by Willow Aster
I push the hair back from his face. “I’m so glad the sexy ginger is your cousin. I was ready to claw her eyes out.”
His eyes crinkle as he laughs. Wow. Smiley-Eyed Spence is something to behold.
“You’ll love Hazel. She’s the one who told me to give you a little time to figure things out. I didn’t see you there that night?”
“I was undercover. I had on a hat and glasses. Snuck out through the kitchen.” I shrug. “It’s a gift.”
He shakes his head. “You’re full of surprises, Queenie.”
“Buckle up. I’m just getting started.”
Best week of my life. Hands down.
Normally, after my mom makes an appearance in my life and then disappears faster than a large pizza down at Kingsley’s, I’m in a funk for a few days. But not this time. I’m getting there, slowly but surely. Letting go of all expectations I’ve had for my mother. The best I can hope for her is that she will choose to take care of herself.
Spence and I have spent every single night together since the night he asked me to give him a chance.
Best decision I ever made.
He makes me laugh. He makes me smile. And oh, does he make me feel all the things when he worships my body for hours every night.
But tonight, I’m doing something I never thought I’d do. I’m taking him to Yaya’s for dinner with my dad and Bernard. My grandmother has been relentless about meeting him, and for whatever reason, I wanted to make it happen.
Dad has been grilling me about why I haven’t been coming around as much this week, so I finally came clean. Tonight will be a big step. I hope it won’t make Spence run. My family is not the most traditional. My father is going to interrogate him more intensely than a CIA agent. My grandmother and Bernard will compete with how hard they flirt with him.
And this little get-together will help me know if this is as real as I think it could be with Spence. I still feel a bit like an imposter, believing this could be my life.
“You sure you want to do this?” I ask.
“Stop worrying. I’m excited to spend some time with your family. You’ve met mine. And trust me, next time they come back, they are going to be all over you now that we’re together,” he says.
We are together. In every sense of the word. We eat together. We sleep together. We bathe together. We laugh together. And even when we aren’t together, we talk on the phone and text. It’s surprisingly natural too, which has caught me off guard. Not only do I not want to run away from Spence, I want to spend every minute with him.
I still can’t believe it myself.
“I love your family. They’re so … normal. My family is not. Prepare yourself.”
I’m about to knock on the door, but it flies open before my hand can touch the wood. Yaya looks like she’s going to a gala in her floor-length colorful caftan with oranges, blues, and hot pinks swirled around in colorful designs on the silk fabric. Her hair is curled so tight to her head it looks like she’s wearing a white helmet. Her lips are overly lined in bright pink, fake lashes make her eyes look like she’s a Bratz doll, and she holds her arms out to the sides. I go to walk toward her and she shoves me to the side and hugs Spence instead.
“Oh my. I haven’t held a sexy man like yourself in far too long. Mmm … mmmm.”
I roll my eyes and look up to see Spence grinning from ear to ear.
“Nice to meet you, Yaya. I’ve heard so much about you.”
My grandmother finally lets go and looks up at Spence, batting her luscious lashes. “The pleasure is all mine.”
That dirty little bird has her flirt game on strong.
“Tone it down, Yaya. You’ll give him a big head.”
“Ohhhh, it looks like he has a big everythang.” Bernard comes around the corner speaking in some sort of southern accent that he’s pulled out of his ass. His arms are crossed over his chest and he shakes his head at Spence. “My oh my. You are a sight.”
I groan. “Can we all just pretend to be normal for one night?”
“Hey, sweetheart.” My father pulls me in for a hug. “So this is the reason you’ve been MIA lately?”
Spence clears his throat and stands up a little straighter.
“Mr. Kingsley, it’s nice to see you again.”
“Well, we’ll see how nice you think it is when we’re done.” Dad shakes Spence’s hand quickly and leads us all toward the dining room.
Yaya has pulled out all the bells and whistles tonight. There are candles lit everywhere, and she’s got her fancy cloth napkins and good china on the table.
It’s going to be a long night.
Bernard gets us each a glass of wine, and we settle at the dining room table.
“So, Spence. My daughter tells me you’re a developer?”
“Yes. My brothers and I have been renovating buildings thus far. But we’re going to dabble a bit in the commercial side of real estate next, if all goes well.”
“Yes, Lord, thank you. He’s easy on the eyes and he’s successful. Lord have mercy, keep filling my happy tank,” Bernard says, and then he covers his mouth. “Oh. Did I say that out loud?”
“The man is straighter than your penis on its best day. I haven’t seen you this excited since the news came out about Jonathan Bailey batting for your team. All this joy better be you rejoicing for our girl.” Yaya passes the bowl of salad to Spence as if she hasn’t just said the most inappropriate thing for all of us to hear.
My father rolls his eyes, Spence chokes out a laugh, and Bernard leans in, smiling.
“Of course my excitement is for our Emma. I can admire the package, but the only straight man I ever wish to turn is Anthony Hopkins. Mmm-mm-mmm.”
We crack up over that. Especially when Bernard adds, “His eyes are kind of like yours, Spence, now that I can see them in this light.”
“How about them Yankees?” I say, and everyone cackles.
