Chloe has done nothing wrong. Despite the fact that my mother seems hell-bent on fixing me up with any eligible female in Star Falls, I do have two brothers. Vito and Benny aren’t half bad. Maybe she’ll fall for one of them and I’ll be off the hook.
“Did I hear someone say peanut butter crisps?” Gracie holds her body at an awkward angle, keeping snarling little Venus as far away as she can while giving Chloe a one-armed hug. “You’re my new favorite person.”
“Who is this?” Chloe asks, her voice a nearly breathless whisper. The honey in her voice sends a little pulse from my gut straight to my cock.
I shake my head to clear that shit away. She’s whispering at a snarling Chihuahua, but my body is acting like that sweet, low rasp is meant just for me.
“Here,” I grunt, thrusting the plate of cookies at my sister.
She raises a sharply angled eyebrow at me but takes the plate. I hear Chloe and Gracie cooing over the dogs, because now, of course, Dulce is sniffing and wagging all over Chloe’s legs while Mom’s overly loud voice booms introductions to the dogs.
Christ.
Normally, I wouldn’t even notice that Ma’s rolling out the red carpet for a guest, but something about the whole situation grates on me.
It’s as if everyone in the family is conspiring to welcome this girl, and I’m the asshole who just wants a family dinner without the pressure of making small talk with a stranger.
A stranger who my mother seems determined to see me dating, while my body is being a traitor with the way it’s reacting to her presence.
I stalk into the dining room in search of a vase for the flowers, but then I think better of it and head toward the kitchen. Dad and some cold water—for the flowers, not for me—will clear me of the shit mood I’m in now.
“Flowers?” Dad asks, pointing to a cabinet.
I grunt. “I know where the vases are.” The words come out saltier than I intend, and Mario takes notice.
“What’s the matter with you?” he asks. He’s yanking off the apron with one hand and turning off the burners with the other. “You look like you spilled your last beer.”
I yank open a cabinet and pull out a vase, then jam the small bouquet inside. “Nothing, I’m fine. When do we eat?”
Mario looks me over but doesn’t push. “Benito here yet?”
I shake my head. “Course not.”
“Your brother is a…” Dad uses a pair of tongs to extract a single strand of pasta from a stockpot of boiling water. He can tell by the way it bends how much longer it needs to cook. “Send him a text, will you? Pasta’s on in three minutes, and his ass better be in his chair at the table.”
I fill the vase with water and set the thing down in Dad’s huge sunny window box over the sink, next to cut herbs in water-filled mason jars.
“Put those on the table,” my pops urges, giving me an eyebrow raise that rivals Gracie’s. “What’s gotten into you in the last five minutes? Is it that girl your mother invited over?”
I take the vase back and scold myself for being so transparent. And for being such a dick. “Nah, I’m fine. Just hungry, and I’m sick of Benny always being late.”
“He owns a business,” my dad says with a wave of his hand. “But if I’m being honest, it bothers me too. Your brother can be a real pain in the ass.”
I’m not sure if my dad’s trying to make a joke so I lighten up or if he’s serious. Either way, I clap him on the back and head back to the dining room.
While I set the flowers on the table, I tell myself to calm the fuck down. Just because Ma wants to set me up…it doesn’t mean anything.
She’s tried a million times before, although this is the first time she’s ever taken her meddling matchmaking this far.
It’s one meal.
I’ll be pleasant to Chloe, ignore my mother’s heavy-handed hints, eat a delicious meal, and head the fuck out.
In fact, maybe I’ll even crash Benito’s restaurant tonight and have a cocktail with my brother. He’s a dick, but he gives me at least two rounds on the house any time I stop in.
Tonight would be a good night for a gin and tonic and some mindless conversation with the new bartender my brother’s banging.
At least no one will be trying to set her up with me.
