Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love - Kim Fielding Page 0,68
wear off, good sense settles in.”
“When I say things, I mean them. Even right after sex.” Romeo squeezed Teddy’s hand.
While doom and gloom still lingered nearby, some of the heaviness left Teddy’s heart. “Okay.”
“Um, maybe this is too much to ask, but since you’ve sort of raised the subject...”
“Ask away.” Because I’d give you anything.
“Next Sunday will you come over to my house for dinner?”
Teddy’s heart stuttered so badly, he wondered whether the plane carried a defibrillator. “Dinner?” he squeaked, although the meal itself wasn’t the scary part.
“Yeah. Sunday dinner’s a big production. I help Mama with the cooking, and my sisters and their families come over if they can. Course, Portia and her girls are always there because they live there, but the rest of the crowd usually comes too. Kids running around everywhere, everyone arguing over sports on TV, my brother-in-law Vic fixing someone’s car, my nephew Andre—he’s sixteen—mooning over some girl, everybody always waiting in line for the bathrooms. Good chaos, you know? And lots of good food. It’s early afternoon, so really more like late lunch than dinner. Sometimes we have video-game tournaments and sometimes—” He stopped so suddenly that Teddy heard his mouth pop closed.
“What?” Teddy urged.
“Babbling. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You love them, and that’s beautiful.”
Romeo snaked an arm around Teddy and pulled him closer. “So you’ll come?”
“I’ve, uh, never done the family meet-and-greet thing.” He’d spoken to Gregory’s mother on the phone once, and that was it.
“Me either.”
Great. “What if they hate me?”
“Jesus, Teddy. Why would they hate you?”
“Too male? Too white? Too...me. And I screwed up—”
Romeo squished him hard enough to make Teddy squeak. “For the last and final time, you didn’t screw up any worse than I did. And further, my family knows I’m pan, they won’t care about the shade of your skin, and as for you being you? The more you you are, the better.”
Sighing heavily, Teddy nodded. “I’ll come. I’ll be a nervous wreck, but I’ll come.”
“Good. I’ll bet you ten bucks that before dinner’s over, my sisters will be interrogating you for fashion advice. Especially after they see what you’ve done for me.”
Doubts and fears zoomed through Teddy’s brain faster than a jet airplane. Why was Romeo offering this invitation and what did it mean about their future? The future that Teddy was so certain they didn’t have. Maybe he knew that a family meal could go wrong easily, offering Romeo a good excuse for telling Teddy to get lost for good. Maybe Romeo wanted his mother and sisters to confirm that Romeo was way out of Teddy’s league. No, that couldn’t be right—Romeo wasn’t cruel or conniving. He was a good person. Jeez, maybe he was just trying to be polite.
“Teddy?” Romeo’s brows were drawn with concern.
It dawned on Teddy that he wanted to meet Romeo’s family. If Romeo was representative of them, they’d be a wonderful group of people. Teddy managed a smile. “I’ll look forward to it.”
* * *
The cold hit Teddy like an icy mallet the moment he stepped outside the airport, stealing his breath and making him want to run back inside. Surely he hadn’t been in Seattle long enough to lose a lifetime of Midwest acclimatization? But maybe the frigid temperatures weren’t to blame. Maybe it was bitter, hard reality. Family dinner plans notwithstanding, Teddy and Romeo had a difficult near future to navigate.
But first they had to get away from the airport, and seemingly everyone else in Chicago was trying to do the same thing.
“People should be flocking to leave the city in this weather, not come back,” Teddy complained.
Romeo nodded, but he’d seemed distracted ever since they landed. Then he shook himself. “You sure you don’t want a ride? Mama won’t mind.”
“It’s completely out of your way. I’ll catch a cab.” Besides, it would take time for him to work up the courage to meet Romeo’s family.
“Teddy—”
“Do you want to talk to Lauren or do you want me to?”
“Go ahead.”
“Okay.” There were a million things Teddy wanted to say to him, but instead he pasted on a fake smile. “See you in the morning, I guess.”
Romeo looked at him with a pained expression before letting go of his suitcase handles and grabbing him. Romeo’s warm lips were a stark contrast to the icy air, and even encased in gloves, his hands felt wonderful on Teddy’s neck and cheek. In a perfect world they could have stayed like that for hours. But the taxi line had inched forward, and Romeo’s mother was