“You okay? Look at me, up here.”
I was acutely aware that the bulge in his pants was still pressing right against my damp panties in a way that was 200 kinds of inappropriate while speaking to my mother. “Ian. My parents.”
“Honk the horn again, Pat! Look at your daughter!” Mom’s voice was louder than any horn could’ve been as she screamed from the passenger side of the car, but still, my dad obeyed her and honked.
Ian slowly moved away from me, just to cup my head and check it out. “That sounded bad. You don’t need a head injury on top of trying to recover from being sick.”
“My parents, Ian. Oh, my god. She’s getting out. She’s getting out of the car. Jesus. Let’s run.” Instead, I pasted a smile on my face as my mom rounded the front of their car. “Mom! Hey!”
“Don’t youMomme, young lady.” She stopped in front of me and wagged her finger. “I thought I could stop worrying about my daughters being caught making out in public when they turned twenty. Pastor Treadway could’ve seen you, Violet Faith!”
Ian patted my ass, his version of a calming touch, and cleared his throat. “I’m sure Pastor Treadway has seen wilder things in his day, ma’am.”
Mom’s gaze flew up to Ian’s, and I watched as all the fight left her face. She stammered for a moment as her cheeks turned red, and then she managed to compose herself, but just enough to look haughtily up at Ian. “And you are?”
Ian shifted beside me. “Violet’s boyfriend.”
A silly grin stretched my lips, but when I felt Mom’s horror radiating off her body, I hid my giddiness at him calling himself my boyfriend. “Mom, this is Ian Cooper. Ian, this is my mom, Debbie.”
Another horn honked from behind Dad and he called for Mom. “Back in the car, Deb.”
“I’m trying to meet Violet’sboyfriend, honey.” Mom turned around to face Dad, and then spun back around. “I have a great idea. Why don’t the two of you come over for a late lunch with your father and me, Violet?”
I shuddered at the very thought. “We’re a little busy, Mom.”
“Nonsense. Come right over.” She looked at Ian and something passed between them. “We’ll meet you at the house.”
I opened my mouth to refuse again, but she was in the car and gone in a flash. Looking up at Ian, I found him staring after them with his jaw muscles working. Frowning, I patted his stomach. “Hey. You okay? I know she’s a lot. I’m sorry that she just trapped us.”
He shook his head and rubbed his beard before relaxing his face and smiling at me. “I’ve seen criminals trying to escape the death penalty move slower than she just did.”
I giggled and pressed a kiss to his chest. “I could say we got a flat on the way over.”
“No, let’s go. I don’t want to start out with a lie.” He sighed and opened my door for me. “Which means you and I need to talk.”
My stomach dropped at those words. “You can’t dump me two seconds after calling yourself my boyfriend. That would just be cruel.”
He pressed a slower kiss to my lips and took his time licking his way into my mouth, teasing me until I wanted to climb him and scream at him for not touching me fast enough. When he pulled back, his lips were red and swollen and his eyes were an inferno as they searched my face. “Never going to happen. How many times do I have to tell you?”
I whimpered happily and rocked my hips against his hard bulge. “One more time.”
“It’s never going to happen, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” He lifted me into the truck and buckled me in while I busied myself running my hands through his hair and kissing him. He slipped out of my grasp and stood just out of reach. “Your parents hired me as a PI.”
I tilted my head and frowned. “What?”
He gripped the top of the truck and shook his head. “Before we started this again. A few months ago, they called me and asked me to look into Anthony. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t find anything. The guy’s clean. I didn’t want to worry you about your sister’s fiancé for no reason. I just assumed when your parents saw me, we’d acknowledge that we knew each other from town, and we could move on. Your mom pretending like she’s never seen me before in her life, though, just changed things. I’m not going to lie to you. Pretending like I’ve never met them is crossing a line.”
I flapped my mouth open and closed a few times as I tried to make sense of what he was saying. “What?”
“I’m sorry for not being upfront about it, baby. There was nothing to say about Anthony. He’s a nice guy, from what I could see. It felt wrong to put the idea out that maybe he isn’t, just by saying I investigated him.” He cupped my face and frowned. “Say something, Vi.”
“Those assholes!” I jumped at my own outburst. For a moment, I started to feel embarrassed, but then I rejected that notion. “They’ve acted like Anthony is a gift from god this whole time! They rubbed him in my face, the whole family did! I love Anthony, but they made me sick of him, constantly comparing my life to Rose’s.Rose has a doctor boyfriend. Rose’s boyfriend is just the best. Where’s your boyfriend, Violet? Can’t find one? Well, did you hear about Rose’s perfect fucking boyfriend?!All the while they clearly didn’t believe that themselves! It was just another weapon to use against me.”
“They definitely didn’t think that he was perfect.”
I shook my head as my frustration grew bigger inside me. “We’re not going to that lunch. And I’m not calling to explain away our absence!”
Ian brought my face around to him, searching my eyes. “I’m sorry.”