Page 77 of On the Line
So she said the only thing she could think of at that moment, the only thing shewantedto say. She looked him dead in the eye and, in no uncertain terms, said, “I love you.”
Mitch’s answering smile could’ve powered the entire state of Michigan.
TheWarriors’regularseasonhad wound down, with the team finishing in third place in the Eastern Conference. Mitch had a short break before gearing up for the playoffs, and he decided now was the time to meet Lexie’s parents.
“I can’t believe I was crazy enough to let you talk me into this,” Lexie said as she blew through her condo like a tornado, tidying everything in her path, straightening throw pillows, making sure the rug was laying perfectly straight in relation to the crisp ivory-colored couch, and cleaning dust from every surface.
“I let you meet my mom,” Mitch said. “Besides, we’ve officially been together for almost a year now. It’s the right time.”
Lexie shook her head vigorously. There would never be a right time for Mitch to meet her parents. Half the time, she pretended they didn’t exist.
Quite frankly, she didn’t even understandwhyhe wanted to meet them. He was well aware of how they had treated her growing up and continued to only acknowledge her presence when it suited them.
Like now, for example, when they were in Detroit potentially investing in a new company and wanted Lexie to join them for dinner with their potential investee. Apparently, family was important to this guy, and her parents were nothing if not excellent actors. They had invited themselves to dinner at her place tonight under the guise of wanting to see their daughter, but Lexie knew there was an ulterior motive.
Lexie refused to cook for her parents, so she ordered takeout from one of the fanciest restaurants in town.
Well,Mitchhad ordered it, throwing around his weight as a professional athlete.
But just because she refused to cook for them didn’t mean she wanted to serve them out of cardboard boxes and plastic bowls—she’d never heard the end of it—so she hustled into the kitchen to plate the food.
Wanting to do one last spot check of her condo’s social spaces, she tried to brush past Mitch quickly, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her flush against his chest. Where her heart was pounding rapidly behind her rib cage, Mitch’s was a steady drum in his chest. “Honey, you need to relax. I’m sure it won’t be that bad. They’ll probably be on their best behavior because I’m here.”
Lexie snorted and reached up toboophim on the nose. “Aww, it’s sweet how clueless you are.”
“You think they’ll make a scene in front of me?”
“I think they’ll take any opportunity to point out what a fuck up I am, so yes.”
Mitch’s forehead bunched as his eyebrows drew together in confusion. “I’m not going to pretend to understand your relationship with them,” he said. “But what exactly am I getting myself into here? All I know is that they left you alone one Christmas and were generally absent from your life.”
“That pretty much explains it all,” Lexie told him. “They saw me more as a representation of this perfect family life they trotted out for potential investees and not as an actual daughter. I was something to be used.”
“That’s the only reason they’re coming by for dinner tonight. First, to convince me to attend some function with them and play the perfect daughter. And second, to make sure the man I’ve chosen to spend my life with is someone worth being seen in public with.”
Lexie realized what she said the moment Mitch’s eyebrows rose up his forehead. He captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger, gazing deep into her eyes. “The man you’ve chosen to spend your life with, huh?”
“Don’t read too much into it,” she said, cheeks heating as she pushed away from him. “If we survive this dinner, I’ll consider having a conversation about it.”
Mitch chuckled. “Good enough for me.”
She heaved a sigh, and said, “Look, this isn’t going to be easy for me. They will inevitably say things about me that will piss you off. I’m asking you not to react. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner they get the fuck out of here, and the sooner we don’t have to see them again for a good long while. Just please trust me on this. I love you, but don’t go all big bad overprotective hockey player on me, okay?”
He nodded and bent down to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Studying him then, she knew full well just how much she didn’t deserve him. The fact that he knew her well enough and loved her enough not to fight her on anything right now, when her nerves were frayed live wires over the impending arrival of her parents, further illustrated that point.
Truthfully, she didn’t know how she got so lucky, but now that Lexie had him, she was holding on for dear life.
Stepping closer to him, she tipped her face up in invitation. Mitch got the hint and lowered his mouth to hers, tongue sweeping inside almost instantly. Those brief moments when they lost themselves in the kiss, like being in a vacuum that sucked all light and sound from the world, were pure bliss.
And they were over too soon.
Lexie had just slipped her hands under the hem of Mitch’s shirt—flannel, of course—when there was a knock on her door.
“Fuck,” she whispered against his mouth. “Do you think if we pretend we’re not here, they’ll just go away?”
“Not a chance,” he said, giving her one more light peck before pulling away and turning her toward the door, swatting her ass when she made no attempt to move toward it.
