Chapter 7 #2
Why the fuck would I do that when all I’ve ever wanted was to date her for real?
There’s no way this’ll end well for me.
Thanks for nothing, Mia.
“Well, uh, we went out for a few drinks with our friends a few months ago, and they all left so it was just the two of us…” I start to bumble my way through an explanation, praying Einstein beside me chimes in with something, anything, to get us out of this.
She responds by digging her nails into my palm.
Oh, I’m sorry. Am I not selling your lie well enough for you, sweetheart?
That’s just fucking rude.
I tug my hand free, turning to face her, and drop a quick peck on her forehead. “Why don’t you tell them the rest, Angel?”
Ha. Take that Mia. You do better.
“Maria, my son calls your baby Angel. Isn’t that precious?”
My mom looks over at us with an indulgent smile. Little does she know that word slipped out because that’s what she looked like to me on Halloween before I fucked her like a dirty dog.
Me.
I’m the dirty dog, not Mia. Just FYI.
“Taki, why haven’t you ever called me Angel???” Maria shouts across the table to Mia’s dad who looks perplexed by everything transpiring tonight.
You and me both, daddy-o.
“Maaaarrrriiiaaaa.”
“Don’t you Maria me, Taki.”
Oh, Jesus, there’s a good chance World War III’s about to start across the dinner table. Maria's every inch the fiery Mediterranean. As is her daughter, for that matter.
Mia glances at me mischievously, a smirk playing on her lips.
I’d worry if I wasn’t so relieved to have her back.
“So, like my patrol puppy was saying…”
Her what now?
No.
Hard pass.
Over my dead body will she ever refer to me as a puppy again. What the hell do I look like? I might be gone for this girl, but I’m not some limp-dicked wiener.
“…It ended up being just the two of us, and we just talked the night away.”
“That’s no different from your usual status quo, though. What changed this time?” Ellie quirks a brow, looking between the two of us.
My sister, ladies and gents. Nothing gets past her.
“She looked breathtaking. I couldn’t take my eyes off her from the second she walked into the bar that night. I don’t know what changed, I just know something did. I felt like I might drown if I didn’t kiss her the second we were alone. So I did.”
Well, they say the best lies are rooted in truth, don’t they? At least I can’t forget what I’ve said.
Mia’s shocked eyes lock with mine, her delicious soft plump lips slightly agape, just begging to be kissed.
For the second time tonight, the silence is deafening. Our mothers both dab at their eyes with napkins, sniffing. The sound's starting to feel like nails on a chalkboard, and I’m getting close to snapping.
I need them to stop.
Why the hell has Mia thrown us into this crazy?
“Kiss her, Uncle ZeZe. We wanna seeeeeee!” Izzy bounces up and down on her chair in excitement.
God no.
I can’t kiss her in front of them. The second my lips touch hers, I’ll lose the last shred of rationality I have left.
“Don’t be silly, honey. I think we should eat now, our dinner’s getting cold.” Mia smiles at Izzy, a faint flush coloring her cheeks.
“Noooooo, Mia! Kiss, kiss, kiss!” She taps her fork on the table, amidst chuckles from everyone.
Well, everyone but us.
“Come on, kids, give us a little kiss, then we’ll leave you to eat in peace.”
Thank you, mother, for your wonderful assistance in clearing this up for us.
Fine. Just one time.
I thread my hand into her hair, tugging it back till our eyes meet, then lean closer to nuzzle the side of her face.
“You sure about this?” I keep my voice low and quiet.
Her hand comes up to cup my jaw, my breath stalling in my lungs as I watch her bring her lips to mine.
We’re doing this?
We’re really about to kiss in front of our families?
My heart races, and a surge of electricity pulses through me, my whole body coming alive when her soft lips brush against mine.
Her eyes flutter closed and I tighten my hand in her hair, tilting her head back and taking control of the kiss.
Her lips feel so good against mine, I can’t help parting them with my tongue, stroking along the length of hers.
She curls her fingers into my T-shirt, so I drop my hands to her hips, sliding her across the chair so she’s as close to me as humanly possible without straddling my lap.
She tastes like sin and bad decisions, and I’m ready to make more.
A cough snaps us out of the moment. My dad chuckles, nodding at Izzy.
Fuuuuuuckkk.
I practically mauled her in front of everyone, including my six-year-old niece.
