by Ruby Vincent
“Excuse me? You’re not cheating on him, are you?”
“No!” I cried. “Of course not. Landon knows about the date. He’s cool with it.”
There was a pregnant pause during which I kept my gaze fixed firmly out of the window. I knew there was no avoiding this conversation, but I didn’t need to see the look on her face while we did this.
“I’m dating them both,” I announced. “At the same time.”
“I see.”
I held my breath, waiting for her to say more. Mom always had more to say.
“It seems you’ve picked up quite a bit from your sessions with Miss Valentina.”
The side mirror gave me a perfect view of my pink cheeks. “This isn’t because of Miss Val. I like them both and it’s my choice—”
“Do not justify yourself, Zela.”
I flinched. Oh no. She is going to forbid me from seeing them, but I’m not lying down on this one. It’s my life and my choice and—
“I’m proud of you.”
Eyes flaring, I whipped around to goggle at her. “I’m sorry. What now?”
“Every day, I see you growing into the woman I hoped you’d be.” She blew a raspberry. My mother—Andronika Manning—blew a raspberry. “This nonsense that women should be chaste and have one partner is based on an outdated belief rooted in men’s need to control our desires so they could keep track of which child was fathered by who. A non-issue nowadays due to birth control and DNA testing, so there’s no reason women should be constricted to one partner.”
My mouth hung open. What the hell was happening?
“You might not know that Val and I have had many conversations about her and her partners and how they’ve made it work. Truly fascinating,” she said brightly. “I’ve included some of it in the book.”
“You— You have?!”
“Oh yes. Along with my own experiences with multiple sexual partners.”
I blinked. “Wait. Hold on—”
She plowed on. “You’re old enough now that I can discuss this with you.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I let go of societal beliefs on single partners a long time ago.” She waved her hand. “My twenties were filled with exploration and not just with the opposite gender.”
Holy hell! Where is the off switch?!
“I had a brief affair with this lovely lesbian couple—”
I clapped my hand over my ears. “La, la! La, la, la, la, la!”
Mom clicked her tongue. “Honestly, Zela. I’m still a woman. You didn’t think I lived in celibacy, did you?”
“I absolutely thought that! In my mind, you’re a genital-less nun and I was conceived through immaculate conception!”
She gave me a look, lips quirked in a teasing smile. “Actually, you were conceived on a school desk after a few too many strawberry pom mojitios.”
My head fell hard on the dash. “Mom, can you just let me out here... and then run me over?”
Mom’s laughter filled the car harder and louder than I had heard in a while. She teased me the whole way home, sharing more about her adventurous life than I ever wanted to know.
We pulled into our drive and I scrambled for the door handle. “Seriously, Mom! I don’t need any more therapy!”
Her guffaws chased me as I ran in the house.
Hours later, I was recovering on my bed while Jordan ran through my options.
“Did he say what kind of restaurant?” she asked. “Is it formal? Will they kick you out if you show up in jeans? What are you doing after? Is hooking up on the table? Why didn’t you get details, Zee?!”
“I didn’t know first dates came with a questionnaire,” I cried. “Henrietta and Declan took over dressing me for the first one and they hit it out of the park. Let’s go with that.”
“That dress was incredible and nothing in your closet is fit to be on the same rack.”
Laughing, I grabbed a pillow and flung it at her head. “Real nice.”
She giggled as she danced out of the way. “We’ll just have to make do with what we got. I’m thinking the blue dress you bought in Florence with a brown belt and brown flats. Classy, comfortable, not too formal, but still nice enough for any restaurant.”
“This is why I need you.”
She winked. “And don’t you forget it.”
I moved over to the vanity and picked through my makeup options. “JoJo, be honest. Can I call what happened in the car child abuse?”
“Oh my goodness. Cringe.” She came up from behind and hugged me. “I’m not even going to tell you about when Mom gave me the sex talk. She started going on about the things she and Dad got up to and I promised I’d never have sex if it’d get her to stop.”
I lifted a brow. “How long did that resolution last? Two weeks?”
“One.”
We fell over, clutching our sides. I was fizzling with a heady mix of nervous and excited energy. Michael would be here in an hour and I’d been thinking about little else but tonight all week.
Jordan slinked her arms around my neck and propped her chin on my head. “Can I tell you something without you freaking out?”
I rifled through my lipstick box, searching for the right shade of pink. “You’re the one who does the freaking out, remember?”
“True. Very true.” I felt her chest expand as she took a breath. “I’m going out tonight too... with Adam.”
The box slipped through my fingers. “Oh my gosh, really?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
She chewed her lip. “I don’t know. You have so much going on right now. Is it weird for you to have your cousin dating your best friend? Tell me if it’s weird.”
“It’s awesome,” I said firmly. “Adam is a great guy and he’d treat you like a queen. Also, you’ve seen Moon babies. They’re adorable.”
“Don’t start calling yourself Auntie yet,” she said with a laugh. “It’s just a first date. We’ll see how it goes.”
Jordan leaned forward and plucked a tube out of my scattered mess. “This one with the gold earrings and wear your hair up.”
