Chapter 36 Slutty Little Glasses #2
I felt my eyes widen, and I stared down at the smirking man beneath me. “Am I feeling up for it?”
He shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
I tried not to laugh, determined to keep my body balanced on his feet as I slowly released his hands, my arms coming back by my sides.
“We’re doing it!” I said with a giggle. However, then he started chuckling, and before I could correct myself, I slipped from his feet and went crashing down into him, my leg landing right between his thighs and my chest landing on his.
“Fuck,” he groaned, his arms now around me as he fell to the side.
I couldn’t stop laughing. “Are you okay?” I asked through gasps for air.
“Peachy,” he muttered, his eyes squeezed shut.
“We need a minute, Sandy,” I said as she nodded, eyes wide, and backed away to check her phone.
I kissed his cheek and tried to contain my giggles again.
“Brat, it’s a good thing you don’t want minions. I don’t think any are comin’ from me.” I stared at him as he slowly opened an eye and peered down at me. “Did you have fun?”
I scooted up his chest enough to press my lips to his in a gentle kiss. “You planned our first date.”
He shrugged as if this wasn’t a big deal, but it was. He’d gone out of his way to look at my hectic schedule, plan something he knew I’d like with my favorite yoga teacher, and then showed up ready to enjoy himself by my side.
“You’re amazing, Wyatt.”
His arms squeezed around me, and he kissed my forehead. “Only because I can’t imagine doing this life with anyone else now. You’re it for me, Ember.”
I found myself nodding as I leaned down on his chest, soaking up the moment where it was just the two of us and everything was perfect.
“Are you sure you want to come along for this? I’d understand if you wanted to hide in the trunk of the SUV and just…I don’t know, pretend like you weren’t ever here.”
His big blue eyes stared down at me as if I were some mysterious puzzle he couldn’t figure out to save his life. I felt the same way about myself sometimes.
“Do you not want me to come?” he questioned calmly. His tone told me in not as many words that he wouldn’t be offended if I indeed didn’t want him to come with me.
“No! I mean, I do. It’s just that…my mother can be a lot, and I don’t want her to ruin the good morning that we’ve had together.”
He nodded. “Impossible. That was the best first date I’ve ever had, minus the part where your thigh, which is rock-hard muscle by the way, came crashing into my manhood. That was tragic.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and I couldn’t stop the heat that licked its way up my cheeks when he pulled me in and kissed my temple.
“Fine, but the moment you’re uncomfortable or she says something shitty, we bail. Promise,” I stated firmly, and he just smiled.
He had no idea what we were walking into; that much was clear. He pulled open the small café's door, letting me walk in first. My eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on her in the far corner.
I could do this. It wasn’t that serious. Sure, I’d never brought a guy with me before, and I didn’t exactly tell her about him yet, but he was cute and successful. She’d love him.
His hand slipped back into mine, and I felt myself calm.
“Which one is she?” he asked quietly.
I nodded my head in her general direction. “She’s the redhead in the far corner. Dark blue dress and matching heels.” I shook my head with an eye roll. “Woman has a pair of heels to match every damn dress,” I muttered under my breath.
He chuckled. “Don’t worry. You look stunning in this outfit. She could never pull off this shade of green, and you’re doing it effortlessly.”
I playfully smacked his chest, but he pulled our intertwined fingers up to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of my hand.
“I’m not worried, little flame. Let’s do this.”
I pushed out a solid breath and pulled him over towards her table. I could feel the moment she spotted me, the inner eye roll at my outfit ensued first, but then her gaze was stuck on our intertwined hands. That was when she saw him.
Her wide eyes just stared, as if she couldn’t understand what she was looking at right now.
“Hello, Mother,” I said, trying to imbue as much friendly enthusiasm into my voice as I could.
She stood, pressing the skirt of her dress down flat—like she’d ever allow it to crease to begin with—and stuck her hand out to Wyatt.
