Page 85 of Damián

Serena smiles, taking my hand and shaking it enthusiastically. “Nice to meet you! I’m Oliver’s Serena.”

“She’s my stepmom,” Oliver corrects.

“Shush it, Ollie! You’re twenty-nine; calling me ‘mom’ makes me sound ancient.” She stretches her arms on the edge of the pool and turns to me. “Now, I need details.”

“Details?” I ask.

“Yeah! How did you two meet? Who made the first move? First kiss?”

“Oh God, Serena…” Oliver squirms, burning with embarrassment.

“What? I’m curious! You never bring anyone home.” She glares at him, then turns back at me. “Oliver has literally never brought a boy or a girl home. Like… ever.”

“I guess we have that in common, then,” I say, trailing circles on Oliver’s hip with my thumb. “I’ve never introduced anyone to my family either.”

“No offense, but I’m sooo happy I had a daughter,” Serena sighs dramatically. “Boys are so incredibly boring when it comes to gossip.”

“My mother says the same thing.”

“I like her already. So, how did you two meet?”

Even under the water, I feel Oliver instantly tense against my side.

Mierda…

We haven’t had the time, or privacy, to have this conversation, so we’ve never set up a fake meet-cute or gotten our cover stories straight. Which is exactly why I shouldn’t be here right now without an actual freaking plan.

Now, if I lie and make something up completely from scratch, Oliver won’t know how to follow my lead.

So, I decide to tell the truth… only a little embellished.

“For me, the first time I saw him was in a picture,” I admit.

Oliver stares at me, surprised. I smile, and I tell the next part of the story without looking away from him.

“Some time later, I saw him at a party. I was too nervous to talk to him, but when he finally came over to talk to me, you could say I had no option but to follow him.”

Oliver laughs, knowing that what I am saying is actually what happened.

“Well, I saw you at the party,” Oliver jumps in, breaking eye contact with me and facing Serena. “He was completely wet, and I knew I had to get to him before anyone else did.”

I laugh because anyone hearing that would imagine he was fighting others to win my attention instead of my neck.

“And how did Ollie get your attention?”

“Well, he dragged me to the bathroom and told me to kiss his neck.”

“Ollie, you did what?!”

Oliver glares at me, clearly telling me that I could’ve skipped that detail.

“What can I say? Once we were in that bathroom, I felt like I had to make him kiss me or else it would be too late for us.”

“Oliver! Who knew you were this romantic?!” She takes her drink and smiles at me. “And what do you do, Damián? Because you look like a Calvin Klein model, but Oliver mentioned something about paintings?”

“I’m an art dealer. I organize acquisitions, private auctions, and authentications. It pays the bills, but it’s honestly not nearly half as exciting as Oliver’s partying lifestyle.”

“Oh, trust me, the party-boy routine gets old,” Serena sighs, taking a sip of her drink.