Page 83 of An Overdue Match
I park behind him and kill the engine. By the time I gather the beverages from the passenger seat, my door is being opened and Tai is standing there, grinning down at me. He offers me a hand, and even though I’m perfectly capable of exiting a vehicle under my own steam, I slip my palm into his and let him help me out of the car.
He immediately tugs me to him, and I fall against his chest as he wraps his arms around the small of my back. “I’ve changed my mind. Let’s skip dinner and get out of here,” he says against my neck right before I feel his lips press a kiss to my thrumming pulse.
“You don’t want me to meet your parents?”
“I don’t want to share you. Can’t I keep you all to myself? Once my mom gets ahold of you—”
“Tai, stop hogging the poor girl and bring her here,” a woman’s voice calls.
Tai groans but pulls away, tucking me into his side. “You look amazing, by the way.”
My fingers twitch with the need to self-consciously touch the base of my scalp, but I keep them by my side. Tai leads me toward the house and the petite woman standing at the top of the porch stairs. She smiles with her whole face, the same way Tai does, and the resemblance somehow calms the butterflies in my stomach.
“I’m so glad to meet you, Evangeline.” She pulls me into a hug, squeezing me tight.
“Mom, you might want to let her breath.” Tai’s voice hums with humor.
His mom releases me and steps back. “I’m sorry. I’m just happy to meet you. My son never brings girls home. I was beginning to despair.”
I look over at Tai and raise my brows at him.
He smirks back at me. “I told you I wasn’t a rake.”
Mrs. Davis glances between us, confusion written on her face. “Why would you be a garden tool, Tai?”
Tai folds his arms over his chest and casually leans against a porch pole. “Yeah, Angel. Why would I be a garden tool?”
My face heats, but there’s no way I’m explaining to Tai’s mom the historical romance definition of the word. I clear mythroat and make a show of looking around the front porch. “What a lovely house you have here, Mrs. Davis.”
“None of that Mrs. Davis nonsense. Call me Missy. And thank you, dear. Let me show you around.” She links her arm with mine and pulls me through the front door, Tai trailing behind. “Walter’s out back manning the grill. I hope you like barbecue.”
“What’s not to like?”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Missy takes the paper bag from me and hands it to Tai with instructions to put it in the kitchen, then shows me around the house, including the timeline of photos of Tai as a child that hang in the hallway.
“He was such a cute kid,” Missy says.
“That hasn’t changed, has it, Angel?” Tai winks at me as he joins us again.
“I’m afraid if I answer that your head will no longer fit in this house.”
Missy laughs like that’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “Oh, I like this girl.”
“Me too, Mom.” Tai’s look is heated.
I flush, but Missy breezes past me without noticing, thank goodness.
“Let’s go outside so you can meet Walter.”
I step behind her to follow but am halted when Tai snakes an arm around my waist and hauls me against his front.
“Come on. We can still sneak out while she’s not looking,” he says low in my ear.
He’s kidding, but that knowledge doesn’t stop the thrill of pleasure his words send down my spine. Being wanted is extremely heady. I turn my chin and peck a kiss onto his cheek, then thread my fingers through his and tug, following his mom outside.
Tai’s dad is standing in front of a steaming grill, brushingbarbecue sauce onto glistening cuts of meat. He finishes, closes the grill’s lid, wipes his hands on a Grill Master apron, then turns to me with a wide smile. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the librarian we’ve been hearing so much about.”
