Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
TESSA
The sound of a doorbell cut through an exceptionally pleasant dream, forcing me out of sleep and back into the world of consciousness long before I was ready.
I felt like I’d barely slept. The exhaustion was bone-deep, and when I shifted beneath the blankets, the dull throb between my legs reminded me why I felt that way.
With a smile on my face, I buried my head beneath the pillows to hide from the early morning sunlight peeking through Bryce’s bedroom window and tried to drift off once more, only to have my attempt thwarted by the sound of voices traveling up the stairs.
“Christ, Mom. You know better than to use the doorbell this early. Tessa’s still sleepin’.”
Okay. What?
“Sorry, sorry. I’m just so excited to finally meet her, I didn’t think about the time.”
What the what?!
“Why are you guys even here right now? I thought your plane didn’t get in ’til this afternoon.”
Another voice joined the mix, this one deep with age and definitely male. “You know your momma, son.” Son? “She couldn’t wait. Got us on a flight out at the butt crack of dawn this mornin’. You gonna let us in, or what? I need coffee.”
“Yeah, sorry. Come on in, Pop.”
Sweet merciful hell. I was currently lying naked in Bryce’s bed after a night of non-stop sex, listening to him have a conversation with his parents!
That was my nightmare.
“You know where everything is,” I heard Bryce say a few seconds later. “Make yourselves at home. I’m gonna go see if Tessa’s up.”
Nope. No. Uh-uh. This was not happening. I wasn’t prepared mentally or . . . well, any other way, really, to meet Bryce’s parents.
Shooting up, I looked around the room for any means of escape.
Aha! There was a set of French doors on the other side of the bed that led to a tiny balcony. There was a strong chance the fall could break a couple bones, but that was a chance I was willing to take.
Throwing the covers back, I crawled across the mattress, getting tangled in the sheets in the process, and ended up going ass over elbow off the foot of the bed.
“Oh, good. You’re already up.”
Yanking the sheet from around my legs, I quickly wrapped it around my body and stood up, blowing the hair out of my face before exclaiming, “Your parents are here.”
He looked cool as a freaking cucumber. “Yeah. Just got in a minute ago. Sorry if the doorbell woke you.”
“No, Bryce. Your parents are here.”
One of those stupid, sexy eyebrows arched up on his forehead as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Uh, yeah, beauty. Think we just covered that.”
I started rushing around the room, looking for my clothes from the night before.
“You need to take me back to the inn. You can distract them while I sneak out the front. Then make some excuse and meet me at your truck.” Locating my dress, I bent and snatched it up, waving it in the air victoriously.
“What the fuck are you talkin’ about? I’m not takin’ you to the inn. And no way in hell are you sneaking out. You’re gonna come downstairs so I can introduce you to my folks.”
Whipping back around to face him, I narrowed my eyes into vicious slits.
“Maybe you’ve forgotten, but the only thing I have to wear is this.
” I waved the dress around again. “And yeah, it’s a great dress.
I like it. You obviously liked it. But it’s a dress that says first date and even maybe I’ll get lucky tonight.
What it doesn’t say is, Oh yes. I am the woman who’s seeing your son.
Lovely to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Dixon!” I finished on a manic whisper-yell.
The smug asshole actually had the nerve to grin. “It was a sweet dress, baby. I’ll give you that. And I’d say it definitely screams maybe I’ll get lucky.”
“This isn’t funny!” I snapped before looking around the floor again. “And where the hell is my underwear—oh God.” I squeezed my eyes closed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Please tell me they aren’t still scattered around your living room.”
He cleared his throat uncomfortably, lifting his hands in a placating gesture when my eyes flew open once again. “Tell you what. Why don’t you jump in the shower, take a little time to decompress, and I’ll run down to get your panties—”
“And bra.”
“That too,” he said, his lips trembling as he fought back a grin. “I’ll get those, and when you’re done, you can just grab somethin’ of mine to wear and meet us downstairs for breakfast.”
“Have you lost your mind?” I screeched. “I can’t meet your parents wearing something of yours! They see that, they’ll assume we had sex last night!”
That smugness returned. “We did have sex last night. A lot of sex. A lot of really fuckin’ great sex.”
I stomped my foot, now firmly in the middle of an epic freak-0ut. “That’s not helping!”
He stopped battling his humor and grinned full on as he crossed the room, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me flush against him. “Tessa, relax. You’re losin’ your mind over nothin’. My mom and dad aren’t gonna think anything of seein’ my wife in some of my clothes.”
“But I don’t—wait. What?”
His humor gave way to confusion. “What, what?”
