Chapter 39 #2
Drew looks at me, eyes filled with so much love it almost takes me out at the knees. “She got me too. And she’s never getting rid of me now.”
“Well!” my grandma says, clapping her hands together, approving smile on her face.
“Around here we love a man who can express healthy emotion, especially when that emotion is love for one of my grandchildren. I sure didn’t have so many of my grandchildren falling for football players on my bingo card for this year, but I’m adjusting. ”
I snort. “One of those football players is literally your grandchild too. Like, in the blood way. I think when you talk about it this way, you need to pretend Sophie isn’t yours because when you say your granddaughter fell for your grandson, people start looking at you weird.”
She waves that away. “Let them look. We know who we are.” She glances up at Drew. “And now I have another football-playing grandchild to add to the ranks.”
“Football playing for the moment,” Drew mumbles, his eyes snapping wide, like he didn’t mean to say that at all, and my grandma’s eyes sharpen, like Drew might not have meant to say it but she clocked every damn word.
I expect her to ask about it, do the thing where she can’t help but insert herself into everyone’s business. But instead, she reaches up and pats Drew on the cheek, resting her hand there for a beat. “We’re here to help you figure that out too, when you’re ready. Family is always here.”
Drew opens his mouth, closes it, and tries again like he doesn’t know what to say, but before he can figure it out, Grandma is turning and heading deeper into the house yelling, “Hallie! Ben! Caitlin is here with Drew and she has news!”
Drew chuckles, draping an arm around my shoulders and pressing a kiss to my hair. “Having a conversation with your grandma is kind of like what I imagine it feels like to get struck by lightning.”
Laughing, I lean against him. “It’s a feeling I’m well acquainted with after twenty-seven years of living. Rachel Parker takes no prisoners and suffers no fools and is an absolute puddle for anyone she considers family.”
“Which now includes me,” he says, with a kind of wonder that makes my eyes burn.
I squeeze him around the waist, leaning up to press a kiss to his jaw. “Bet your ass it does. You’re mine, which means you’re hers. That’s just the way it goes.”
“The way it goes sounds perfect to me.” Drew turns me to face him, cupping my cheeks in his warm palms. “You ready for this? Just say the word and I’ll stage a diversion for your escape.”
I laugh, thinking there isn’t much I wouldn’t be ready for as long as I have him next to me.
“I don’t think a diversion will be necessary, although I wouldn’t say no to a prize at the end of this night.
I found a new peanut butter brownie ice cream at the store that looked like something I need to try, so I bought four of them.
We can have a taste test and do our monthly Hunt for Red October rewatch. ”
Drew’s smile turns into a downright filthy grin as he dips his head to speak directly into my ear. “We can definitely do both of those things. After.”
“After what?” I ask, voice just on the wrong side of breathless.
His warm breath flutters against my ear as he speaks, and a shiver works its way down my spine.
“You’re going to be a good girl and tell your family everything, and when we get home, I’m going to fuck you with my fingers and then my cock until you come so many times the only name you remember is mine. ”
“I’m bleeding,” I manage as arousal spirals through me. “A lot.”
Drew scoffs, rocking his hips into mine to show me just how little he cares about that particular detail.
“You should know by now I’m not afraid of a little blood.
Or a lot of blood. Any amount, really, because I love every damn part of you.
I’ll just fuck you in the shower. Problem solved in the hottest way imaginable.
We’ve never played with the detachable shower head.
I think tonight would be the perfect night to try it out. ”
“Fuck,” I curse. “Can we just leave now?”
I feel him grin against my ear. “Nope.”
“Mean,” I mutter. “You’re really mean.”
Drew presses a kiss to the spot behind my ear, and I catch the moan that tries to fall from my throat, remembering just in time exactly where we’re standing. “You like it, Princess,” he murmurs, flicking his tongue over the same spot. “You really, really like it.”
I do. God, I really, really do, but before I can say anything else, my mom comes striding into the entryway, my dad hot on her heels.
“Kiss her on your own time, Drew! You’re on family time now.”
Drew’s back snaps straight but I just roll my eyes. “Because for sure no one else in this family has ever kissed anyone on family time. Kissing during family time is, like, everyone’s favorite activity.”
My mom grins, wrapping me in a hug and then turning to Drew to do the same, and as if my mom knows he needs it, the hug she gives Drew is a little longer, a little tighter, with the whispered mom words.
He squeezes his eyes shut, his back expanding on a deep inhale, and never have I been more grateful for my family doling out love and acceptance as easily as breathing.
Knowing how to direct the fiercest love to the places and people who need it most.
My dad lays a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. I turn to him, winding my arms around his waist in a hug, sinking into his comforting, familiar warmth. He wraps his arms tightly around me, kissing the side of my head and holding on for as long as I need it. The Ben Parker hug is legendary.
“You’re happy.” The words are definitive, not the question he asked me on the front porch all those weeks ago.
“I am,” I say, voice muffled by his shirt. “I’m so happy, Dad, but I have something I need to tell you and Mom. Jack too, when he gets here. Dylan will just have to settle for a phone call later because this can’t wait any longer.”
“I know.” His words are quiet, and he still doesn’t let go. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together,” he says, in an echo of my grandma’s words. “I’m glad you came home, Cait.”
I live ten minutes away and I’m here all the time, but I understand my dad’s words in the deepest part of me.
Because with my dad’s arms wrapped around me and my mom’s around the man I love, I’m ready to unburden myself of the secrets I’ve kept for so long, and for the first time in the longest time, I am well and truly home.