Page 139 of I Choose You

He shrugged. “Maybe one day.”

Oh, challenge accepted.

“Anyway. You know what I was thinking about when I came to pick you up?”

I’d let him change the subject. “What?”

“Getting away. Would you really be able to?”

“Considering I never take time off, yeah.” I shrugged.

“You took that day off to hang out with your mom.”

I whipped my head to face his profile. “How did you know about that?”

He frowned for a moment. I’d taken that day off when we weren’t speaking much.

“Todd told me.”

I arched a brow. “I didn’t tell him I was with my mom.”

He sighed. “Okay. I called Sandra and asked where you were.”

A silly spike of a thrill went through me. “But that was when you hated me and wanted to keep it business-only.”

He took my hand. “I never hated you. I was just hurt. Was,” he emphasized. “When I saw that out-of-office reply in an email, I got worried that you were wounded or that something bad had happened.”

Something bad had happened. I’d almost ruined it all with you.

I considered the possibility that maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he hadn’t hated me. How could he if he’d still wanted to make sure I wasn’t hurt?

“I called Sandra and she more or less told me.”

At the next red light, I leaned over to kiss him hard. Only once I got a low growl from him did I back up.

“That’s not fair,” he complained lightly, adjusting his pants. “On the way to your mom’s?”

I giggled.

“What was that for, anyway?” he asked as he drove once more.

“Just because you’re you.”

Once we arrived, we behaved. Mom and I set to preparing the meal, and Kaden kept us entertained, chatting about anything and everything. The mood was light and happy and relaxed.

Mom seemed all too happy to have him there, and I was giddy that she approved of him despite what I’d told her, that he’d pranked me with an invite to prom.

“This sure is a nice change of pace,” she told me after he’d excused himself to go to the bathroom.

“It is,” I agreed.

She sighed. “To know my baby girl has found a man who worships the ground she walks on. I’m so happy for you. I told you it would all turn out okay, didn’t I?”

I nodded, but something still held me back from assuming all was well.

“Talking it out helped,” she guessed.

“It did.” And the sex didn’t hurt either.