21. CHAPTER TWENTY
“Jason!” Frankie’s shout filled the living room as he pointed at us as we stepped through the front door of Wiz’s parents’ house.
Several near-clones of Frankie who were surrounding Wiz’s cousin all looked up in one, almost choreographed motion before a cacophony of hoots and shouts filled the living room. Then they were barreling in our direction.
Wiz’s hand was pulled out of mine as Frankie lifted him right off of his feet and the rest of the group descended on us.
“Is this her? She’s a beaut, Jason, what’d you do to snag a girl like her?” one of them asked, lifting my hand and giving it a wild pump of a handshake. “I’m Johnny, one of the middle cousins.”
“Ciara,” I introduced myself, already feeling a little bit out of my element amongst all of the noise.
“I’m Kenny!”
“The name’s Ronald, but everyone calls me Ronnie!”
“I’m Lennie, and my sister Kelly is in the other room.”
They all introduced themselves to me in such quick succession that there was no way for me to even try and remember their names. It did, however, become incredibly clear that Wiz’s aunts and uncles had similar naming conventions for all of their children. I was just waiting for Mickey, Eddie, and Archie to come out of the woodwork.
Burly blond men and pretty blonde women pushed us along until both Wiz and I landed in the neat looking kitchen with cheerful blue cabinets. The room was filled with a group of middle aged women all standing around the kitchen island, glasses of wine in hand as they argued loudly with each other.
“Myrna, you know that Love is Blind doesn’t actually ever work,” a blonde woman whose hair was more silver than gold said, pointing a finger at the similarly blonde woman standing across the counter from her. “Married At First Sight just works better and you know it because the therapists match them up instead.”
“Oh, come off of it, Lily, Love is Blind is infinitely more interesting to watch,” the woman—Myrna I deduced—snorted.
“Mom,” Wiz cut into the conversation and bedlam ensued again, this time as the flock of women all came in for a hug, and this time I was included.
“My gosh is she pretty, Lily, I always knew your Jason would bring home the prettiest girl. I just wish my Lennie could do the same,” Myrna crowed as she enveloped me into a tight, bosom-full hug, swinging us back and forth.
“Oh, Ma, you never like the girls I bring home!” someone, Lennie I presumed, called from the back of the group crowding in the doorway behind us.
“That’s because the last girl you brought home stole our TV, Leonard,” the woman currently suffocating me shot back.
“Aunt Myrna, you’re going to choke her to death if you keep that up,” Wiz said cheerfully, clearly enjoying my wide-eyed expression.
“Also why are you hugging her first?” Wiz’s mom asked dryly from where she was still in her son’s arms.
Myrna abruptly released me, holding up her hands in apology as she shot her sister a sheepish look. “Sorry, I just get so overwhelmed. You know me.”
“All right, everyone, if you want food tonight you all need to vacate my kitchen and leave us alone,” Wiz’s mom said, raising her voice over the chaos.
There was a pause, and then the thunderous sound of footsteps as they all left the kitchen in a hurry.
Wiz scooted in next to me again. “I told you my family was crazy,” he whispered into my ear.
I shot him a look that I hope translated to ‘I know crazy, this is beyond crazy.’
His laugh was soft before he straightened again and faced his mother. “Mom, this is Ciara Callaghan, Ciara this is my mom Lily Park-McDonald.”
Lily opened her arms, silently giving me the choice of whether or not I wanted to hug her.
Grateful for the small gesture, I leaned down to give the smaller woman a quick squeeze.
“I’m so glad to meet you, Jae-Sun has never brought someone home before, so I’ll admit that his dad and I were very curious.”
She glanced over at Wiz. “Jae-Sun, why don’t you go get your dad and leave us girls here to chat?”
Wiz looked reluctant to leave me alone, but nodded and turned to go and look for his father.
“Come, take a seat,” Lily gestured to one of the bar stools that had just been full of rowdy aunts. “Jae tells me you’re a figure skater, I’ve got to admit that I’m not very well versed on all of that even though the rest of my family screams at the television every hockey season—I did see your last Olympics performance though and may I say that it was absolutely lovely?”
Lily turned to the stove where a large pot of what smelled like spaghetti sauce was boiling. She stirred it for a moment before glancing over her shoulder at me.
“Thank you…” I began slowly, unsure of how to talk to the mother of my boyfriend. I’d spent the entirety of the morning stressing about it and it wasn’t like there was a manual for it. I’d nearly canceled on Wiz entirely, but then he’d shown up and coaxed me out of my room with promises of reward sex and after what he’d done on Friday night I was very keen on reward sex. “I’m a little bit nervous, if you can’t tell already.”
