Pretty Sweet - Christina Lee Page 0,46
There were even a couple of weeks last year when he seemed to drop off the face of the earth after they’d begun dating. He couldn’t fault me for wanting to take my time in this instance. And once he understood the reason why—well, fuck. I had no idea what he’d think. Truth be told, I was a bit terrified, even if I knew he’d be accepting no matter what. Or at least I thought he’d be.
“Seriously?” I scoffed. “I’m heading to my mom’s new place for dinner.”
“Nice!” He seemed relieved that I wasn’t being evasive with my answer. Christ, I hadn’t realized it’d come to that. “Tell her I said hi.”
“Will do. How about you? Hanging out with Lauren?”
“How’d you guess?” He thumped my back. “See you tomorrow.”
I headed home to shower and change, then drove to Mom’s new place, feeling this strange fluttering in my stomach about seeing Seth again. I didn’t think he’d have any regrets about the other night, but I’d have to prepare myself nonetheless.
All my doubts flitted away as soon as I stepped inside the door and saw his shy smile, which told me we were probably on the same page.
I kissed Mom on the cheek and placed the white wine I’d brought in the fridge.
Turning back to Seth, who was helping place the garlic bread in a basket on the table, I had the urge to kiss his cheek as well. And as if he’d read my thoughts, his cheeks streaked redder than the light stain on his lips.
“Hey,” I said, reaching for the open wine on the table and topping off their glasses.
“Hey yourself.” When our eyes met, we grinned stupidly at each other.
“Well, don’t you two look light and happy,” Mom remarked, looking between us. “What’s going on?”
Shit. Even though Seth and I hadn’t discussed whether or not to share anything with Mom, I was certainly not into announcing anything to anyone. Mom was liable to get ridiculously excited and run with it—after she got over her initial confusion.
“Well, it’s the weekend, so why not be happy?” Seth replied, and I breathed out in relief that he got it—the fact that I so wasn’t ready to discuss my sexuality with my mother, or the fact that we’d made out like teenagers the other night.
But all through dinner I couldn’t stop my gaze from snagging on his mouth as he ate from his plate of fettuccini Alfredo, or feel the imaginary whisper of his lips against mine. And when our feet accidentally, or maybe not so accidentally, brushed beneath the table because my legs are always too damned long, you would think I was like some kid with a crush, the way I shivered.
When he smirked and looked away, I could tell he was enjoying my reaction to him. So I purposely trapped his foot between mine as he talked to Mom about a certain couple at the assisted living center, and seeing that line of red streak the tips of his ears made me chuckle.
Two can play that game.
After we helped Mom clean up, we had a few bites of the awesome chocolate cupcakes Seth had brought us. But during the subsequent movie, Mom started yawning, then basically kicked us out. “I’m sorry, guys. I just want to climb into bed with a good book.”
“No worries, Ma. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Once she closed the door behind us and we got in the elevator, I had the urge to back him against the door and ravish his mouth. Until an older gentleman stepped inside, and we grinned at each other from opposite ends, the tension swirling in the air between us. In the parking lot, I asked to walk him to his car and couldn’t help lingering, not really sure why I couldn’t make my mouth form the right words.
Instead, I said, “I worked on a Mini Cooper the other day. I could totally see you driving one.”
His eyes lit up. “What color?”
“Ruby red.”
“That’s a good color. But have you seen the yellow ones?”
“With the black racing stripe?”
He nodded.
“Yeah, they’re sweet little rides. Maybe you should look into one.”
He arched a brow. “Maybe I will.”
“So…um…guess I’ll see you later?”
And then we stood there like two friends who had all the time in the world to stare and stammer out a conversation before I finally got brave and bit the bullet. “Unless you want to come over?”
He dipped his head, but I noted his upturned lips. “Is that what you want?”
“Yeah…yeah, I