Page 93 of Bless My Body

rip through my dress?” I look over at her, confused. “It’s fucking freezing in here.” She gestures to the

air vents blowing right on her.

“Oh, shit. Sorry.” I turn the air down. I didn’t even think about her not having sleeves.

The rest of the trip goes by quickly, with me catching her up to speed on some of the people she

will be meeting. She asks a few questions about my parents and how she should act. I assure her she

just needs to be herself, but she doesn’t seem to believe me.

She admits she’s a little nervous, which makes me unusually happy. The fact that this woman, who

doesn’t typically care what anyone thinks of her, is worried about meeting my family. I know it’s

stupid to look too much into some deeper meaning behind it, but I can’t help but hope that she cares

about me as more than a friend. That maybe she doesn’t want our agreement to end.

I hear Celine suck in a breath when we drive through the gates of my childhood home. It looks like

a few other guests have already started arriving, so my mom and dad will be in party host mode

already. That’s fine with me.

“Holy shit, Ezra,” Celine says, looking out her window with wide eyes.

“What?”

“You’re rich,” she says, stating the obvious. She breaks her gaze from the window and turns to me

as I put the car in park in my spot by the garage. I always bypass the valet my parents hire for events

like this.

“My family is rich. You knew that.” I’m not sure why she’s acting like this is a new development.

“I didn’t realize you were this rich,” she says, gesturing out the window toward the house. The

house is a historic mansion sitting on four acres of land. The two stories above the main floor have

balconies held up by solid white columns on the front porch. The house has seven bedrooms and six

bathrooms. It’s big, especially for this area, but it’s been in my family for years. My grandparents

moved out and let my mother and father move in when they got married. Kind of like passing on the

torch, I suppose. Really, I think my grandparents were having a hard time with all the damn stairs in

the house.

“Oh, God. Don’t be ridiculous.” I roll my eyes at her. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I’ll get

our stuff later.” I move to open my door, but Celine doesn’t move to get out. I look at her from over

my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Aren’t you going to help me out of my seat? I am a lady, after all.” She says the last part in a