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She hadn’t realized Cassie had moved closer until she set down the knife and was suddenly pulled back, Cassie’s hips pressing flush against Erin’s ass.
“Maybe dinner could wait?” Cassie murmured.
Erin fought not to melt in Cassie’s grip. “Once the water boils, I’ll take a break while the noodles cook.”
“I don’t want to kiss you while the noodles cook,” Cassie said, nuzzling her nose just below Erin’s ear. It was embarrassing how little pressure it took on Erin’s waist to turn her around. “I want to kiss you now.”
She did just that.
Perhaps dinnercouldwait. It’d taste better if the vegetables marinated longer, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. And really, who cared how dinner tasted when Cassie tasted this good?
Erin broke their kiss only long enough to push the cutting board and radishes out of the way so she could boost herself up onto the counter. Cassie stepped between her thighs and Erin locked her ankles behind Cassie’s back. Before she could get her lips on Cassie’s again, Cassie leaned slightly away and grinned up at her.
“I thought patience was a virtue.”
“Turns out I’m not particularly virtuous either,” Erin said.
She scratched her fingernails against Cassie’s scalp and thought about scratching them down her back later. Cassie practically purred.
At some point, there was a noise, Erin’s brain wasn’t working well enough to identify it, and she pulled away from Cassie to look in the direction it came from and—
“What the fuck is going on here?”
Erin knew this was bad, but if anyone was going to walk in on them, she was glad it was Adam. She didn’t give a fuck what he thought of her.
Cassie leapt back, but Erin merely slid off the counter, not bothering to put space between her and Cassie.
“None of your business,” she said. “You could’ve knocked.”
“I could have knocked?! You could have not beenmaking outwith our daughter’s friend!” Adam was already shouting. His eyes were narrowed, his face going redder by the second.
Erin’s heart was beating triple time in her chest, but she ignored it and raised her eyebrows. “Why are you here, Adam?”
He kept yelling. About how she was disgusting and what waswrongwith her and he couldn’t believe she would ever blah, blah, blah. She truly did not care what he thought about her. None of it was anything worse than she’d already told herself.
As he was lecturing her on appropriate behavior, though, Parker appeared behind him.
Erin moved out of Cassie’s orbit. Her heart bottomed out. Dropped to the soles of her feet, maybe further, maybe it disappeared altogether. She didn’t know. Couldn’t think. She could no longer hear Adam. The sound in her ears had gone static. Her vision tunneled to Parker’s face, which was blank, blank, blank, her mouth a flat line. Maybe if Erin could think, she would’ve reacted quickly enough to stop this before it got worse—Parker technically hadn’tseenanything. Maybe if Erin said something, interrupted,anything,Parker wouldn’t have found out. Instead, Erin stood frozen while Adam circled back.
“How about this—I’ll knock from now on as long as you don’t fool around with your child’s friend.”
Parker’s face didn’t change, but she did open her mouth. “Dad.”
Adam jumped. Apparently he hadn’t noticed her come in, while Erin hadn’t taken her eyes off Parker since she’d arrived.
“Parker, honey, what are you doing here? I’m so sorry you had to—”
“Dad. Go home,” Parker said.
“What?”
“Go home. I’ll get the Switch and meet you there.”
“Parker, I—”
“Go home.” Parker’s voice was steel.
Erin closed her eyes and tears leaked out of the corners. Adam’s opinion didn’t matter. He could hate her all he wanted. But Parker. Erin felt like she was drowning, like she knew there was no hope but she was struggling anyway. It was already over.