“You just said your parents won’t think anything of your wife wearing your clothes.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Does that . . .” I had to shake my head to get my thoughts in order. “They know about me?”
Understanding dawned, and his features grew warm and tender. “Yeah, honey. They know about you. That’s why they’re here. They’ve been wantin’ to meet you for a really long time.”
“No. I know they know about me. I heard you on the phone with your mom when I got sick. What I mean is, they know about me? Like, about everything?”
“Yes, Tessa. They know about the marriage.”
“A really long time?”
His chin jerked back in confusion. “What?”
“You said they’ve been wanting to meet me for a really long time.”
He gave me a little shake and laughed. “Is there an echo in here or somethin’?”
My heart felt like it was about to come out of my chest. “Bryce, how long have they known about me? About all of it?”
“Since the mornin’ after I married the love of my life in Vegas ten-plus years ago.”
Just like that, all the fear and panic melted away, and the last piece of that wall that had been standing came down as I whispered, “Oh my God.”
“I told you I’d give you a family, and I meant it, baby. I know it took me too long to make good on that, but this is me livin’ up to that promise. No matter what happens between us after today, you’ve got a family downstairs right now, and they’ve been dyin’ to meet you.”
My voice came out as a croak when I spoke next. “I’ll just hop in the shower really quick and find something of yours to wear.”
The smile he gave me made me feel like I’d just won the most important prize anyone on the face of the earth could dream of winning. That smile was better than all the cronuts and pastries in Muffin Top. That smile was everything.
“Okay, baby,” he said softly, bending down to bring his lips closer to mine. “You do that. But first, give your husband a kiss, yeah?”
My heart screamed, Oh, we love this man so much!
And my head responded, I’ve got nothing. This guy’s a keeper.
Raising up on my tiptoes, I gave my husband the kiss he’d demanded then skipped off toward the bathroom, feeling lighter than air.
I took the world’s quickest shower, doing the best I could with the very limited products Bryce had. He didn’t have face wash or conditioner, so my hair was going to eventually rebel, and my skin would feel tight, but there was only so much I could do.
Figuring he wouldn’t mind, seeing as he seemed really into this whole husband and wife gig, I used his toothbrush instead of squirting toothpaste on my finger.
It was bad enough I was meeting my in-laws with damp hair and no makeup while wearing a baggy, faded tee and a pair of drawstring sweats that I had to roll at my waist a million times just to keep them up—and still, a good bit of material dragged across the floor at my feet—it wouldn’t do to have foul breath as well.
By the time I hit the foot of the stairs, my nerves were back in full force. I’d never had a boyfriend that lasted long enough to meet his parents. I was terrified Bryce’s mom and dad wouldn’t like me, and if that turned out to be the case, where would that leave us?
I knew he was tight with his family. He’d told me all about them in Vegas, so I wasn’t sure how much their opinion would mean regarding his love life.
The only thing I could do was be myself and hope they saw I had a good heart beneath all the awkwardness.
Pulling in a fortifying breath, I steeled my spine and summoned my courage before following the sound of voices to the kitchen.
I pasted a smile on my face and rounded the corner.
Sitting next to Bryce on one of the barstools at the island, sipping a cup of coffee, was a man who looked to be in his late fifties.
I knew it was Bryce’s father immediately.
It was clear Bryce got his height and build from the man sitting beside him.
He was just as tall, just as broad, and just as handsome as his son.
Across the island, standing at the stove with a spatula in hand, was Bryce’s mother. He’d told me a long time ago she was third-generation Vietnamese American, and looking at her now, I could see her son inherited a lot of her attractive features.
Her long black hair was sprinkled with attractive silver around her temples and pulled back into a tidy ponytail.
Had it not been for the silver, you would’ve thought she was a much younger woman; her face was clear of the lines that came with age.
She was as beautiful as her husband was handsome.
But what was the most noticeable was that she barely stood over five-feet tall; both Bryce and Mr. Dixon towered over her.
I remembered Bryce telling me he had two brothers, so I assumed they also got their father’s height.
I could only imagine how it was for this tiny slip of a woman to raise three huge boys.
Not wanting to be caught staring, I cleared my throat and spoke up.
“Hi. I’m Tessa.” Three sets of eyes shot around to me.
I thought I heard Mr. Dixon mutter, “My Lord, son. I get it now.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I didn’t have time to dissect the statement.
I turned my attention to Mrs. Dixon, and asked, “Is there anything I can help with?”
The woman blinked big, surprised eyes. “You’re Tessa,” she said, the shock written all over her face.
“Yes ma’am.”
“You are Tessa,” she repeated, then added, “Oh my God. You’re so beautiful.”
Then, to my shock and horror, she immediately burst into tears.