Lily grinned. “I think I’d feel the same way walking into this crazy house when the entire family is here. I thought Min-Jun’s head was going to pop right off the day I brought him home to my parents.”
She handed me a knife and a few loaves of french bread. “Cut this thin for me?”
“How did he handle it?” I asked, getting to work, just glad to have something to do with my hands while we spoke.
Lily’s laugh was bright, filling the kitchen as she rolled her eyes. “He hid. My dad is old school and threatened to shoot him with a gun that he doesn’t and has never owned. I thought poor Min-Jun was going to faint straight away.”
“I did not hide, my love,” a man’s lightly accented voice filled the kitchen and we both turned to find what looked like an older version of Wiz standing in the doorway, his son hovering just behind him with a wide grin.
“And what would you call ducking behind my mother’s gardening shed and breathing into a brown paper bag?” Lily asked, wagging her sauce covered spoon at her husband.
“I call it gathering my wits.” The man crossed the kitchen to give his wife a kiss. “Your father did ask if I intended to marry you or just ‘knock you up and leave you high and dry.’”
“Yeah… maybe not his best moment.” Lily’s voice was nostalgic as she dropped her spoon on the stove and wrapped her husband up in her arms, resting her chin on his chest. “Daddy did always have a way of putting his foot in his mouth, but he loves you now.”
“He does,” the man snorted. “Thirty years and one very good grandson later.”
They seemed to be in a world of their own as they chuckled together and it was quickly becoming obvious why their son was as affectionate as he was.
Wiz cleared his throat, seemingly reminding the pair that they were, in fact, not alone in the kitchen.
“Dad,” Wiz came around the counter and put his hands on my shoulders. “This is Ciara Callaghan, Ciara, this is my dad Min-Jun Park.”
I held a hand out to Min-Jun and the man clasped mine in both of his. His smile was kind, his eyes crinkling in the corners as he spoke again. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ciara, and it’s nice to see that these heathens haven’t scared you off yet.”
“We’re not heathens, Min-Jun, you know you love us!” someone shouted from the living room, making the older man smile.
“I do try and keep that a secret,” he mock-whispered to me. “You’re going to love Lily’s spaghetti, it’s her specialty.”
“More like the only thing she can cook,” Wiz muttered from behind me.
“What was that?” Lily asked, putting a hand up to her ear.
“Nothing!” Wiz’s voice was full of sweetness as he gave my shoulders a squeeze. “What can we do to help?”
“That is exactly the correct answer, my son,” Min-Jun said, giving his wife’s lips one last peck.
Then Lily got to work giving us our marching orders. “We’ve got to put dinner on for almost twenty-five people in less than an hour, chop-chop!”
Three hours later and I was sitting on the edges of bedlam as Wiz’s family played a very loud, very rousing game of charades.
Wiz and his mom were on a team after I’d waved them off, having reached the limit of my social battery nearly an hour ago and they were in complete sync as Wiz acted and Lily guessed.
“Heartbeat!” Lily shouted as Wiz patted a hand to his heart.
Getting up, I made my way to the back door to get some fresh air. Wiz’s eyes seemed to follow me and ask if I was okay and I nodded, waving a hand at him before slipping out onto the back porch.
It was a blissfully cool night, the warm front from earlier in the week completely gone now as a summer storm rolled into Seattle.
“It got to be too much for you too, huh?” a voice from behind me nearly made me jump clean out of my skin.
“You scared me.” I pressed a hand to my chest, whirling around to find Min-Jun sitting on the porch swing.
The man smiled softly. “Come, sit, soak in the nice night with me until the wild things inside calm down.”
Once I’d settled in next to him, we began to swing, listening to the shouts coming from inside the house.
After a while, Min-Jun glanced over at me. “I know I said I don’t hide, but even thirty years later I always seem to slip away from these things. The McDonald family loves loud and they love hard, but it can be overwhelming, right?”
I nodded. “I thought my family was loud, but they’ve got nothing on them.”
Min-Jun’s laugh was sharp as he leaned back on the swing and stared out into the dark yard.
His expression shifted from amused to something more serious. “Has Jae-Sun told you anything about me?”
“Just that you were born in Korea,” I said with a shrug. “And that as soon as your wife met you she fell in love at first sight.”
