Chapter 17
seventeen
VI
The repeated ringing of our doorbell yanked me out of sleep.
I jerked upward, my eyes wild and my mouth dry. My hair was probably everywhere too.
The doorbell rang multiple more times.
I heard a muffled sound that made me think someone was yelling outside.
“I’ve got it,” Eli mumbled, though he had yet to move from the position he’d been sleeping in.
“I’ll do it. Go back to bed.” I brushed a few wild strands of his hair off his forehead, then padded across the room. After a quick stop in the closet to pull one of Eli’s shirts over my head, I made my way to the front door.
The bell was still ringing, which didn’t seem like a great sign. I didn’t know where either of our phones were, so hopefully there hadn’t been an emergency or anything.
When I finally opened it, I froze in the doorway.
“Where have you been?” my mom demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me the mate bond was real? Or that you moved out of your old apartment? Miranda said it’s been more than a month, Viola. That’s more than enough time to pick up the phone and call your parents!”
I rubbed my eyes. They were gritty from sleep, and my face felt greasy. “I should’ve called sooner. Sorry. Come in.” I opened the door wider. “We’ve been trying to figure things out. Give me a minute to change, and I’ll explain.”
“You damn well better ,” she tossed back, striding into the house like hell was on her heels. My dad was behind her, and didn’t look anywhere near as angry as she was.
“Just sit down somewhere. I’ll only be a second,” I said.
“If that dragon shifter is home, get his ass out here too,” mom added.
I gave her a two-fingered salute and slipped back into Eli’s bedroom, leaning against the door with a huff.
He was already out of bed and buttoning a pair of jeans, a clean shirt draped over the edge of the bed.
“We should probably wash up or something,” I whispered.
“I already got a towel wet.” Unlike me, he spoke mentally.
He ditched his shirt where it was, grabbing a towel off the floor and bringing it over to me. I tried to take it from him, but his hand was between my thighs before I could.
My face flushed as he cleaned me, leaving one hand on my hip, over the top of the shirt I’d borrowed.
“You look good in my clothes,” he murmured into my mind.
“Don’t try to turn me on while my parents are here, E.”
The words earned me a low chuckle. “I need all the extra credit I can get if I’m going to ace this. Including turning you on at inopportune times.”
I couldn’t bite back my snort. “You know I was joking about the B.”
“I know. I just like smelling how much you want me.” He winked at me, then tossed the towel on the bed. “Are we telling them about the test run?”
Shit.
I hadn’t thought about that.
Didn’t want to think about it, either.
But there was no way around it.
“ No. If we don’t seem sold on the mate bond, my mom’s going to lose her crap even more. It might make her dislike you. So… we pretend we’re a happily mated couple.”
“We are a happily mated couple, aren’t we?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “A romantic happily mated couple.”
His lips curved upward.
He’d totally been teasing me.
I loved the hell out of that.
“We should find out what Randa told her before we profess our undying love,” he added.
“Agreed.”
He grabbed my clothes from the night before off the floor. “If you want them to think we’re sharing a bedroom, you’ll have to put these back on. The rest of your clothes are in your bedroom.”
Right.
I took them, and Eli tugged his shirt over his head. He waited for me, his eyes moving over my figure while I got dressed.
When I was done, I captured his hand and reached for the door.
He stopped me with a hand to the wood, dipping his head down. I frowned for a moment—until his lips met mine.
He kissed me slowly, but deeply.
My tongue moved with his, the response automatic and absolutely uncontrollable.
When he pulled away a moment later, I was too dazed to remember what we’d been doing.
“Now those eyes are sparkling.” He winked at me, then put his arm around my waist and pulled me in front of him. My body hid the erection I could feel against my ass, but his jeans were holding it down as much as possible. So, hopefully it wouldn’t be noticeable.
We walked out together, his arm still around me as we went. The touch made me feel secure.
My mom was pissed, but we’d figure it out.
Dad was a few feet away, studying a massive landscape photo of the mountains. Mom was in the living room, standing stiffly in front of the couch.
When my stomach started to clench, Eli’s arm tightened around my middle lightly. “Change of plans. Let me handle this. I think I know how to ease the tension,” he murmured. “Your mom likes me.”
“And she doesn’t like me?”
“She loves you fiercely. But I know you two butt heads sometimes, so let me take a stab at it. Trust me, Spaghetti.”
Our eyes locked as our wills collided.
But… he was right.
