They’d seen firsthand how hard Marlow had taken me running away the first time and I doubted that was giving them a stellar first impression of me to work with. If I were in their shoes, I’d want me to prove myself, too.
Pulling in a deep breath, I said, “I never planned on it. I’ve always had a strict rule about never crossing any boundaries with clients, no matter how flirty they try to get. Truthfully, there was never anyone that even remotely interested me. I thought... for a long time, I was broken somehow.”
“You aren’t, Blake.” Marlow squeezed my shoulders.
“I was until you came around.” A smile broke out on my face. “You lured me right in. Like one of those fishermen with the really shiny baits.”
“Hope it was one of those expensive silver ones.”
I laughed. “Definitely.”
Looking back at Avery, I was surprised to see how much his expression had softened. Clearly, whatever I’d said resonated with him in some way, tempering down the anger he felt for me for the moment.
“I was scared about my feelings. How intense and real they were. But the more I tried to run away from them, the worse it felt to put distance between us. I don’t want to go back to that ever again.”
Marlow pressed another kiss to my temple. “Me either. Let’s not.”
I could get behind that. “Deal.”
Avery’s gaze flitted between us. His fingers drumming against the dish while lost in thought. When he finally spoke, he asked, “You’re sure about this?”
With a first nod, Marlow replied, “More than I’ve been about anything in my life.”
“He lives out in Wakefield, Mar. You remember that, right?”
“I’m gonna buy a summer home out that way.”
I dug my elbow right into his ribs. “Knock it off.”
His only response to that was to lift his arm from my shoulders and swing it around to clamp a hand against one of my ass cheeks, squeezing the sore muscle hard enough to make me jump. He threw his head back to laugh, a devious glint to his eyes.
He was lucky we had company.
Avery sighed. “Well, we might as well all eat together. Brandon made it for me to bring over since he knew you wouldn’t be doing any cooking. But could you both go shower first? You reek like sweat and sex. It’s making me nauseous.”
“Say less,” Marlow winked. “Any excuse to see Blake naked again is fine with me.”
Grabbing his shoulders, I used them to spin him around, coaxing him back toward his bedroom. Avery merely shook his head at us before walking to the kitchen, throwing a quick ‘don’t take too long’over his shoulder before disappearing beyond the doorway.
“Come on, grandpa,” I said, gently nudging him forward.
“You into that, Blake? I know we’re pretty far apart in age but I didn’t think you were into the major age gaps.”
Feeling ballsy, I slapped his ass. “Guess you’ll have to find out.”
The grin he turned to throw over his shoulder at me was all the more promising. “Oh, I intend to find out every little thing about you. Don’t you worry.”
Oh man, did I love the sound of that promise.
EPILOGUE
Blake
Pulling up the short drive,I sat back in the driver’s seat and threw the car into park.
The lights on the porch were on, along with a very festive set of Christmas lights, still strung up along the porch from last year that had yet to be taken down despite it being well past the season by a long shot. Next to me, my companion shifted in his seat, still deathly quiet from our trip over here.
Which... wasn’t at all helping with my damn nerves. If anything, I would’ve preferred the mindless chatter to keep me distracted from the rolling nerves in my stomach.
