Fair Game (The Rules #1)(91)

No. I shouldn’t have to change myself for this guy. I don’t believe he wants to change me either. I think he likes me for who I am.

That’s sort of mind blowing.

The second she slips inside my car, relief settles over me, leaving me weak with wanting her. Without thought I reach for her, cup her cheeks as I bring her face to mine and kiss her with all the pent up intensity I’ve been keeping inside me for the last, I dunno, six hours? Maybe more?

I haven’t talked to her all damn day. Since we’ve started seeing each other, that’s never happened.

“Well, hello to you, too,” she says breathlessly once I finally break the kiss.

I’m still holding her face, my forehead pressed to hers and my eyes still closed. I decide to go ahead and be honest. “I missed you. A lot.”

“You just saw me this morning.” She pulls away slightly so our gazes meet, her brows lowered in a frown. “Everything okay?”

“Kind of a crazy day,” I confess. How can I admit to her that I was worried when she didn’t come out of that building earlier? That I seriously f*cking panicked when I realized she never texted me back? I sound like an old married man but damn it, my mind immediately leapt to the worst possibilities.

After being a guy who had zero interest in relationships or spending any extended time with a girl, it’s like I’ve done a complete one-eighty. The craziest thing? I’m okay with it.

She chews on her lower lip and I brush my thumb across the plump flesh, tugging a little. A silent order for her to stop. I hate it when she hurts herself. “What happened?”

I lean in to kiss her forehead, her cheek. “I’ll tell you about it on the drive home.” I say home on purpose because seriously, without her there, it doesn’t feel like one. A home. Craziest f*cking thing ever but I’m rolling with it. Reveling in it. This girl, it’s like she belongs with me. To me. Not sure if she realizes it yet but I’m fairly convinced.

After doing a lot of thinking and worrying over the last few hours while waiting for Jade to get out of class, I believe I’ve come up with a solution to our summertime problem. Now I just need to get Jade on board.

That’s not going to be easy. I’m not sure how I’m going to approach her. And I really don’t want to talk about it tonight…

“So tell me what’s up,” she says as I pull away from the curb and head back to my place.

I let her know we’re closing the gambling house this weekend. How we’re having one last blowout event on Saturday night and then it’s dark until the fall semester resumes. She didn’t really seem to care all that much, not that I can blame her. She hates that place. Weird considering it’s how we met but the circumstances weren’t the best.

After all, I did win her in a bet. Something I don’t mention anymore.

“My mom called,” I drop nonchalantly as I turn onto my street.

“Oh?” she asks just as nonchalantly. I never talk about my family with her. And she really doesn’t talk about hers either, though I know it’s just her and her mom. Family has turned into one of those off the table subjects for us.

“They’re in Los Angeles for business this upcoming weekend and they’re stopping by here Saturday night.” I pause and slow down, turning into my short driveway and hitting the remote so the garage door opens. “They want to go to dinner.”

“How nice. Though won’t that interfere with your gambling plans?” she asks, with just a hint of snark.

I choose to ignore the snarkiness. “I was wondering if…you wanted to go with us. To dinner.”

She’s so eerily quiet. I pull into the garage and shut the engine off, turning to look at her to find her staring straight ahead, an impassive expression on her pretty face. And damn, she really does look pretty. No makeup, hair pulled back into a braid, little wisps of red floating around her face. Painfully gorgeous.

“Jade?” I urge when she still hasn’t said anything.

Slowly, she turns to face me. “You really want me to go to dinner with you and your parents?”

I shrug. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t necessarily want to subject you to them because let me tell you, they kind of suck. My dad’s a narcissistic * and Mom only cares about booze and shopping but she uh, made a special request.”

Jade frowns. “What do you mean?”

“She asked me to bring my new female friend.”

“And how did she know about me?” She’s frowning harder, which I thought was impossible.

“Tristan told his mom about us and so his mom told mine.” I smile, trying to make a joke. “We’re just keeping it in the family.”

There’s no smile, no reaction whatsoever from Jade. “This sounds…serious.”

I take her hand, slide my fingers between hers so they’re clasped. “It’s as serious as you want it to be.”

She squeezes my hand. “We haven’t known each other very long.”

“I know.”

“So dinner with the parental units already feels…serious.” She turns her head to look at me, her eyes wide, lips parted.

My heart is thumping so hard in my chest I swear it’s trying to burst free. “I’ve never introduced a girl to my parents,” I admit.