“It’s not baseball season,” Spence whispers close to my ear.
“It’s better than the current conversation, so just roll with it.” I hand him the rolls and scoop some salad onto my plate.
The smell of garlic and basil floods my senses and my stomach rumbles. No one makes spaghetti and meatballs like Yaya.
They ignore my Yankees comment and move on. Of course they do.
“So, Spence. What are your intentions with our girl?” Yaya says, as if she didn’t just bring us back to awkward.
“Why is everyone being so obnoxious? Give the guy a chance to breathe. Can we please just have a normal conversation?” I ask, before taking an oversized bite of garlic bread.
“Nope. You can’t bring a fine man like him around and expect us to act normal,” Bernard says.
I take a sip of wine and shake my head. “You could at least try. It wouldn’t kill you.”
“Life is too short to put on airs. Tell us about your family, Spence,” Yaya says.
“Well, I’m the oldest of five. I have three younger brothers and our little sister Penelope. We grew up in Chicago, and my brothers and I moved out here for an opportunity in real estate. My parents are back home, and my sister attends Northwestern University. We’re hoping she moves out here after she graduates.”
“So you’ve got a close family. That’s nice.” My father sets his wine glass down and studies Spence. “Do you plan on staying here?”
“I do. I like it here a lot,” Spence says, and he takes my hand beneath the table.
“You want kids?” he asks.
“Dad!”
“Absolutely.” Spence squeezes my hand.
I sneak a look at Spence, my heart galloping. We’re not to the kid-talking stage yet, but my temperature just turned up, times ten.
Kids are not something I’ve ever considered a possibility.
“You planning to carry on the cussing name tradition?” Dad asks.
I cover my mouth and laugh. I give up. There’s no reeling them back in.
Spence smirks. “Emma told you about that?�
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“We had to make sure Jesse was suitable for Mya and he filled us in.” Dad’s been frowning for the past ten minutes, so when he starts laughing, the whole table explodes, ready to put the tension behind us. Dad laughs until he has to wipe his eyes.
“When I heard your grandpa’s name is Monty Franklin, I lost it. Mya hadn’t even heard that one yet—remember that, Em? I thought she was going to break some blood vessels, you two laughed so hard. M.F. Taylors, G.D. Taylors … what was your uncle’s name again?”
“Baxter Samuel,” Spence says.
The laughter erupts again.
“Brilliant, just brilliant,” Dad says.
Had I known all we had to do is bring up Spence’s family names, I would’ve started there.
Spence shakes his head, still smiling. “Story in our family is that it absolutely was not intentional, but … come on.” He shrugs and Dad cracks up again. “Pretty sure my brother Gus will try to resurrect it when he has kids.”
When Yaya brings out her red velvet cake that she makes for special occasions, my heart squeezes. It’s been doing that a lot lately. Dad goes back to firing off questions, but the air feels different—lighter now. Spence answers each question without hesitation. Yaya feels the need to tell her mysterious Nippleate story and Spence finds it hilarious, and Bernard asks him if he and his brothers will take him out on the town sometime. Spence fits in like he belongs here, which is saying a lot because my family has put him through the wringer tonight.
But he just keeps surprising me.
Chapter Nineteen
Spence
We have just had the most mind-blowing sex and are staring at the ceiling catching our breath. If she’s like me, she’s thinking, what the hell just happened? What was that? It’s been amazing every time, but I swear, we just reached heaven.
“Do you think we’re moving too fast?” she whispers.
And I guess she wasn’t thinking what I was thinking … or maybe that’s exactly why she’s asking this now.
I think I’m learning Emma. Finally.
I turn to face her and trace my fingers across her neck and chest.
“I have something to tell you.”
She glances at me, alarm all over her face. I lean over and kiss that away. When I pull back, she has that blissed-out look on her face again. Soft Emma takes my breath away.
“You know after we kissed in the elevator almost a year ago?” I move back to my pillow but turn to look at her.
She smirks. “And you got on your knees,” she says. She loves to bring up that part.
“And made you see stars,” I add.
“To-may-to, to-mah-to.”
“Mm-hmm. Well ... I haven’t been with anyone since.”
She leans up on her elbow, hovering over me. “What does that mean?”
“You turned me all inside out. I couldn’t get you out of my head. You bewitched me.”
She presses her lips together, trying not to smile, but her bright eyes give her away. Finally, she says, “But you hated me.”
“I never hated you.”
“Why didn’t you make a move sooner?”
“Would it have worked?” I put my hands on her waist and place her on top of me. I can’t get enough of her. “I was in deep denial and also scared shitless of you.”
She giggles and then her eyes widen because it’s obvious she fully woke up the beast with that.
“Hey, what about Tabitha? You never even kissed her?”
“We decided after the first date that we would only be friends.”
She bends down and kisses me. “So you really were just torturing me with her.”
“Did it work?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Her hands brush back my hair and she looks shy all of a sudden. “I haven’t been with anyone either, and I did hate you for that. You ruined me for anyone else with your mad tongue skills.”
“Yeah? How do you feel about me now?” I squeeze her perfect ass and her breath quickens.
