sure enough, the blinds were partially closed but not closed all the way. I pointed up at them and said, “She said we should make sure that the blind is completely closed.” I said.
He looked up, checking to make sure we were out of sight of the house. He pulled me farther behind the house and into his arms, giving me a quick kiss. “I kind of like her.”
“She’s the best, and we suck at incognito.”
“I’ll have you know I’m very good at incognito most of the time. As a bodyguard, part of what I do best is blending into the background.”
“As a bodyguard, huh?” I asked, giving him a kiss. “Well, I have a body you can guard, so let’s take this inside and make sure the blinds are all closed.”
Chapter 19
Roman
“I’ve never met anyone’s parents before. I don’t know how to act. That makes me nervous.”
I looked over at the man sitting in the passenger's seat. The man I was taking home to meet my family. This wonderful man who had spent his entire life pretending to be someone he wasn’t to earn his parents’ love. “You don’t have to act like anyone, Trey. You only have to be yourself.”
“I don’t know how to do that. I worry about every word that comes out of my mouth, how it sounds, if it was the correct response, did it give the right impression? I don’t know how to just be me.”
“Are you putting on an act when it’s just the two of us together?”
“No!” he said, sounding horrified. “You know that, don’t you? When it’s just the two of us is the only time I don’t pretend.”
I reached over and took his hand. “I do know that, baby. That’s the point. The Trey I’ve spent the last few weeks with is the Trey I’m taking home. He’s kind, and sweet, and cheats at Scrabble. But I kind of like him.”
“I do not cheat.”
“You make up words.”
“You can always challenge if you don’t think it’s a word, that isn’t cheating, that’s playing the game.” He crossed his arms and glared at me, and I chuckled. “At least I don’t try to peek at your letters.” He was so competitive, and I knew that would get him riled up and his mind off where we were headed.
“I wasn’t trying to peek. I was just getting a drink, and your letters happened to be pointing that direction.”
“Right,” he huffed. “A gentleman would’ve made sure he looked the other way.”
“I’ve never claimed to be a gentleman, darlin’,” I said with a wink. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, but it got me a smile, so I was happy. He stayed relaxed the rest of the drive until we passed the city limits sign of the suburb that I’d grown up in. Sitting up straighter in the seat, he took in the town.
“There’s not much to it. It’s your average small town. We had to drive into the city for pretty much everything,” I said as I turned down my parents' street. It was in one of the older subdivisions, built before every square inch of space was used. The houses were mostly rambling ranch-style homes with large yards.
“Is this where you grew up?”
“Yeah, we moved here when I was six. That’s when my mom married Conrad, and this was his house. It was a wonderful place to be a kid.”
“It looks like it would be.”
“The house is up the road here on the right.” He watched as I pulled in the driveway of a dark blue house with white trim that sat back off the road. Before we got out, I wanted to tell him one more time. “Trey, I want you to listen to me. You don’t have to pretend to be anyone in there. Not the Senator’s son, the perfect boyfriend, or anything else. All you need to be is Trey Coben. Okay?”
“Okay, but if they don’t like the real me, that’s your fault,” he insisted.
“They’ll love you. I have no doubt. Now, let’s go in.”
Trey
They’ll love you. I have no doubt he says. Like there’s no pressure there. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I could do this. I could go in there and just be me. Roman liked me, and they raised him, so they probably liked the same things, right? That made sense in some weird way. Of course, my parents and I didn’t like the same things at all, but I