Chapter Twenty-Six Stephen
“ Y ou’re in love with her.”
“Just pass the bread, Jillian.”
“Who are you in love with, dear?”
“No one, Mom.” Had I resorted to lying to my own mother now?
“Admit it first.” My lovely sister was holding the bread basket just out of my reach. I got up and snatched it from her. Good luck getting it back.
“What’s her name?” Mom asked.
“Perry,” Jillian answered. “And she’s really cute. Sweet too. Isn’t that right, Daniel?”
No, she’s beautiful . “Leave the boy alone, Jillian.” His cheeks resembled two beets as he looked down at his plate, stuffing lasagna in his mouth.
“I think he has a little schoolboy crush on her,” she whispered in my ear .
“Oh, she sounds nice. When are you bringing her over for dinner?”
“I’m not, Mom.”
“There’s always room at the table. Isn’t that right, Frank?”
“Absolutely. We’d love to meet her.” As if my stepfather would ever deny his wife anything. The sun rose and set with her.
“You definitely should bring her,” my sister said. “She’d fit right in. She’s already been living with you nearly a month. It’s about time, don’t you think?”
Mom’s eyes widened. “She’s living with you and I’ve never met her?”
“It’s not like that. She works with me and needed a temporary place to stay, that’s all. There’s nothing going on between us.”
Jillian almost snorted wine out of her nose. I narrowed my eyes at her. I was beginning to regret that I’d ever confided in her.
“Except being in love with her,” she muttered.
“If you have feelings for this girl, why don’t you just tell her?” Mom asked. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for you to bring a nice girl over for dinner?”
I groaned and Jillian chuckled. Our Sunday family dinner was turning into an inquisition.
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Jillian said. “You’re both unattached, and you’ll be returning to your old position soon. You need to tell her how you feel.”
“No, I don’t. Perry doesn’t need that complication right now. After what she’s been through, she only needs a friend, and that’s what I’m giving her.”
Fuck, did I just spill what I was trying to contain? Judging from the smiles, it appeared that way. I filled my mouth with enough food to keep me busy for a while.
“You at least have to try.” Jillian rested her hand on my arm. “How else will you ever know if she feels the same? ”
“And if you can’t say it in words, dear, bring lasagna. Nothing says love like lasagna. Isn’t that right, Frank?”
“Absolutely.”
I arrived home moments before Perry. I’d barely had a chance to put the leftovers in the fridge before I heard the door open.
I walked out to greet her. “How’d it go?”
She dropped her purse on the end table. “Pretty well, I think. It felt like this was the first time she took me seriously.”
Perry had spent the day at her sister’s since her brother-in-law was out of town. She’d been looking forward to seeing Emily and getting uninterrupted talk time with Sam.
I smiled. “That sounds promising.”
“Yeah. I just hope she does something about it soon, for both her and Emily’s sakes. When you love someone you just want them to be happy, you know?”
“I know.”
She wandered into the kitchen and opened the cupboard, pulling out the peanut butter. She began shifting boxes around. “Hey, do we have any of those crackers left? Those funny-shaped ones I love so much.”
“In the bag on the counter. I bought you some more this morning.”
“Ooh, thank you! I’m starving.”
“I brought you home lasagna if you’d rather have that.” I took it out of the fridge. “I just put it in here minutes ago. It’s still warm.”
“From your family dinner?” I nodded. “Did you have a nice time?”
“It was interesting, as always. ”
She pried open the lid. “God, this smells amazing. Is it all for me?”
“Yep. My mom made sure to send me home bread for you too. It’s homemade and just as good.”
“Aww, that was so sweet of her.” She grabbed a fork and brought everything to the dining room.
“Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No, I’m good, thanks.”
I cracked open a beer and joined her at the table. She ripped off a piece of bread and placed it in her mouth, making an “mmm” sound. Man, Jillian was right; she would fit right in. Both Mom and Frank would adore her.
She was about to dig into the lasagna when she paused. “Is this—”
“Spicy? No, just delicious. You’ll love it.”
She scrunched up her face. “How’d you know I was going to say that?”
I shrugged. “Just a guess. Spicy food is one of your turnoffs.” It almost freaked me out how much I knew about her.
