Page 30 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

“It’s not okay. This is exactly what I didn’t want to subject you to.”

“It’s okay,” I repeated and thankfully, the servers in their black slacks and white server jackets strode in with carts andtrays to begin serving us. I didn’t much like being served in the Parkers’ home. I could serve myself, but I kept reminding myself that this was how these people earned a paycheck. Who was I to deny someone an honest living? That helped some.

“Her hair is just so…red,” Emily said out of the blue. “We’ll have to tone it down to maybe a deep auburn. I fear we can’t do much else with it. I’ll set up an appointment at the salon. They can straighten it too.”

When pretty much everyone sitting at the table turned to her, she asked, “What? I know you all were thinking it.”

“You aren’t dyeing, toning down, or straightening her hair unless she agrees to it,” Blake said. “She’s beautiful the way she is.”

“Her red hair makes her look common,” Emily said in defense.

“Not as common as her last name,” Brockton muttered. “Could you get moreimmigrant?”

“Yes, we could’ve worked with a Green or a Gold,” Mr. Parker said. “But Kowalski? I just don’t know what we’re going to do with that.”

“She’ll have to take our last name,” Brockton said. “Then we’ll bury hers down as far as we can bury it. She’ll simply go by Gloria Parker. That sounds respectable.”

Jupiter leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. “They named their only daughter Jupiter yet they’re worried about the name Kowalski? Don’t worry… my brother got a dreamy look when he heard Gloria Parker, I think he likes that idea.” She shook her head. “But he won’t have you change yours unless you want to, if for nothing else than to piss the rest of the family off. But given that dreamy look, I’d say he really loves you.”

A dreamy look? I didn’t see it. I wished I’d seen it. Blake leaned over to whisper in my ear, “Eat, sweetheart. Your food’s getting cold.”

I nodded and picked up my fork. The food was delicious. I especially loved the spinach quiche and the tomato and onion tart. We drank mimosas and the children drank mimosas substituted with sparkling grape juice rather than champagne or so Jupiter told me when I got a horrified look on my face.

The rest of the meal consisted of Blake’s family running down my appearance, my name, and my family lineage while Blake defended me, but all I could think about was what Jupiter said. He loved me. I knew that. But did he want me to change my name? Maybe I could hyphenate it like Pen did. Gloria Kowalski-Parker. That seemed long and I tried to imagine signing that every time something required my signature.

Thankfully, the torture—oops!I mean,brunchended and Blake whisked me to the car as fast as humanly possible. Once in there, though, the two of us alone, neither of us spoke.

We remained quiet right up through turning into the circle drive in front of his house. He cut the engine and got out, rounding the hood to open my door. I let him take my hand to help me out. Then we walked up to the front door where he let us in, shutting it behind me.

“I’m sorry about brunch,” he said, finally breaking the silence.

I shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m used to not being good enough.”

“Dammit—don’t you dare say that. Do you think I’d travel throughout all of Europe and half of Africa with someone not good enough?”

“Men always have dirty, little secrets. I was yours.”

His face hardened. “If you really think that, then why did you agree to come here.”

“I don’t. Not totally.”

“Not totally? Care to explain?”

“You met me. You fell in love with me. But you kept me a secret from your family because you knew they’d never approve of me.”

He spun me into his arms, placing both hands on my cheeks, and bent in to kiss me. “I never dreamed that I’d meet a woman as perfect for me as you, sweetheart. Everything about you is something I want to spend the rest of my life learning about.” He kissed me again, dropping one of his hands to cup my butt as he bypassedromance novelkiss and headed straight intoeroticromancenovel territory. I’d never experienced a kiss like that in my life.

Inmy life.

Reflexively, my arms wrapped tighter around his neck and I lifted my legs to hook around his hips. Blake started moving us into the living room. His staff got the weekend off, so we were alone in the house. He dropped onto the sofa, bringing me down onto his lap. I straddled him. He slid his hand up my thigh, exposing the skin until he reached the elastic of my panties, sliding his finger between the fabric and my skin.

The move shocked me. “You have to tell me what you want or I’ll freeze up,” I whispered. Smiling against my lips, he gripped my hips jerking me forward and slowly easing me back to rub against the bulge in his pants.

“Grind,” he ordered. I dragged my center over and back slowly, enjoying the feel of him so thick, long and hard between my thighs. When I couldn’t take any more, my head fell back and my hips stopped moving while my lungs burned from a shuddering breath.

“Did I tell you to stop?” he asked, not without kindness, but the look on his face said heneededme to keep going.

“I don’t know what to do next.”

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