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“Well, thanks. My dad and Simon should be here soon as well.”
“Ah, yes. Thebestfriendand the police chief father.”
“Who carries a gun at all times,” came from behind him.
Thane froze, a flash of fear crossing his face for a millisecond before he wiped it clear. Ignoring the odd behavior, I ran over and hugged my dad.
“Hey, Dad,” I breathed him in, his comforting smell of mint, a balm to my heart. My dad really was the best. “Be nice. Mom invited him to dinner, and he made her smile,” I whispered in jest.
“Hmph,” was the only response he gave, squeezing me tight. He released me but held me at arm’s length, taking me in.
“You doing okay, pumpkin?”
His childhood nickname for me always made my cheeks rosy. The past week had been stressful, and I knew he worried about me. Nodding, I smiled as I attempted to soothe his worries.
“Hey, sorry I’m late. I had to stop and get these.”
Simon announced, walking into the room. I loved how, even after all this time, I still got lovesick butterflies fluttering to life in me. He approached me, but stopped midway with a pained look on his face, again confirming how stupid it was to keep a secret. Neither of us knew how to act now without feeling like we were being obvious, and in the meantime, stopping our natural affection toward one another. Deciding to save him, I walked and hugged him before taking the bag of gummy bears in his hand. Grinning wide at him, I popped a few in my mouth. These were so much better than flowers in my opinion.
I hugged him again in glee, but felt him hesitate this time and I started to pull back, worried I’d been out of line. Was our new relationship at stake? Could we not hug in front of others anymore? Thankfully, Simon pulled me tight to him a second later as I tried not to think about how our bodies were pressed together. I tried not to think about how good he smelled. I tried not to think about how safe I felt. I tried not to think of a lot of things, but I failed.
Because fudge, he smelt and felt good.
Now that I knew I had free reign to explore this body and man, I no longer wanted to hold back. My hands had a mind of their own as they began to lower toward his ass, my cheek and nose rubbing against his shirt to get a good whiff. A throat cleared behind us, stopping me before the tiny moan slipped out.
I pulled back and found my dad, with his eyebrow raised, a tiny smirk on his face. “Dinner’s ready.”
Nodding, Simon and I followed behind him, and I imagined his face was as red as mine. When we got to the table, Thane, my dad, and Simon and I stood awkwardly as we all looked at one another. Thankfully, my mom entered with the last of the food, placing it on the table and saved me from having to make awkward conversation. Noah trailed behind carrying a bread basket, one already shoved in his mouth. When I looked at him, he shrugged and smiled wide with the bread peeking out.
“What? I’m hungry.”
“Noah! Manners!” my mom admonished, reaching to take the basket. Noah ducked her arm though and pivoted around her to place them on the table, but not before stealing two more and backing away slowly with them.
The kid was too cute for his own good and instead of correcting him, we all found ourselves laughing as we began to take our seats. When I went to sit, Simon started to sit next to me and when he realized Thane had his hand on the same chair. He lifted an eyebrow, asking me what I wanted to do.
Fudgesickles, this was hard! Again, I realized how stupid it was to keep something like this a secret. They only hurt someone in the end. It was a lesson I’d learned many times. It was clear my mother thought she was helping by inviting Thane to dinner, but instead, she’d made it more difficult. If I made it through this without my head exploding, it would be a win.
While we stood there awkwardly attempting to figure out what to do, both their hands on the chair back, I noticed I still held the all red gummy bears.
“Oh, um, thanks, Si. You know the red gummies are my favorite.”
“Peace offering for being a dickweasel at lunch. Can we talk afterward?”
I nodded, placing them on the counter before taking my seat. Simon gave in and walked around to the seat next to Noah, putting him across from me. I didn’t know which I preferred. Him next to me where I couldn’t touch him, but could feel him, or across from me where I stared into his gray eyes. They held a tremendous amount of emotion, but the one I didn’t understand was the bit of pain I noticed.
Maybe he thought Thane was cute? Simon couldn’t be jealous, could he? Thane was hands down the most attractive man I’d ever met, it made sense if Simon thought so too. I didn’t know how Simon could ever feel insecure, the man was gorgeous, but I knew we all struggled with something.
Glancing around the table, I watched in fascination as my dad leveled Thane with a look. It was a sick hobby of mine to watch the guys I dated sweat under his interrogation stare. It had become a rite of passage over the years, only a few succeeding. Thoughts of the last person who’d passed had me sobering, and I focused back on my food.
Mom had gone all out making my favorites of mashed potatoes, corn casserole, BBQ pork chops, macaroni and cheese, and cinnamon apples. My stomach growled in anticipation, and I realized how hungry I was. I dug into the wonderful smelling meal, knowing the real show would start soon.
My dad liked to get his victims comfortable before springing his trap. I wanted to feel sorry for Thane for what was about to happen, but he’d been the one to insist on coming over and meeting the family after one kiss. I was kind of hoping it would poke holes in the whole perfect thing he had going on. It was hard not to like him, but the guilt was weighing heavy on me, and perhaps, if he wasn’t as he seemed, it wouldn’t feel like I was making the wrong choice. Not that Simon would ever be a bad choice in my mind, but the timing royally sucked to finally be faced with two great guys to date. It was the ironic twist of my curse striking me.
Simon smirked at me across from the table, knowing as well what was about to go down. I tried to ignore the hunger lingering there, making me want to skip the food and go straight for dessert. Preferably the one where he made me see stars… naked. I couldn’t be thinking things like that at the dinner table, though, so I gave him a pointed look back, but all he did was smirk harder, knowing he was getting to me. I think he was also feeling some jealousy, and ready for Thane to be brought down a peg. Simon was well acquainted with Eddie James’ interrogation techniques.
Just as I placed a bite of mashed potatoes in my mouth, my father launched his first sneak attack.
“So, Thane, is it? Outside of being Slade’s brother, what is it that you do?” He’d inhaled his dinner, as always, and was now leaning back as he placed his napkin on his plate and waited.
