Until April (Until Her/Him #10)(44)

“It came up in conversation,” Frank defends, and she shakes her head at him while her cheeks get red with embarrassment or frustration, maybe both.

“Something like that doesn’t just come up in conversation, Frank,” she snaps.

“Maybe not normally, but it did right now,” Frank tells her, and she tosses her arms out at her sides as I press my lips together, trying really hard to hold it together.

“Can you please pretend to be sane, at least until Maxim has had a chance to introduce us to his girlfriend?” she cries, and Maxim’s dad wraps his hand around her hip and pulls her back into his front before leaning down to whisper something in her ear. Watching her eyes close as she nods, I feel my chest warm, because that is something my dad would do with my mom.

“Can I eat?” Frank asks, and her eyes fly open so she can glare at him. “Right.” He holds up a hand. “I’ll just wait for everyone in the kitchen then,” he grumbles before heading into the house.

“Well now that that’s done—” Maxim tightens his hold on my hand. “—Mom, Dad, I’d like you both to meet April. Baby, these are my parents, Myla and Kai.” His mom and dad both focus on me, and my stomach seems to bottom out, which is stupid, since I have been in their presence for a couple of minutes. Then again, up until now, none of their attention was on me. Really, I’m half tempted to shout for Frank to come back outside to distract them.

“It’s nice to meet you both. I mean, it’s nice to see you both again,” I clarify, since we did meet, even if I don’t remember it.

“I’m sorry about this, April.” Myla sighs with her shoulders slumping. “Please know that we’re not normally like this.”

“We are normally like this,” Kai says behind her, and I can’t see the look she gives her husband when she spins around to face him, but I’m guessing she’s silently telling him to be quiet, because that’s what my mom would be doing right about now. “It’s true, makamae. Craziness seems to follow us wherever we go,” he tells her softly as he reaches out to touch her cheek with the tips of his fingers.

“It really is okay,” I cut in, not wanting her to be upset, and she turns back toward us slowly. “I grew up in a large family that is always doing or saying things that are embarrassing, so if anything, this introduction has made me feel right at home.”

“Well then.” Her eyes drop to her son’s hand holding mine for a moment and soften before they meet mine once more. “Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” I say, and Maxim’s hand gives mine a squeeze—probably because he asked if I wanted something to eat before we left his house and I said no. Something that wasn’t a lie at the time, since I was pretty sure I would get sick if I did try to eat.

“Then come on in.” She steps away from her husband and motions me with her hand to follow her inside. “I’ll show you around, get you some food, then we can sit by the pool to chat if it’s not too hot.”

“That sounds great.” I give her a smile and try to let go of Maxim, but instead, he holds my hand more firmly.

“We’ll be in in just a second,” he tells his parents, and I stiffen at his side.

“Sure.” His mom smiles at us before she and his dad both disappear inside, leaving the door open.

Still unsure about this morning and annoyed with him, it takes a lot to act like all is well and that I don’t want to kick him in the shin when I look up at him. “Wh—” I start but don’t get the rest of the word out, because his mouth lands on mine in a hard kiss that feels like a punishment when he nips my bottom lip, and a reward when he soothes it with his tongue. My lips part of their own accord, and I kiss him back just as hard, just as wet, and just as deep without even thinking about denying him.

When he pulls back, I whimper in disappointment, and my lashes flutter open, finding his gaze on me, his shirt fisted in my grasp, one of his hands in my hair, and his other wrapped around my hip.

“It seems we both got a lot of shit to work on if this is going to work.” He brushes his lips across my forehead, and my eyes slide closed. “We’ll talk when we get back to my place. Okay?” he asks, and I nod with both hope and fear battling for supremacy in the middle of my chest.





Chapter 14


Maxim

I TAKE A sip of whiskey, the fingers of my hand resting on the back of April’s chair skimming the soft skin of her bare shoulder in a sweeping motion. The fan above the table my family she and I are sitting around casts a cool breeze down on us while the setting sun turns the sky a mixture of magenta and deep blue over the sand-covered hills behind my parents’ house.

I didn’t plan on us being here for dinner tonight. I figured we’d leave early, head back to my place, order in food, and hang while we sorted shit out between us… before moving on to something that would be a lot more fun. That plan went out the window when my mom decided Dad would grill, and April would help her in the kitchen with preparing the sides. Something she didn’t have to convince April to do.

It didn’t surprise me that my mom wanted more time with April, since not only is she the first woman I’ve ever been serious enough about to bring home, but she also misses having another girl around. With Melanie now going to school again on top of working, she doesn’t have a lot of time off, so even when Mom and Dad make the time to go to Nashville, they don’t see much of her.