by Ruby Vincent
Adam didn’t seem put out by my serious tone. On the contrary, he smiled and hugged me tighter as he lifted us over another wave. “No one is messing anyone around. I told you last year that Melody and I aren’t exclusive and that hasn’t changed.” He sighed. “She doesn’t believe in getting too serious, too young. I got the speech on high school relationships being doomed to fail. She said we’d most likely be killed by long distance because I want to go to university here and she’s going out of state. It’s been months and she hasn’t changed her mind.”
I lost my frown. “Oh. I’m sorry, Adam.”
He shook his head. “It’s okay. Really, it is. I love Melody for who she is. I love that she has strong opinions about everything from relationships and the best kind of peanut butter. If this is what she wants, I accept it, but...” His eyes flicked over my head. I turned and saw Jordan waving to us from the edge of the pool. “I’m not going to deny what I want anymore. I like Jordan. I can talk to her, you know?”
A smile pulled at my lips. “Yeah. I know.”
“She knows all about me and Melody and she’s cool with it. I don’t know if anything is going to happen between us, but trust me, I would never do anything to hurt her.”
I heaved a sigh. “I guess I can trust you, Moon. You’ve been a perfect gentleman despite living in a hell of temptation the last two years.”
He snorted a laugh. “It’s been hard. Something about that bowl-cut wig just gets me going.”
It was my turn to pounce and shove him under the water. He escaped me and beat it out of the pool. We descended on Jordan and our treat.
The rest of the day passed in a haze of food, fun, and rides. I took Jordan and Adam’s flirting in stride. They were cute and having my best friend and favorite cousin get together would not be the worst thing. I told her as much as we got ready for bed that night.
“I’m your only cousin,” she pointed out. She was propped up on my pillows, flipping through channels.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to be my favorite,” I said from the bathroom. “There was a dark period where we couldn’t stand each other.”
“When are you going to forgive me for pushing you over in the playpen?”
“It’s going to take some more time.”
I peeked her eyeroll as I shut off the lights and walked out. I hopped up next to her and relieved her of the remote.
“Are you sure you’re okay with it?” she asked. “Me and Adam? If there ever is a me and Adam,” she added.
“I’m okay. Adam is a good guy. He’d never treat you like Sean or Malcolm.”
“Ugh. Never speak those names.” I put my arm around her and she snuggled into my side. “Time for a subject change. What are you wearing for your date tomorrow?”
I shrugged. “Jeans and my purple top.”
She tilted her back to give me the full force of her bugged-out eyes. “You can’t wear that. This is your first real date, but even you have to know worn jeans and a plain top is as unsexy as it gets.”
“I’m not going for sexy.” I landed on an old ’90s movie I vaguely remembered and I let it stay. “We’re going to his house, remember? What if his parents are home? I don’t need to be flashing my stuff in front of them.”
She sighed. “At least wear skimpy underwear. Something that will be easy for him to take off with his teeth.”
A flush crept up my neck. “That’s enough about that. Let’s watch.”
Jordan laughed at me for a full three minutes into the movie.
Chapter Two
That laughter rang in my ears as I paced the front room. My heart beat out of control, rattling my rib cage, and nothing I could do would slow it.
Why are you so nervous? I berated myself. It’s just Landon. You’re going to hang out like you’ve done many times before, and if you don’t want to take it further than that, you don’t have to.
I glanced down at my outfit. It certainly looked like I wasn’t going to take it further. I would have to cover it up with Zeke’s hoodie and sweatpants, but I flew in the face of Jordan’s disapproval and put on a pair of jean shorts and a simple, purple shirt with cutouts on the arms. I went a different way with the underwear. My reflection told the story of my tomato-red face as I pulled the thong over my hips.
Am I really going to do this? What if he doesn’t want to do it? Am I freaking out for nothing? He might—
Wake up, Zela. In no universe would Landon not drop his pants milliseconds after yours. We’ve done everything else. He wouldn’t object to taking it the final step.
“Zeke?”
I stopped pacing. Val stepped out of the living room. The baby waddled next to her, getting used to the whole walking thing as her mother securely held her hand.
Val smiled at me. “Is Landon late?”
“Uh no. Actually, I’m down early by”—I glanced at my watch—“twenty-eight minutes.”
“You’re nervous.” It wasn’t a question.
I laughed. “This is why you’re the therapist. You called me out pretty easily.”
Val chuckled as she lifted the baby into her arms. Jessie immediately rested her head on her shoulder and closed her eyes. “I was nervous before my first date with Jaxson too.” She leaned against the shoe cabinet, settling in. “There were some hiccups, but it was one of the best nights of my life. I realized that he really saw me. I wasn’t just another girl he was bringing on a generic date. Being with someone who gets you that deeply is a gift.”
I nodded. “And you have that with four someones. You get all the luck, Val.”
Val tossed back her head laughing. When I first met her, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying something like that, but after summers at her house and twice a month in her office for mandatory therapy. We’ve broken through quite a lot of barriers.