“Well, I can’t even call you Grumpy Smurf most of the time because you’re always so happy. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
I laugh, proving her point. “Come around me with the brothers and I’m sure you’ll get your grump fix.”
She puts her hand between us and slides me right inside of her heat. I groan. She sits up and I take in how painfully beautiful she is.
I want to tell her I love her and that I think I have all along, but I decide to show her instead.
One step at a time, one day at a time. One sweet kiss at a time.
Some things might have moved quickly with us once we admitted how we felt, but this has been a long, slow dance since the day we met. She’s like a bird, perched to take flight anytime she’s startled. So I will woo her carefully and hope that eventually she free falls into me.
And sex, lots of sex. Not just because I’m a man who has been missing it for so long—and fuck almighty, have I ever missed it—but because the more we explore each other’s bodies, the more her walls crumble.
I’ve been putting in long hours on the building. We want to dive into the hotel project in three months, so we are under pressure to complete the current project quicker than we planned.
Emma had her first day in court today as the lead attorney and I want to do something special for her. I grab a bottle of her favorite Chardonnay and takeout from the sushi place up the street that I know she loves. I light a few candles and drop the massive bouquet of flowers I bought in a vase.
I’ve never been a romantic before, but this woman brings something out in me. I want to do everything for her. She knocks on the door and I open to find her looking like some sort of fantasy in her black fitted dress, fuck-me heels and her hair tied back in some sort of twist at the nape of her neck. Professional Emma is sexy as fuck and I am here for it. I tug her against my body and kiss her hard.
How can I possibly miss someone that I woke up beside this morning? I don’t know—but I do.
“How did it go?” I ask, when I pull away and take her hand to lead her inside.
“It was a strong start. I was nervous, but Jack and Mya insisted it wasn’t obvious.”
“You’re a rock star.” I hand her a glass of chilled Chardonnay.
“What’s all this?” She glances at the table, taking it all in.
“It’s a celebration. Today was a big day.”
Her eyes are wet with emotion, and she puts her hand over her mouth. Did I fuck up already?
“You okay?” I ask, setting down my glass and moving toward her.
“Yeah. Of course. I’m just … I’m not used to celebrating like this. Don’t get me wrong, my dad has been proud of me my entire life. But we didn’t do special dinners like this … with flowers and candles.” She bites down on her bottom lip and looks up at me.
I nod. I blame my mother. The woman celebrated first place and last place just the same. I grew up in a home that celebrated everything. My dad certainly was not the one behind that force, and my chest aches a little at the thought of Emma not having that maternal role in her life. Sure, she had Yaya and that woman loves her fiercely, but she grew up differently than I did, and I need to remember that. I don’t want to scare her off.
I lead her to the table and she drops to sit while I take the chair across from her. “I get that. But you need to know … I plan to celebrate you every day.”
She smiles and I love it. “Tell me about your house growing up. Melanie seems like the kind of mom you see in the movies. She certainly was last Thanksgiving.”
We laugh about how over-the-top my mom was last Thanksgiving.
“She was pretty awesome. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she raised five kids and she took no shit. The woman can still paralyze me with just a look. But she was loving and encouraging in every way.” I choose my words carefully. I don’t want to throw salt in her wounds, and I want her to open up to me.
“I’m sure she was. And you probably got the homemade c
upcakes on your birthday?” She laughs, but there’s something there. Sadness maybe? “It’s so funny when you’re young what seems so big to you, you know?”
I hand her the platter of sushi and she drops a few pieces on her plate before handing it back to me.
“Like what?” I ask.
“I had a weird obsession with birthday treats when I was growing up. All these kids would bring these homemade goodies to school. I remember Sophie Vogel brought these cupcakes that her mom made with dog faces.” She shakes her head and chuckles. “Why do I remember that? Anyway, I was in awe that her mother would spend that many hours baking these treats for her. I bet your mom did those kinds of things.”
I nod. “She enjoys baking, yes. What about you? Did your dad bring treats for your birthdays?”
“Of course. But you know Dad. He isn’t much of a baker, and I never told him about the cupcakes the other kids would bring. I just let him surprise me each year, because I knew how hard he tried, you know, to make things normal for me.”
I finish chewing. “What would he bring?”
“Well, one year it was a giant sandwich platter.” Her head falls back in laughter. “And in fifth grade, he brought hot dogs for everyone. That was pretty awesome. He really tried hard to be both parents to me.”
“I really like your dad. He terrifies me, but I like him. I can see how much he loves you.”
Her smile reaches her blue-green eyes. “He’s the best. And he likes you, which is shocking. He hated every guy I went to dances with in high school. He’s always been super protective, which is sweet.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I can relate. We tortured Pen’s dates growing up. They never stood a chance.”
“You guys are really cute with her.”
I nod. “So, court again tomorrow? Do you feel ready?”
“Yep. Jack’s going to be there with me and the senior partner who I truly can’t stand—Arwin. He’s also making sure I don’t miss anything.”
“Who’s Arwin? Why don’t you like him?”
“He’s just … gross. Let’s just say he makes it clear that he isn’t faithful to his wife. He’s a dirty old man.”
