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Beth takes a deep breath and opens the door, a bright, polite smile plastered on her face. Maeve smacks her son on the arm to let her down when she notices the gorgeous brunette standing beside the car.
I lean forward. “Smile wider, sweetheart. You might as well start loosening up that jaw, because those pretty lips are going to be stretched around—”
“Ezra! G’wan over here and give me a hug, and then introduce me to this beauty here, yeh?”
She smacks at me when I pick her up, too. She pretends to hate it, but we know she loves it. “Stop it, you,” she says, smacking me much the same way she did Cal.
I give her a kiss on the cheek. “It’s good to see you, Ma.” She gives me an indulgent pat on the cheek before turning her full attention to Beth.
“Is bean alainn i,” she exclaims as she walks toward our woman, who is smiling, but is clearly nervous as hell.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs—”
“Oh now, g’way outta that nonsense, lass,” Maeve says, smacking her proffered hand away. “You call me Ma, Y’nu?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Beth says, her shoulders nearly sagging with relief as she bends down to let the older woman wrap her up in a tight hug. Then Maeve wraps her arm around one of Beth’s and escorts her inside, leaving Cal and me grinning in their wake.
As predicted, the afternoon goes by without any trouble at all.Beth even manages to charm Cal’s stoic stepfather, Sean, into abandoning his gardening to come inside and chat for a while.
After a huge meal of sausages, bacon, fried eggs, and potato bread, Maeve is still trying to shove more food at all of us. Beth still has some internal issues with food, so she’s not eating enough to satisfy Maeve. She keeps asking if Beth is feeling well and trying to give her flat 7Up, which brings back so many memories that I can’t help but chuckle. On the fifth or sixth time she declines another piece of potato bread, Beth is clearly afraid to be rude, and makes an offhanded joke about her waistline.
Maeve immediately gives her a deadpan look like it’s the most idiotic thing she’s ever heard. “So you’ve got a little meat on your bones. Who cares? You’re gonna need it if you’re going to survive living between these two eejits. I’d imagine they get a bit stroppy—”
Sean spits out his beer.
“Ma!” Cal looks to her, and then me, but I look away because if I make eye contact with Cal or his Ma right now, I won’t be able to stop laughing.
Cal has to do a little translating here and there, especially when it comes to Maeve’s sharp-witted jokes. But he’s not trying to translate now, and we’re all trying not to crack up. The first time she made a crack about me and Cal being so attached at the hip that we’re sharing a girlfriend, Beth had blushed. But after that doozey? I give Beth a very pointed look. She turns so red that Sean asks if she’s okay and offers to take her for a walk outside, probably thinking that Maeve upset her.
Another hour or so later, Maeve has to run into town. She’s picking up some things from the bakery for dinner, and wantsto make sure the new girl they hired locked up the gallery properly. She makes Sean go with her, and I suspect she’s giving Beth a bit of a breather after embarrassing her so much this afternoon. Not that Beth hasn’t taken to it well. Since I told her that ribbing people was Maeve’s love language, I think she rather likes it.
The moment they pull out of the driveway, both Cal and I turn and stare at Beth.
“What?” She asks, doing a shit job of pretending innocence. The way she bites her lip lets us know damn well she knows exactly what she’s in for.
“I believe we won a bet.”
Beth
Okay, so Cal’s mother is delightful. I knew this from speaking to her on the phone before, but it’s an entirely different thing when you’re standing in front of the woman who knows you’re sleeping with her son. And her son’s best friend. At the same time.
It could have gone so much worse. And while I certainly sensed some skepticism, or perhaps uncertainty, about our relationship at the beginning of the visit, Maeve never once treated me like anything other than part of the family. When she and Sean returned to the house, she found the three of us tangled on the sofa, fast asleep. I flinched awake when she covered us with a quilt, but kept my eyes closed because I felt too awkward to face her after what we’d done in Cal’s childhood bedroom while they were out. It was awkward enough that she found me sprawled over her son’s body, with his best friend using my ass as a pillow.
Comfortable and sated after our afternoon activities, I fell backasleep. The three of us sleep for a couple hours, and I wake to the savory aroma of something cooking. My stomach gives an audible growl of appreciation, which makes Ezra chuckle. He lifts his gaze to me, dropping light kisses along the back of my thighs.
“Stop it,” I whisper, swatting at him. The last thing I need it to have Maeve come in here and find us fucking around.
“She’s right,” Cal grumbles below me. “Don’t get anything started that you can’t finish.” Despite his admonishments to Ezra, he grips my thighs and pulls me up to straddle him, pressing the growing hardness behind his zipper into my groin. I squeal at the sudden movement, smacking my hand against his chest.
Ezra laughs. “Says the guy who’s got a massive hard on in his mother’s living room.”
“Yeah well, I started thinking about all the dirty things we did earlier, and I’m starting to think we should sneak back up to—”
“Cal…” Ezra says in mock warning. Just like his bestie, though, his actions don’t meet his words. When I try to scramble off Cal’s lap, he presses in behind me, until I’m sandwiched between their two bodies.
“You two are incorrigible!” I whisper-yell, and try to wiggle away. Their big arms pin me in, and then they both start tickling me. “Oh my God, stop!” I’m laughing so hard, tears are pouring from my eyes. When Cal reaches between my legs and gets my most sensitive tickle spot where the inside of my thigh meets my pelvis, I shriek loudly.
Our racket draws attention, and Maeve sticks her head around the corner. “Well, I ‘spose you’re awake in here,” she says withan amused tone.
