I nodded. Jana Langford clearly wanted to set her daughter up with Cutler. A huge lump formed in my throat at the thought of having to sit through a dinner tomorrow night and watch Britani Langford flirt with him. I had a memory of her being very pretty.
And now she was moving here.
I shouldn’t have cared. I was leaving.
But Cutler wasn’t supposed to settle down.
He didn’t want that.
But what if they were right, and he’d change his mind?
“We’re ready,” Cutler called out from where he stood in the doorway, his gaze finding mine, and I quickly looked away.
“I’m going to go grab a sweatshirt,” I said as both of our moms followed him out the door.
I walked into my bedroom and shut the door, placing my hands on the dresser and blowing out a breath.
Having both sets of parents in the house and acting like nothing was going on between us was already challenging.
And now Britani was coming here in hopes of a love connection with Bear?
My Bear.
This was too much.
This was all too messy.
My bedroom door opened, and Cutler stepped inside before closing the door behind him.
“This is a fucking mess, Jeege,” he whispered, moving toward me and pulling me into his arms.
“I know. This thing tomorrow night is a setup with Britani Langford,” I hissed, because I couldn’t let him be blindsided.
“I know. Pops and your dad filled me in outside.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Even if this wasn’t happening between us, I would not be okay with this. I don’t need our parents setting me up with women. But what the fuck can I do about it now?”
“She’s really pretty.” The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
His gaze softened, and his lips turned up in the corners. “And you’re always the prettiest girl in every room I’ve ever been in.”
“Oh my gosh. I sound so jealous. I hate this. I just—I don’t want to see everyone pushing her on you tomorrow. Maybe I can fake sick.” I kept my voice low, nervous that someone would come looking for us.
“Hell no, Jeege. You are not ditching me to deal with this alone.”
I sighed. “We’ll figure it out. Where do they think you are now?”
“I said that I had to use the restroom.” He stroked my cheek. “Should we just tell them?”
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious? How do you think that would go over?”
“Well, your father would probably kill me, so I’m guessing not very well.”
“Right. You and me together,” I said, motioning between us. “It would have to be a forever thing to ever be okay for them. They would never understand our temporary arrangement. They’re old-school. They’d freak out and assume that I wouldn’t be going to New York. It would be a whole thing. They would analyze it to death, and all of our extended family would get involved.”
Did I even understand our temporary agreement anymore?
Here I was feeling an overwhelming sense of jealousy about them setting Cutler up with another woman. I doubted this was a normal feeling for a casual fling.
What the hell was I doing?
