Page 81 of Piece By Piece

“I’m still curious as to how it happened, though. And how you hid it from us,” Lily persists, ignoring Andrew skillfully. I can’t believe he didn’t know women talked... Poor man.

“Well, circumstances kind of made me move in with him and one thing led to another,” Aliena provides with a shrug.

“You live here?” her best friend exclaims. Now, even the guys look surprised.

“Since last December,” Aliena admits, looking a little sheepish now as her friend’s face turns red.

Lily takes a deep breath, and with a forced calmness, she says, “You and I will have a sleepover soon. At my place, apparently. Then, I will make you talk, you hear me?”

The whole crew laughs and as we settle into the couches, the conversation eventually moves on from Aliena’s and my new relationship status.

When eventually, the others start heading downstairs to dance, I notice Aliena eying me.

“Yes, Sweetheart?” I ask, arching a brow.

“Well, aren’t you going to ask me to dance?” she retorts with that attitudeI love so much.

I bow my head in apology and get to my feet, holding out a hand to her. “Would you do me the honor and dance with me, milady?” I tease her. She swats at my hand, smiling cheekily.

“You’re an idiot,” she declares, walking past me. For a second, I just stand there and enjoy the view.That’s my woman. I feel both unbelievably lucky and undeserving. When she finally looks at me over her shoulder and says, “Well, don’t let me wait now.” My feet follow her obediently.

“Sorry, Sweetheart, just wanted to take in the sight,” I say, moving her along with a hand on the small of her back.

“Oh, yeah? And, was everything to your liking?”

“Fuck, yes. My girlfriend looks devastating tonight,” I whisper in her ear.

“I’m nervous,” Aliena repeats for the hundredth time since I told her my mom was about to turn up at the apartment with the rest of the cleaning crew and demands to finally meet the girl that stole her boy’s heart. Her words, not mine.

I’ve been managing to hold her off for a few days since telling her that I had a girlfriend. Now, her patience seems to have run out.

“She’ll love you, don’t worry,” I reassure her.

Right on cue, the elevator dings and opens to reveal a crew of ladies, all shorter than five feet five. I greet them with a smile as always, but they don’t stop by to chat, merely sending curious glances toward the girl clinging onto my arm before they rush off to the second floor.

My mother is the last in line, her face lighting up as she spies us ready to welcome her. “My boy, hello,” she exclaims happily, pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. She’s seriously strong for such a small woman... Then, letting go, she moves on to study Aliena.

With my girlfriend’s face in her hands, she gushes over how pretty she is in that thick Spanish accent of hers. Aliena, for her part, holds dutifully still, even as a vicious blush takes over her face.

I finally take pity in her and interrupt, “Mom, enough. You are embarrassing her.”

Noticing I’m right, she lets go of the girl’s face and resorts to hugging her. “Sorry, darling. I’m just very excited. Sebastian has never introduced me to a girl before, and I’ve been dying to meet you for half a year now.”

At that, my girl arches a questioning brow at me. I brush her off. She doesn’t need to know I told my mom about her after our first meeting.

After a few minutes of chatting, my mom excuses herself to go help the others clean, but not before inviting us for dinner at my parents’ place tomorrow night. As soon as she’s out of earshot, Aliena slumps against my side. “Oh, god. I’ve never experienced something more stressful. Do you think I made a good impression?” She groans before I can answer. “I was too quiet, wasn’t I?”

Chuckling, I squash her against my chest and press a kiss to her forehead. Who would have thought I’d ever see Aliena Hart this shy?

Dinner is tense. Sebastian’s father, William Henderson, is as much of an asshole as expected and while I can brush off his demeaning comments quite easily, Sebastian’s tightgrip on my hand beneath the table tells me he isn’t faring as well.

I feel bad for him. He warned me this would happen and apologized in advance. When I asked him why he agreed to come if he hates his dad so much, he simply said it would make his mother happy. My heart melted a little at that.

So that’s what brings us here, into this beautiful mansion, sitting at this majestic mahogany dinner table, eating the delicious food Sofia, Seb’s mom, prepared.

“So, Aliena, are you a student at my university?” William asks me, that deep, stoic voice disrupting the tense silence. Sofia looks nervously between her husband and me.

I smile sweetly as I tell him, “No. Sadly not.” Then, I keep eating, smiling sincerely when Sebastian squeezes my hand.

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