“What are you doing?” I asked getting out of my side of the car.
“I’m calling a taxi, and we’re going to their house. Mrs. Jameson probably spent a lot of time making dinner and we are not going to be disrespectful of that.” She said putting her phone to her ear.
I zoned out as she made the call, panicking slightly at the thought of being around Caleb and his family.
I had to admit that Caleb intrigued me. What kind of man invited a girl to dinner and to meet his family, after only one questionable kiss and subsequent awkward encounter?
He had said it was a ‘thank you dinner’, but I didn’t buy it.
I was sure that word would have spread about the kiss, and his family had probably wrongfully assumed that I was interested in dating Caleb.
Which, I’m really not. At all. Seriously, no interest in dating him whatsoever. Honest.
Going to dinner felt almost like being invited for an interview, to see if I passed the family test. I presumed they wanted to make sure I didn’t have ‘crazy eyes’ or stalker-like tendencies.
I assumed they must be a pretty close-knit family, and from briefly meeting his brother, I felt that meeting the rest of his siblings would probably be fine.
My mild panic came from the thought of having to meet his aunt. Older women generally never seemed to like or approve of me. Usually it was something to do with me being too blunt or coarse or not classy enough.
From the women I had met in this town, there seemed to be an interesting mix of PTA/soccer mum types (who tolerated me), ‘twinset and pearls’ types (who didn’t like me at all) and ‘real salt-of-the-earth’ types of women (who actually found me kind of amusing).
I found myself hoping that Mrs Jameson would fall into the last category of women. Despite him only mentioning her briefly, I could tell she was important to him.
Why do you care if she likes you or not? You’ve never cared before. The mean voice said, rearing its ugly little head again.
And then it hit me. For the first time, in a very, very long time, I actually wanted to make a good impression on someone.
So much for not being interested in dating Caleb, liar.
Ugh. I looked up to see Niki had been talking to me.
“What did you say?” I asked her.
“Wow, you really zoned out there. I said the taxi should be here in a couple of minutes. They already had a driver nearby.”
“Awesome” I replied sarcastically.
Niki shifted in the kitten heels she was wearing, as it sank into the gravel of our driveway. “You know, it’s not the worst thing in the world to admit that you might be attracted to someone again.”
“Let me straighten one thing out. All that my reaction to that kiss showed me is that I am horny and probably need to up my masturbation frequency rate. Okay? I have no interest in being with anyone whilst here. I’m only here until next September; I definitely do not need the hassle that comes with dating. I don’t do relationships and you know why. So stop pushing and just let this go!” I snapped as I starred at her as firmly as I could, to let her know I was entirely serious.
“Fine” she sighed. “Taxi’s here.” she said walking away from me and towards the taxi, giving me a disappointed look that pierced my heart a little.
We got into the taxi in silence, and I gave the taxi driver the address Caleb had texted me this morning.
The atmosphere in the taxi was tense and I hated it. Me and Niki rarely fought or had disagreements, and when we did they never lasted long, because neither of us felt complete when we weren’t talking.
Niki was usually the one to break first and apologise, even if the fight was my fault. I looked over at her and saw her staring pointedly out the window. Turning with a sigh, I stared out of the window at the passing town. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the Jameson’s house on the other side of town.
I paid the taxi driver and struggled to get out the car, while balancing the six-packs of beer I had in either hand in the heels I was wearing. As Niki started walking up the pathway I stopped her.
“Hold on. I’m sorry, little bug. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m a bitch.” I said looking down at the ground, trying not to choke up.
Niki took a deep breath, and placed the bags and flowers she was carrying on the ground, before taking a step towards me and engulfed me in a huge hug.
“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have pushed you or have kept teasing you about what happened with Caleb. I’ve just never seen you react to anyone like you how you did with him. I know you hate when I say this, but I love you more than anything. I just want you to be happy.” she said her voice cracking slightly.
I bent my knees and placed the bottles on the ground and returned her hug.
“I know you do, Niki. You’re the most important person in the world to me. You need to stop worrying about me. I’m a big girl. And I am happy. So stop worrying your pretty little head, okay?” I said giving her a final squeeze and kiss on her forehead.
“Alright. But I’ll never stop worrying about you, Big Bug.” Niki said taking another deep breath, trying to pull herself together.
I laughed and wiped away the small tear that had gathered in the corner of my eye.
I bent down and picked up the six-packs, squared my shoulders and turned to Niki. “Well, come on then, let’s go meet the Jamesons.”
Chapter 11
Caleb
I heard a car pull up in front of the house. I looked out the clear, glass side panel next to the door and was confused to see it was a taxi.
When I saw Niki get out, I frowned. I thought they had said they would be driving here?
They had almost reached the path leading up to the house, and I was going to open the door for them, but then realised that it may have seemed like I had been hovering by the door waiting for her to get here.
