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I sure hoped so, because anyone who was going to marry my sister would have to answer to me first.
The overstuffed suitcase was a pain in the ass to pull off of the carousel. People around me grabbed bags and moved on with ease while I continued to struggle to pull the monstrosity to the ground. Even though I hadn’t exceeded the fifty-pound limit, the awkward packing made it hard for me to manage.
With one last pull, it came flying off the belt, knocking me backward. I hit a lady who gave me the dirtiest look before she harrumphed and marched away. “Happy Holidays!” I called after her. All that earned me was a middle finger. So much for people being in good spirits, but then again, traveling over the holidays was always a mess.
I dragged my suitcase behind me; the wheels objecting as it wanted to flop around when the weight shifted unevenly. So maybe I wasn’t very good at packing things.
All I wanted to do was make it to the car rental counter. Mom and Dad had tried to talk me into letting them pick me up, but it didn’t matter how much I loved my parents. I’d left home and a couple of weeks with them could suffocate if I didn’t have the ability to just get up and go. I wasn’t a teenager who needed my parents to get me from point A to point B... and as I discovered after gaining my newfound freedom in college... it was nice to get out and scratch that itch without too many questions.
The lines were all long, but I did my best to keep a smile plastered on my face as I joined the queue. There were so many people. Kids ran in circles while parents did their best to keep them corralled.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and scrolled through my social media apps while I attempted not to focus on how long everything was taking. It was handy, because before I knew it, while reading a juicy post about one of my old college roommates getting roped into marrying some chick, I was finally at the counter.
“Do you have a reservationwith us today?”
I grinned at the lady, handing over a printout that had my reservation number and my driver’s license. “I do. Booked it months ago.”
She gave me a tight smile before taking my things and typing away at her computer. I only briefly felt the beginning stirrings of panic when she frowned a few times, but that quickly wore off when she turned a small smile in my direction.
“Thank you, Mr. Bennett. I can’t tell you how many people show up, especially over the holidays, expecting us to have a bunch of extra vehicles lying around. You’re in luck today. Someone wanted to downgrade, and for the same price as your reservation, we’re upgrading you to an SUV.”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t expected that since I’d only booked a compact car, but I wouldn’t complain. Chicago weather could be unpredictable, and an SUV would handle things a lot better.
“Let me finish with this paperwork, grab the keys, and get you over to the shuttle to take you to the lot.”
Now I was feeling good, even great. I was back home in Chicago for the next couple of weeks and would have a reliable vehicle to get me around. Tomorrow I would be meeting my sister’s fiancé. This was already shaping up to be a great Christmas. Nothing was going to bring me down.
Chapter 2
Jeremy
“Did you grab all the bags from the living room?”
I sighed, checking once more that Leah had brought nothing else out. We were only going to be gone for two weeks, and I still didn’t completely feel comfortable with all of this to begin with. By the time she’s brought out the third bag, I’d told her to take it back.
“I got the two important ones. You don’t need the other one.”
Leah came around the corner and pouted. In the past, that look would have gotten her a long way. I don’t know what I’d been thinking. Something said that proposing to her would change things, make me want her a little more, but nothing changed. She was just the cute girlthat I’d connected with when I’d transferred to NYU my sophomore year of college. Something about her had felt familiar... comfortable even.
The longer we were together, the more it all felt like a natural progression. We dated,got a place together, and the next thing I knew, I was down on one knee and asking a woman to marry me. I had no idea if she was even the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. And now? Now I was getting ready to board a plane to Chicago to meet her family. This was all a huge mistake.
“But the other one has all of my lingerie.”
And that was the other thing. She’d been dangling that in front of me for a while.
What guy didn’t want to fuck his girlfriend? Hell, his future wife? The more I thought about it, the more my heart pounded and I’d get all sweaty. It always sent me on this wild and dangerous spiral that landed me sitting at a bar, drinking away worries and scrolling a hook-up app. I never acted on it. Hell... Leah would probably kill me if she knew. No, I knew she would. Especially because it wasn’t the typical hook-up app.
I’d never told Leah about when I’d been at UC-Berkeley. We’d met at NYU when I’d transferred my social work program. We shared some of the same classes, and while we’d hit it off... I didn’t know. I’d always consideredmyself bisexual. Or even Pansexual. Who needed gender or sexuality to limit you on who you fell in love with, but something was missing.
Men had always done a little more for me. I lost my virginity to a guy when I was in high school. It had been painful as hell. I’d shared that with Leah. She didn’t seem to care. Her brother was gay was all that she’d said, and sexuality didn’t seem to matter.
I gave her a tight-lipped smile and tried my best to brush off the fact that she was still trying her hardest to sleep with me. Yeah... that was the issue. I’d been dating Leah Bennett for almost two years, had asked her to marry me, and I still hadn’t done the deed.
Maybe she thought the ring would change things. Taking me home to meet her parents. I don’t know. It was all so freaking weird. There was still no placing why she was my comfort. Safe. If that was the right way to put it... but I had no desire to be with her sexually. Just... that obligation from being together for so long.
I didnotgrab the luggage that contained her spicy undies. Nope. Not happening.
We climbed into the car and headed to the airport and it should have spoken volumes to me that I was able to tune her out so well as she droned on and on the entire way about the house... or at least I think that’s what shetalked about, I was more focused on the road. That was the problem with winter in the Northeast. There was so much damn snow, and it was a miracle our flight hadn’t been delayed. Leah had told me horror stories of years in the past where she’d tried to go home and couldn’t.
