Stripped Bare (Stripped #1)(73)

“Her nails are getting done Friday morning,” I said, “and she had her hair cut and colored yesterday. She needs me for nothing until after her nails are done, at which point I’ll already be at the venue making sure everything is falling into place. I’ve listened to her plan her wedding since she was five and watched Cinderella. I think I’ve got this, Mom.”

“I know, I know.” She pressed her hands against her chest. “I’m simply so excited for her and want her day to go off without a hitch.”

I paused. “Or with a hitch.”

“What?” She stared at me, confusion in her green-gray eyes.

“With a hitch. You know. ‘Cause they’re getting hitched.” I snort-giggled at my own joke.

Mom didn’t laugh.

“Never mind.” I grimaced. “I really need to take a shower and go to the store, so...”

It hung in the air for a moment before Mom got the message. “Fine. But call me tomorrow.” She spun around then stopped. “Whose suitcase is that?” She pointed to the plain, black one next to my deep-purple suitcase.

“Mine.”

She turned around. “You don’t have a black suitcase. Yours broke right before Christmas, which is when your father and I got you the purple set.”

“I bought another.” I blinked quickly. “You know. Backup.”

“There are three large suitcases. Is that not enough backup?”

The lock on the bathroom clicked, and I froze as the door opened and West appeared.

Mom’s head swung around to him, then back to me, then back to him. Her mouth opened for half a second before she obviously decided better and closed it again.

Good lord.

My mother was speechless.

West Rykman was my new hero.

“Mrs. O’Halloran!” West injected a little too much enjoyment into his voice, but Mom was too busy blinking at him to notice. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m West Rykman.”

She still didn’t move, even when he lightly grasped her shoulders and kissed her cheeks.

“And, if you don’t mind me saying, now, I understand why Mia is so beautiful. She obviously inherited your good looks.”

Oh, man. He’s laying it on thiiiick.

“West. Hello.” Mom blinked again, visibly flustered, and then...

Ho. Lee. Shit.

She blushed.

She f*cking blushed.

Was I being punk’d? Where was the camera?

“Thank you,” Mom finally managed to string two words together. “She didn’t say you were here. Why was that, Mia?” She side-eyed me.

I shrugged. I didn’t have an answer, so I wasn’t even going to bother. She knew I had been deliberately hiding him.

“She wasn’t hiding you in the bathroom, was she?” Mom asked him, her gaze landing back on him.

I didn’t blame her. He looked really freaking hot in a white shirt and blue jeans with little rips.

“Oh, no, ma’am.” West gave her one of his dazzling smiles. “Coincidental timing.”

They both looked at me, and he winked. She didn’t notice.

“Yes, great.” I rubbed my hands together in front of me. “As you can see, Mom, houseguest and all that. I really need to go shopping.”

“Of course.” She looked at me for two seconds longer before going back to West. “West, will you be joining Mia at the wedding this Saturday?”

“Absolutely. I can’t wait.” His phone rang then, and he pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. “Beck,” he said to me then looked back to Mom. “It’s my business partner. I have to get this. Excuse me.” He stepped away with a, “Hello?” into the phone and shut my bedroom door behind him.

I sank my teeth into my lower lip and waited as Mom slowly dragged her gaze from the closed door to me.

She stared at me. Hard. For a good ten seconds.

Have you ever been stared at by your mom for ten seconds? Especially right after you’d just been caught hiding a hot man in your bathroom? It was terrifying. I was ready to run out of my own apartment just to escape it.

She let out a short breath, glanced at the door while shaking her head, then met my eyes yet again. “Marry that man, Mia, and then have his babies.”

My jaw dropped, and I just stared after her as she turned without another word and left my apartment.

I was still standing there two minutes later—my mouth shut—when West surfaced from my bedroom.

“You look confused, angel,” he noted, amused.

I blinked hard. “You just won over my mother. In the space of, like, three minutes.” I turned my face toward him. “And you made her blush,” I said slowly. Very. Slowly. “Are you sure you’re human? Because she has never, ever, ever liked any guy she’s met. And you made her blush.” I felt dumb for having repeated that, but it was important.

“I’m a likable person.” He grinned and put his phone on the island. Then he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I was still blinking up at him—a habit I had, apparently, inherited from Mom. Along with her good looks, if you asked the man in front of me. Who was, by all accounts, an expert on good looks.

“No, no. You don’t understand. She doesn’t even like me a lot of the time, but you... I knew there was something wrong with you,” I finished on a mutter. “Rich, successful, sexy as shit... You’re an alien. It’s the only explanation I have.”