Page 62 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

I kissed her fast and hard, then realizing what I was doing, and that I was kissing her for the first and possibly only time, I slowed and softened. I explored her mouth with my own, lost in the moment, letting her slide back to her feet so I could glide one hand into her soft hair.

“What’s going on out—oh.”

I blinked my way back to reality; the kiss broken as I took in Char’s roommate. Tamara was standing awkwardly in the living room as though debating slipping back into the kitchen.

Char biting her bottom lip, glancing at Tamara then at me again, like she was considering jumping in for another kiss. Reluctantly, I allowed myself to release her from my arms, but was unable to look away from her lips and those happy eyes.

I wanted to kiss her again, and I was pretty sure she felt the same.

CHAPTER17

~ Char ~

“Your parents’ house?” I pushed my way deeper into the passenger seat of James’s Range Rover. We’d kissed once, twenty minutes ago, out of excitement over the grant. And now I was about to meet his parents?

I gently brushed my lips, still warm and tingly from James’s earlier kiss. I know, it was only my imagination telling me I could feel the effect and pressure from his lips on my own, but his kiss had been sweet, and oh-so right and I wanted to savour and stay in the after-bliss for as long as I could.

The question was: why were we at his parents’? He’d promised me a distraction after I heard back from the grant agency and hadn’t been able to sit still. It hadn’t helped that Tamara had been shooting visual daggers at me as I filled in the girls on the agency’s decision. Somehow, sheknewI’d made a wish.

Even though it was eight at night, I wanted to go buy the land and set to work.

And so James, ever the friend, had dragged me away—even though our kiss hadn’t been a friend-zone kind of kiss. It had, in fact, been toe-curlingly delicious. The kind of kiss you shared with a soulmate. The warm, fuzzy vibes James gave me were even better than holding an old piece of Athenian pottery. Way better.

When he’d suggested a distraction, though, I’d thought we might go somewhere and make out. Not go meet his parents.

I think I’d rather be at home, pacing until the land offices opened, as well as freaking out over what our kiss meant, thanks. His parents were going to take one look at me, and know I wanted to be out of the friend zone with their son, even though it broke my own rule about dating someone I already knew I wouldn’t marry. They’d instinctively know I didn’t understand close-knit family vibes, or how a family should be there for you, reading your needs, and taking care of them without any apparent thought. I’d learned from watching Tamara’s family how important that was, and I knew I was lacking. I didn’t know how to do that. How to comfortably fit myself into that type of familial situation.

“I’ve got to run in and grab something.” James came around the Range Rover’s bumper and opened my door. “I still can’t believe you got that grant. And so fast!”

I nodded, one eye on the front of the cute bungalow with its cheery potted flowers and freshly tended lawn.

“I mean, they even dipped into their emergency reserves so you can buy both lots, and tear down that warehouse. You have to be the luckiest woman in the world.”

His gaze was liquid warmth spreading over me, and I nodded again. At this moment, with him looking at me like that, Iwasthe luckiest woman in the world. I was also a woman out of her depth.

He held out his hand.

“I can wait here,” I said, leaning further from the door.

“Aren’t you coming in?”

“I thought you just had to grab something?” I knew he had his own basement suite near SAIT, which meant this was a quick zip in and out. In other words, there was absolutely no reason for me to go inside.

“I do. But come meet my parents.”

“Um…”

He was holding out his hand, insistently bouncing it, palm up, waiting for me to take it. “They don’t bite. They meet all my friends.”

Friends. “Right. Of course.” I nodded, the friend zone reminder snapping me out of my freak-out daze. Talk about putting the cart way before the horse on that one. It wasn’t like we were romantically serious about each other, and needed to meet each other’s families. It wasn’t like his parents would assume I was there as a potential future daughter-in-law. James was the socially sure kind of guy who brought friends home, even though he was an adult. Tamara’s boyfriend, Kade, had been like that in high school. I was sure everyone in our school had been to his house at one point or another.

I mentally bolstered myself. I needed to remember that making mental room for the possibility of a relationship with a guy like James was one thing. Thinking he wanted me to meet his parents because he was in love with me was quite another.

I hopped out, my hand gently resting in James’s as I slid out of the SUV. He released me sooner than I wanted, leaving a hole in my gut. He led us to the front door, letting us in with a hearty, “Just me and a friend!” He said to me, “Ditch your coat wherever.”

Friend. I was starting to really dislike that word.

I glanced around the entry at the coat hooks already filled with jackets. “Aren’t we just running in and out again?”

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