Chapter 20 #2
“Agreed. That’s a great plan. And thank you for the eggs. What can I do for you this morning?” I asked, forking some scrambled eggs and groaning after I swallowed.
“I’d like to hear you groan again like you’re doing right now, but I’d like to be the reason you’re groaning instead of those eggs.” He smirked. “But first, we FaceTime your parents and rip that bandage off. They need to know that you’re my wife before I give you any more orgasms.”
“For a man who doesn’t even do relationships, you sure have a lot of rules about this marriage,” I said, taking another bite of eggs and purposely groaning extra loud because I knew it was getting under his skin.
“Deal with it. You’re the one who agreed to marry me. And if you have any requests, I’m all ears.”
“Anything I want?” I asked as I sipped my coffee.
“Sure. It’s all part of the deal.”
“Great. We’ll call my parents, and then you can make me groan however you’d like, preferably in the shower because oddly enough, I’ve never taken a shower with a man, and I figure this marriage is a good time to knock things off the list. And for my request, I’d like to read another letter.”
He squeezed his eyes closed, and I cinched my brows with confusion before looking down to see his tented shorts, and I covered my laughter with my hand.
“You’ve never showered with a man?”
“No. I tend to shower alone. But I want the letter, so if I have to save the shower for later, I’ll take the letter.”
He thought it over before pushing to his feet. “You can have both after we make the calls.”
He reached for my plate, but I grabbed it from him. “You cooked. I’ll do the dishes.”
“Fine.” He jogged down the hallway and came running back wearing a T-shirt now and holding my laptop.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I finished loading the dishwasher.
“Getting your Zoom set up.” He clapped his hands together. “Chop chop, woman.”
I moseyed over to the dining room where he had my computer opened and ready for me to log in. I sent both of my parents a text asking if we could hop on a quick Zoom call, and my father answered immediately, so I sent him the link.
“You’re in such a hurry,” I said, as I clicked on the link and waited for Dad to sign in.
Hayes leaned close to my ear. “The thought of making you come in the shower is all I can think of.”
My breaths were coming faster now as the screen opened, and Hayes chuckled when my father came into view, and then he completely changed his disposition. “Mr. Abbott, it’s so good to see you.”
My husband can be a smug bastard when he wants to be.
Nadia was sitting beside him, and I introduced her to Hayes. He’d heard me speak about her plenty of times over the last few weeks.
“I love to see you two hanging out again after all these years apart,” my father said.
Well, this is going to be awkward.
“About that, Dad.” I cleared my throat, and Hayes found my hand beneath the table and gave me a look that made it clear that he wanted to explain.
“Mr. Abbott, I apologize that I didn’t come to you first. I owed you that respect, but we just got carried away.”
I dug my nails into his hand because I was going to be the one to say it. He could apologize all he wanted, but I needed to tear this bandage off. “We got married. We just—” I shook my head and shrugged. “We couldn’t wait.”
“We couldn’t wait one more minute. And we didn’t want anyone to try to talk us out of it,” Hayes added. “We’re ridiculously in love.”
My father’s eyes doubled in size, and his mouth fell open. “You two got married?”
“Married?” Nadia parroted.
“We did,” I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want a big wedding or anything fancy, but I should have told you.”
“Well, we’ll just have to throw a big reception,” Nadia said, leaning against my father’s shoulder, as he swiped at the single tear coming down his cheek.
I sucked in a breath, preparing for him to be angry.
“I always knew you two belonged together. I couldn’t be happier.” Dad chuckled, his entire demeanor lighter now. “Now, just give me some grandbabies while I’m still around to enjoy them.”
A heaviness settled in my chest. Lying to my father didn’t feel good, even if he was the reason that I’d been willing to do any of this.
I couldn’t speak because he was hoping for something that Hayes and I would never give him.
But then the man beside me surprised the hell out of everyone. “Give us a little time, but we’re working on it.”
My father beamed, and I dug my nails into Hayes’s palm. He was going too far.
