He then slid in bed behind me and wrapped me up in his arms, pulling my naked body flush against his. “I love you,” he whispered.
I was too tired to respond, but my heart raced in my chest, and the entire zoo was released into my stomach.
10
Slater
Things in my life had never been better. I was in the career of my choice, I still got to enjoy the beach and the ocean on the weekends, and all of my spare time was spent with an amazing woman and her adorable kid.
Honestly, at this point, I couldn’t picture my life without Tawney and Alex. I spent every night in Tawney’s bed, ate breakfast each morning with them, and made them dinner every night so that when Tawney closed her store, food was ready.
We had settled into a routine, and it felt like I’d been part of this family since day one and not just a few weeks.
Mom smiled at me over the rim of her coffee mug. She’d surprised me with a phone call requesting me to join her for breakfast at a small diner behind Planters Inn in Savannah. I had the day off from work because of the Fourth of July, so I’d jumped at the opportunity to spend some time with her.
I loved my parents. I was a bit disappointed that Dad couldn’t join, but I also knew if it was a good day for fishing, he wasn’t passing it up.
“You look happier,” she noted.
I shrugged. “Feel happier.”
Her smile caused the crinkles at the corners of her eyes to become more pronounced. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that my mom wasn’t young anymore. She was in her late forties, but she was still aging beautifully.
“Want to tell me why?”
I smiled at the thought of Tawney and Alex. “I met someone.”
Mom quickly set her coffee mug down, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “Youmetsomeone? Please tell. You know I’m dying for grandbabies.”
I laughed. “Well, if I get my way with her,” I said, reaching into my pocket for her ring, “you’ll get one very soon. She has a seven-year-old son.”
I opened the box to show her the ring, and she squealed, drawing the eyes of every patron and worker in the restaurant. I laughed and flipped the velvet box back closed, sliding it into my pocket. “Oh, Slater, it’s beautiful,” she breathed. “How did you two meet?”
I shot her a sheepish smile. “At a club. And no, before you ask, nothing happened that night. I was a true gentleman, and she was a bit drunk. But I ran into the friend she was with when I went to the gym, and she told me where I could find Tawney.”
“That’s her name?” Mom asked me.
I nodded. “She owns Books on the Beach in Sizzle. Her son is named Alex, and he’s the funniest kid I’ve ever come across.”
“Where’s his father?”
I knew it was a typical question, one I had never asked Tawney until she was ready to tell me. But Mom was trying to look out for me; I knew that.
“He passed away.” And I left it at that, Thankfully, so did Mom. But I saw the sadness for Tawney flicker through her eyes.
“How old is she?” Mom asked, quickly changing the subject. She was good at that—taking attention away from the more uncomfortable, sensitive topics.
My cheeks warmed the tiniest bit. Mom was about to give me so much crap since Tawney was eight years older than I was.
“Thirty.”
Mom barked out a laugh, a wide grin stretching her lips. “You always did have a thing for the older ones. Remember your obsession with Julia Roberts?”
My cock hardened at a memory I now associated with Julia Roberts—a memory in which I laid Tawney on her back on the couch and ate her out before I fucked her.
This was extremely uncomfortable with my mother sitting right across from me.
“The older ones do it better.” I knew that would kill the conversation.