time before. I could take the heat this time to get her off
Paige’s back. I nodded.
Paige gave Mom’s hand another pat
before withdrawing with a mischievous smile. “Don’t worry
so much, Mom—”
“Don’t worry! She asks me
not to worry when I sweat and bleed to get them both married off, but
are they grateful, are they—”
“After all, he might still be
your son-in-law. I’m not your only daughter.”
Silence fell as the words worked their
way through Mom’s skull.
Then the tears shut off like a faucet,
and she turned to me with the biggest smile she had ever directed
toward me. And that included college graduation.
“Oh, Allison! Who ever would have
thought you had it in you? I told you that job of yours was the
perfect way to meet eligible men!”
Yep, there went the Mom Express,
rewriting history as fast as the speed of sound.
“Well, now this means I simply
must meet his parents, that will help cement things, we can’t
have him trying to slip out of this one! And with your complexion
we’ll have to completely change the color scheme of the
bridesmaid’s dresses, and the house I was eyeing down the block
is all wrong, you’ll have to knock out the back wing and redo
the floors completely, thankfully I’ll be right here to offer
advice—”
Whoa whoa whoa. Rescuing Paige’s
bacon was one thing, but I sure as hell had not signed up for this
roller coaster.
I held out my hand like a traffic cop.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re…seeing
each other, but it’s not official, and we’re definitely
not at the stage of discussing marriage plans, okay?”
Mom looked at me with wide eyes, a
wounded look suggesting that I had said I was not at the stage where
we were discussing not murdering puppies. “But whyever aren’t
you discussing it? Don’t you want to make it work? Aren’t
you thinking about your future?”
I opened my mouth to reply—
And realized I didn’t know what
to say.
Hunter was hot. There was no denying
it. Just thinking about him could make my breaths come shorter, my
pussy grow wet. Being in the same room with him—I couldn’t
keep away. Being without him—I missed him like I would miss one
of my own limbs.
And more than that—he was a
sweet, considerate, mind-blowingly skilled lover, and an ambitious,
driven, decent man. He saw my talent and gave it its due. He had
introduced me to new places, new experiences. He supported me.
But could I ever make it—could I
ever make us —work, long-term?
Could I even make it work short-term,
with so much at stake in my career?
We were both such busy people, working
on things that we cared so much about, that we weren’t going to
want to stop devoting so much time to. He would never ask me to give
up my career in advertising, and likewise, I could never ask him to
give up Knox Liquors.
And besides, I knew so little about
him, only the tidbits he had seen fit to share with me. There were
still huge gaps in my knowledge of his life. Did I even really know
if he was a person I wanted to share my life with?
Mom was still waiting expectantly for
an answer to her question. So was Paige.
I did the best I could.
“Yes….?”
ELEVEN
The moment I arrived at the estate for
the anniversary party, I saw that Paige had outdone herself. She’d
gone for a cool vintage bootlegging theme, and the grounds were
twenties-style tails and flapper dresses as far as the eye could see.
A jug band played over by the manor house, a hot jazz quartet further
down by the stables. There was an open bar, and waiters darted and
dived between the crowds of chattering guests, offering deep fried
apple-pie-on-a-stick and vintage cocktails.
I had ducked into my cabin as quickly
as I could before anyone saw me in my distinctly un-period blue jeans
and Rave Boys T-shirt, and after a quick shower, was now changing
into a flapper dress of my own. I didn’t really have the slim,
near-boyish figure for it, but I loved the way the grey silk
Paige’s back. I nodded.
Paige gave Mom’s hand another pat
before withdrawing with a mischievous smile. “Don’t worry
so much, Mom—”
“Don’t worry! She asks me
not to worry when I sweat and bleed to get them both married off, but
are they grateful, are they—”
“After all, he might still be
your son-in-law. I’m not your only daughter.”
Silence fell as the words worked their
way through Mom’s skull.
Then the tears shut off like a faucet,
and she turned to me with the biggest smile she had ever directed
toward me. And that included college graduation.
“Oh, Allison! Who ever would have
thought you had it in you? I told you that job of yours was the
perfect way to meet eligible men!”
Yep, there went the Mom Express,
rewriting history as fast as the speed of sound.
“Well, now this means I simply
must meet his parents, that will help cement things, we can’t
have him trying to slip out of this one! And with your complexion
we’ll have to completely change the color scheme of the
bridesmaid’s dresses, and the house I was eyeing down the block
is all wrong, you’ll have to knock out the back wing and redo
the floors completely, thankfully I’ll be right here to offer
advice—”
Whoa whoa whoa. Rescuing Paige’s
bacon was one thing, but I sure as hell had not signed up for this
roller coaster.
I held out my hand like a traffic cop.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re…seeing
each other, but it’s not official, and we’re definitely
not at the stage of discussing marriage plans, okay?”
Mom looked at me with wide eyes, a
wounded look suggesting that I had said I was not at the stage where
we were discussing not murdering puppies. “But whyever aren’t
you discussing it? Don’t you want to make it work? Aren’t
you thinking about your future?”
I opened my mouth to reply—
And realized I didn’t know what
to say.
Hunter was hot. There was no denying
it. Just thinking about him could make my breaths come shorter, my
pussy grow wet. Being in the same room with him—I couldn’t
keep away. Being without him—I missed him like I would miss one
of my own limbs.
And more than that—he was a
sweet, considerate, mind-blowingly skilled lover, and an ambitious,
driven, decent man. He saw my talent and gave it its due. He had
introduced me to new places, new experiences. He supported me.
But could I ever make it—could I
ever make us —work, long-term?
Could I even make it work short-term,
with so much at stake in my career?
We were both such busy people, working
on things that we cared so much about, that we weren’t going to
want to stop devoting so much time to. He would never ask me to give
up my career in advertising, and likewise, I could never ask him to
give up Knox Liquors.
And besides, I knew so little about
him, only the tidbits he had seen fit to share with me. There were
still huge gaps in my knowledge of his life. Did I even really know
if he was a person I wanted to share my life with?
Mom was still waiting expectantly for
an answer to her question. So was Paige.
I did the best I could.
“Yes….?”
ELEVEN
The moment I arrived at the estate for
the anniversary party, I saw that Paige had outdone herself. She’d
gone for a cool vintage bootlegging theme, and the grounds were
twenties-style tails and flapper dresses as far as the eye could see.
A jug band played over by the manor house, a hot jazz quartet further
down by the stables. There was an open bar, and waiters darted and
dived between the crowds of chattering guests, offering deep fried
apple-pie-on-a-stick and vintage cocktails.
I had ducked into my cabin as quickly
as I could before anyone saw me in my distinctly un-period blue jeans
and Rave Boys T-shirt, and after a quick shower, was now changing
into a flapper dress of my own. I didn’t really have the slim,
near-boyish figure for it, but I loved the way the grey silk
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