“Hello! I’m Lori, Ember’s mother. You are?” Her tone was all flowers and sunshine right now, nothing like the tone I was normally greeted with. But I bit my tongue to hold back any sharp words that may wish to escape while Wyatt smirked his stupid playboy smile at her.
“Wyatt Carragan, Ember’s boyfriend,” he replied smoothly, never missing a beat.
Mom’s eyes widened for the briefest of seconds at the last name before she composed herself.
“Wow, a Carragan? Like the ranch in Raven Creek?” she asked, her voice a little less chipper.
Wyatt and I looked at each other. “One in the same.”
“Anyway, can we sit and order? I’m starving,” I stated, hoping to change the subject.
Lori rolled her eyes and took her seat back. “I swear, Ember. You’d think you’d possess even a modicum of class with Mr. Carragan here present.”
My teeth ground together, and I tried, once again, to bite my tongue and hold back my words, but for once, it seemed I didn’t need to.
“Wyatt, please, and trust me. Ember has more than a modicum of class. She’s a one-of-a-kind woman, and I’m beyond proud she willingly lets me stick around.” His words felt like honey, and I could’ve gone down on him right there beneath the table.
Instead, I lightly nudged him with my shoulder and smiled. “I don’t know about willingly, but me too, Carragan.”
He smiled, that stupid dimple making an appearance, and thankfully, the waitress came over to take our order before my mother could say anything else that would make me want to kick her in the shin and run away like a small child.
“So, Wyatt,” she said, as if seeing how the name tasted on her tongue. “Tell me about yourself. What do you do? How did you and my daughter meet?”
Wyatt looked over at me, an eyebrow arched, the silent question of should I tell her the truth or not—and honestly, I wasn’t sure. He nodded like he could fully understand my thoughts.
“I’m in cyber security.” He didn’t elaborate beyond that, and I wanted to laugh, but I held it back.
Lori’s eyes bounced between the two of us. “What does that mean?”
“I own my own company doing freelance work for larger companies to ensure their computers and documents are secure and can’t be broken into, to sum it up simply.”
“And how well does something like that pay?” she questioned as she leaned forward on the table.
I wasn’t sure if it was the question itself, or the tone of her voice, or just my general demeanor tonight, but I saw red.
“He’s the man who fucked me in the woods,” I stated plainly.
Wyatt started coughing, but I didn’t even glance at him. My eyes were locked defiantly with my mother’s instead.
“Excuse me?”
“When you came into my work and told me you set me up with that doctor—”
“He was a lawyer,” she stated plainly.
I rolled my eyes. “Doctor, lawyer, politician, judge, demon, whatever. They’d all be banging the pool cleaner in fifteen years anyway.
I told you I wasn’t going because I had a date with a man who was going to fuck me against a tree?
The man was Wyatt. He fucked me against a tree, and it was phenomenal.
He’s a strong, successful, smart, funny man, and I’m happy. ”
She stared at me from across the small cafe table before she rolled her eyes. “I’m very glad you’re happy, Ember. Though I’m not sure I needed to know all of that. I only asked about whether it paid well to ensure that my daughter wasn’t taking care of some lazy man. Is that such a crime?”
She picked some piece of imaginary lint off her dress and looked down at her perfectly manicured nails before her eyes returned to mine.
“I know we don’t get along all that well, but I do just want you to be happy. If Mr. Carragan—I’m sorry, Wyatt—does that for you, I’m happy for you both.”
“Thank you, Lori. That means a lot.” Wyatt had a genuine smile on his face as he reached out and took my hand again.
I, however, was lost for words. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
For the second wave of backhanded comments and snide remarks to flow from her perfectly polished lips.
But none of that came. We had a nice conversation while eating pastries that Wyatt confessed were not nearly as good as mine, and after an hour had passed, my mother invited us over to her house for dinner the following week.
Shocked was too little a word for how I was feeling as I stared down this woman, but at the same time, a small, minuscule part of my heart, the part I hadn’t touched since I was a little girl, felt hope.