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The first person she had to convince and she’d botched it. She’d have to do something to prove they were positively consumed with each other.
But what?
Chapter Seven
Cory shifted away from the shapely hip that seemed to be inching closer with every passing moment. Victoria hadn’t been dissuaded by his speech when he’d picked her up. Fine, half speech, since the moment she’d touched him he forgot how to form words. He’d been dismissive, almost rude, and except for a quick flash of hurt in her baby browns, she’d hardly stepped off-stride.
But it was early innings yet, and he wasn’t giving up. His parents wanted him committed to someone, so he’d put on a good show for them.
Assuming he
managed not to be committed himself before they left.
“I’d like to make a toast,” Raymond Santangelo announced, defying convention by toasting at the end of the meal rather than the beginning. Leave it to his family to be different.
Raymond waited while everyone picked up their goblets of wine, with the exception of Alexa’s sister-in-law Nellie, who had a belly roughly the size of a hot air balloon accentuated by her fluffy sweater. She and Alexa’s brother, Jake, had been invited to dinner as well, along with several of the neighbors from up the road, and various other stragglers he couldn’t identify.
One thing he could identify was the tension between Dillon and Victoria, which he assumed probably had to do with his fake relationship with her. Was Dill getting suspicious already? He was doing his best to ignore the palpable sense of unease between them, mostly coming from Victoria’s side. Wading into drama usually led to more of the same. He’d pass when it came to both that and the creamed corn.
“Hope you’re all feeling fine this lovely fall eve,” Raymond boomed, eliciting cheers.
Everyone fit easily at his mom’s ocean-sized dining room table, and miraculously she even had china and silverware for every person. Now they all stared at Raymond, who held court at the head of the table and was—oh, goody goody—smiling at Cory and Victoria.
She’d moved one of her wandering hands to his thigh. Hands, he noted, that were currently tipped in long, glossy red nails. His cock twitched in protest. There were limits to a man’s sanity, and Victoria’s long red nails scraped right up against the boundaries of his.
“I’d like to thank everyone for coming out to help commemorate one of our last dinners in our family homestead. Our wish was that one of our boys would move in and raise their own family here, but they have their own lives and have chosen to remain in their own homes, as is their prerogative.”
Cory gulped wine and stared at his stepfather. Looking anywhere else was dangerous. Bad enough Victoria’s nails were now skimming closer to his semi-erection. Silently taunting.
Throughout the dinner and conversation that ensued, she’d devoured him with her eyes. He might’ve been flattered, had he not grown more certain by the hour that their impetuous sexual relationship would end badly.
She would get bored with him. He couldn’t keep up with her, not with his work schedule. He couldn’t spend his nights singing with the glee club or organizing clothing drives for the church. And at his age and maturity, he didn’t have time to have wild, crazy sex in inappropriate places, the yoga studio aside. Though he could think of plenty of wild, crazy things he wanted to do to her in a bed, too.
Some of them involved bondage. Others involved sensation play and all manner of erotic games he just knew she would enjoy, once she relaxed a little.
But inevitably, things would go south. They always did. He hadn’t dated for a while, but back when he’d made more time for a social life, he’d never been good at knowing how to slip away gracefully when his time got too crunched. Casual relationships didn’t always mean the same thing to both parties. And he would have to endure yet another messy breakup, when they hadn’t even exactly started dating in the first place.
Cory’s brain clicked back into the conversation as his stepfather gestured to his brother and the beaming brunette at his side. “Dillon and Alexa have some good news to share, which we’re just overjoyed about. Son?”
“I asked Alexa to move in with me. She said yes.”
“You’ve only been dating a few weeks. Don’t you think that’s a little sudden?” Cory asked, peering into his wine.
No one paid him any mind. As usual.
As excited laughter and conversation broke out around the table, Vicky nudged his arm. “Aww. Look at their smiles. How sweet.”
“Adorable.” He was happy for them, he truly was. Seeing Alexa settle against Dillon’s side and glance up at him with love practically winging from her eyes was…nice. He wanted his brother happy, and obviously Alexa made him that way. But all this coupling up, fake and otherwise, was making him positively itchy.
You started this, remember?
Technically his parents had, but the faking thing—all him. All stupidity all the time, that was the channel he’d turned to two weeks ago. Now the dial seemed to be stuck and he couldn’t extricate himself from the mess.
“I bet you all were worried she was preggers,” Nellie said with a giggle, toasting the table with her glass of what looked to be chocolate milk.
Alexa rolled her eyes and patted Nellie’s massive belly. She looked ready to explode. “That’s all you, darling.”
“It’ll happen soon enough. For you two, too, I bet.” Nellie grinned and waved across the table at him and Vicky. “Once you’re on the fast track, next thing you know you have a whole family.”