We separate, and the whole table erupts into cheers. Well, most of the table. The two strangers just sit there, staring at us, which seems a little odd.
Mia’s mom gasps when she notices me staring at them.
“Oh my goodness, how rude of me. Swayze, this is Stavros and Lily. We, uh… invited them to… weeelllll, meet the two of you, actually. They’re both single, and we thought you were both single, so we hoped you might hit it off.
I feel a little silly now since this daughter of mine didn’t tell me about the two of you.
” She looks sheepishly between the four of us.
What the ever-loving fuck. I know Maria’s been meddling in Mia’s love life but since when does she interfere with mine?
“It’s a real shame.” Stavros, or should I say Scumros, says, trailing his eyes from Mia’s face to her tits.
Instantly, the hairs on the back of my neck prickle, my shoulders tensing.
Fuck no, you don’t. She’s mine.
I wrap an arm around Mia’s neck, tugging her right up against me, glaring hard at the scumbag across from us.
She flashes me an appreciative smile and kisses my cheek, stroking her hand up and down my thigh, each pass relaxing my shoulders a fraction.
She’s good at this girlfriend shit apparently, inherently knowing what to do to calm me down.
Well, parts of me.
The hand-to-thigh proximity might be starting to cause other more pressing issues.
Don’t read into it. This is fake, remember?
The douche tuts, scraping his chair obnoxiously back from the table.
“Well, Mia, if you ever get tired of him and want a real man, feel free to look me up. I’ll show myself out.”
Red hot fury floods my veins and I shoot to my feet so fast my chair falls to the floor with a bang. It’s becoming a habit these days, apparently.
“What did you just say?” My voice comes out low, menacing, my muscles bunched so tight, the veins in my neck and forearms bulge.
His eyes widen and he picks up the pace, scurrying towards the front door.
I turn to follow when Mia halts me in my tracks, grabbing my hand.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, baby. Let him go.” She cups my face, her thumbs stroking my rigid jaw, and I fold like the little bitch I am for this girl.
“He’s a di—”
She surges up to her tiptoes and stops me with a kiss. The third one she’s offered voluntarily tonight. “Thank you for defending me,” she whispers against my lips before bending down to pick up my chair and pushing me back onto it.
Everyone’s looking at us with a mix of bemused and elated expressions on their faces, and in the mix of all the commotion, the random girl left too.
Mia turns to her mom, my hand in hers again, shaking her head. “Mom, I told you not to interfere. Now look what happened.”
Yeah, now look, Maria.
My dream girl is holding my hand, has kissed me multiple times, and I’m calling her my girlfriend.
Maybe I should be a tiny bit grateful to Maria for interfering.
Not that I’d admit that out loud. Mia would have my balls in a second.
I’ll just keep living in sweet denial.
Except it’s fake. She doesn’t want to be with you for real you idiot. If she did, she’d have agreed to go on a date with you months ago.
“I’m sorry, Mia. I promise we won’t interfere again, will we, Christine?”
Ahhh, so my mom was involved. No wonder I had a mystery plus one here tonight too. Jesus.
“Absolutely not.”
“It’s such fantastic news, though.” Maria pauses to clap her hands.
“It also works out perfectly because Niko called earlier to say there’d been a mix-up with the Cavos hotel booking and we were short a room for the wedding.
Obviously, that was fate all along. We didn’t pay the room deposit because we wouldn’t be needing it.
Let me go call him and tell him the good news before he does anything drastic.
” She jumps to her feet, striding into the kitchen.
“Awww I wish we were going to the wedding, Mom. School sucks.” Izzy looks sadly at my sister.
“Niko mou, great news. We don’t need another room. Swayze and Mia will share because they’re—”
Wait. What did Maria just say? Did she just tell my best friend I’m fucking his sister? That I’ll be sharing a room with her? A bed???
My palms break out in a sweat and I swipe my free hand on my jeans. I can put on a show for dinner, maybe a couple of hours at a push, but I can’t spend two weeks on a Greek island sharing a room with her in a friggin’ honeymoon hotel.
There's no way. I’ve seen the photos. Each bedroom is essentially a secluded cave with a huge bed and a plunge pool looking out to sea. Where am I supposed to sleep? On a fucking floaty?
Mia must feel me tense up again because she squeezes my hand under the table.
Oh no, you wench. Your touch won’t work this time. You’ve signed me up to toss my heart into a fucking blender, ready for you to shred it.
It’s a hard no from me.