AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Impressive. And thank you, I would love that.” Mom took a small bite. “When did you two meet?”
All my alarms blared at full blast.How could we have forgotten to cover that?My mind raced to come up with a plausible story. At the slight pause, Mom’s hand froze, her food halfway to her mouth, and her eyes narrowed on us. I didn’t want her to jump to conclusions because she had never liked anyone I’d dated in the past. No one was good enough, or they were using me. It was always something. She wasn’t wrong, but I was using them, too, never wanting anything serious out of our arrangements. Mom just refused to see that part.
Gia’s eyes were wide, a hint of panic constricting her pupils.
I took point on the question. “We met a couple of months ago at a party. We’ve been seeing each other every chance we can. I would have brought her around to meet you sooner, but it’s been busy with school and football.”
“Will you excuse me for a minute?”
Gia mouthedbathroomto me while Mom scrutinized my response.
I pointed her in the right direction, waiting until she left and the door shut before I turned back to Mom. “What’s going on? Don’t you like her?”
“The girl is wonderful, Kylian, but there’s no sign that you two even like each other.”
“What are you talking about? Of course we do.” Sweat beaded along my spine. Mom was like a dog with a bone if she sensed something amiss.What did we do—other than forgetting to script how we met—to screw this up?
“You don’t touch. You barely look at each other.”
My hand curled into a fist beneath the table, and it struck me like a lightning bolt how much I’d wanted to touch Gia. “We’re just nervous because this is so important to us both.”
“Please.” Mom huffed. “When have you ever cared if I liked your girlfriends before?”
Leaning across the table, I had the perfect response. “When have I brought one around to meet you? Not since high school, and Tiffany doesn’t count because that relationship crashed and burned after she found out I was going to college here after she got into Notre Dame.”
We both fell silent as Gia returned, her expression wary as she read the room. “Is everything okay?”
“We were just talking, and I wondered how you managed to outfox all the photographers following Kylian since they named him one of Chicago’s most eligible bachelors.”
“Oh, that.” Gia laughed, and I hoped Mom didn’t see how panicky she looked. “It hasn’t been much of an issue.”
“Obviously, since there hasn’t been a single picture in any paper of you together.”
“Mom, stop giving her the third degree. Gia’s a master of disguise. Plus, we’ve been meeting up where the reporters haven’t followed me.”
“Yep. His boat.” Gia winked.
“So she’s escaped a lot of the media hype,” I added.
“I didn’t want my picture in any of the papers.” Gia rested her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers. “We didn’t know where things were going before, so staying off the media’s radar made sense. But with how close we’ve gotten lately…”
“Which is why I wanted to bring her here to meet you. Things are serious.” I threaded my fingers with Gia’s, ignoring how tightly she squeezed my hand. “She’s the one, Mom, and it’s important to me that you meet her. That the two of you get along.”
Mom made a noncommittal sound then changed the subject. After we cleared the plates, had dessert, and Mom looked like she was about to pass out, we left.
Despite her glare at the subtle touch, I gently nudged Gia out the door and down the stairs until we got into the SUV. “This isn’t working. She’s not buying that we’re into each other. We need to make an addendum to our original deal.”
CHAPTER SIX
GIA
Kylian’s words to his mom about me being “the one” hadn’t been real. My fingers shook as I clicked my seat belt into place. Light shone through the windows from the streetlights’ soft glow, which illuminated rows of parked cars along the street. As we left his mom’s place after dinner, Kylian seemed to be in a mood. I was conflicted and, as he pulled away from the curb, taking turns faster than I was comfortable with, agitated.
The stereo’s bass reverberated through the back of my seat and into my chest. “Where are we going?” My hands curled around the door handle as Kylian wove in and out of traffic, making me nervous as his foot pressed the gas harder. As I tracked the street names and landmarks, I realized we weren’t driving to the marina. “Hey!” My voice pierced through the loud music as I pressed my body against the door. My heart pounded in my chest, but I refused to paint Kylian in the same light as my ex. He hadn’t done anything, and I was stronger than that. “Iasked you a question.”
“Relax. We’re going to my place to talk.”
“Are you for real?Relax?Did you want to get into a fight?”Idiot.I embraced anger over fear.Because really… telling me torelax?And I was ignoring how I’d told him the same thing when we stood in front of his mom’s apartment door. Totally different. “This could be our first argument as a fake couple.”
