Since I did, I nodded. “I do actually. Real busy.”
“Doing what?” He actually appeared shocked, his eyebrows hard when they narrowed in.
I rolled my eyes. “Just busy.”
“Really? Well, cancel them because you’re now busy with me.” His arms fell around my body, and I was definitely tempted, definitely hot when my body turned into ooze as he braced his mighty palms on my ass. I’d been letting him play a lot with that lately.
What could I say, I really liked it.
I wasn’t sure I could turn him down again as sexy as he was and the fact his hands were all over me, but it was made a little easier to pull away when a car pulled up in front of us on the street. The old station wagon I definitely recognized, my mom behind it and my stepdad Ben in the passenger seat.
“Knight Reed as I live and breath,” Mom stated, her eyes dancing with delight. She really was happy to see him, her hands flailing after she parked, and I rolled my eyes.
Lowering to the level of the car, Knight smiled at her. “Hey, Ms. Michaelson. Good to see you.”
“Good to see you and it’s Ms. Michaelson-Harris now.” She grinned. “Greer told us you were going to school here too.”
“Hey, Greer!” Ben bopped forward in the front seat, waving at me like a loon in his cop uniform, and could I be more embarrassed in the middle of the street with Knight Reed beside me?
&nb
sp; I waved a little. “Hey, Ben.” I pointed to Knight. “This is Knight. Knight Reed, my stepdad Ben.”
Ben tipped his chin. “Sup, man.”
And as corny as that sounded, Knight managed to keep his shit together, his smile widening as he lifted a hand to Ben. “Nice to meet you. Greer told me about you.”
“Did she?” Mom asked, and all too quickly, she noticed Knight’s hand, a hand that very much cuffed my arm. He hadn’t let go after I pulled away, and needless to say, the ‘rents noticed. I could have palmed my face as both Mom and Ben grinned like fiends. Mom flashed hers over to Knight. “How about you join us for dinner, Knight? Would love to catch up. Hear about how you’re doing? We’re expecting Greer this evening, and you should come too.”
I chewed my lip when Knight looked at me. I shrugged. “Told you I was busy.”
“Well, I’m still not.” And dropping an arm around my shoulders, Knight grinned at my mom. “I’d love to. I mean, as long as Greer doesn’t mind.”
“Of course she doesn’t. Both of you get in. We’ll take you back to the home front.”
Dear God. Lifting my eyes to the heavens, I watched Knight chuckle as he escorted me over to my mom’s car. “Sorry in advance,” I told him, to which he shrugged.
He tugged my chin. “You’re overreacting. I remember your mom being cool.”
Maybe but watching Knight Reed force his huge, linebacker-sized body into my mom’s beat-up station wagon was the stuff of sheer modification. Tucked in at my side, he dropped his arm around me again, and I got to hear all Mom and Ben’s questions about that on the way to their house. Yeah, tonight was definitely about to be fun.
Chapter Nineteen
Greer
Mom and Ben basically talked Knight’s ear off over spaghetti and meatballs, and Knight seemed to not only entertain the probing about how he was doing and what he was into now, but appeared to get sheer delight out of it. I think mostly because he saw it bugged me, that mischief obviously still there, but since them interrogating him about his day to day laid them off me for a night I went gratefully along with it. The pair shockingly didn’t poke Knight and me about what we were too much, and I was grateful for that because I had no idea what we were. He’d only just asked me out on an actual date tonight, so pardon either of us if we weren’t trying to walk down the aisle quite yet.
Currently, Ben filled Knight’s ear about campus police stuff, thanking him profusely for the squad’s new gear like Knight had actually had a hand in any of that. My stepdad was basically brown-nosing to hell, and if I could shut off my eardrums, I would, shaking my head with a smile over dishes. Mom and I had taken them after we’d all finished up, and I was currently helping her load the dishwasher.
Mom passed a glance over to Knight and Ben from the kitchen into the living room. She smiled. “Well, he seems happy. Knight?”
Did he?
I swung my gaze around, Knight’s elbow propped on the table as he continued to watch my stepdad fall all over himself in front of him. Noticing me, Knight winked in my direction before going back to the conversation, and Mom grinned, noticing that too.
“That because of you?” she asked, and I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t know, Mom. I guess he seems happy.” He seemed something, all right. Not nearly as moody. I smiled to myself as Mom handed me a dish to load.