And honestly, it would be a relief to have someone else take the brunt of my mom’s temper. She’d never been abusive in any way, but standing up for both myself and Randa over and over had gotten exhausting.
So, I’d let him give it a try.
“I’m glad to finally get you guys in here. I’ve spent the last month trying to convince Vi that I’m the perfect man for her, and I think I’ve finally won,” Eli said, grinning as he sat down on the couch and pulled me onto his lap.
My mom blinked.
I did too.
That… was not how I expected him to try to ease the tension.
It wasn’t a bad idea, though.
It was actually kind of genius. And closer to the truth than some of the BS I’d been about to spew.
My mom slowly took a seat on the couch she’d been standing in front of. Her body position was still really stiff, but the sitting was a major improvement.
Dad wandered back over and sat down next to her, draping his arm over her shoulder. She didn’t lean against him, but she didn’t move away, either.
Then again, I’d never seen her move away from him when he tried to touch her. They weren’t love birds, but they were friends. And I respected that.
“When we saw you at the wedding reception, we told you the truth,” Eli added, for clarity’s sake. “We weren’t mates then, and we didn’t expect to become that, either. I’ve been in love with Viola since we met, but I didn’t think it would amount to a mate bond after I spent so much time pissing her off in an attempt to make the magic work.”
My mom’s lips twitched, but she didn’t relax.
“We went home together, and by some miracle, the bond finally started. Vi wasn’t thrilled, so I convinced her to go on vacation with me so we could get to know each other better. She picked Switzerland, and I flew us there. We stayed a few weeks, and explored more of Europe as well. We were friends at that point, but nothing more,” he explained.
Eli didn’t mention the copious amounts of sex, thankfully.
But he went on. “We haven’t been back long, but I’ve been trying to convince her that we’ll be perfect together. She refused my offer to let her be my housewife, so I got her a job cooking for the other dragon shifters at Mate Mountain, making way more than she was before. We’ll be living there half the time when our apartment is done in the next few days. And she’s still not completely sold on me—but she’s accepted that she’s not getting away from me. And I think she’s even starting to like that.” He poked my side lightly, making me squirm a little, and a sharp laugh escaped me.
My mom’s position eased as he finished.
“I didn’t call you because I didn’t know how to explain it,” I admitted to her, “We’re still figuring everything out.”
My dad’s fingers stroked my mom’s shoulder lightly. She didn’t look nearly as angry as before, but I couldn’t read her poker face. There was a reason she was a damn good lawyer.
“For what it’s worth, I think it’s a good match,” my dad said. “Vi’s too stubborn to end up with someone quiet.”
Mom finally sighed. “Alright, fine. I want to be mad at you, but I’m not surprised this is how you’re dealing with the situation.” She gestured toward us. “The next time something big happens, you better get your ass to my doorstep that same day, Viola.
I smiled. “Deal.”
We both knew I wouldn’t keep up that deal, but I would make sure to tell her much sooner if anything else happened.
Eli kissed my forehead. “Vi tried a new recipe last night, and it was fucking incredible. Want to share the leftovers?” he asked them.
My parents agreed, even though I protested against eating leftovers while I was perfectly capable of cooking something else. We all made our way to the kitchen together.
The meal we shared was so much more comfortable than I ever would’ve imagined.
And when my parents finally left a few hours later, I couldn’t help but throw my arms around Eli. I hugged him fiercely tight.
He laughed as he hugged me back. “What did I do to deserve this?”
“You made that nice. If it had been just me and them, it would’ve ended with me and my mom arguing. She would’ve stormed out, and been pissed with me for weeks,” I mumbled against his skin. “You stood up for me. You made yourself the target to take the pressure off me.”
Gavin never would’ve bothered considering that.
Hell, he wouldn’t even realize it could matter to me. We hadn’t talked about stuff like that—and he liked that I could stand up for myself.
Eli did too.
He just didn’t want me to have to do it all the time.
And that was… well, it was huge for me.
Really, really huge.
“So am I up to an A now?” He poked my side lightly.
I smiled, my eyes stinging just a little. “B plus.”
He laughed loudly. “I’ll take it.”
When he kissed my cheek, I turned my head to meet his lips.
Our mouths collided, and he kissed me slow and sweet.
Though he squeezed my ass, he made no move to take me back to bed. He just wanted to kiss me.
Despite my ridiculous grading system and lies, I knew I wouldn’t be able to end the test run with anything less than a genuine, romantic mate bond.
Because Eli had announced proudly that he was in love with me—and I was pretty sure I’d started falling for him weeks ago.