“Hmm.” I watched her as she took a large forkful. Then she closed her eyes and moaned. Holy fuck, Perry . I had to adjust myself. “Oh my God. This is incredible.”
“Yeah, I can see you enjoy it.” Fuck .
“Your mom made this?”
“No, Frank. He does all the cooking. Everything he makes is just as fantastic.”
“Who’s Frank?”
“My stepfather.”
She nodded. “I didn’t know your mom was remarried. What about your dad?”
“What about him?” I took a lengthy sip off my bottle. He wasn’t someone I cared to think about if I could help it.
“Do you see him often too? ”
“Never. Even if I wanted to, his trophy wife keeps him too busy.”
“That’s sad.”
She’d stopped eating to focus on me, and I couldn’t have that. I fucking loved watching her eat. “It’s not sad at all, Perry. It’s a good thing. He treated my mom like shit, and Jillian and I suffered right along with her. Now that he’s gone, things are so much better. Frank is just like a father to us, and he couldn’t be a better husband. It’s quite the happy ending, really.”
“Really?”
I smiled. “Really. Now eat before it gets cold.”
We sat in silence for a bit while she ate and I drank. I knew she was saving up to get her own place, and she’d be leaving one of these days, but fuck if I wouldn’t miss her.
“Has Dre tried to contact you since that night?”
She looked up. “No, why?”
“I was just wondering. Do you think you’d ever go back with him?”
I had to admit, I felt better seeing that my question shocked her. “No. Do you think I would after what happened?”
“I’d hope not considering what he did to you, but you did say that your whole relationship in the past was based on breaking up and getting back together.”
“Totally different situations. I’m sure you can see that. Honestly, he probably did me a favor in the long run. I wanted to give him a fair chance, but over time I think we would’ve been too different to last long as a couple. I just wish I didn’t have to go through the pain in the short term.”
I should’ve kicked that fucker’s ass when I had the chance. “I’m sorry he hurt you, Perry.”
She shook her head. “I’m over him. Sure, he could’ve picked another girl to fuck, but it’s Christa I feel the most betrayed by. That’s the pain I’m trying to deal with. ”
“If you’re over him, maybe that means you’re ready to date again.”
She laughed. “Date again ? I never started.”
“You’ve never had a date?”
“Nope. Just a series of clusterfucks.” I finished my beer, deciding how to proceed when she said, “That night you fought with Dre? You know, I was defending you. Not that I thought Matt should be talking shit about anyone, but I don’t know the others. All I could do was think of you, and how torn up you were about it. It made me go off on him because he doesn’t know you like I do.”
“I know, Perry. I was there. I heard everything. Thank you.” I smiled. She had a bit of sauce on her lip. “And it meant even more that you said it all when you didn’t even know I was listening.”
I knew I was falling in love with her before then, but that moment had cinched it for me. I’d seen her show her loyalty to others, but that was the first time she’d given it to me.
“You’re welcome,” she said softly, swirling a noodle around her plate.
“Hey, Perry?” She glanced up and I tossed a napkin at her. “You’ve got sauce on your lip.” Please remove it before I suck it off . Fuck, everything this woman did turned me on.
She wiped it away and pushed her remaining food aside. She’d almost polished off everything. Impressive.
“God, I’m stuffed. Do you know what I’m in the mood for now? Just kicking back on the couch and watching a movie. Wanna watch one with me?”
“Love to.”
The shriek had me bolting out of bed and running to her room. This time I was fully dressed. I’d been sitting in the family room for the past couple hours doing nothing but thinking since she’d gone up to bed.
“Perry?” She was standing at the side of the bed, whacking the hell out of a pillow. “What are you doing?”
“Ohmigod, Stephen.” She peeled up a corner of the sheet and peeked underneath. “There’s a spider in here.”
“A spider.” I covered my mouth to hide the grin. Then I noticed her nipples poking out of her tank top.
“Dammit, it’s not funny. It was one of those big ones that look like a tarantula.”
“Wolf spider?” Fuck, I was getting hard.
