Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“I’m serious. You would have done the same thing I did the night we met—minus the karate that is. You take responsibility for your parents when you shouldn’t. You supported me tonight. You’re a good man, Straighty. You need to give yourself credit for that the way you do your bowling and air hockey ability.”
“And fucking. You forgot how incredible I am at that.” I grinned and then he leaned forward and kissed my smile. I felt the kiss in my chest, felt it the way I’d never felt anything else because he was fucking Sean and he turned me inside out.
We let the water out of the tub and dried off. We climbed into bed, and I’d given him my ass and he’d shown me what I’d been missing all those years—I knew there was no turning back.
A few weeks later, I had Sean meet me at my favorite café by my office for lunch. We tried to do that now—meet up for lunch from time to time. It was the same place Sadie and I went to eat sometimes.
“Holy shit. I never knew cauliflower could be so good.” He said as he took a bite of the buffalo cauliflower.
“I told you. It’s incredible. I want to figure out how to make it. The garlic roasted Brussel sprouts are good too. I’m not really a veggie person but I love it.”
I saw Sean eye the last piece of cauliflower but before he could reach for it, I reached out and grabbed it.
“You fucker.”
“Your ninja speed doesn’t work with me anymore,” I teased him.
“That’s because you cheat.”
“Awww. Is my ninja a sore loser?” I asked as I took a bite of the cauliflower, eying him the whole time. “Fuck this is good. This is really fucking good. I bet you wish you were as fast as me.”
He crossed his arms and pretended to pout. “I hate you.”
I chuckled. Jesus, he made everything fun. I’d never playfully argued over food with anyone in my life, but I wanted to do everything with him.
“Please, let me have the last bite. I’ll blow you tonight.” He batted his eyelashes.
“You’ll blow me tonight anyway.”
“Rim you?” he asked.
“You’re getting closer.”
“Fine.” He playfully rolled his eyes. “I’ll be your sex slave tonight and do whatever you want.”
“We have ourselves a deal, Mr. Wright.” I reached out with the last piece of cauliflower between my fingers. Sean leaned in and ate it.
I licked my fingers afterward and he grinned at me. “Fuck, this is good. Thank you.” When he finished eating, he suddenly frowned.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing. There’s a woman over there staring at us. I thought I was imagining it at first, but she keeps doing it.”
My stomach twisted into knots because that sure as shit wasn’t something I’d ever had to experience before—bigotry.
I turned to look and the second I did, it wasn’t just my stomach twisting but my throat tightening. It wasn’t just any woman. It was my grandmother, goddamn her for frequenting my favorite restaurant.
I groaned when I realized she was coming toward us.
“Fuck,” I gritted out as I wondered if this was another reason I wouldn’t be good enough for her. I’d finally gotten serious about someone, only it wasn’t a woman.
“Ethan,” she said as she approached us.
“Granny,” I replied, to piss her off.
She frowned and I glanced at Sean to see his eyes go wide.
“Sean, this is my grandmother, Martha. Grandma, this is my boyfriend, Sean,” I said, not willing to hide who Sean was to me. Maybe a part of me did it to upset her, even though I didn’t know if it would or not.
She reached out and took Sean’s hand because she would never want to look bad publicly. “It’s good to meet someone related to Ethan,” Sean told her. “I care about him a lot. He’s a good man, and I’m honored to know him.”
My pulse went a little haywire and I felt some of the tension inside me release. He was laying it on thick for me. I got that. He was trying to prove a point to her but it still meant more to me than I could ever say.
“It’s good to meet you too,” she replied and then, “I was on my way out. I just thought I’d say hi. You two…” She looked at me. “You two have a good day.”
And as she walked away, I leaned forward, grabbed Sean’s face, and kissed him. When I pulled away, she was watching us through the glass.
30
Sean
When Ethan’s grandmother walked up to us, I could feel Ethan go from totally at ease with me to tense as fuck.
With his jaw clenched and his hand balled into a tight fist, I could tell he was still on edge even after she’d walked down the street.
I understood why, though. After all, she hadn’t exactly been the best guardian in the world to him.