Play With Me - Brittany Cournoyer Page 0,82
at the stranglehold. “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.”
“Mom,” Foster said with an eye roll.
She finally pulled back before turning to her son. After slapping him on his chest with the back of her hand, she pulled him into a hug.
“You better not avoid me that long ever again. Do you understand? You might be grown, but I’m still your mother and have no problem taking you over my knee.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Foster muttered, and from the little bit of visible skin I could see against his mother’s shoulder, it rivaled a tomato’s.
“Good. Now let’s stop hovering in the doorway and go sit down. Then I can learn all about this nice young man of yours.”
“Mom, we just got here. Let’s give him a few minutes before you start the inquisition.”
His mother scoffed, and I had to cover up a laugh with a cough. Now I could see where he got his attitude. Yes, my bartender had seemed innocent when I first met him, but the more time I spent time with him, the more he’d come out of his shell and exposed a wonderful and wicked sense of humor. He was my personal onion, and I enjoyed peeling back layer after layer as much as I loved peeling off his clothes.
“Nonsense. This is a meet-the-parents requirement, and Stellan should’ve expected this. Right?” She pinned me in place with her stare.
“Yes, ma’am,” I responded.
“Oh good, he has manners. I like you already.”
After hooking her arm in mine, she started to lead me down a short hallway that was lined with Foster’s school pictures and family photos. His mom caught my perusal, and we paused long enough for her to tell me the age or location of each photo. Foster groaned and begged us to keep going, but we ignored him as I soaked it all in. He had definitely blossomed from the gangly kid with crooked, missing teeth and messy hair to the sexy man he is now. And as I took in all the different stages of his life, I felt honored to witness it and felt my heart swelling in my chest with nothing but love for him.
“You were a cute kid,” I told him with a wink.
“Thanks. Just remember, payback’s a bitch, and I can’t wait to see your photos.”
“Language, Foster,” his mother reprimanded him.
“While you guys continue to gawk at photos, I’m going to check on the roast,” Howard piped up.
“Happy basting, dear,” she told him without taking her eyes off the picture. “This one was taken at Yellowstone. We went there the summer before he went into high school, and I had a feeling in my gut it’d be our last vacation as a family,” she explained with a wide sniff.
“Mom,” Foster groaned again, “really?”
“I was right, wasn’t I?” she asked, and gave him a glare that had me biting back another laugh. He shrugged, which had her harrumphing. “Have you been there?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
“Well, we’ll just have to fix that,” she said and patted my hand.
Her statement was said with such nonchalance, as if it was no big deal she’d announced we’d all take a family vacation together one day, that a lump formed in my throat. I caught Foster’s gaze over her head, and I could see he was struggling with it as well. Whether she realized it or not—and I was pretty sure she did, since she was so shrewd—his mother had just given us the biggest gift and had calmed my worst fears. She accepted me. She accepted her son being with a man. She accepted us both as a couple. And I knew right then that Foster was right—everything would be just fine.
“You survived,” Foster teased many hours later when I unlocked my front door and let us inside.
Even though I’d picked him up, I didn’t want to take him home just yet, and I figured we could work out the logistics later. Right now, I just wanted to pull him into my arms and do what I’d been wanting to do all afternoon—peel him out of his clothes.
“I did,” I replied gruffly as I shut the door behind me with my booted foot. “Your parents are amazing.”
“They really liked you.”
“Did you have any doubt they would?” I made sure to keep my voice teasing, but I did wonder if he’d had some concern.
Foster shrugged. “A bit. They seemed to really like Jennifer when we were together, but when my dad pulled you