“Well, both of those things are correct, but not the full truth.” The man sighed and clasped his hands on his stomach. “Both of my parents died when I was only two years old. I was raised by my grandmother until she died when I was fifteen. My existence until Lily stumbled into the convenience store where I worked was an exceedingly lonely one.”
I shifted uncomfortably and Min-Jun’s smile was sad as he watched me. “I could tell we were alike as soon as I met you today. Does Jae-Sun know about your loneliness?”
I shrugged. “Some, but not all.”
“He’s a good person to share it with—just like his mother was. She wouldn’t let me get away even though I pretty much ran from her. She even extended her trip so she could bother me every day at my job. I didn’t trust her not to leave like everyone else did—not until she slapped Korean marriage papers on the counter one day with a completely serious expression.”
A surprised laugh bubbled out of me. “Would those even be valid for an American citizen?”
Min-Jun shot me a wry look. “I don’t know, I never asked. But she finally managed to wriggle her way into my heart that day and I have a feeling that Jae-Sun has done the same for you.”
“He took me to see a musical,” I admitted, still getting butterflies from the memory of that night.
“He’s always been good at figuring out things like that. My wife and I raised our son very preciously, Ciara, he’s our entire world. We wanted lots of children, actually, but it never seemed to happen for us.” Dark eyes found my face, measuring my response to that.
“Is this your version of the ‘take care of my son, or else’ conversation that your father-in-law gave you?” I asked, half-amused and half-terrified that he would ask me to stop seeing Wiz entirely. That he would decide that I was too cracked to be good enough for someone as amazing as his son.
But then Min-Jun shook his head. “Of course not, as soon as I set eyes on you I knew exactly why Jae-Sun picked you. All I ask is that you treat him as preciously as Lily and I have.”
I nodded solemnly, feeling the sudden gravity of our conversation. It was like he was giving me his blessing and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy.
“And if you ever need a place to hide out from the craziness,” Min-Jun continued. “Then feel free to come and sit on the porch with me anytime.”
My voice was thick when I finally spoke again. “Thank you.”
There was a scream from inside, telling me that the game was just ramping up, but I had no desire to go back inside to watch. I was comfortable right where I was, and for once I felt like there was a new place opening up for me in the world. A place just for me.
“You sure as hell charmed my parents, gorgeous,” Wiz said to me when we stumbled together into my dark bedroom, his mouth slanting over mine as he pushed my jacket off.
Penelope was out again for the evening, something that had been occurring more and more lately and I made a mental note to ask her about it, but for now, my attention was on the incredibly sexy alpha stripping his clothing off in front of me.
“I think they might actually prefer you over me,” Wiz continued, dropping his jeans before attacking my clothing again.
I snorted at that. After hearing the way everyone in his family spoke of him, it was clear that he was everyone’s favorite. It had taken nearly an hour of goodbyes to get out of the house and several promises from me that I would come again soon before they let us go.
I’d nearly made him crash on the drive back to the apartment building because I had trouble keeping my hands to myself.
Putting a hand on his chest to stop him from pulling my underwear off, I sank to my knees.
“Holy—” Wiz’s words were guttural as I took his thick cock into my mouth. Fingers curled into my hair as I tasted him, my tongue slithering along the underside of his length.
“Ciara,” he bit the words out sharply and I smiled, pleased to make him come undone so quickly.
I knew exactly what would send him over the edge. I bobbed up and down, bringing as much of him into the back of my throat as I could without gagging before reaching up and gripping his knot in my fist.
His knees wobbled as he let out a sharp shout and spilled down my throat before collapsing on his side on the bed.
Standing over him, I collected the bits of his release that had leaked with my thumb and popped it into my mouth for a better taste.
“I think you might have sucked my soul right out of my body,” he said, his chest rising and falling in harsh, jagged breaths as he ran a hand through his black hair. “And you did it in, like, thirty seconds. I’d be embarrassed, but I don’t think even a Buddhist monk could have resisted you.”
Crawling over him, I dropped my face to his in a long, languid kiss.
“There’s more where that came from,” I whispered against his mouth. “And we’ve got all night.”
“If I look like a raisin in the morning, promise to hydrate me?” Wiz brought a hand up to cup my face, his fingers slipping behind my ear as his thumb stroked my cheek.
A grin filled my face. “I’ll baby bird it to you myself if I have to.”
Wiz growled and flipped us over so that he was on top and my squeal of delight was cut off by his hungry mouth.