Which I kind of had been doing… for the last twenty-five minutes.
Well, you loser, there is no need for her to know that.
I realised that I was watching her walk up the pathway like some creepy Peeping Tom and was going to force myself away from the door, when I saw her stop her sister and say something to her. I wondered if she had changed her mind about dinner.
Even if she had, there was no way I was going to allow that to happen. I had absolutely no qualms about picking the woman up and carrying her over my shoulder into the house.
Her sister had put her bag down, walked over to Liya and wrapped her in a hug. I noticed that they had both seemed slightly upset. The thought that she was in some way hurt, pissed me off and I debated about storming out there and demanding to know what was wrong.
I relaxed slightly when I saw Liya smile, say something to her sister and brought a finger to her eye. I chuckled internally when I saw her square her shoulders like she was going into battle as began to make her way up the stone path to the house.
Something told me life would certainly never be boring with Maliya Abbott around.
My aunt came down the stairs and tutted at me, “Honey. Stop waiting around the door. They’ll get here, when they get here.”
“They just pulled up.” I told her. Aunt Deb gave a deafening squeal and pushed past me to open the door. “YOU’RE HERE!” she yelled as she flung open the door.
Liya’s sister came into view; her fist was raised in mid-air as if she were just about to knock on the door. Both Liya and Niki sported understandably surprised and somewhat terrified expressions at the sight of a small, strange, blonde woman yelling at them.
“Well, don’t just stand there! Come in, come in! JEREMY! JEREMY! WHERE ARE YOU? THEY’RE HERE!” Aunt Debbie hollered, practically dragging Niki in and Liya followed cautiously behind her.
Liya caught my eyes and raised her eyebrows as if silently asking me about that state of Aunt Debbie’s sanity.
If you think this is bad, you’ve not seen anything yet, Angel…
I smiled at her and shrugged my shoulders. She would soon see
Aunt Debbie in her full mother-hen glory.
Aunt Debbie cupped Niki’s face in her hands and sighed happily before moving over to Maliya and doing the same, but paused in front of her, staring straight into Liya’s wide eyes.
“Oh honey, I was wrong. They’re not pretty, they’re gorgeous.” Aunt Debbie said warmly finally letting go of Liya’s face and taking a step back.
“Welcome to our home.” Aunt Debbie said as Uncle Jeremy came into the living room from the sitting room.
“Geez woman, let the girls breathe.” He said to Aunt Debbie, circling his arm around her waist and pulling her into his body.
Whatever welcome Liya and Niki had been expecting, this clearly was not it. They were both stood frozen on the spot and seemed at a slight loss as to what to do next.
I stepped forward to make introductions. “Maliya and Annika Abbott, these are my aunt and uncle, Jeremy and Debbie Jameson.” I saw a flash of recognition register on Maliya’s face when I mentioned Aunt Debbie’s name.
Niki seemed to recover first and handed over the flowers she was holding to Aunt Deb. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Annika, but please call me Niki. You have a beautiful home, Mr and Mrs. Jameson.”
“Oh, none of that now, you call us Debbie and Jeremy. Or Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jeremy would be better. I bet we’re all going to feel like family real soon.” Aunt Debbie said winking at Maliya.
Oh shit. Is it too late to abort this dinner?
Liya’s eyes widened in alarm as she looked at me, her eyes silently screaming ‘what the fuck have you dragged me into?’
She forced a laugh and turned to Aunt Debbie “Hi. Please, call me Liya. Thank you for the dinner invitation. I wasn’t sure if you were wine people or beer people. So, I went with my gut.” she said holding up two six-packs of Coronas.
Uncle Jeremy laughed and took them from her “You chose right sweetie. Come on through.”
Niki passed the other bag she was holding to Aunt Debbie “Caleb mentioned that you liked the cheese strudels. I’m experimenting with a savoury version at the bakery, so I brought a mix of the two. I’d love to know what you think about them.”
“Gorgeous, thoughtful and she bakes like a dream. We’re gonna keep you.” Aunt Debbie said with a grin.
I looked over at Liya to see her reaction to Aunt Debbie’s comment, worried that it may have freaked her out further, but she was smiling at her sister with a loving look on her face.
Liya and Niki must have seen the row of shoes on the rack by the door or noticed the fact that we were all either in socks or barefoot, because they bent and began to take off their shoes.
“Oh no, don’t worry about that cutie! I only make the boys take their shoes off cos they end up dragging all sorts of disgusting things through the house. You keep your shoes on, you’re guests.” Aunt Debbie said trying to stop them.
“A guest? And there was me thinking we were going to be family, Debbie. I’m offended.” Liya teased, undoing the buckle of her other shoe. “It’s not a problem; it’s actually kind of comforting. Our mother didn’t like shoes in the house either.” She said her beautiful brown eyes sparkling.