“I love you.” I immediately started doing up my hair. “What are you wearing?”
“If I’m lucky, nothing by the end of the night.”
This time we did fall over laughing. We hugged tight, busting up on the carpet. I needed this. This week had been a confusing mess that I couldn’t yet see myself out of. I wanted one night with a cute, sweet guy where I could pretend everything was okay.
Jordan helped do my makeup and then left to get ready for her own date. Six fifty-five on the dot, I was downstairs pacing in the kitchen. Mom eyed me as she stirred the quinoa.
“Are you nervous?”
I paused. “To be honest, no. I’ve always felt safe and comfortable with Michael.”
She hummed. “Bring him inside before you leave.”
“What? Why?”
“I want to meet him.”
“Mom, no—”
Her eyes narrowed. “No? Are you ashamed of your mother?”
“Of course not,” I said, groaning. “I don’t want him to be nervous. Mother, I love you, but you’re kind of intense.”
I braced myself for a frown and a lecture. What I got instead was a smile and a chuckle. “That’s a part of my charm, only one.”
I gaped at her. “Who are you today?”
She came over, flicked my nose the way I picked up from her, and followed with a kiss. “Bring him inside. I meet him or he doesn’t leave the house with my daughter.”
That sounded more like her. I considered testing her but the bell rang before I plucked up the courage.
I opened the door on Michael’s beaming smile glinting in the porch light. I bit my lip to stop myself grinning too wide. It was insane how handsome he was. Michael kept it simple with gray slacks, a V-neck sweater, and a white tee underneath. One of those effortlessly casual outfits that probably cost more than most people saw in a month. Michael’s mom was a CFO for a fitness company and s
he supplied him with the money to buy the clothes and the genes to work them.
“Hey, Zee.” Michael slipped his hand into mine as he brushed his lips over my cheek. A light, chaste kiss, but I blushed down to my toes. “Ready to go?”
“Not yet,” I whispered. “My mom wants to meet you.”
“No problem,” he said easily. He kissed me again. “Don’t worry. Moms love me.”
I had a feeling his streak was about to be tested.
I led him into the kitchen as she finished plating her dinner. She dusted off her hands and then reached for his to shake.
“Hello, Michael. It’s nice to meet a progressive young man such as yourself.”
For the love of all that’s good, if Mom brings up her sexual adventures right now...
“It’s nice to meet you too, Ms. Manning. I read your book, Sunrise Nation, and loved your descriptions of Africa.”
She straightened, looking at him in a new light. “You read it? Most people don’t get the true point of the story isn’t the romance but—”
“—finding the strength to leave her home and accept that she had to become someone very different,” he finished. “I passed it on to my mom and she now owns everything you’ve ever written. She’d die if I brought her a signed copy. Would you mind?”
Mom was smiling ear to ear now. She agreed on the spot and her chest puffed up as Michael heaped more praise on her. She let us go with a “have fun” and “stay out as late as you want.”
I stared at him open-mouthed as he held the passenger door for me to go in.
He winked. “I told you I give good mom.”
“How did you do that? I’ve never seen her take to anyone that fast. I’m serious,” I deadpanned. “I’m still growing on her.”
Michael propped himself against the door. He let it swing in a little, bringing himself closer to me until the smell of his cologne tickled my nose. “I looked her up a while ago. I wanted to know more about you, your family, and your life. I brought it up in the letter you threw away.”
I laughed softly. “When are you going to forgive me for losing your presents?”
The door swung even closer and my lungs emptied as his lips hovered over mine. His breath was warm on my mouth as he said, “I just did.” Michael twisted and kissed the tiny corner of my lips. “You look beautiful. Have I told you that yet? This is the first time I’ve seen you as you.”
“Thank you.” I held still, waiting for him to kiss me for real.
He pulled back. “Ready to go? I haven’t eaten since lunch and this place has the best Greek food in a hundred-mile radius.”
I tamped down on my disappointment. “I’m starved. But I’ve been to Greece. My expectations are high.”
“I’ll meet those expectations. I promise.”
You already have.
But I didn’t say it out loud. Michael was there for me at my lowest. He charmed my mom, and he was being so amazing about my relationship with Landon. The night was perfect and it had just begun.
The drive to Evergreen was an hour long but there was never a lull. We talked the whole time about whatever came to our minds.
“So after you claim gold in the Olympics, Michael Young, what’s next?”
Michael released the wheel and threaded his fingers through mine. He dropped a kiss on my knuckle, then another, then another. I clenched my jaw lest something embarrassing like a moan escape my lips. How could such an innocent act be so sexy?
“You know what?” He tucked our hands on his lap. “It’s you who helped me decide that I want to go into sports medicine. I thought at first I’d be a trainer because of how much I love helping with you, but I don’t just want to teach people how to run. I want to make sure they can do it for as long as they want.” His thumb swirled on the back of my hand. “You go after exactly what you want and you don’t stop fighting until you get it. You helped me see that I could do more.”
I rested my head on the seat, enjoying the sensations his thumb was enticing. “You were amazing before I came along, Michael.”
