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My mom would be another story. She’d probably spend the entire time doting on him, pouring him a fresh glass of whatever, whether he wanted it or not, until his bladder was damn near full to bursting, then she’d basically force food down his throat until he couldn’t possibly eat any more. It was like her love language, stuffing the people she cared for like she was preparing us to go into hibernation and wanted to make sure we didn’t wake up hungry.
Of course, I hadn’t given Beau a heads-up on any of this. I could have, sure. It probably would have been the girlfriendly thing to do. But he’d spent the better part of the week acting all arrogant that he’d win my folks over no problem that I couldn’t help but want to teach him a little lesson.
Yes, we were in love and all, but some habits die hard, and one thing Beau and I had gotten really good at over the years was sticking it to each other. I couldn’t resist.
“And I told you flowers were a bad idea. My dad’s allergic and my mom can’t keep anything alive and always ends up getting all sad when her plants die.”
“We could have gotten something hypoallergenic,” he insisted. “That’s a thing, right? Hypoallergenic flowers? I’m pretty sure it’s a thing.”
I threw my arms out. “I don’t know. They’re flowers, not a dog whose breed ends in the word doodle. Allergic is allergic.”
His eyes flared. “Should I have gotten them a doodle dog? Is that something they’d like?”
Oh, for the love of god. This had officially entered ri-damn-diculous territory.
“Donotbuy my parents a dog. Doodle or otherwise. Now come on.”
I reached for the knob, but he grabbed my hand to stop me. “Wait. You’re not going to knock?”
The humor I was feeling a moment ago flew away in a puff of smoke at the realization that he never had the kind of home you could just walk into because you were always welcome no matter what. I wanted to give him that. Almost as much as I wanted to punch his father in the trachea and rip his mom a new one for not protecting her son as she should have.
Instead of giving into my rage at the Wades the way I wanted to, I grabbed Beau by the front of his shirt and pulled him down until I could reach his mouth for a kiss. Like always, the moment our lips met he took over, swiping his tongue past my lips to take it deeper, burning me up from the inside the way he always did. It was official, I was never,evergoing to get tired of kissing Beau Wade.
I was so into it that I didn’t hear the front door open until it was too late.
“What kind of impression do you think you’re making, shoving your tongue down my daughter’s throat on my front porch?”
And here we go.
Beau
At the soundof Presley’s father’s voice, my balls shriveled into raisins and burrowed right up into my stomach for protection. I didn’t think, I just reacted and shoved Presley away from me like her touch set my skin on fire.
“For the love of—” she sputtered as she righted herself, gaping at me with a perplexed expression.
“Shit. Sorry. Shit! I didn’t mean to say shit! I mean—damn! Sorry, I’m sorry!”
Christ, I was making a fucking mess of this whole thing, and I hadn’t even made it into the goddamn house yet. Meanwhile, her father stood across the threshold with a shit-eating grin on his face.
I pulled in a breath, trying to calm my frayed nerves as I reached out for Presley and pulled her against me. “I’m really sorry. He just startled me is all.”
“Damn it, Dad.” She hit her old man with a disapproving glare and batted him in the chest. “I told you, no hazing.”
Alan Fields’s chest puffed out as he planted his hands on his hips. “It’s my right as a father to see if the man my baby girl brings home is up to snuff.”
“Presley?” Presley’s mom appeared then, hip-checking her husband out of the way to get to her daughter. “Oh, sweetie, you’re here! What are you guys still doing outside? Come in. Come in. I didn’t hear you pull up.”
The two of them embraced, and it was so much more affectionate and warmer than anything my mom and I had ever shared. “Hey, Mom. Dad just about gave Beau a heart attack before we could even make it inside.”
Pride had me wanting to object, to insist that I was fine, he’d barely fazed me. But... why lie?
“Damn it, Alan!” She shot her husband a murderous look. “What did I tell you about giving Presley’s gentleman friend a hard time? Do youwantto sleep on the couch tonight? Is that what this is about?”
He held his chin high, the face of the women in his life glowering at him full on. “Just exercising my right as her father.”
“Yeah, well, you’re about two seconds from exercising my foot up your rear if you don’t knock it off.” After that threat, she turned to me, going from pissed to smiley in half a second. “Beau,” she said affectionately before jerking me into a hug so tight I worried my lungs might collapse. She pulled back, grabbing my hand and leading me inside. “We’re so happy to have you.”
“I’m happy to be here. Thank you for including me, Mrs. Fields.”