“Yes, that’s it. I was lying here and couldn’t sleep, and then I saw something crawling across the pillow. I jumped up and it scampered somewhere, and now I can’t frickin’ find it!” She peered under the bed.
I steeled myself and went over, knowing for a fact that I’d be beating off again later, that time with a new visual in mind. It was getting ridiculous. I checked her pillows and sheets. Nothing. When I finished, I noticed that she’d slipped another shirt on.
Thank God . There was only so much I could fucking take before I broke.
“I can’t find anything, but at least they’re not aggressive.” But they do bite . Since they’d only do that if provoked, I decided to keep that little fact to myself.
“I don’t care! They’re huge. Where the hell could it have gone?”
Nothing on the floor or walls either. “Could you’ve been dreaming?”
She shot me a dirty look. “No, I wasn’t dreaming. I just said I was awake. But there’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep now with that thing wanting to bury itself in my hair.”
“You can’t blame it. ”
“What?”
“You can have my bed, Perry. I’ll sleep in here.”
She seemed to consider it for a moment then shook her head. “No, this bed looks too small for you.”
“Bigger than the couch.”
“If anything, I’ll take the couch. I’ll try hunting it down for a while yet, and if I can’t find it, I’ll go downstairs.”
“Maybe that’s where the spider went.”
She threw a pillow at me. “Shut up. You’re not helping. Now go to sleep. I’ll be fine.”
I laughed, leaving her room and going to mine. I didn’t bother getting undressed in case she needed something again. And I sure as hell wasn’t sleeping with her tits on my brain.
I heard shuffling around in her room for another fifteen minutes, and then she went downstairs. That lasted thirty seconds before coming back up. I expected to hear more pillow abuse, but instead, she stood in my doorway.
“Thanks. You have me all paranoid now.”
“I take it Wolfey’s still at large?”
“Yep.” She walked over and flopped down at the end of the bed sideways, hitting my calves. I moved up, propping myself against the headboard.
“Look on the bright side. At least it wasn’t a spider monkey. Then you’d be sleeping in your car. I’d never get you in the house again.”
She elbowed my leg and laughed. “I’m usually not afraid of spiders. I just don’t like them trying to crawl on me in bed. ” She rolled over on her side and faced me. “It doesn’t seem fair. You know more about me than I know about you. Tell me something.”
“What, the vomit story wasn’t enough?”
Her lips curved up. “Nope. How about listing some of your turnoffs?”
“Asshole fathers. Oh, and running out of my favorite crackers. I hate that.”
I loved her smile. “Turn-ons?”
“It’s pretty basic. Family, loyalty, friendship.” You .
“Those are good ones.” She looked down, twisting the sheet around her fingers. “Can I see your tattoo?”
Her brown eyes glanced up at me, and I hesitated a moment before pulling the edge of my shirt to the top of my chest. The moon shining through provided enough light to give her a good enough look. She scooted closer, and I heard a tiny gasp. Her reaction made me suck in a breath as well. She was fucking killing me with her gaze. Tread carefully, my friend .
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
Her hand lifted as if she wanted to touch it. I braced myself, suddenly feeling very, very weak. My body fucking craved the contact. I needed it badly. Needed her.
With a low exhale, she dropped her hand and rolled back to face the ceiling. I lowered my shirt.
“Do you want to talk more about your dad? The whole reason why you got the tattoo.”
I was almost grateful for the mood-killer. “There’s not a whole lot more to talk about. He put my mom through hell, then left us. He did one thing for me, though. He showed me what kind of man not to be, and every time I see the ink on my skin, I’m reminded of that.”
“I already know you’re nothing like him.”
“Thank you.” I placed my hand over my chest. I needed that strength now but for a different reason. The amount of willpower it took to keep from pulling her against me was staggering. “I know a lot of things about you, Perry, but those are things everyone knows. I’d like you to tell me something that no one else does.”
She sighed softly but otherwise remained quiet. I was wondering if she was even going to respond. I watched as she closed her eyes and joined her hands over her stomach .
“I’ve never been in love with someone before sleeping with them, and I’ve always wanted to be.”
Her answer affected me deeply. I felt the same way. As she lay there in the moonlight, there was only one thought going through my mind.
I’m going to marry this woman someday .