“I’m even better with you.”
Michael asked me the kind of math I wanted to study and we launched into a conversation about advanced mathematics that he didn’t know a lot about, but listened with real interest as I explained.
In no time at all, we pulled through the gates of the Promenade and parked in front of a cozy little blue-and-white stucco restaurant with brown slats on the sloped roof. A small fence covered in flowers and ivy set them apart from the other places in the plaza.
Michael came around the car and opened the door for me. The perfect gentleman.
I was the one to lace our fingers together and lean into him.
“Can I know what else you have planned for tonight?”
He smiled down at me. “The usual. Dinner and a show.”
A bell chimed overhead as we walked in, signaling the host to step out from his podium.
“Good evening. Table for two?”
“Ye—”
“No,” Michael said. “I’m here for pick-up. Young.”
The host inclined his head. “Certainly, Mr. Young. If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll have your order out in a moment.”
Michael and I shuffled off to the bench on the side.
“Why are we picking up?” I asked.
“There’s somewhere I want to take you that’s even better than this. Trust me.”
“I do.”
It didn’t take long for a server to come out bearing our food. My mouth watered at the heavenly smells wafting out of the bag but Michael took it and walked it out the door.
“I hope you like souvlaki, spanakopita, and stuffed grape leaves.”
“I do.” We held hands, swinging them over the cobblestones. “What’s for dessert?”
“You’ll find out.”
Tingles lit my nerves. I was suddenly thankful I let Jordan talk me into sexy underwear.
We got back in the car and headed out of the Promenade. Evergreen was a town made up of mansions and the thick, deep woods that surrounded them. My curiosity piqued as we turned off the main street and onto a dirt road. The trees narrowed on us as we got deeper in, and eventually, I couldn’t spot the town except for the faint glow of traffic lights rising over the horizon.
Michael suddenly pulled the car off the road and parked on the edge of the tree line.
“We’re here.”
Making a face, I peered through the dash looking for a clue. “Is here the spot where you murder me and bury me in the woods?”
Michael’s laugh was smooth and rich. “Here is the place where I seduce you and make you mine.”
“Oh. I’ll get out of the car for that.”
He chuckled as he met me in front of the car and drew me to his chest.
“Why are you so damn cute?”
Our eyes caught and, for a moment, we stopped laughing.
His hands glided down my arms and stopped on my waist. My heart beat against my chest—loud in my ears and probably in his. Tilting my head back, I rose up to meet him.
But he wasn’t there.
Michael stepped back and gestured to a small gap in the trees.
“It’s not too far. Right through here.” He held out his hand for me to take. “Just stick close to me.”
My mind was a swirl of confusion as I let him lead me through. I wasn’t a naïve little girl anymore. I wanted to kiss him and I sensed that he wanted to kiss me too.
So why did he pull away?
I couldn’t come up with an answer.
I held his arm to my chest, resting my forehead on him as we drifted deeper and deeper into the woods. Thick shadows pressed on us, plunging the forest in serene darkness only penetrated by the buzzing hum of hundreds of critters settling in for the night.
After a few minutes of walking, I made out light shining ahead.
“What’s that?”
Together we broke through the trees and came out on to a well-trodden path.
Overhead, a string of lights weaved through the branches and lit our way.
“Wow,” I breathed. “Is this part of a park?”
“No.”
“But someone hung this up. It must be someone’s property. Won’t we get in trouble if we’re caught?”
He shook his head, smile tugging at his lips. “I promise you won’t get in trouble. This is my backyard.”
“It is?” I looked around. “Where is your house?”
Michael pointed off in the distance. “Through there. We actually bought this place for the running path. Mom had the lights put up so I could run at night.”
“Is that safe? This path is accessible from the road and we’ve established this is a great place to murder and bury your dates.”
“Don’t be scared. I’ll protect you.”
Michael kissed the shell of my ear and I promptly forgot about serial killers.
If only I could get him to drop those lips down a bit and to the left.
He set off, tugging me along. “We’re just up here.”
The path seemed to go on forever through the darkness. We walked for what felt like a long time, holding each other and stealing glances and dancing on the edge of flirting, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before I noticed a break in the lights.
The string lights on my side veered off, leading down another path, and we curved to follow. A few more steps and I sucked in a breath.
Lights went around the trees, encircling a tucked-away space of soft grass and the blanket that had been laid upon it.
Michael guided me inside and I lay down, looking up at breaks in the swaying branches to see the stars.
“I found this spot while running,” he said as he tucked himself next to me. “I like to come here and read, listen to music, just be alone.” His finger traced a pattern on my palm. “I thought you might like it.”
“I love it.” Our noses brushed together as I turned to face him. I liked us like this. Breathing the same air, stealing the heat from each other’s bodies, narrowing my world until I could see nothing but his eyes.
“I’ve never brought anyone else here.”
“Really?” I said.
“No one. Not even Cole.”
I ran my finger along his chest and heard the slight hitch of his breath that made my pulse quicken. “Why did you bring me here?”
