“You sound as if you’re speaking from experience.”
He nodded, a frown tugging at his lips. “I help vets, Carly. I’ve seen a lot of good men do stupid shit. That’s not a chance I want to take with you and Trent.”
His genuine concern about us was both sweet and unnerving and I shoveled more food in my mouth so I wouldn’t have to respond. I didn’t even know how to respond.
“You like it?” Wasp asked, gesturing at my plate.
“So much. I can’t even remember the last time I had Chinese, and this is great. These veggies taste super fresh. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’m buttering you up to ask you for a favor.”
“Uh-oh.” I trapped a piece of broccoli and a bite of beef between my chopsticks. The guy had saved Father’s Day, brought me dinner, and wanted me to call whenever I was in trouble, but he seemed hesitant to ask me for this favor. “Must be a doozy.”
“Not really,” he replied, looking away as he played with his chopsticks like he was nervous. “My parents are coming to town this weekend and they want to take me out to dinner. I’m hoping you and Trent will join us.”
I about choked on a bite of rice. After coughing to clear my airways, I asked, “You want your parents to meet me and Trent?”
“Yeah.” He was still trying to sound nonchalant as he kept his gaze on his plate. “But not in a weird way. In a ‘hey, this is my friend and her kid’ sort of way.”
Meeting someone’s parents was always weird and uncomfortable, no matter the way. “Why?”
When his gaze found mine again, the confident pretty-boy joker I knew him to be was gone, replaced by something vulnerable. “Why not?”
He was always so cocky and confident that seeing him vulnerable made me want to wrap my arms around him and assure him that everything would be fine. Fighting back that urge, I said, “Because your parents are coming from out-of-town to see you. Trent and I will be intruding on your family time, and it’s weird that you’re okay with that. Tell me what’s really going on.”
He dropped his head. “Everyone in my family has their shit together. All four of my brothers are married with kids and animals and they wear suits to work and golf, just like the folks. I’m a grease monkey who’s never even had a steady girlfriend. I’m the black sheep, the odd ball. If my parents get me alone, it will be all awkward silence from my dad while my mom hounds me about leaving the club and settling down.”
“Oh.” I said between bites. He needed a buffer. “And you think having me and Trent there will make it less of an awkward nag-fest?”
“Yes. My parents are mid-western Catholic, all family values and good manners. They’d never ask about Trent’s dad or anything else that might make you uncomfortable, and they won’t point out all my failures in front of you. Hell, my mom will be so encouraged by your presence it might get her off my ass for a few weeks at least.”
“Your failures?” I asked, confused. “Wasp, you own your own house. You have a caranda bike. You have a good-paying job that you love, and you have enough disposable income to buy Chinese food or take me and my kid to explore a ship museum on a whim. You’re not a failure.”
The grateful smile he gave me made my chest squeeze tight. “Thanks, sweetheart, but I don’t think you understand how perfect my brothers are.”
“I’m a crap-lousy single mom juggling two jobs with no family, no car, and a tiny apartment that I share with the saint who took us in. My presence isn’t going to make you look any better.”
He bolted out of his chair so fast it hit the floor, then he marched over and pulled out my chair, turning me to face him. Weirded out by his bizarre behavior, I dropped my chopsticks on my plate and stood. “What?”
“Don’t say that shit about yourself,” he growled. “You’re an incredible mom in shitty circumstances, doing the best you can. I’ve seen grown men destroyed over less shit than you face daily, but you power through it like a boss. You work your ass off and you never complain and you’re sexy as fuck. Your presence makes me look like one lucky motherfucker.”
Before I could even begin to process his words, his lips were on mine. The connection brought a moment of confusion before sparks of desire ignited in my body. Wasp was kissing me, and it felt incredible. He snaked a hand around to the nape of my neck, and another to the small of my back, pressing me against him to deepen the kiss. His tongue danced around mine as the heat of his body set me on fire. Everywhere he touched me I felt branded, claimed. My nipples pebbled against his hard pectorals, sending jolts of need straight to my core.
His kiss was all passion and heat, and I clung to him, letting myself burn.
We eventually had to come up for air. Wasp leaned his forehead against mine as I tried to catch my breath. My heart and mind raced. I’d kissed a few guys before, but it had never felt so… consuming. I wanted more. I wanted everything he had to offer.
And that was dangerous.
Wasp had done so much for me and Trent. Now, he was asking for help, and I couldn’t turn him down. Especially not if there was a chance of getting another kiss like that. We were playing with a raging bonfire that neither of us could control. There was a chance it would burn us both to the ground, and I wouldn’t be able to pull myself out of the ashes again. Still, I couldn’t resist the flames. Squeezing my eyes closed, I accepted my fate and prepared to fan the fire.
“When’s dinner?”
Wasp
SATURDAY MORNING, I showed up at Carly’s place with a surprise for Trent in a brown paper bag tucked under my arm. Leaving the chain lock in place, a timid little brunette in glasses cracked open the door and greeted me with a hesitant, “Hi. Uh… can I help you?”
Biting back a laugh at her awkward greeting, I beamed her my most friendly smile and answered, “You must be Jessica, the roommate. I’m Wasp. I’m here to see Carly and Trent.”
