“We’re not!” Me and Dad say in unison. Mom looks at us in surprise and then starts laughing. “Let’s get down to the kitchen. I’m going to have to cook extra to make sure Marigold’s feller has enough sustenance to keep that thing up.”
“He doesn’t need to keep it up around my little girl,” Dad grumbles.
“I have a feeling the forbidden fruit has already been tasted, Jan, honey,” Mom says patting Dad on the back as we make it back to the kitchen.
Dad looks at me and my face is so red by this point that I’m surprised I don’t explode into flames.
I may kill Slater.
CHAPTER24
Slater
Suddenly, the tables have turned, and I’d rather climb out of Marigold’s window instead of walking into this kitchen with her parents. I suck it up. I’m a man and I’mherman. I’ve been through worse things than this—although I can’t think of any right now.
The air is so filled with tension that it’s hard to breathe. It’s not my imagination that all eyes are on me when I walk in the room, either. I feel her dad’s the most. He’s boring a hole into me, and I have a feeling that if the women weren’t here, he’d be tearing into me. I guess if things were reversed, I’d be doing the same. Jansen Reed might be older, but I got a feeling he could make a man hurt if he wanted to—and I really thinks he wants to when it comes to me.
“Hey,” I mutter feeling out of place as I walk over to Marigold who is sitting at a huge ass wooden table. I lean down to kiss her, and she pulls away.
Well, fuck.
“Ace,” I grumble.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” she hisses.
“Get attacked by a killer rat and bang up my knee?” I grumble sitting down beside her on the bench and scooting her over—even if she tries to stop me from doing it.
“It wasn’t a rat!”
I look over at the damn animal which is now in a cage and staring at me, twitching its damn nose, his hair going in a million different directions.
“It sure as hell looks like it and it tried to attack me.”
“Well, he’s she, and since we all got a look at what she saw, I think it’s understandable. Most women would be drawn to your—”
“Mom, please.”
“I’m just saying, Marigold, honey. It was quite impressive. I think most men would be curious about it, too.”
“Not me,” Jansen huffs and yeah, he wants to kill me at this point.
“You’re buying me a new desk,” Marigold mutters.
“I can do that. I’m not buying you a new sex toy, though. You don’t need that damn thing. You got me.”
“Men aren’t alwaysupfor the job and thosethingsas you put it are needed,” she argues.
“Ace, I can guarantee you that when it comes to you, I will always be up for the job.”
“Son, you just want me to kill you, don’t you?”
I clear my throat and shake my head. “Not especially, sir. If it makes you feel any better, I’m serious about your daughter. I’m going to bust my ass to keep her happy.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s your ass that will keep her tied to you, AC,” Mom says.
“God, Mom let it rest,” I groan.
“You can call me, Slater, Ms. Reed.”