Page 13 of A Vine Mess
“Yes.”
Ella’s entire face lit up like a child’s on Christmas morning. “Really?”
“Of course,” I assured her. “You made a good point about keeping me company. Who else am I going to use as a human shield if a bear attacks?”
To demonstrate, I grabbed her hand and dragged her halfway across the table, angling myself behind her. Pretending to peek around the sides of her head as if avoiding one the surly creatures.Ella’s squealing filled the space between us, and she tipped her head back as she laughed.
I looked down at her, wide grin at her hysterics softening. God, she was stunning. Those bright green eyes like fresh flower stems, lined with long, sooty lashes. Her purple-streaked hair and the way it spilled past the tops of her creamy shoulders. The lines of her tattoos were stark against her skin, and I barely resisted the urge to lower my head and press my lips to the one at the cap of her shoulder.
As it was, my restraint was fraying rapidly with her rosebud mouth slightly parted, offered up to me with the angle of her head.
Reluctantly, I cleared my throat and let go of her.
I wasn’t about to fuck this thing up before it even started.
Ella sat back, dropping her gaze to her plate and roughly shoving her hair behind her ears. “So when do we leave?”
“In a week.”
Her head snapped up, eyes wide as she leveled me with them. “Aweek? That’s not nearly enough time for me to prepare.”
“I’ll get you a list of everything you’ll need to buy.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she said. “I mean…I have to tell Fanny I’m leaving. I have to tell myfamily.”
I sensed what she wasn’t saying. “Are you worried they’ll try to talk you out of it?”
She snorted. “Please. You’ve met them. You tell me.”
I nodded in understanding. “I’ll help you tell them if you want. Ease the blow a bit. Your parents love me.”
“Mymotherloves you,” she corrected me. “My father is wary of any man in the vicinity of any of his daughters.”
My brows drew together. “All of your sisters are in deeply committed relationships.”
“Exactly. The only one he actually likes, I think, is Logan.”
“I’m failing to see the point.”
“The point, my friend,” she said with a mischievous grin, “is that my sisters have done whatever they wanted regardless of how our parents feel about it.”
The lightbulb clicked on. “So you’re going on this trip whether they like it or not.”
She shot finger guns at me and made little clicking noises with her tongue, as if to saybullseye. “Precisely. But I will take you with as back up when I tell them.”
“Which will be when?”
“Tomorrow,” she said around a yawn. I flicked my wrist to check the time, fighting back a yawn of my own. It was well past eight p.m., and I’d been up since five.
“Are you going to warn them you’re coming over?” I asked.
“No need. They’re expecting me for dinner.”
“Wait wait wait,” I said, holding up my hands. “You want me to come to dinner with you? Just us four?”
“Yeah?” Ella said, though it sounded more like a question. “Is that going to be a problem?”
I swallowed hard.You mean other than the fact that it feels an awful lot like a double date with your parents?“No, of course not,” I said aloud.
