Page 273 of His Virgin Romance Series

GABBY

Irolled over in my sleep and nearly fell off the couch. I gasped as I realized I wasn’t in my bed. I was on my mother’s couch, and it didn’t leave me with a lot of room to stretch… or roll over apparently.

I pushed back the covering sheet I had used and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It was almost eight o’clock, and I realized I had slept far longer than I had intended to. The plan had been to wake up early and head into campus so that I could get in a few hours of piano practice before class. My first class was at ten-thirty, so I still had time.

After I had brushed my teeth and changed into some fresh jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, I headed into the kitchen to grab something to eat before going to campus. I nearly screamed when I walked in to find a half-naked man standing in front of the open fridge.

“Oh my God,” I gasped. “Who are you?”

He turned to me, and I could tell I had startled him as well. He was young, probably in his mid- to late-thirties and he had a flat stomach and chiseled chest, but I had to look away. He was wearing short boxer shorts that left little to the imagination.

“I’m Cliff,” he replied. “You must be Margot’s daughter.”

“That’s me,” I said awkwardly. “Where is Mom?”

Instead of answering me, he let out a little chuckle. I frowned. “Did I say something funny?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Cliff replied. “It’s just funny to hear you refer to Margot as ‘Mom.’ She’s so young to have such an old daughter.”

“You think I’m old, you should see Seth,” I replied.

“Seth?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Uh… my brother.”

“Fucking hell,” Cliff said, and he sounded totally shocked by that. “You have a brother?”

“Mom didn’t mention that?”

“No, she didn’t.”

“How long have you two been together?” I asked.

“Three months.”

“Three months?” I repeated incredulously.

“Yeah… so you have a brother… how old is he?”

“Twenty-nine,” I replied. I had to admit I was kind of enjoying myself.

I knew Mom would probably be annoyed with me, but I just couldn’t help myself. I had stopped believing in her relationships a long time ago. It might have been different if she had brought home respectable, age-appropriate men who looked like they were actually interested in more than casual sex. But as it stood, none of the men I had bumped into in her kitchen had left much of an impression.

Cliff seemed all right compared to some of mom’s other boyfriends, but I didn’t know squat about him at the moment. I would need to reserve judgment for a while longer.

“Fuck!” he gasped. “Twenty-nine?”

“Yep.”

“No… that can’t be—”

“Cliff!” Mom said, appearing in the kitchen suddenly. She looked between Cliff and me nervously with a fake smile plastered across her face. “You told me you were heading out?”

“I meant I was heading to the kitchen to find something to eat,” he replied. “But there’s nothing in your fridge but… cupcakes.”

He pulled out a cupcake with pink frosting and bit into it. Mom didn’t address that, however; she was more concerned with what we had just been talking about.

“Uh, I thought you’d have left by now, Zo,” Mom said, looking at me. “You told me you wanted to make an early start today.”

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