“I won’t drink since I know I need to come back.” I stood up and tugged my shirt down. “Well, this was interesting. I should get home, though.”
Dominic stepped in front of me and stared down at me with his unreadable expression. “One thing you need to agree to. You’re not going to come in here screaming at us again. Not because you can’t express yourself, but because you’re going to expect better from us. We’re not the usual fuckboys messaging you on dating apps, Sugar. We’re better than what you thought of us and you should know that going forward. Expect better because we are better. When you accept that, you won’t jump to thinking the worst of us.”
I looked up at him, taking in the way his dark blue eyes seemed to light me on fire from the inside out. My heart raced and my body responded to his dominance like he was a top-rated battery-operated-boyfriend. My hand moved like it had a mind of its own and before I knew it, I was touching his chest. I coughed when I saw what I’d done and pretended to pick a piece of lint off his perfect shirt.
I had to get the hell out of there. “Yep!”
Holden’s chuckle might as well have been a pat on the top of my head for me being silly enough to think I could stay away from them. I cut my eyes at him and then stepped around Dominic.
“Got it. Sounds great. I’m going to go. I have a big night of things. So many things.” I fumbled with the door and kept rambling when I couldn’t get it open. “Big things. Yep, yep. Important things.”
Dominic moved toward me like a lion approaching his prey. He all but pinned me to the door without touching a single inch of my body. Just when I was starting to think that I’d been hasty in saying no funny business, he smirked and unlocked the door. “Good luck with all of your things, Sugar.”
I sighed breathlessly and then groaned before pulling open the door and slipping out of it. Jogging down his driveway was not exactly how I wanted to appear to them, but I’d embarrassed myself just enough during that short interaction that a little more didn’t matter.
It was only when I looked up and saw that Grandma was idling at the end of the drive in her bright yellow Volkswagen that my embarrassment level tipped the scales and I thought about changing my name. I chanced a look back and saw that all three men had filed out of the house and were standing there watching me as I walked around to the passenger seat of my grandmother’s car.
Holden’s laugh carried clearly across the distance. So clearly that when I opened the door and slipped into the seat next to Grandma, she was looking up at him and smiling.
“Good laugh. Sexy, sexy man.” She looked at me and nodded. “More than I thought, but I get it.”
I doubled over in the seat and breathed into my knees. “Just drive, Grandma. Please.”
The sound of her window rolling down was like ice water splashing over me. “Hey! You three sure are handsome! I’m Sugar’s grandma, Caroline. Any of you have fathers who’d be interested in a young gal like me?”
“Grandma! I will get out of this car and run back home. What are you doing?”
Footsteps came closer and, of course, it was Holden’s voice that spoke with an abundant amount of humor spilling over. “Never really knew my dad, but I’ve got an uncle back home in Italy who wouldn’t kick a young thing like you out of bed for eating crackers.”
Grandma laughed boisterously, her car shaking with the force of it. “I like you. If your uncle is ever in the states, let me know. If he’s half as good-looking as you, I’m interested.”
“He got the looks in the family, ma’am.” Holden shamelessly played along with my grandma, seemingly unconcerned about my panicked state in the seat next to her. “I can clearly see where Sugar got her beauty. It was kind of you to share with her.”
I lifted my head enough to glare at him. I was going to give him a poor review on his food. I was going to say his pasta was store-bought. I was going to compare his skills to a poorly trained teenager at the neglected Olive Garden down the street.
“I can see why she’d let you maul her neck like a vampire, young man. Youandyour friends. Do I recognize one of them?”
I jerked upright and slammed my hand over her horn in a desperate attempt to stop the conversation. “Gotta go! Sorry! Bye!”
Before Grandma could say anything else, I leaned across and rolled up her window. She huffed and puffed at me, but I just spoke over the sound.
“Drive, Grandma. If you’ve ever loved me, you’ll drive away right now before I dive out of this car and into traffic on the Beltway.”
“I don’t know, honey, they seem like great catches to me.” Grandma sighed.
“No, they are my new employers. Nothing more.”
18
***SJ***
Logan:Ineverexpectedto see you on a dating app! I’m sure this is weird, but I was wondering if you’d like to get lunch or coffee with me. I feel like I need to apologize for a lot of my past behavior and I’d like to see a friendly face from back in the day. Let me know if you’re up for it. I hope you’re doing well.
Me: Um, sure. Why not? Another friend is never a bad thing. I’ll be in the city, starting a new job, tomorrow. I could meet you for lunch somewhere anytime this week.
Logan: Sounds great! How about tomorrow? Where are you working?
Me: Rotayno. The offices are in a building downtown. Tomorrow would be great.