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“What about Juliette? Didn’t you take her to meet them?”
“No. I have never taken a girl that’s held my heart to meet my parents.”
“Hm, that makes me feel special.” I grinned, my heart fluttering at the deep gaze he’d focused on me.
“Baby, you’re very special. I know we’ve been through some shit, but believe me, you’re so worth it. Even while you dealt with all this dark stuff, the lighter moments we’ve shared have more than made up for those.” The adoring look in his eyes melted my doubts. “I can’t wait for my mom and sisters to get to know you better. They’re going to love you.”
I felt less confident about that statement. At Billie’s wedding, Tammy, his eldest sister had appeared the perfect mother of three girls, Milly, Bella, and Bethany. Caitlin, next in age, had adopted a son, not to mention that their mom and dad had five terrific children themselves.
“What?” he asked, smoothing the crease on my brow. “Are you overthinking again?”
“Not overthinking, but I’m conscious of how close your family is. Facing them about my past isn’t going to be easy.” My mind filled with dread at the thought.
“My parents are liberals … they’re the least judgmental people I know. They’ll love you because I love you. Trust me, baby. You’ve met them all briefly at the wedding, and Lorna again at Hammer’s party.”
I had only ever conversed with Lorna, James’ youngest sister, about Billie, and although she’d seemed friendly enough, the conversations between us had been polite and to the point. The only thing we had in common was our roles as bridesmaids at Billie and Sawyer’s wedding.
Also, Hammer had introduced Lorna to me, and although she’d been perfectly relaxed in his company, she was everything I wasn’t. She and Hammer made for odd friends, him being a bulked up, tattooed, ex-addict drummer to her elegant and refined 'Swiss finishing school socialite persona.’
“What do I have in common with that one? Lorna’s so … posh.”
James chuckled. “She came out of the womb looking and talking the way she does. She can’t help her genes. She teaches teenagers English, and I’m sure if they can relate to her, you’ll have no problem.
“Tammy and Caitlin were nice enough to me at Sawyer and Billie’s wedding, but I thought everyone was polite at the ceremony and dinner. I never got the chance to talk to them in casual circumstances.”
“This trip will be your opportunity to do that,” he replied, sliding closer to me and smoothing down my hair.
“You don’t have to talk me into going with you, just don’t expect me to be the person they met before.”
“It’ll be great. A day or two in South Hampton is just what you need.” Reciprocating his smile, I tried to look happy, but the more I thought about meeting his family, the less prepared I felt.
Shaking off that feeling, I rolled onto my front, stretched my arms above my head, and closed my eyes. The warmth of the sun on my body soothed my worries and calmed my mind. James and I fell into a comfortable silence as we lay on the boat and let the world pass by.
Due to not sleeping much the night before, I fell asleep again. James woke me up peppering kisses across my back.
“Wake up, baby, you’re beginning to burn in the sun,” he murmured, as his lips continued to explore, which of course led to us having sex, the kind of sex we’d had when we had first met.
Our intimate session had felt raw and deep and dirty. The kind of magnetic connection that had drawn us to one another in the first place, which ignited the kind of sexual chemistry neither of us had the power to resist.
Afterward, we lay naked together with my head resting on his chest. I listened to his strong steady beat of his heart and found the sound of it calmed me. I sighed contented and silently thanked the universe for bringing James into my life, right when I’d needed him.
Chapter Fourteen
Since I’d disclosed the adoption to James and entered the therapeutic process, I had felt a shell of the woman who had been strong and forthright, the woman James had fallen in love with. For my trip to meet his family, I knew I had to find that confidence I had somewhere inside to remind my boyfriend and show his family why he had fallen for me in the first place.
He parked the car, and I was immediately reminded of his family’s wealth when I glanced around the expensive vintage cars left casually parked in the grounds. Even my father knew to park his truck in the barn out of the sun during heatwaves and it was a heap of old junk.
“Ready to be my girl?” James asked with a wink, as he opened my passenger door for me.
“Thirty years ago, maybe, but I’m hardly a girl now.” I found his relaxed, playful mood very sexy.
He made a big deal of clearing his throat. “Okay, are you ready to be my sexy blonde bombshell?”
“Better,” I replied, cocking my head from side to side like I was deliberating his comment.
“If we stay, I think I’ll need to request one of the pool houses tonight. Your sassy ass deserves a paddling for being cocky when I’m nervous to share you with the rest of my world.”
“The rest of your world? I thought you said I was your world.”
