Page 33 of D.I.E.T. (Did I Eat That?)

“Geet, baby,” he said as he stared at me. “You should’ve warned me you were wearing that.”

“Why?”

“Why?” He pulled me into his arms, holding on tight. “Because you make me want to strip you naked and throw you on the bed.” Then, between pressing kisses to my neck, he asked, “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

I felt my cheeks heat as I attempted to push him off me. “Come on. Let’s get going.”

Like usual, he drove. To my surprise, he stopped off at a little flower shop, ran in, and came out with a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers. He set them on my lap, pecked my cheek, and then continued per my directions to my childhood home, as if he hadn’t just shifted the foundations of my reality. He’d stopped to buy my grandmother flowers.

Lu’s death-mobile and Pia and Gareth’s minivan took up the space in the driveway, causing Sinjin to have to park along the curb. But rather than have me get out in the snow, he stopped in front of the drive, then backed up to park. My heart couldn’t swell any bigger or risk exploding.

With one of his arms slung around my waist I carried the flowers. We walked up to the porch, where my sister Lu threw open the door before we ever reached it. “Holy crap, you’re hot!” she shouted at, I assumed, Sinjin.

“Lu,” I admonished.

“What?” she asked faux-innocently. “Numbnut was good-looking, but, Geet sweetheart, you’ve never brought one home the likes of him.” Then to my horror, she leaned back to yell into the other room. “Pia, get out here. Geet’s man is delish!”

“Lu. He’s not food. Stop.”

Pia strolled up to the door holding her youngest, my nephew Ethan, in her arms. The little guy got his head full of curly brown hair from his dad, but his blue eyes were pure Pia. “I call BS. How ’bout you, baby sister? I bet she’s feasted on him a time or two.”

“Shut up!” I shouted. I was going to be sick. Then I turned to Sinjin to tell him we could leave. At this point, I was willing to drop to my knees and beg his forgiveness, only he stood there taking it all in, smiling like he didn’t have a care in the world.

He leaned in to press a kiss to the side of my head. “It’s fine, sunshine. Let’s get inside—it’s cold.”

At least my sisters had the presence of mind to move out of the way so we could enter the house and shut the door and, giving us enough time to strip off our coats and gloves, hanging them up on the coat hook before the onslaught. I held my hand up, stopping them. Then I turned to Sinjin. “These are my incredibly insane sisters. Pia”—I pointed to Pia— “and Lu.” Then I pointed to Lu. “Sisters, this is Sinjin Barrow. Please don’t scare him off.”

Pia leaned in first to hug Sinjin and introduced her son. “And this little guy is Ethan. The spitting image of his daddy, who’s out on the back patio checking on the meat.”

“Hey, buddy,” Sinjin said to the little guy. Since he was only a year old, I would’ve expected him to shy away from the stranger in his midst, but my nephew surprised all of us by reaching out for Sinjin to hold him. “Is it okay?” he asked my sister and she nodded, placing Ethan in Sinjin’s arms. Sinjin bounced him. “You’re a cutie,” he said.

“You want me to take him?” Pia asked.

“Not unless you want to. My sister Tori has a boy about his age—Harry—I’m sure you’ll meet them soon enough. There’s no way they’ll let me get away with meeting you without Geet meeting them.”

Pia’s eyes shot to me and she mouthed, “Oh my god.” Then to him she said, “I look forward to meeting her. Do you come from a big family?”

“Yes, pretty big. Three sisters. Three brothers-in-law, and thirteen nieces and nephews. Soon to be fourteen with my sister Bette about to drop her fifth. Tori had Harry and Bette got baby fever. Though it’s not hard for Bette to come down with baby fever. As you can tell, it happens quite frequently. Her husband, Sam, is a saint. But he loves his wife and he loves his kids, so it hasn’t exactly been hard for Bette to get him to agree.”

“What about you?” she asked him next.

“I don’t have any kids,” he replied.

“But do you want any?” Lu asked, joining in the conversation in order to humiliate me just that little bit more.

His eyes dropped to look at me and then he looked back at my sisters before answering. “Sure. I could see myself as a dad.”

He could see himself as a dad?Ovaries go boom!

“Do I get to meet Sinjin or are you going to keep him for yourselves?” My grams yelled from the kitchen.

“I’d keep him,” Lu yelled back. “But I think Geet might end me.”

“Then get in here,” Grams called.

Pia took Ethan back in order for Sinjin to take the sunflowers. My sisters led the way into the kitchen, where Grams took one look at my boyfriend and hollered, “If he’s willing to take on sister wives, I call dibs.” A man could do worse with his choice of sister wife seeing as Grams had a fit, athletic body for a seventy-year-old, a pretty face with soft, feminine features and she kept her hair cut short in a pixy cut, died a gorgeous silver. But the thought of sharing Sinjin with anyone gutted me and he surely didn’t need my family openly flirting, whether they meant it or not and I was fairly certain Grams meant it. I turned right back around, leaving the kitchen behind. How could they do this to me? I heard Sinjin’s ridiculously sexy laugh, but still.

I sat down on the living room sofa to bury my face in my hands. I was in love with a man who was sure to dump me at any moment because what man wanted a woman with a crazy family? Even with my face in my hands, I knew the smell of Sinjin and the power of his body as he dropped down on the sofa next to me.

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