“I have been lucky. My life turned around so sharply, I’m still in shock sometimes,” she replied. “But you and I are a lot alike, Zeke.”
“We are? How?”
Her smile tinged with a trace of something else. “We were both raised by single moms, our dads ran out on us, and tragedy has shaped our lives.”
I lowered my eyes. “Tragedy? For you too?”
“Yes, me too. People can do a lot of damage to us, but they can’t take the love we feel for others or what they feel for us. So, have fun tonight, Zeke, and don’t be nervous.” I looked up as she came over and squeezed my arm. “Okay?”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m okay.”
“Good. I’m going to put Jessie down for her nap.” She gave me a pointed look. “I’ll see you tonight at ten. Earlier is even better.”
Chuckling, I waved her and the baby off. The door creaked open as Val rounded the corner.
Adam’s butler stepped through the jamb. “Master Zeke, your guest has arrived. Shall I show him in?”
“No, I’m coming out.” I took one last breath and stepped through the door as he held it out for me. Landon was at the bottom of the stairs. My breath caught when our eyes met.
He leaned against a blue convertible I assumed was his. Landon went casual too, but on him that meant something else entirely. He wore black jeans, spotless white sneakers, and a hoodie with a cobra printed on the chest. Tying the look together was a tailored, slim-fitting leather jacket that reached to his knees. Landon opened it so I could slide right inside, slipping my arms around his waist and burying my nose in his chest.
“Miss me, baby?”
I hid my smile in his hoodie. “Yes. Like crazy.”
He bent his head at the same moment I rose up. We kissed slow and unhurried.
“Whoo! Yeah!”
My eyes popped open mid-kiss.
“Get it, girl!”
We broke apart and tilted our heads up. Leaning out of her bedroom window was Jordan. Over her shoulder, I saw Adam doubled over laughing.
“Who is that?” Landon asked, sounding faintly amused.
“I’m afraid you’ll never find out because I’m
killing her when I get back.”
He laughed. “No bad feelings today.” Landon slipped his hand into mine. “First official date. Everything is going to be perfect.”
Landon led me around the car and held open the door. I was stuck between smiling or rolling my eyes at the chivalry. Despite almost two decades with my mother, I went with smiling as I slid into the car. Immediately, I took off my Zeke clothes.
“We’re going to my place,” he said after he got in. “Henrietta and Declan will be there but they promised to stay out of our way.”
“Am I going to meet them?”
“Not if I can help it,” he said under his breath. The engine roared to life before I could ask what he meant.
“How’s it going?” Landon went on. “Have you been having fun with Moon?”
“It’s been great. We’ve gone out almost every day and...”
We chatted as we made the twenty-minute drive to Landon’s home. It amazed me how close the guys were to each other. Well, as close as you can be when you have large properties that put dozens of acres between you.
“That’s Cole’s place.” He pointed through the window before turning onto a winding gravel path.
“You mean he’s right across from you?” I twisted around to see. I didn’t know much about Cole’s family or his life except that he breathed swimming and studying. The colonial-style mansion looking back at me didn’t offer any more insight.
“Yep. He comes over sometimes to swim in my pool. Ours is indoor and his parents don’t let him swim when it’s raining.”
I shook my head. “He won’t take a day off for the rain. That’s dedication.” I turned back in my seat. “Are your parents... cool with...?” I trailed off.
What in the world?
I blinked. Then I blinked again in case my eyes were on the fritz. I looked away for one moment and we transported centuries in time to the gates of a medieval castle.
Landon’s car rattled over the bridge and paused before the portcullis. He stuck a hand out of the window, signaling the guard, and it rose as I watched it ascend open-mouthed. Towers and turrets. Irons windows and a stone wall surrounding the entire thing.
“Is this... real?” I breathed.
He laughed. “A real castle? No. Henrietta had it built. She says every woman should feel like a princess.”
“Why not a queen?” I asked, half joking.
“Because queens slave away for subjects who are forced to respect her station, but choosing to ignore her womanhood,” he said like someone who heard it more than once. “Princesses have all the power but are cherished and catered to like a woman should be.”
“Wow. Your mom and my mom really need to meet.” He chuckled as I took in the white stone, expansive gardens, and no less than three fountains. “But you’ll definitely feel like royalty living here.”
Landon parked in front of stone steps that were split in two by a cascading fountain rising all the way to the top. This feature was hardly medieval, but it was gorgeous. We walked up on either side, holding hands over the water.
“Soooo,” I began. “What do you have planned?”
“I was thinking dinner,” he said, “and then bowling because it’s frankly disturbing that you’ve never bowled.”
“It’s not that weird,” I mumbled.
“Then, we’ll hang out in my room.”
I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye. He said that so simply, not bothering to elaborate on what “hanging out” would entail.
“Where are we going bowling?” I asked, changing the subject. I wasn’t ready for him to elaborate either.
“Upstairs.”
“This place is getting less and less medieval.”
