“We should probably get inside. I’m worried Zach is spying out the window or something.”
I laugh because sadly I know my best friend is not above pulling some shit like that just to be funny.
This time, I tell her to wait there. I quickly jump out of the truck, adjust my pants, and run around to her side of the truck and open the door for her. As she slides out of the truck, she is in close proximity, her chest pressed up against me.
“Yeah we should definitely get inside, like now,” I breathe against her skin.
“Uh-huh.” If anyone was looking, they could probably see the sparks flying between us with the sexual chemistry. What I wouldn’t give to push her up against the truck and slide my cock deep inside her. Calm down, Ky, before you both get arrested for indecent exposure.
I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her close. She puts her arm around my waist, and we walk up the walkway to the front door. As we get to the front door, she starts to giggle.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. It’s just like, do we say good night here and do that awkward walk where you say goodbye and then keep going in the same direction as that person…or do we just walk in? I’m sorry, I’m rambling, I’m just nervous. I mean…”
I stop her words by bringing her mouth to mine, plunging my tongue forward, not even waiting to ask for permission. I thread my finge
rs into her hair, pulling her to me as if she were my lifeline. I’m starting to realize that maybe she is. She lets out a noise that goes straight to my dick. This is one hell of an ending to the perfect date. I’m a little worried that she will think I’m expecting something more to happen once we go back inside.
“For the record, I don’t plan to say good night now, but I just had to give this date a proper good-night kiss. And then I plan to walk you inside, take you to one of our rooms, wrap my arms around you, tell you that I had an amazing time tonight, and fall asleep with you in my arms.”
“Are you sure you’re real?” She looks up at me with hooded eyes—eyes so full of want, desire, and lust. This girl…my girl…continues to surprise me more and more each day.
Jokingly, I touch my chest, stomach, arms, and lastly run my hand over my cock that is extremely hard. “Hmmm…I seem to be pretty real.”
Dani runs her pointer finger from the base of my neck down to the bottom of my shirt. “So it seems.”
I place a quick kiss on her forehead, take her hand in mine, fingers laced together, and run my thumb along the top of her hand while I use the key to open the front door. This seriously has been the best date of my life.
Sitting in the front seat of Kyler’s truck, I watch him load our bags in the back before slipping into the driver’s seat next to me. We are headed to my parents’ house for Mom’s birthday weekend. I had offered to help prepare all of Mom’s favorites. I couldn’t wait to be back in the kitchen with my mom and Ms. Natalie. Zach and Haylee would be joining us later.
I see Kyler look over to me from the corner of my eye. “You okay? You seem quiet.”
I play with the hem of my shirt. “I have a confession. I sort of haven’t told my parents that you and I are…” I motion between the two of us.
“Dating.”
“Yeah. I’m not trying to hide us or anything, I just wasn’t sure how to bring it up exactly. It’s not like I could be like ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, hope you’re having a great day. Oh, by the way, I’m dating my brother’s best friend.” I gasp and quickly cover my mouth, realizing what I said.
Silence fills the truck. Leaning across the center console, Kyler reaches for my chin and turns me to face him. “Hey. It’s okay. We can wait to tell them when you’re ready or we can tell them together. I get it, this is new territory for me too. But if we’re making confessions, I have one too. I kind of already told my sisters—well, they figured it out at our dinner this past week.”
I laugh. Knowing that Lauren and Kate know, I’m surprised they haven’t purchased a billboard yet. The night I had met them for dinner, they were anything but subtle now that I look back on it. At the time, I didn’t really think about it, because even though I was attracted to Kyler from the moment I saw him, I kept myself closed off. Little by little, he is bringing me out of my broken shell.
He drops his hand to my thigh, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “We don’t have to tell anyone this weekend. Let’s just enjoy celebrating your mom’s birthday.” He leans over the center console and places a kiss on my cheek. He returns to his seat and starts the truck. “You ready to go?”
I give him an honest smile. “Yep. How ’bout some tunes for the road?”
He smiles back at me. “You got it, babe.”
My heart warms at the nickname. It doesn’t make me nervous anymore. Kyler flips through the stations, and I hear the beginning beats of New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give.” He goes to change the station again, and I quickly place my hand over his to stop him. “No, I like this song!”
He lets out a small laugh at my quick enthusiasm. I mean, I did basically yell at him not to change this song. Noticing that my hand hasn’t moved from his on the radio dial, Kyler flips his hand over so our palms are facing and laces our fingers. Over the past few weeks, I am starting to feel like myself again, although I am still figuring out who that is exactly. The me that arrived on their doorstep would have quickly pulled my hand back at the point of contact, but not the new me. The new me welcomes his touch.
I squeeze his hand a little tighter as he places it over the center console, and turn the volume up with my free hand as Ky backs up out of the driveway. This will be the first time since our first official date that we are both going back to my parents’ house. There was one weekend where they came to us, but Kyler had been out visiting his mom and sisters and missed it, and another time I was actually sick and not just making up excuses to miss out.
After a quick stop at the Starbucks drive-thru and a few rude comments from Ky asking how I can drink my coffee with almond milk—that’s apparently unheard of for him, but I give as good as he gives—we are officially on our way to Annapolis.
Pulling up to my parents’ house, I can’t tell if the sudden pain in the pit of my stomach is nerves about spending the night in my childhood bedroom for the first time since I left or being here with Kyler given our new relationship. What will my parents think? The Hankses? Haylee and Zach seem to be cool with this, thrilled even, but will it be weird for Ms. Natalie and Mr. Brian to see who they thought would be their daughter-in-law with another man?