“God, I wish.” I groaned, sat up and stretched, wishing I could not go back to my place. Alone. I wanted more time with her. “Want to grab some dinner?”
“Like, delivery or going out?”
“Whatever you want.” I smacked her ass and found my shorts on the floor. “You decide, Blue Bell. You deserve it after that.”
She blushed, pulled the sheets up to her face and sighed. “Thai food. That’s what I want. All the fried rice and flavors and beer.”
“It’s a date. Let me change and I’ll be back in ten minutes?”
She ran her teeth over her bottom lip before smiling. “Can’t wait.”
God, I couldn’t either. There was something about her that I could not get enough of, and for the first time, there wasn’t the hanging feeling like shit was going to go wrong.
Chapter Seventeen
Sarah
This was a dumb idea.
I pretended to study something in the distance, but really, I was staring at Brigham’s nice polo shirt and khaki shorts. He looked nice. Delicious, sure, but professional and handsome andwhy did I think this was a good idea?
“Any particular reason you’re staring at me?” he asked, smirking and reaching out to grab my hand. We were walking to meet up with my parents for lunch. It was ridiculous to feel this nervous. Sure, we’d been hanging out for five weeks now, saw each other every day he wasn’t out of town, and the adoptathon was the following Saturday.
“Uh, nope.”
“Liar.”
“Okay, fine. I’m nervous. My parents are…hard to like. You’re…all sports and they are academics. The fact that I dropped out of college was enough to have them disown me.” I tried tugging my hand away, but it had the reverse effect. He laughed and pulled me toward him. “Stop wooing me with your devilish eyes and stop smiling at me!”
“Wooing you?” he repeated, his smiling growing. “God, you’re cute. I’m smiling because this is the first time, ever, someone is actually embarrassed by what I do. Most people, women or men, can’t wait to show me off. This is so refreshing, honestly. My sister will die when I tell her.”
“I’m not embarrassed by you!”
“I know,” he said softly. “I meant my profession is making you nervous instead of giving you a bragging point. Tell me. If I were a professor of econ or something, would you be this nervous?”
“If you wore sweaters with elbow patches, then no.”
“See?” He grinned again. “My profession is what has you all rattled. I can handle your parents. Shit, after this past year, yeah, your parents won’t bother me.”
“Ugh, we’ll see,” I mumbled, continuing our walk to a cute restaurant right in the center of downtown. They had the best breakfast food for lunch and we arrived three minutes before we were scheduled to. I chewed my fingernail until Brigham took my hand out of my mouth and placed it between his.
“You’re a mess right now.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Did you bring the flyers to tell them about next week?” he asked, all smiles and chilled vibes. “It’s impressive how you got it all together.”
“Yes, I brought them, but I’m telling you, they won’t care.” I prepared myself for the worst-case scenario—them laughing and telling me it was dumb. No one would be there. I’d go bankrupt and have to move back in with them. They were all things that kept me up at night and preparing myself for the verbal onslaught would be wise. It was easier to deal with if I lowered my expectations. That way, it would hurt less.
But that didn’t help the small flicker of hope that grew in my chest when they arrived, waving at me from the other side of the terrace. “They’re here.”
“Let’s do this,” Brigham said, all happy and cheery as we walked, hand in hand, to meet my parents.
“Hello,” my mom said, eyeing Brigham head to toe in a way that felt like a teacher singling out her problem child. “Who are you?”
Before I could introduce him, Brigham held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Brigham Monaghan. I’m currently dating your daughter. It’s wonderful to meet you.”
“Hm,” my mom replied, shaking his hand and giving me a pointed look. “I wasn’t aware we were needing reservations for four. We only got a table for three and they look busy.”
