Page 103 of Tenderfoot

God, I was such a dork.

And I’d totally messed this up.

I should have known he’d need at least a sign.

“I didn’t. You didn’t go for it,” I said lamely, dashing at my tears.

“Man like me, Harlow, woman like you, it has to be you.”

I saw that.

He was still wrong, of a sort.

“I wanted you to pursue me.”

Yep.

Again lame.

“I’m kind of…traditional…in some ways,” I admitted. “Like, I can open my own doors, but I really like it when you open them for me. Also like, if a guy likes me, he’s the one who needs to ask me out.”

He rested his weight into his hands spread wide at the edge of the island, muttering, “Shit.”

“It’s not something I could tell you, but maybe I could have given you a hint,” I said morosely, and finished, “Though, I don’t know how I’d do that, at the same time I thought you knew.”

“C’mere, Lolita,” he called.

With no hesitation, I rounded the island and went there.

He curved one arm around my waist and tucked one hand around the side of my neck.

“It sounds fucked, but I thought I was doing right by you, spewing that shit I said,” he told me.

I didn’t have to confirm he did not at all do right by me, he already knew it.

“The thing is, this is happening,” he carried on.

Oh yes, it was.

I nodded avidly.

His eyes warmed, but he warned, “And you’re gonna meet my mom.”

“I’m not judgy,” I stated immediately. “There are all kinds of health issues, including mental ones. I get that. And you shared how she is now, so I won’t be surprised.”

“And I’m gonna meet your mom.”

I shut my mouth with a clack.

“Yeah,” he whispered, his eyes dropping to my lips.

Visions of my mother being judgy (and she totally would be, so would Easton) about Javi danced malevolently in my head.

Worse, visions of my mother being judgy about me (and she totally would be, again, so would Easton), and how Javi would react to that scared the absolute dickens out of me.

“So that’s the heavy,” Javi bottom lined it.

“You’re not going to like my mom, Javi,” I warned.

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