Landon let us inside and I saw how true that was. The interior of the Foster Castle was nothing like the outside. Modern—bordering on futuristic—furniture took up the entryway and continued throughout the house. It was all grays and blacks—leather and glass. The only pops of color were the large photographs of incredibly attractive, stylishly dressed people.
“Who are these people?” I asked. “Your family?”
“Models.” Landon secured an arm around my waist. “Wearing Henrietta’s makeup or Declan’s clothes.”
I scanned the walls for photos of him and found none. Something inside of me twinged. My mother wasn’t the warmest of people, but our home was practically a shrine to me. She had at least two photos of me in every room in the house, three on her desk, and my earlier attempts at art all over the fridge.
“Where are the family photos?” I couldn’t resist asking.
“That’s not really our thing.”
“Oh. Okay.” It didn’t sound like it bothered him and I didn’t want to push something that wasn’t my business. I’ve been to a lot of places and knew by now that there were all kinds of families.
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “There was talk of dinner?”
“Yes.” He kissed the top of my head. “Full disclosure. I did not cook this dinner. I’m also not sure what it is. My chef doesn’t take requests. When I was in elementary school, he threatened to quit because I asked him to make me grilled cheese like Adam was always packing in his lunch box. He ranted about not being a short-order cook slinging out diner food and Henrietta had to promise never to let me near the kitchen again to calm him down.”
I giggled. “I’m sure I’ll love whatever he makes.”
We climbed two steps and then rounded a corner. “It’s always delicious though. He— What are you doing here?!”
Landon jerked us to a stop in the entrance to the kitchen. Three people blinked at us.
I didn’t have to ask who they were. A man in a chef’s jacket bent over the island, sprinkling parsley on a meal that looked incredible from where I stood. Sitting on a barstool before him was possibly the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I say possibly because every pore was covered in makeup, her lips in gloss, her brows plucked, and her hair dyed a deep red that couldn’t be natural.
She raised one razor-thin brow. “We live here—last I checked.”
“You said you’d stay in your offices, Henrietta.” Landon released me, went up to his mother, and took hold of her arms. He steered her out. “Go.”
Henrietta laughed as she slipped out of his grasp. “We will go when he gets here. When is that, by the way? I thought you were going to pick him up.”
“Him is now her.” Landon gestured at me. “This is Zela. My date.”
I’m certain my cheeks were pinking and not just because Henrietta was looking me up and down. To be fair, it wasn’t until we arranged the date that I told Landon he could tell his parents I was Zela. It made sense that he spoke about me as a boy all of this time.
“Him is now her,” she repeated. She shrugged. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Zela.”
She made to reach for my hand, but Landon took hold of her again. “Now that everyone has been introduced. You can go.”
I shook my head at his antics and clasped her hand. “Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Foster.”
She stopped shaking. “Oh no. Please, none of that Mrs. Foster. It’s Henrietta.”
“And I’m Declan.” The other man in the room rose from the kitchen table. My eyes widened slightly as he approached me.
I once thought Landon was the most impeccably dressed guy there ever was, but I should have figured his creator would one-up him. Declan Foster was decked out in a tight metallic gray suit covered in bloodred roses, but the pièce de résistance was his hair. Silver wings touched his temples, but they didn’t grace raven locks like his son. Declan’s hair was dyed a dark, basil green.
He looked moments away from stepping out onto the runway himself. There was no care to the fact that he was in his own home and apparently committed to a night in his office.
“Lovely to meet you,” he said.
“Nice to meet you too... uh... Declan. Sorry, I thought Landon called you by your first names to be ironic. I didn’t realize
you prefer to be called that.”
Henrietta sighed as she put an arm around her husband. “People do find it odd, but I ask you, what is odder than society’s need to strip us of our identities and put us into familiar boxes? Parent, mother, wife, daughter. Titles shared by so many as to not be unique. We prefer to be known by the names that are ours alone. The one we’ve had since birth and will have until the day we die.”
Behind her back, Landon shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You really should meet my mom,” I replied. “I think you would get along well.”
She beamed. “How nice. I would love to.”
“Alright.” Landon put his hands on their backs. “Introductions are over. Go—”
“Heaven’s sake, Landon. We can enjoy our dinner while we wait for Zela to get ready. Then, we’ll get out of your way.”
“Wait for me to get ready?” I looked down. “I am ready.”
Her brows drew together. “No, I meant ready for your date.”
“Um. I did too.”
Her smile disappeared in a blink. She and Declan gave me twin looks of shock.
“But you’re not dressed,” Declan protested.
“You’re not wearing any makeup,” she said.
I tugged at the hem of my blouse. Usually, I was big on dresses and makeup, but I was going for plain and unsexy tonight—not that I could tell them that.
“I thought I’d keep it simple since we’re just hanging around the house.”
“No,” said Henrietta.
I blinked. “No?”
She turned on her son. “Landon, wait here. We’ll be back in half an hour.”
“Wha—”
Declan spun me around. “Come along. I have a few pieces from my new line that should fit you.”
Henrietta grabbed my face as her husband shuttled me down the hallway. “I can tell you’re an autumn. I have a great coral lipstick that will look divine on you.”
