Page 42 of Unsaid Things

“What?”

She shook her head. “I said no. I’m not letting you give my br—my mom money. Not happening, so don’t even think about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s my mom, not yours.” She looked away, her eyes unfocused, her hand coming up to play with her lower lip like she always did when she was stressed or thinking about something. Right now, both things were obviously the case.

He stepped closer and pulled her hand away. “I don’t mind helping, Abby. Really, I don’t.”

Her gaze softened when she looked at him. “I know. I know you don’t. And that’s one of the reasons I love you. But I don’t feel right about letting you do this. I’ll—I’ll figure something out.”

He pulled her close again by his grip on her wrist, and she let him, setting her glass down on the counter as she went. “How, Abby? How will you help her pay for this? You’ve already told me her budget is pretty much maxed out. And I know that you sometimes use your own money to help her pay for groceries.” He kept his voice soft and the questions curious rather than accusatory, not wanting to upset her more than she already was.

One shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I have the rest of my loan disbursement still.”

His mouth tightened a fraction at that, remembering the fight they’d had at the beginning of the semester about her getting the payout instead of letting him pay for rent and only taking what she needed to cover the cost of school. But he let it go. “I thought that money was to pay for your half of the rent.”

She winced at that. “Yeah. It was. But …”

When she trailed off, he waited for her to finish, but she didn’t. He spoke her unfinished thought. “But … you’re okay with me paying for rent so you can help your mom, but not okay with me helping her directly?”

Another one shoulder shrug. “Something like that.”

He couldn’t help the low chuckle that escaped, and she started to push back. But he tightened his arms around her. “I’m sorry, Abby. I—you have to see why that’s kind of funny.” She didn’t say anything. “Okay. Fine. Maybe not. I get that it’s important to you to pay for your own things. If you’re okay with me taking care of you so you can take care of your mom, I’m okay with that, too.”

She sighed, her arms finally winding around him, squeezing him close. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” He kissed the top of her head, and she lifted her face to his, kissing him back, seeming to go back to her normal self. The kiss deepened, turning hotter, and he found his hands slipping under her top, caressing her skin. He stopped himself before undoing her bra, gentling the kiss and pulling back. He grinned down at her, her lips pink and swollen from his kiss, her eyes glazed, her cheeks flushed. “We have reservations soon, so we’ll have to pick that up later.”

She smiled back, the tension gone now that the money question was resolved. Good. Now they could get back to the fun weekend they had planned. It was her twenty-first birthday tomorrow. She should be drinking and partying and living it up, not worrying about how to pay for her mom’s medical problems. So he made it his goal for the weekend to ramp up his distraction, showering her with gifts, plying her with delicious food and drink, and most importantly, worshipping her body and keeping her sated with pleasure. He looked forward to that part the most. And he planned on starting on it as soon as they were home again.

Lance’s hands slipped around Abby’s waist as she stood in front of the mirror swiping gloss over her lips before heading out to her birthday party at Megan’s house. He nuzzled her neck and nipped at her earlobe, sending a shiver down her spine followed by a zing of arousal.

She ducked her head, reaching for the earrings he’d given her the night before. “Stop that. We need to leave soon. And if you’re going to be nibbling on my ears, I won’t be able to wear the earrings you gave me last night.”

He held her in place with his hands on her hips, still nuzzling that spot below her ear. Almost unconsciously she tipped her head to the side, her eyelids sliding closed, enjoying his attention.

“And was that your favorite part of last night?” His low voice rasping in her ear sent another round of shivers down her spine, the combination of his lips on her neck and his hands roaming her body ratcheting her arousal higher. Sense memories from the night before played over her skin.

He’d grabbed a little gift bag off the coffee table before leading her out the door to drive to the restaurant. His plan to have her open the present before leaving had been thrown off by her getting home later than normal and their discussion afterward. She’d hated lying to him about why her brother wanted the money. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell him it was to pay off a gambling debt. It was too embarrassing. She couldn’t predict how Lance would react to that news. He already didn’t like her brother, and for good reason. She wasn’t particularly fond of him anymore either, but he was still family. Letting him get hurt or worse, killed, by some lowlife bookies or whatever when she could prevent it was impossible. Even if he had abandoned them. She hoped he’d take her money and leave. Go somewhere else. Leave them alone again. Maybe stay gone for good.

Unless he got his life together. Maybe she’d be okay with some contact then.

But with the way things stood, no way in hell did she want him around. And she definitely didn’t want him at her mom’s house. She knew that if he didn’t get the money from her, he’d steal it from their mom. And her mom could barely pay for everything she needed as it was. She hadn’t realized that Lance knew that she helped pay for her mom’s groceries, but it didn’t really surprise her. He paid attention.

On the way to dinner he’d gone back and forth on whether she should open her gift in the car. She’d laughed at his giddy excitement. He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, except she was the one getting the present. She’d finally opened it after they were seated and ordered drinks. Inside the bag was tucked a little velvet jewelry box. She’d been nervous to open it, especially in a restaurant full of people, but Lance’s smile and watchful eyes had spurred her on. Relief and disappointment had washed through her when she opened the box to reveal a pair of earrings. They hadn’t really talked about getting engaged, so she pushed both feelings aside as quickly as they came.

“Lance, they’re beautiful.” And they were, she ran her fingers over the delicate chains and leaves, causing a light tinkling sound.“I love them.”

His eyes had glowed with pleasure that she liked them. “I was worried you might think they were too much.”

“Well, they are. But I love them anyway.”

“Good.”

Now, the earrings slipped from her fingers, distracted by Lance, kissing and nibbling his way around her neck and collarbone from behind, landing on the tile floor of the bathroom with a tiny crash. The sound brought her back to herself and the realization that they didn’t have time for another round of lovemaking before going to her birthday party.

She tried to disentangle herself, to retrieve the earrings. “Lance, my earrings.”

---