Page 61 of Falling for You

Rex is so amused, he can’t even begin to hide it. “He was… hard?”

“Oh yeah. Completely at attention,” I add a hand motion to prove my point. “My friends weredying. Hell,Iwas dying. It was like a live porn was about to happen — but with my mom!”

“What happened after that?”

I bite my lip, wondering if I should tell him this part.

“What? Don’t tell me they hooked up.”

I nod, covering my mouth when I smile and giggle. “They did. Multiple times.”

His eyes are so wide it looks like they’re about to bug out of his head. “No.”

“Mm hmm. The next morning I woke up, stumbled into the kitchen for some coffee and Advil, and there he sat, like he’d been there a thousand times before. Just sipped on his coffee, played around on his phone and asked how I was feeling.”

“What’d you do?”

“Stared at him for a few seconds then sat down at the table and talked to him. He was a really nice guy, actually. Pre-med, if you can believe it. Paying his way through medical school. He and Mom saw each other for about six months off and on. So strange, right?”

He stretches an arm across the back of couch to play with my hair. “That’s one way to put it. How old was he?”

I shrug, lean into his touch. “I’m not really sure. I think he was around twenty-eight or close to it. So, like almost fifteen years younger than my mom at the time? He was good to her but in the end, the age difference got in the way. He wanted more than she could give him, you know?”

“He wanted to marry her?”

“Yes. And have babies and be my step daddy,” I add with a chuckle. “When Mom died, he was heart-broken right along with me. We keep in contact a little bit. He’s in Florida now and seeing someone.”

“Wow. Okay. So, I guess I know more about your mom than I bargained for when I asked,” he snickers. “She sounds feisty.”

“She was. But she was also super sweet and funny and kind. She wasn’t perfect, but she was mine.” I’m surprised when I don’t feel sadness talking about her. The joy in my memories is what’s trumping everything else I feel.

“I’m so glad you had a good relationship with her. That your memories are mostly happy ones.”

I feel a pang of guilt because of the relationship I had with my mom, especially knowing that he didn’t have a similar relationship with either of his parents.

“Don’t,” he says softly.

“What?”

Shaking his head, his hand caresses my upper arm. His eyes flit across my features, taking me in. The way he looks at me, as if he’s truly seeing me, lets loose butterflies in my stomach. “I can see it on your face. That sympathy or pity. Don’t pity me for not having that with my parents. It might make me sound like an asshole, but I’m grateful for it. I see the type of people they are, the things they put so much weight on in their lives and it’s not how I want to live. The fact that I had very little influence from them makes me feel relief, almost.”

How heartbreaking. It also makes me want to find his parents and give them a… well, a good talking to because I’m not really a violent person. But if I were a violent person, I’d kick them in the shins.

“They don’t sound like nice people,” I admit with a cringe.

“They aren’t. I wish they had a good reason for that, too. But really, they are just assholes with very specific expectations of everyone around them. And if you don’t fit into a certain box, then they basically write you off. I learned long ago it was best to not care.”

Without saying a word, because there’s really nothing to say, I lean forward and kiss his cheek then hold his beautiful face so he’s looking at me when I say the words I feel like he needs to see. “For what it’s worth, they’re really missing out because you, Rex ,whatever your last name is that I just realized I should probably know, are fucking awesome and they don’t deserve to have a son like you if they don’t appreciate how incredible you are.”

“It’s Matthews, I said it when I introduced myself to your friends but I don’t think you were paying attention. Reginald, but never call me that in a million years, Davis Matthews.”

I’m a little embarrassed that he’s right. I wasn’t paying attention at all. But that’s not the most important part right now… “Reginald?”

“Yup. Rex for short. I truly have no idea what my parents were thinking.” He holds up his hand and I take it in mine. “Nice to meet you, Chloe, I don’t know your last name either. But, inmydefense, you never told me.”

I grin and bite my lower lip. “Chloe Noelle Garcia.”

He nods and leans forward, resting his forehead against mine after giving me an Eskimo kiss that has my toes curling. “Fitting. Beautiful.”

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