“I did,” said Costin. “And I would like to say that I have an incredible excuse for marrying your daughter without asking your permission,” Costin said as he wrapped an arm around Sally’s waist and pulled her tightly against him. “But I don’t. And, in all fairness, as you said, I didtellyou that I was going to marry her. I knew she is my soul mate. We didn’t really see a reason to wait once we both realized we were meant for eachother.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Mom,” Sally said softly. “I wanted to, but things just happened so quickly. I really—” She stopped when her mom held up ahand.
“You’re a grown woman, Sally. I will admit I hate the fact I missed my only daughter’s wedding, but I suppose I’lllive.”
Sally turned to her dad who seemed to be lost in thought. “Dad?”
He looked from Costin to her and then back to Costin. “You love mySally?”
Costin looked down at her, his eyes filled with every ounce of the love he felt for her. “I do, Mr. Morgan. I love her, adore her, and I even like her most of thetime.”
Her dad gave a single nod. “That’s all any father can want for his daughter. To be loved and adored and taken care of. You’re happy?” He turned to Sally andsmiled.
“I am.” And in some ways, she was happy. There was no need to emotionally vomit her baggage onto her parents rightnow.
“As to why we are here,” her mom jumped in. “We just thought the drive would be a good time for us to talk and get to know Costin,” her mom said, wrapping her arm through Sally’s and leading her daughter toward theexit.
Sally glanced over her shoulder to see Costin and her dad retrieving the luggage from a rotating conveyor belt. Her mate looked up at her and winked.Damn winking, hotmate.
As they climbed into the car, the time change and thirteen-hour flight began to catch up with Sally. They’d left Romania at three in the afternoon, but that meant it was seven in the morning in Texas. With the time change, they were knocked backward eight hours, so even though it was a thirteen-hour flight, when they arrived in Texas, it was only eight in the evening. But to Sally’s body, it was six in the morningthe nextday, and she’d had very little sleep. It was going to be tough stayingawake.
The drive home was a little over an hour, and Sally had no doubt her parents were going to use every minute of it to interrogate her mate, not that she could blame them. It wasn’t as if they got to meet him before she’d married him.Andhe was older than her.Andthey got married literally less than a year after they’d met. So maybe they had a small amount of reasons to be suspicious of him and his intentions.Just think if they knew he was a werewolf. She snorted to herself. She wondered if her dad would have wanted him to sit up front if he’d known that little bit ofinformation.
“What do you do, Costin?” her dad asked as he pulled out of the airport parkinglot.
“Don’t you dare say me.”Sally hissed through their bond before he could speak, which caused her mate to laugh. He recovered by disguising the laughter as a cough. Perhaps staying awake wasn’t going to be too hard after all, if it meant preventing her mate from giving ridiculous answers to herparents.
“I own a bar,” Costin finallyanswered.
Sally watched her dad’s face as he processed the information. “Abar?”
Costin nodded, and she could feel his pride in owning his own business and at being a darn good bartender.
“It’s probably not the kind of bar that you are thinking of,” Costinexplained.
“So … it’s a family bar?” her mom asked, always trying to put a positive spin onthings.
Sally couldn’t help but laugh. “Y’all, it’s a bar, not a strip club, or honky tonk, or biker hang out,” she assured them. “Costin keeps it a respectableestablishment.”
“With the help of your amazing daughter,” headded.
“Fishing for brownie points?”sheteased.
“Your dad is looking a little horrified, and I don’t know that the markings on my neck are giving me anypoints.”
Her parents would think Costin had a dark, large tattoo on him since they had no clue he was a supernatural being and the markings actually meantsomething.
“Are your parents in Romania?” her momasked.
Sally felt his sorrowimmediately.
“My parents are no longerliving.”
“Oh.” Her mom reached up and patted his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. You’re so young to have lostthem.”
“Yes, speaking about that, how old are you exactly?” her dadasked.
“Yes, Costin, please tell them exactly how old youare.”
