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“Fuck. Okay, clearly I’m reading things wrong here.” He dropped her hand on the table and rubbed his hand across his mouth and down his beard. “Awesome.”
Holy cow, was he really saying what she thought he was saying? He didn’t want this thing to be fake? Sure, it had stopped feeling fake to her weeks ago, but he’d always acted like this was just a temporary fake dating, sex buddy kind of deal.
He pushed his chair back from the table. Peyton lunged and grabbed his hand. “No, Ryan, hold up. You caught me by surprise. What are you saying? No more expiration date, no more fake dating? You want to do this thing for real? Just you and me, like really making a go of things?”
“Yeah. Fuck. I’m not good at this talking crap.” He sighed. “I mean, we’ve kind of already slipped into that anyway. Haven’t we?”
Not wanting him to clam up and stop talking, she simply nodded.
“I’ll admit at first the sex was kind of hot because we both didn’t really like each other very much.” He glanced toward the kitchen, then back at her. “But the sex is pretty fucking hot when I like you too.”
She grinned.
“And I really like you Peyton. Every time I’m with you, I see these new sides to you and tonight, I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I’m just fucking crazy about you, and I guess I want to see where this thing can go for real. I mean, if you want to.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. “I definitely want to.”
Ryan’s smile was so big she couldn’t help but grin back at him. “Cool. So, we’re doing this? You’re meeting my parents as my girlfriend.”
“Oh my god, I’m meeting your parents.” She placed her hand against her stomach. “Are we really there? What if they hate me? What if you change your mind? This is a big deal, Ryan. Oh, my god.”
His deep laughter rang across the night air. “Relax Peyton. They’ll love you. You’d already agreed to meet them with them thinking you were my girlfriend. This is no different.”
“Um, yeah, it is because now I am your girlfriend. So now I will actually care what they think.”
Ryan snorted. “Come on, Peyton. I know you. You would have cared either way.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “Yeah, I would have cared either way.” When Ryan laughed again, she smacked his arm. “Shut up, I’m a people pleaser. I can’t help it.”
“I know, babe.” Ryan picked up his chair and slid his seat closer to hers. “Nothing has changed. This weekend will still be the same as we’d planned.”
“Ryan, everything has changed.”
“Really? Can you honestly tell me you weren’t developing feelings for me slowly all along?”
“No, I guess not,” she grumbled.
“Exactly. The only thing that’s changed is we finally agreed to be truthful about what this thing really is. Honestly, I wouldn’t have put in half of the effort I did if I wasn’t attracted to you right from the moment I met you. Even when I didn’t like you, I was drawn to you and really wanted you to be different from how I pictured.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
Chapter Thirteen
Peyton glanced down at the ticket in her hands and took a deep breath. Meeting the parents. Sheesh, this was a big deal. She wiped her sweaty palms on the edge of her jean shorts. Thank god she had the buffer of watching baseball. She eyed the beer vendor and chewed her bottom lip. Nope, she’d go meet them first, then decide on the beer.
She walked down the stairs toward her seat and smiled when she saw Kendall decked out in a Saunders jersey beside an older couple wearing Graves jerseys. She fingered the edge of her own Graves jersey that Ryan had given her the night before. Her nipples beaded as she remembered how much he’d like seeing her in his jersey with nothing else. She shook her head. Not smart to be thinking dirty thoughts about the guy when she was meeting his parents for the first time.
She wove past a few people and stopped at the end of her row. Kendall glanced over and smiled. “Where’s your beer?” Kendall called.
“I thought I’d see if anyone needed one before I grabbed mine,” she replied.
“Good answer,” an older version of Ryan answered before he turned to the woman beside him. “See, I won’t make a bad impression if I have a beer.”
Peyton laughed. “Definitely not. What about you, Mrs. Graves? Can I bring you one too?”
“Call me Debbie, and you may as well.” The woman smiled warmly.
“I’ll go with you.” Kendall jumped to her feet. When she got to the end of the row, she pulled Peyton into a warm hug. “Glad you made it. Prepare for the inquisition. My brother has never brought a girl to the family game day, so my parents are very intrigued.”
