on her shoulder. Eventually, once the tears subsided. I told her I baked when I was anxious. She’d asked me why I was crying and I told her it was because I had just had a really bad day and I was in my feelings about not having someone to come home to.
After that I really looked at myself in the mirror and decided I’d take a break from dating for a while and focus on work. Little did I know that I’d find Vera a year later.
My absolute favorite thing to make were peanut butter blossom cookies. They were easy and so good I could’ve eaten a whole batch in one sitting.
As I started pulling out the ingredients and preparing the dough, I started thinking about who would be at the game and if they’d like me. I knew her brothers could be protective. For one, they were brothers, and she was their only sister.
For two, I saw how they looked at me at the gym. I didn’t know what they knew, but with the way Vera was looking at me, anyone with eyes could’ve known we had some sort of history.
One of them looked at me like he was threatening me from across the room with his eyes. Was it all in my head, or did he think I wasn’t good enough for his sister?
As I put the dough in the fridge to set for a while, I went to my room to sort out my outfit for the game. I had to impress her family. I just had to.
Family was very important to Vera, and she was important to me. I wanted them to like me. My biggest thought was that they weren’t going to approve of me either because of how I looked or what I did for a living, and Vera would end things with me because she holds her family’s opinions very close to her heart. They had to like me.
Chapter Thirty-Four
VERA
“Did you wear that shirt to impress me, princesa?”
When she opened the door, I had to bite my lip. I’d seen her in a fancy party dress, business suits, and even her bathing suit. But there was something about the simplicity of what she was wearing that had my mouth watering.
She was wearing a plain navy blue shirt that showed a little cleavage, black skin tight leggings that I was sure made her ass look biteable, and normal black and white tennis shoes, but goddamn did I want to take it all off her. She was just so damn sexy. How had I gotten so lucky?
She laughed. “What? It’s a plain shirt. How does that impress you?”
I pulled her closer. “It’s my favorite color. You know that’s my favorite color. You’re telling me you wore this shirt just as a coincidence? It’s also very revealing.” I made a show to prove my point by lowering the neckline more to show up her perfect breasts, losing my train of thought. What were we talking about again?
She adjusted her shirt and rolled her eyes before kissing me. That was one way to get me to forget what I was saying. I tried to push us into the house but she wasn’t going for it. She broke the kiss and laughed.
“Nice try, but we have a soccer game to get to. And of course I know this is your favorite color. I may have chosen it with that little fact in mind. Also, it’s only revealing when you do that. Are you ready to go?”
“Not anymore. I’ll make an excuse. Say I got sick and I’m home in bed.”
“But you’re not sickorhome in bed.”
“If you go home with me I can be.” I smiled.
“Wow. You’d really skip your niece’s game for sex?”
I pretended to think about it and she playfully nudged me. “Veronica!”
“Whoah. Government name and everything? It was a tough question. Sex with you is… I have no words. But familyisimportant. But sex with you is…”
