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He looped his hand around my neck and pulled me in for a hard, demanding kiss. His tongue sought entrance, and I happily let him in, dragging my own against his in a hot, wet kiss that would have quickly grown out of control if he hadn’t pulled back when he did.
“Damn straight I’ve got a girlfriend.” Man, I liked hearing that. “Now stop trying to delay the inevitable, and let’s get inside. I’m starving, and I can almost guarantee my family is creeping at the front window at this very moment, watching this all go down.”
I jerked my head around, my eyes darting to the front window, and sure enough, Alexis and Mary were standing there. The moment their eyes locked on my panicked gaze, they waved happily.
“Oh my god,” I breathed, petrified. “They just saw us making out in your truck! Why did you do that?”
“To get the question of ‘are they together yet’ out of the way. Now they know and won’t have to pester us with a million questions. Come on, baby. Shake a leg, would you?”
“You go on ahead. I’m going to wait here for a hole to open up and swallow me, or a comet to fall out of the sky and put me out of my misery.”
He laughed, not a care in the world it seemed. I remained glued to the seat as he climbed out and rounded the front of his truck to my door. “You going to get out on your own or make me carry you over my shoulder?”
I bugged my eyes out at him. “You wouldn’t.”
His wicked smile made my core quiver. “I think I’ve proven I’m more than happy to carry you around if the end result gets me what I want.”
Damn it. I could see it in his eyes. The determination. He absolutely would drag me into his parents’ house, thrown over his brawny shoulder. And I’d die of mortification.
“Fine,” I grumbled, undoing my seatbelt and sliding out of my seat. “I’m going. Happy now?”
“Ecstatic,” he answered, and something about the way he said that one word told me he wasn’t being sarcastic. He really and truly meant that.
“There’s my boy!” Mary called as soon as Holton and I cleared the threshold. She grabbed his face in her hands and jerked him down to her so she could place a smacking kiss on his cheek. Then, in a blink, she released him and rushed to me. “And there’s my sweet girl!” She did the same, kissing my cheek loudly and surprisingly. “Thanks so much for getting him over here. It’s like pulling teeth with this one sometimes.” She looked at my hand and noticed the bottle of wine I had clutched there. “Ah! And you remembered the wine. Perfect.”
Holton rolled his eyes to the ceiling and huffed, “Again, I don’t exactly work a nine-to-five here. If I’m on duty, there’s nothing that can be done about it.”
She waved him off with a“Pfft. If you say so.” She clutched my hand in a death grip, pulling me along with her as she said, “Holt, you know where the boys are. Lyric, darling, you’ll join the ladies in the kitchen. I’ll pour you a glass of wine and we can gossip before dinner’s ready.”
I looked back at Holton for help, but the asshole was standing there smiling, like this was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. I was going to make him pay, mark my words.
We entered the kitchen, and Alexis turned away from the stove, giving a little hop as soon as she saw me. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said as she pulled me into a fierce hug. “The girls have always been outnumbered, but with you here, we’ve managed to close the gap. It’s all tied up now.”
Just then, Alexis and Caleb’s two kids came racing into the kitchen, with their son chasing after his sister, causing her to scream so shrilly, I was shocked the windows didn’t shatter.
The two of them raced around the island, Luke growling, “I’m gonna eat you!” as Ava screamed her head off. I looked at Alexis to see how she was going to handle the situation, but she simply shrugged and shook her head, as if to say,what are you gonna dobefore lifting a glass of wine to her lips and taking a sip. Her kids were cute as hell, no doubt about it, but I understood now more than ever the need for her so-called grownup juice.
Mary spoke just then as she screwed the corkscrew into the bottle of wine we’d brought with us, making sure to be heard over the chaos. “What’s the rule in Grandma’s kitchen?”
Somehow—perhaps it was magic—the two of them stopped on a dime and looked up at her, saying, “If you can’t mind your manners then you don’t get to eat,” as if they were reading from a script.
“That’s right. Now say hello to Ms. Lyric here, then skedaddle. We’ll call you down when dinner’s ready.”
Ava looked up at me with eyes the exact same shade as her mother’s and uncle’s. She batted mile-long lashes at me and lisped, “Hi, Ms. Lywic.”
My mouth curved up on the ends. “Hi, honey. Nice to see you again.” She giggled bashfully and took off for parts of the house unknown. When I turned to Luke, he was staring at me inscrutably. “Hi, handsome.”
“You’re super pretty,” he stated plainly, and I melted right there on the spot.
“Well thank you very much. You’re just the sweetest little boy ever.”
“Do you wants to be my girlfriend?” Holton popped into the kitchen just then, pulling the fridge open to grab a beer.
“Hey, kid, stop. Go find a girl of your own. This one’s mine.”
My jaw dropped in shock at his easy explanation of our relationship.
Luke shrugged like it was all the same to him and took off after his sister while Holton uncapped his beer and tossed the cap into the trash, then on his way back out, he stopped long enough to give his mom and sister a front row seat to our kiss.
