I'd been about to tell you…"
As he paused to nibble at my earlobe, my mind whirled with curiosity. In the restaurant, he'd been about to share some sort of secret.
But what?
My breath hitched as I said, "Yeah?"
With a final nibble, he said in a near whisper, "You're the sweetest thing I've ever known."
His words warmed me in all the right places, and I turned my face toward his, letting his lips claim mine once again.
Suddenly, it was like neither one of us could get enough. I felt his hands in my hair and tasted his tongue in my mouth. Already, I could feel myself growing wet and slick with longing for more than a kiss.
My stomach fluttered as my head filled with the sudden urge to ask him to turn the car around, to take me back to his condo, or cripes, even to someplace safe and quiet where we could park.
It was such a lovely idea – or so I thought, until Chase pulled back with a whispered curse.
My eyes flew open just in time to see a face at the driver's side window, and not just any face either.
It was my dad's face. And it wasn't a happy one.
Chapter 55
Chase
What the hell?
I looked past Mina to see a woman's face at the passenger's side window. It wasn't just any face. It was the face of Mina's mom.
My car was flooded with light, thanks to the blazing headlights from the truck parked behind us. The truck's engine was still rumbling, a diesel from the sounds of it.
As I watched, the mom gave me a little wave, along with a tentative smile. Unsure what else to do, I lifted my hand and waved back. I mean, this was my girlfriend's mom, right?
My girlfriend.
Her mom.
Shit. How old was I, anyway?
At the moment, I felt more like sixteen than twenty-nine, like I'd just been caught sneaking off with the underage daughter of Farmer Jones – you know, the guy with a shotgun and pitchfork at the ready.
Except I wasn't sixteen. I was almost thirty. And Mina was plenty old enough to be doing whatever the hell she wanted.
As far as the face in the passenger's side window, Mina didn't turn around to look. I was pretty sure I knew why. If her mom was on the passenger's side, that could only mean one thing.
A tap at the driver's side window made me turn to look. Sure enough, there he was – Mina's dad, looking like he wanted to rip out my liver and feed it to the hogs.
Whose hogs?
Well, that was his problem, not mine.
From the passenger's seat, Mina whispered, "Hey, can you roll down the windows?"
I could. I just didn't know if I wanted to. Still, I hit the button for both sides and returned my attention to her dad.
He leaned closer and gave me a hard look. "Car trouble?"
Mina spoke up. "No. We're fine. I, um, just mentioned there might be a noise in the trunk, so we pulled over. And, well, I guess we got distracted, that's all."
The dad muttered, "So I noticed." He looked to Mina and asked, "You need a lift?"
"No," she said. "I mean, Chase is dropping me off, so…" But then she paused. "Wait a minute, what are you two doing out?"
The mom spoke up. "We were playing Euchre with the Krepkes."
It was a card game, one I'd played every once in a while as a teenager. Not so much these days.
When I looked back to Mina's dad, he gritted out, "So you wanna check the trunk?"
Mina spoke up. "Actually, I'm sure it's fine."
But the dad wasn't having it. "Yeah, but that's why you stopped, right?"
He was messing with me. I was sure of it.
But what the hell was I gonna do? I mean, beating his ass was out of the question. And forget being rude. By now, Mina and I had been a couple for barely five minutes. And family was important to her, which meant that I'd be smart to be on my best behavior.
I looked back to the dad and extended my hand. "Hey, I'm Chase. Nice to meet you."
He eyed my hand like he wanted to yank it off and beat me in the face with it. He made no move to shake it.
From the passenger's side, the mom said, "Oh, Bob. Shake the guy's hand, will you?"
I kid you not. The guy actually growled when he finally extended his hand and gave mine a squeeze so hard, it would've gotten