Page 40 of Dating the DILF
It feels like everyone in our vicinity has turned to stare while Miles quietly chastises her. When an older gentleman in front of us turns his judgemental stare my way, my usual timidity deserts me and I roll my eyes. “Oh, please. Whodoesn’tlove a good Karen joke?”
Down below us one of the coaches calls a time-out and immediately the giant screen above the ice starts showing the crowd. The camera pans across until it lands on a couple in the stands, a loveheart surrounding them on screen and the wordskiss camflashing.
To my right, Grayson starts loudly cheering and he turns to Addy with a huge grin. “Pucker up, baby, the camera can’t resist this face.”
Adelaide turns to me with a panicked look. “Switch seats with me.” I shake my head laughing and cross my fingers that Gray gets his wish. I am totally shippingGraddy.
“Daddy!” I look across at Lulu who is pointing at the screen and waving. When I look up, I find my own wide eyes staring back at me, a bemused Miles by my side, the two of us surrounded by a red heart.
“Kiss her, asswipe,” Gray yells across Addy’s chest before resting his head on her breasts with a blissful grin. She smacks him and pushes him off.
“Kiss her, asswipe!” I can’t control my laughter when Lulu copies Grayson and yells at Miles excitedly.
When he turns to look at me, the expression he’s wearing is almost predatory, and before I have a chance to object, his hand grips my neck and drags me to him. His mouth finds mine in a passionate and all too brief kiss, before he pulls back slightly and gently runs his thumb across my bottom lip.
The sound of cheering and hollering draws our attention back to the big screen and my exuberance over the moment vanishes when I see that now, instead of readingkiss cam, the screen declares itselfDILF cam, and a sense of dread twists deep in my stomach.
“Thosefuckers.”
“Are you really surprised?” Sophie’s husky voice travels through the car speakers.
“Not at all,” I begrudgingly admit. “To be honest, we had our suspicions.”
“From what I’ve heard, Harvey thinks if he makes enough trouble for Charlie, you’ll come knocking on his door begging to defend her honor.”
I swallow down a bitter laugh, because that’s exactly what I had been itching to do. The second our kiss cam picture had been splashed over the tabloids with all kinds of fun headlines (my personal favorite wasDating the Douche) and cruel insinuations, I had wanted to get in front of any camera, any microphone,anything, and reveal that show for the utter garbage it was. Fuck the defamation clause.
“Hold up, Soph. I’m just pulling up to Charlie’s.” I see Charlie standing out in front of her house. When her face lights up with that goddamn beautiful smile and she jogs to my car, a painful ache tugs at my chest. For the first time, I’m starting to understand her fear and grasp the reality of the risk we’re both taking. It was so easy for me to tell her love was worth the risk—wewere worth the risk—when I didn’t fully comprehend what it could cost us. I thought I did. I thought I had been in love before and weathered heartbreak, but I had no fucking clue what it meant to love a woman until her. If she decides this is all too much and she hands my heart back to me, an unremarkable, fragmented shell because that’s all that would be left, how could I possibly come out of that still standing?
“Hey, babe.” She climbs into the car and leans over to press her lush mouth to mine.
“Sophie’s on speaker.” I nod toward the Bluetooth display.
“Oh. Hi, Sophie,” she squeaks, shooting me a nervous look.
“I was just about to tell Miles that I heard Harvey is going to hire an investigator to dig into your background.”
“He won’t find anything.” She laughs. “I’m the most boring person alive.”
“Sophie, we have to go. Thanks for the warning, I appreciate it.” I end the conversation, needing to talk to Charlie alone.
“No problem. Good luck, you guys. Just ride it out, okay? There will be a new scandal soon enough, I’m sure.”
We say our goodbyes and an uncomfortable silence hangs over us.
“You’re worried? About the investigator?”
I glance at her quickly before turning back to the road in front of me. “A little. You’re not?”
“I mean, no, not really. I wasn’t joking, there is literally nothing they could use against either of us.”
“What about your mom?” I ask quietly.
She flinches and quickly turns away from me to look at the passing scenery.
“She’s a mess but nothing too out of the ordinary. She has a gambling problem and mooches off her boyfriends, but she’s never had any trouble with the law or anything. My grandparents always made sure of that.” She turns back to me wearing a forced smile. “Even if they do find something, it’s just like Sophie said. There will be some new controversy rocking the world soon enough and they’ll forget all about you.”
I can’t hide my grimace. “I’ve been planning on that for almost a year and yet, here we are.” I reach over and squeeze her thigh. “I hate that you’re going through this because of me.”
