Page 328 of His Virgin Romance Series

“Yeah.” I nodded distractedly. “Let’s go.”

As we walked up to the low gate, I had a sudden desire for Gabby to be here instead of Zack. Of course I didn’t want her meeting my parents at all, and that was probably the only reason I had asked Zack to be here instead of Gabby. I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. The maid answered on the intercom, and I had to suffer the indignity of telling her who I was. She didn’t seem to understand at first, so I had to explain it to her. She had a faint accent; my parents liked importing their maids.

“New maid?” Zack asked.

“Apparently.”

The remote-controlled gate finally slid open, and Zack and I walked to the door. Of course the maid opened it for us. Mom and Dad liked to make their guests wait awhile before they made their entrance… I wasn’t sure I qualified as a guest though.

“Man, nothing’s changed,” Zack observed, looking around.

“One thing has changed,” I said. “There aren’t any pictures of me anymore.”

I tried not to let that bother me as we sat down together and waited. I knew he was feeling uncomfortable and I couldn’t really blame him. Maybe it had been a bad idea to ask him to come.

“There’s going to be a meteor shower tonight,” he said abruptly.

“What?” I asked.

“I heard on the news this morning,” Zack said. “There’s going to be a meteor shower tonight… you might have a good view from your apartment.”

“Okay,” I said, knowing that Zack was just trying to make up for the nervous energy I had brought into the room with me.

“We can still high tail it out of here,” he said, and I knew he was only semi-joking.

I gave him a nervous laugh, and a moment later my mother walked into the room. She was wearing a white oversized linen shirt and beige pants. She looked like she was going someplace artsy, but I knew that this was what she wore around the house. You knew someone had their life together when they dressed for the house.

“Hi,” I said, standing up instinctively.

“Hello,” she said, giving me a ghost of a smile. Then she caught sight of Zack and her smile became real. “Zack, how are you? I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I tagged along.”

“Of course not,” she said, very politely. “I’m sure that Miles dragged you here. Anything to avoid being alone with his father and me.”

I gritted my teeth despite the fact that she was not totally off the mark there. “Where is Dad?” I asked. “Hasn’t finished powdering his nose yet?”

Mom turned to me with a snap of her neck. “Don’t be rude, please, Miles.”

“I… it was a joke.”

“In poor taste.”

“I apologize,” I said quickly, knowing that it was pointless to argue.

“Already apologizing, Miles,” Dad said, walking into the room at that precise moment. “I can’t tell if that’s a good sign or a bad one.”

I repressed a sigh. “Hi, Dad.”

“And you brought backup I see,” he said, looking towards Zack and shaking his hand. “How are you, young man?”

“I’m doing well, sir.”

“I ran into your father last week at the club; I heard you got a promotion.”

I glanced at Zack, who was nodding self-consciously. I wondered why he hadn’t told me that he’d gotten promoted. Was he worried I’d be jealous or something? Dad proceeded to talk to Zack and ignore me completely, and I sat back down, feeling like I had made a huge mistake by coming in the first place.

“You know, your father just helped me purchase a fantastic set of antique revolvers; would you like to take a look?”

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