Page 55 of Fated Mates and How to Seduce Them
She shoved her planner away so she could focus on him. “I asked a little from Ian, and I think I know the situation, but clarify things for me. The man who adopted him died last year. Did his adoptive father not have relatives?”
“Well, he did, but how Ian explained it, they didn’t like that his father was a single dad with an ‘unpredictable’ teenager. Apparently they tried to convince him to get a baby if he insisted on adopting a kid, but his father loved Ian, so he went against his family’s wishes. How they could meet Ian and not love him is mind-boggling to me, but they couldn’t accept him.”
“So, for all intents and purposes, he’s alone.”
André pointed a finger at himself in outrage. “What am I, chopped liver?”
His mother rolled her eyes. “I meant familywise, André. This disturbs me. He’s such a sweetie, your Ian. I don’t like the idea of him being on his own. After spending the day with him, I’ve grown fond of him. Is he managing college, financially speaking?”
“Yeah. I had to put the pieces together on that. He didn’t tell me anything outright, but apparently, his dad left him a littlemoney. He’s got a scholarship covering most of the tuition. The bartending job handles the rest. He’s doing okay financially. I just…” André blew out a breath and looked away, remembered anger simmering to the surface. “He did say once that when his father died, the family wanted to take away his inheritance. Because he’s not blood related, they didn’t think he deserved anything. His father must have anticipated this happening, as he’d locked it down so they couldn’t take it away from Ian.”
Mom’s expression looked reminiscent of a mother storm coming in hot over the horizon. “They thought they could rob him of the money he needs for college?!”
“I get the feeling the family’s a bunch of assholes, his father being the exception to the rule.”
“There are limits to greed, surely.” She blew out a breath, glaring through the dark picture windows. “Now I’m even more impressed with Ian. He does rise above every challenge.”
“Man’s an old hand at it.”
Mom looked back at him, expression firm. “I want him as a son.”
“Working on it.” André grinned, pleased they were on the same page.
“I’m not joking, André.”
“Neither am I. I’ll never meet a man better than him, to start with. Or someone who I could love more. He’s the most loving, selfless, incredible man I’ve ever met. Him being a mate is icing on the cake. I’m keeping him, Mom, don’t worry.”
“Good.” She paused before tacking on, “But finish school before you propose; I want you done before you get married.”
“Okay by me.”
“I know Ian has his dorm room near campus, but I would feel better if he lived with us here.”
“Ian has a cat,” André said, reminding her.
“Right, Casper. She’s darling and super sweet. We’ll need to get cat trees and perches set up through the house so she’s comfortable too. You start working on him moving in with us. I’ll reinforce it as I can.”
There’s a reason why he loved his mother. André was all smiles, downright giddy. “I can bring him home?”
“I insist on it.”
“Mom, have I recently mentioned how much I love you?”
“You can stand to mention it more often,” she drawled. “Look at you. I haven’t seen you this excited in…ever, come to think of it.”
“It’s because I’ve never been this happy in my life.” André leaned over the table to kiss her cheek. “I’ll bring him home as soon as I can talk him into it.”
“Excellent.” Satisfied, she sat back. “Now, the second thing I need to talk to you about. It pertains to what’s in front of me. I have fashion week coming up in Paris, as you know, and your charity event, of course. I think we should leave on the thirtieth, so we have plenty of time to set everything up.”
The blood drained out of André’s face, and he felt lightheaded with the realization for a second. Oh shit. The event. He’d completely forgotten about it.
The charity was something he’d organized three years ago, and it only held an event once a year. Kids from around the world could submit a business idea. If it passed the first round, they were invited to Paris for a week so they could pitch the idea to entrepreneurs and investors. The kids were often either taken up on the idea, which became a business, or landed internships with their future bosses. It gave underprivileged kids a real shot at making something of themselves. André was incredibly proud of what he’d done there. He normally wouldn’t miss the presentations for the world, but…
Ian.
He’d only just gotten Ian. Two weeks they’d been dating—two blissful weeks. He was firmly in the honeymoon stage with the man, no question there, but he wasn’t under any illusions, either. Ian was still feeling his way into this relationship, working through insecurities. They hadn’t found their footing with each other yet.
A month apart would destroy them.
