“Mom, that’s not entirely true?—”
“No, no, it’s okay.” She pulled back. Sometimes I wished I could see my own eyes staring back when I looked at her instead of not knowing where mine came from. “I just want you to know that you can come home to me, too. Iamhere, if you need me. I’ve been working on…” Her expression was strained. “Making space. I know that’s why you haven’t been by.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I burrowed in closer to her again, not sure I wanted her to see just how much the thought of her doing that meant to me or just how unsure I was about it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, and I didn’t want to guilt her if it didn’t go the way we wanted. But the thought was nice. It was really nice.
“Seeing the two of you back together with those paint cans, tackling house projects…it inspired me,” she admitted. “I lost…a lot when I was younger. Which made it hard to voluntarily let things go. But there’s something about second chances, right?”
“Yeah, there is.” I nodded. “Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, hon.”
Across the street, the front door opened, and Sully stepped out. His eyes scanned the front yard before eventually lifting and spotting me and my mom. After locking the door behind him, he slid his hands into his pockets and wandered toward us.
“I just really can’t believe that’s the scrawny boy who used to throw rocks at your window,” Mom muttered as Sully crossed the street, and I laughed. Because yeah, it was hard to believe. The Sully who was striding purposefully in our direction could never be described as scrawny. Or a boy. In so many ways, Sully was larger than life. And tonight, he was making my mouth water with the way his fitted dress shirt stretched over his torso and his pants hugged his hips. God, how the hell had I gotten so lucky?
His eyes caught on mine as he grew closer, and then they raked over my outfit, flaring when he realized what I was wearing.
“Hi, Susan,” he said after a beat where he barely tore his gaze away from me to look at my mom. “I hate to steal your daughter away, but she’s actually my hot date tonight. And we’ve got a six o’clock reservation.”
She slid her arm from around my shoulders. “Just tonight or every night, Mr. London?”
I elbowed my mom, but Sully just chuckled, his gaze sparkling. Dusk had settled, painting the sky behind our house with pretty hues of purple.
“Every night, ma’am.” My stomach flipped from his husky tone. “She’s my hot date for eternity.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” My mom gave me a little nudge, muttering, “With the way he’s looking at you, you’d better get over there before you end up over his shoulders.”
“He likes this dress,” I murmured back, giggling. “But I didn’t tell him I was wearing it.”
“You’re right,” my mom said definitively while Sully’s gaze intensified, trying to decipher what we were saying. “Youaremy daughter.”
I laughed and leaned in to give her one more hug. “Have a good night, Mom.”
“You, too,” she said, and then I hopped off the steps to walk over to Sully, whose expression was now indescribable. But hot—very hot.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Eleanor,” he said as soon as I approached his side. The words were so low, I probably could have pretended I didn’t hear them.
If I’d wanted to.
But I didn’t really, so I feigned innocence instead. “What?”
“You know what,” he growled.
“You don’t like my outfit?”
“I don’t like getting a stiffy in front of your mother.”
I laughed as I walked across the street to his parked car. Behind us, my mom’s front door shut with an echoing click. “She thought it was funny.”
Sully shook his head. “Every time you’ve worn that dress, I’ve ended up inside you by the end of the night. You’ve Pavlov-ed the shit out of my dick with it, and you look fucking unbelievable.” He groaned as he opened the passenger door of his jeep for me. “If I wasn’t so determined to take you out tonight, I’d be hauling you back inside.”
“Plenty of time for that later,” I hummed, giving him a sultry glance as I slid into the passenger seat. “When you take off this dress and end up inside me again.”
“Please, El, can I?” He was gripping the top of the car, leaning over me and resting his forehead on his forearm as if he couldn’t even bear to hold it upright. “God, I want that.”
I blinked up at him, suddenly impatient for something we’d been building up to for so many weeks now. “If you don’t fuck meon every surface in our house tonight and in every way imaginable, I might never forgive you.”
“Oh my God.” Sully swore and closed the door in my face, only to rake his hands through his hair repeatedly and then whip the door open again. “What if I called and asked for a later reservation?”