How are even her toes adorable?
The nails on her feet had been painted in alternating dark and light green colours.
Aunt Debbie laughed lightly. “Hmm... gorgeous, smart and sassy. Think we’ll keep you too.”
Liya actually seemed more relaxed and laughed genuinely at what Aunt Deb had said.
“Oh, I don’t know Debbie. I’m not easy to keep. But I can be persuaded with food and alcohol.”
“Well, we better go and eat then.” Debbie said smiling.
“I never turn down an offer to eat.” Liya said with a giggle. Her giggle had to be one of the sexiest sounds I had ever heard and I felt my cock stir. I had to recall my list of disgusting memories once again to get it to behave.
My dick had just started to calm down when she took off the light jacket she had been wearing and I had to bite back a moan. The dark green dress plunged down between her plump breasts and hugged the wide curve of her hips perfectly. The skirt of the dress clung to her thighs, ending just above her knees.
An image of those thighs spread and cradling my hips as I plunged my cock deep inside her flashed through my mind. A small moan escaped my mouth and I glanced up to see three curious female faces looking at me and my uncle’s knowing face not even trying to hide his grin.
I’m so glad my pain can be the source of amusement to others…
I cleared my throat “Let me take your coats.” Taking their coats, I turned to hang them on the pegs that were on the wall, over the shoe rack and tried to get myself under control.
Addie chose that moment to call out “Can we eat yet? I’m starving.” as she came bounding down the stairs.
She paused when she when she got to the base of the stairs and saw us all stood there. “Oh you’re here!” she said with a smile at Niki and Liya, before glaring at the rest of us “You could have told me they were here!”
“I’m so sorry that we were late by the way. We ran into some car trouble and had to get a taxi.” Liya said apologetically to my aunt and uncle.
I frowned at her “Why didn’t you call me to come get you?”
“That would have taken longer, Caleb. You would have had to have driven across town and then back here again, when the taxi was already close to our house.” She replied stubbornly.
“Next time you have car trouble, you call me.” I demanded.
“There won’t be a next time.”
“You don’t know that. Trudy’s Beetle is a hunk of junk. You should really get a safer car to drive around in.”
“Do NOT call Daisy a hunk of junk! She is a sturdy old girl. I don’t need a new car.”
“You have my number, so use it. Don’t put yourself in danger unnecessarily.”
“You are being completely ridiculous. How is getting into a taxi, with my sister, putting myself in danger?” her eyes flashed angrily.
“If he had chloroform he could have easily overpowered the two of you. He could have been a murderer or rapist or have mugged you both and left you in the middle of nowhere.”
“I didn’t realise that they sold that much chloroform in Starling Falls, or that the murder rate by elderly taxi drivers was so high.” she said sarcastically, infuriating me that she was being so flippant about this.
“That’s not the point Maliya.” I said taking step closer to her and didn’t fail to notice her breathing quickened. “You’re too damn special to be taking any chances with your safety. So the next time you have a problem, the first number you go to call had better be mine.”
“The next time I have a problem, I’ll sort it out myself and if I can’t fix it, then I’ll call whoever I want to call, Caleb.” She said stubbornly, taking a step towards me.
We were both breathing heavily, engaged in a staring match, neither of us willing to back down.
I was about to sink my fingers into her inky black hair and take her mouth, when someone cleared their throat.
We tore our gazes away from the other and looked up to see four faces, with varying expressions. Niki’s mouth was ajar, Uncle Jeremy was smirking, Addie was grinning widely and Aunt Debbie looked as if all of her wishes were coming true at once.
Addie broke the tension between us by walking over and sticking out her hand “Hi, I’m Addie, Caleb’s sister and I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
Liya smiled “I think we will too. I’m Liya” she said shaking Addie’s hand “And I have to say, I feel very sorry for you, if you’ve had to put with that macho, overprotective crap for the majority of life.”
“Times that by five, and you’ve got a rough idea of what my life has been like.” Addie complained with a straight face.
“Oh you poor thing, how did you ever manage to have any kind of life growing up?” Liya asked in a slightly horrified tone.
“I have my secrets, which I’ll have t
o tell you another time far from listening ears.” Addie grinned.
Addie turned to Niki who just waved from where she was standing “Hey, you’re the baker girl”
“Yup. Baker Girl is my superhero alter ego, but I generally go by Niki.”
“Your triple chocolate chunk cookies are going to be the death of me. You’ve only been opened three days, but every time I’ve stepped into your shop, I swear I can feel the waistband of my jeans get tighter. I am completely hooked.”
Addie moved in closer to Niki and stage-whispered conspiratorially “We’re friends now, so you can be honest with me; are you putting crack in your cookies to make them more addictive?”
Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1) Page 8
