She looked down, and then back at me. And she smiled.
I was fucking in love with the girl, and the worst part was, I wanted her to know.
I wiped her down with a clean towel, and before she could object, I picked her up again. She giggled as I carried her back into the bedroom, setting her down on the bed like she was a doll, carefully, oh so carefully.
“Pretty girl,” I whispered as I lay down next to her, covering her shivering body with mine. “Sapphire…”
“Thank you,” she said against my lips, and I bit her bottom lip gently. She giggled.
“I’m in fucking love with you, Sapphire Rose,” I growled against her mouth, and her pretty body froze.
She wiggled after a few moments, but I pinned her down.
“No,” I told her roughly. “No getting away from that, Sapph. It is what it fucking is.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “You… like me?”
“No,” I grunted. “I love you, you spoiled little brat. Just had to hear me say it, didn’t you?”
She giggled and kissed me. Soft, sweet. And then she stuck her tongue inside my mouth and I bit her.
She nearly fell off the bed laughing.
“So what do you think about that?” I finally asked her. “What I just told you?”
She looked at me with those pretty baby blues.
“I think it’s good,” she said solemnly. “I think it’s very, very good, that you love me.”Thirty-NinePet“Do I look okay?”
I twisted and turned in front of the mirror nervously.
“For the hundredth time, you look amazing,” Felix told me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Seriously, can you fucking stop now? You’re making me nervous.”
“I just want to look good,” I whined. “It’s my first time meeting your parents. I want them to think I’m pretty, and smart, and good for you.”
“If they don’t, they’re more stupid than I remember them,” he told me with a grin, and I smacked him playfully.
He pulled me against him, his grip vice-like and impossible to get out of.
“Pretty girl,” he murmured against my lips, and I smiled when he kissed me.
We were going to a gallery opening that night, and I tried to ignore all the memories that whispered King’s name in my ear. I had met him at one of those, but this time, I was going to be playing a very different role. No more stand-in waitress, tonight I was going to be a guest with a posh invitation on expensive paper, and I was going to meet my boyfriend’s parents, and make an amazing impression.
I was nervous as hell, but I did my best to hide it and pretend it was all okay.
I wore a black dress this time around, a simple one with long sleeves that showed off my legs, but was covered up on top. I asked Felix if he thought I looked like girlfriend material, and he told me I looked like sex-toy material, to which I just rolled my eyes.
I leaned down to put my shoes on, my fingers shaking so much I couldn’t get the little ankle strap to work.
He leaned down next to me, his fingers helping me attach the straps and gliding up my legs once he was done.
“Definitely girlfriend material,” he told me seriously, and I smiled. I hoped his parents would think the same thing.
He’d recently confessed he hadn’t seen them in a whole year. While he didn’t seem to be too fussed when it came to his parents, I could tell he wanted to see his younger sister, Poppy. He spoke about her fondly, and I could tell he really cared about her. I’d asked if she’d be at the opening, and he told me she would. We were going through the mail, and the invitation was from his parents, for some kind of new artist they were trying to support, a woman named Daphne with no surname. I thought that was weird.
I managed to convince Felix to go to the opening with me. He wasn’t crazy about the idea, but I could tell he wanted to see his sister, and I pushed those buttons until I finally got a nod from him.
It didn’t make me any less nervous though, and the thought of meeting his family had me shaking.
We got into a cab in the evening, and Felix looked uncomfortable as hell in his suit. I couldn’t help but giggle as he shrugged his shoulders, as if the blazer would magically disappear if he wiggled enough in it.
“By the way,” he said on the way there, once I’d finally stopped teasing him about his outfit. “Maria’s going to be there.”
“What?” I gave him an excited look. “How do you know? Are you sure?”
“I thought you might be a little nervous,” he replied with a grin. “So I got her on the guest list. She texted me this morning, said she was coming for sure.”