Page 63 of Rescuing Brinley

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Shadow couldn’t help but smile as he looked over at Brinley.

They were standing in his kitchen doing dishes together. It was such a “normal” thing for a couple to be doing, and he couldn’t be happier. He supposed he was a typical guy when it came to dishes…he left them in the sink until he couldn’t ignore them any longer, then he’d finally throw them into the dishwasher. Where they’d sit, clean, until he needed to put another large load of dirty ones in. He just grabbed what he needed out of the dishwasher as he needed it. It was stupid, but he hated dealing with the dishes.

But with Brinley at his side, he had no issue whatsoever standing at the sink, rinsing them off, and handing them to her to place into the dishwasher. She’d watched him load it once and decided she was in charge of that chore from now on, because he “wasn’t doing it right.” Whatever that meant.

A week and a half had passed since he and Brinley had become intimate, and Shadow couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt so at peace. He thought about her constantly, sending her little texts to let her know she was on his mind, and anytime they met up after he was done with work, it was the highlight of his day.

His team teased him about being way more mellow than he used to be, and Shadow knew it was because of Brin. He was sleeping much better and didn’t feel nearly as stressed about things in general. The amazing sex didn’t hurt either.

He couldn’t help but wonder when the other shoe would fall. It was inevitable that something would happen to burst their happy little bubble. Life had a way of kicking you in the teeth when you least expected it. He wasn’t a pessimist, he was just well aware that eventually he and Brinley would face some adversity. He was also ninety-three percent sure that they’d be able to weather whatever life threw at them. She was remarkably even-keeled, and that boded well for the day he did something boneheaded and needed her forgiveness.

He handed the last plate to her and watched as she notched it into the last available slot in the dishwasher. She opened the cabinet under the sink and grabbed a cleanser pod, then closed the machine and started it up.

Seeing her completely comfortable in his kitchen made Shadow realize anew how much he liked having her in his space.

“I’d like to introduce you to my mom,” he blurted.

Brinley looked at him with those big eyes of hers, and he could see immediately that she wasn’t thrilled about the idea.

He took her by the hand and led her out of the kitchen into the living area. He sat next to her on the couch and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, his thumb caressing the sensitive skin next to her ear as he met her gaze steadily. “What are you nervous about?”

“I just…what if she doesn’t like me?”

“Not like you? Brinley, she’s going to love you. Hell, she already does. I’ve told her all about you, and she’s been on my case about keeping you all to myself.”

“You’ve told her about me?”

“Of course I have. I called her from Fiji to let her know I was safe, because I knew she’d hear on the news about what happened at the pageant and would worry about me, and I told her then about how awesome you were. Without going into details, I explained that you saved the day big time.”

Brinley blinked in surprise. Then asked something he didn’t expect. “You told her about the mission you were going on?”

He loved how this woman kept him on his toes. “Yes. Not every mission is super top secret. I didn’t give her details, but she knew I was going to the island with the Vice President and his family, and that Ayla Roling was competing in the pageant.”

“I don’t have any experience with this. Meeting a mom. I don’t know what to say.”

“Just be yourself. That’s all you have to do, sweetheart. And just sayin’…you didn’t have any experience with making love either, and you mastered that right out of the gate.”

“Because you took control of the situation.”

“Exactly. And I’m going to be right here too. Seriously, Brin, you have nothing to worry about. My mom is awesome. Laid-back and down to earth. If you don’t want to do this tonight, I’ll drop it. But I really want you to meet her soon. I want the two most important women in my life to get to know each other.”

Brinley took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Are you saying that because you’re honestly all right with FaceTiming her tonight, or are you just humoring me?”

“Um…both?”

Shadow chuckled. Then he leaned forward and kissed Brinley. His lips lingered, and as always when he was around her, he felt the first stirrings of arousal deep in his soul. “You’re going to be fine. I promise. Afterward, I’ll even watch another episode of The Great British Bake Off with you.”

She smirked. “The show is growing on you, admit it. You were just as invested as me in finding out who was kicked off in the last episode.”

Shadow pantomimed zipping his lips closed. The truth was, he hadn’t been all that excited to watch the show, but because Brinley loved it, he’d agreed—then got sucked in. As she said, he was invested, even had his favorite bakers now…but it was more fun to pretend to dislike the show and have Brinley offer all sorts of favors if he’d watch another episode.

“How about this? I’ll set a timer and we’ll keep the call to my mom at ten minutes. You can ease into getting to know her. I’ll come up with some excuse about why we need to go, so she won’t suspect anything.”

Brinley’s shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Okay.”