Surrendering to Us by Chelsea M. Cameron Page A

in the shower, so I seized my moment and called my mother.
    “Rory, what a pleasant surprise. Aren’t you going out tonight?” Normally I would, but I was too wiped from the day.
    “No, just having a quiet night in. We went and visited Lucah’s family today and I met his nieces.”
    “How lovely. Did it go well?”
    “I think so, at the end. He and his brother are really different, but I really like him, and his wife and the girls were absolutely adorable.” Beyond adorable. I told her the story about them sliding around in my shoes and that made her laugh.
    “Speaking of Lucah, that’s why I’m calling. Would it be okay if he came with me for dinner tomorrow?” I wasn’t going to tell her why so she didn’t alarm Dad.
    “That would be good, I think. I barely got to talk to him at the ball. You’re living together and I don’t even know him, except from what you and your father have told me.” Uh oh. She was still a little hurt that Fin and I weren’t going to live happily ever after. Even though she’d seen him with Marisol at the Ball, some dreams took a while to die.
    I cleared my throat to hopefully dispel some of the tension. “Okay, great. Well, that was all I had to ask so I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.”
    “Can’t wait. Love you too.”
    Lucah came into the living room wearing just a towel, his freckled chest glistening with water, and his hair dripping in his eyes. He was a god. I had a god living in my apartment.
    I hadn’t gotten to have my way with him yet today, and after all the stress and chaos of meeting his family, I needed another release, only this time I was going to give him one.
    “Do you want some coffee?” He knew I didn’t mean coffee. I stopped right in front of him and slowly got down on my knees.
    “Maybe. Do you do sex?” He said dropping the towel.
    “Yes, yes I do.”
    I did sex. I did it until his hand clenched in my hair and he came in my mouth, grunting my name.
     

     
    We took Bluebird to my parents’ house. I knew Dad was going to go nuts over it, as men do when a car is involved. I also thought it would help soften the blow that we were going to deliver.
    “So how should we do this? Before dinner, after? Not at all?” I said as I gave Lucah directions to the house.
    “You were the one who was insistent that we had to tell him. Why the change?”
    “Because I’m afraid he’s going to freak out, like me, and have a heart attack. His blood pressure has never been good and he’s been on the verge of it for so long. I don’t want to push him. I could never live with myself if that happened.” I didn’t even want to think about it for fear that it would jinx something or fuck something up in the cosmos.
    “He needs to know so that we can do something about it.” That was the bottom line. He had to know so he didn’t get blindsided. Because that would definitely push him over the edge.
    I nodded reluctantly. “Okay, let’s do it as soon as we can. But gently. If that’s possible. I might need you to do it so I don’t freak the hell out.”
    “I will do whatever you need me to do.”
    “You’re perfect.”
    “I know.”
    I tensed up for a different reason when we got to my house. With all the worry about telling Dad, I had forgotten about the fact that I was apprehensive about Lucah seeing my house. I’d only given him sketchy details about it.
    It seemed like a silly thing, but I had seen money come between couples too many times to believe that it didn’t matter.
    “This is it,” I said pointing. Why was my house so fucking big? Had it always been that big? Or was I just now noticing its bigness?
    “Wow,” he said, turning the car off and peering up through the windshield.
    “Yeah. I never really think about it, I guess. It’s just home to me.” He got out and then opened my door. Unlike yesterday, he’d dressed formally in one of his work suits, and I was wearing one of the dresses that Sloane had made me. It was red, of