Reckless(71)

But then I remember we’re not alone.

That soaring sensation of being batshit crazy about him takes a steep nosedive as I quickly tabulate all the things that can go wrong when he meets my family.

Sweet Jesus. I’m so sorry I haven’t been to church in ten thousand years!

A gurgle bubbles up in my gut.

What is it they say? When it rains, it pours? Here comes the deluge. I brace myself for my parents to lose their shit. At least our brunch will be memorable despite the hole in my stomach lining.

When my sister called this morning and asked if I could join her for an hour, Ethan said he and Logan could watch the kids, that I’d earned a reprieve from the ranch. I hadn’t known my parents were lurking to ambush me, just that Kat wanted to grab something to eat.

Had I known, I might’ve mentioned something to prepare him in case he randomly decided he needed to come to the Lone Star diner in the middle of a work day.

He’s holding Mila’s hand as she skips toward us. They’re so freaking cute together. Pretty sure the people next to us hear my ovaries explode and splat on the floor.

“Hey, babe.” The smile on his face makes my insides somersault. I smile back, likely looking dumb and in love, but he gives me all the damn feels. What am I supposed to do? Be a robot?

My parents look slowly between us, like they’re trying to gauge, one, if Ethan is a serial killer; two, if he really pays his taxes; and three, if we’re sleeping together.

No, yes, and definitely.

When my father’s searching gaze reaches mine, my smile fades, and I cough. “Mom, Dad, this is Ethan Carter. My, um… my, uh, boss.”

God, that doesn’t sound right, though technically it is. But I can’t exactly put an asterisk by that statement and add he makes me want to spawn and have his babies. That’s not brunch-appropriate.

I’ve never brought a guy home to meet my parents. Never ever. I saw how they gave Brady the nth degree when he was trying to get Kat on the love lockdown. I didn’t want any part of that drama.

Ethan glances down at his shoes, a brief but shy smile on his face like he knows I have no clue how to do this, and then he reaches over and gives each of my parents a friendly handshake.

In my head, I’m yelling for him to ignore everything we say at this table. Every. Thing. We. Say. And that he should run far, far away before this conversation goes to shit. Because it will.

My father is in the middle of taking a drink of his coffee when Mila leans up on the table, gives us a wide grin, and declares, “Tori is Daddy’s girlfriend. They have sex.”

Oh, holy fuckadoodle.

Well, that was fast.





40





Ethan





There comes a time in every man’s life where you think you can’t be easily embarrassed anymore. That you’re grown up enough to withstand whatever trivial things life might throw your way.

Your baby puking on you? No biggie.

Your son peeing in your face during a diaper change? Gross, but not the end of the world.

Your child pooping straight through his diaper and your jeans too? Survivable.

But your kid saying whatever crazy thing enters her brain at any given moment? That I had not taken into account.

For instance, take my child, the cute one with the delighted smile on her face. My tiny intercontinental ballistic missile dressed in pink is one hundred percent clueless that she just detonated the fuck outta any chance I had to get Tori’s parents to like me.

I didn’t realize that was who she was meeting up with this morning when her sister picked her up. Wasn’t even thinking this was where they went for breakfast or brunch or whatever this is. But Mila heard that Tori was going out to eat and asked if we could too. She looked up at me with those sad, puppy-dog eyes, and I couldn’t say no.

With how much I’ve been working lately, I thought some father-daughter time might be good. I wanted to make sure Mila was still feeling okay about what we’d talked about last night when I explained that Tori and I were dating.

Pretty sure this new topic takes precedence.

I wait until Mr. Duran’s done choking on his coffee to address my daughter.

Squatting down next to her so that we’re eye to eye, I lower my voice. “Honey, where did you learn that word?” Her blank expression tells me she has no clue what I’m talking about.

Mr. and Mrs. Duran’s laser-point stares burn holes through my body. Christ. Was I ever this nervous with Allison’s parents? They weren’t my biggest fans either, but I can safely say I never cared this much.

I clear my throat. “Mila, where did you learn the word ‘sex’?”

She shrugs. “Uncle Logan.”

Of course. Gonna kill that brother of mine.

“And what do you know about it?” Please, God, I will do anything if she thinks sex is an island in the Pacific.

She shrugs. “Just that he likes to have sex with his girlfriends. Like all the time.” She tilts her head. “Is it a game? Like Monopoly?”

I laugh awkwardly and glance up at Tori’s parents, whose stony expressions freak me out. Turning back to my daughter, I shake my head. “It’s an adult word, okay? Kids shouldn’t be talking about it, but no, it’s not like Monopoly.”

In my head, I put two and two together. She heard my brother use the word ‘girlfriend’ and ‘sex,’ and she equated them. Fucking Logan.