More laughter from my father, and we chatted for the next half hour, him asking Hayes endless questions before we finally said our goodbyes.
When I closed my computer screen, I turned to look at him. “You shouldn’t have said that.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a lie.” I raised a brow. “We’re not trying to have a baby.”
“We’re also not married for real. So we’re already in this. And it made him happy.”
“And what happens when this all ends and he’s upset?”
“He’ll be receiving the best treatment money can buy, and he won’t give a shit if our relationship implodes. You can tell him that I was sterile.”
“It’s believable. You can be a little cold.” I smirked.
He moved so quickly that I squealed as he tugged me onto his lap. “One more call, Shortcake, and then I’m carrying you to the shower.”
“Don’t forget about the letter.”
“Sure. A little reading material after an orgasm sounds great,” he grumped, and I looked down at my phone to see a message from my mom that she was ready to chat, and Harry was there, too.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“Hello, Savannah. You look well,” my mother said, as her face came into view.
“Hi, Savvy. I miss you!” Harry shouted.
“Harry, you don’t need to shout, sweetheart.
You can use a regular voice. An inside voice.
” My mom had never been patient with me, but she was so different with Harry.
She wanted to talk everything out. I was grateful she wasn’t that way with me, even if she appeared to be trying harder this time around. I just found it to be very annoying.
“Hey, buddy. I miss you, too. I wanted to introduce you to someone.” I smiled and leaned my head against Hayes’s shoulder.
“Is that Hayes Woodson?” My mother gasped, her tone extra snarky. “The boy you got your first tattoo with?”
“Wow. Nice to see you, too, Mrs. Jones.”
I was ready to pull off the bandage because her judgy eyes were infuriating me. For a woman who’d made her fair share of mistakes, she never cut anyone any slack. No one got a pass from Delila Jones. And I had zero tolerance for it.
“Oh, baby. Drop the formalities. You can call her Mom.” I chuckled. “Mom. Har. Say hello to my husband.” I held up my hand and shook my hand in front of the screen, flashing my wedding ring.
“Husband?” my mom said. “You got married?”
“I sure did.”
“Yes, we’re married.” Hayes squeezed my hand so tight I nearly squealed. “We just couldn’t wait another minute.”
“Cool. I always wanted a brother.” Harry fist pumped the ceiling.
“Glad to hear it, Harry. I’ve heard lots about you.”
“How did this happen? You lost contact years ago,” she said, and she started scratching at her neck. It was her tell when she was nervous.
“Yes. Well, I think the fact that he’d written me all those letters, which had been returned to him so many years ago, caught us both by surprise. Ya know, Mom?” I arched a brow.
“Oh, yes, the letters. I just knew you two weren’t speaking at the time, so I didn’t want to cause you any more pain, Savannah.”
“Don’t give it a thought, Mom,” Hayes said, in a sugary sweet voice, one I’d never heard from him. “I think it’s what really sealed the deal for me all these years later. She loved that I saved them. So, thank you for torturing us both for the last decade.”
My mother just stared at the screen. “Sure. I’m glad it all worked out. I’m—er, happy for you both. You always had such an interesting friendship. We’ll have to have dinner the next time you’re in the city. We’re heading out to meet Ben to play some pickleball, so we’ve got to get going.”
This is why I hated calling her. There just wasn’t anything there between us, and it made me feel bad when the reality that we were more like acquaintances was so apparent every time we spoke.
“I can’t wait to see you, Savvy. And I can’t wait to hang out with my new brother, Hayes.” Harry waved at the camera.
“Bye, Har. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” he said, as my mother ended the call.
“She’s just as charming as I remember.” Hayes turned to face me, oozing sarcasm, per usual. “You all right?”
“Yes. I’m good.”
“Good? That doesn’t sound good.” He moved so fast I barely had a minute to process what was happening before I was tossed over his shoulder as he ran down the hall. “I think your first shower with a well-hung man ought to cheer you up.”
I slapped his ass and laughed.
But he was right.
A shower with a well-hung man definitely cheered me up.