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I gasped and he swooped down, kissing me hard and fast. All too soon he was backing up and heading back towards his truck, but not before winking and cockily saying, “Don’t think about
me too much.”
I will.
Chapter 10
“Why did we agree to go to mom and dad’s for dinner?” Logan asked from the backseat for the umpteenth time.
I picked at a piece of invisible lint on the jacket I had in my lap. “Because they gave us life and the least we can do is go visit them for a meal.”
Sure, maybe it made me a bad daughter, but I wasn’t too keen on having dinner with our folks either. Not because I didn’t love my parents, but because Ashford family dinners didn’t usually end well and either Robbie or Logan would walk out and my mother would drink too much and cry. It all just had a tendency to get ugly and, where things were starting to look up for me, I wasn’t exactly in the mood to be brought down by my dysfunctional family.
“It’ll be fine,” Robbie said from behind the wheel, always the optimist.
Logan groaned and plopped back against the leather seat, grumbling something along the lines of, “Bullshit… middle child hatred… fuck… sober… fuck.”
“Speaking of sober,” Robbie leaned over and opened the dash, grabbing a small bottle of eye drops and tossing them in the backseat. “Your eyes are red. Fix that.”
I laughed as we drove towards my parents’ house, in a gated community they’d moved to after us kids moved out on our own. It was filled with cul de sacs and taken care of by personal landscapers, the whole enchilada. As we pulled up the long driveway tensions grew and I huffed out a breath. I’d spent most of the morning and afternoon thinking about my date with Knox and feeling like a damn teenager all over again. I refrained from texting him hoping he’d text me first. But so far nothing, nada. Zero.
The brick mansion loomed above us as we got out. I smoothed my hands down my sundress and walked towards the house just as my dad opened the large wooden door with a tumbler of scotch in his hand.
The similarities between Robert Ashford Senior and Junior were almost eerie. Same build, same brown hair, although my dad’s was now a dark gray, and the same blue eyes. That was a trait I shared with them while Logan had dark brown, almost black eyes like our mother. Personality-wise Robbie and our dad were polar opposites, which was evident now as they stared at each other.
“Princess,” my dad grinned and opened his arms, enveloping me in a tight hug that cracked my back.
“Hi, daddy,” I said into his chest, inhaling his scent of aftershave and tobacco.
I heard my mother’s heels clack against the floor of the foyer. While my dad moved to greet the boys, I smiled and hugged my mom, noticing the color in her cheeks as an indicator that she already started in on a bottle of wine. Probably red.
“My daughter!” she exclaimed and offered a quick embrace before pulling back and cupping my face in her hands. “Honey, I must say I’m not a fan of this dress. It makes your hips look rather large, no?”
Logan barked out a laugh and quickly covered it up with a cough, struggling to keep his composure.
This family dinner was going to be one for the books, I could feel it.
The sprawling mahogany table was filled with plates of fruit, cheese, raw vegetables and a big roast chicken that my mother definitely didn’t make. The woman couldn’t cook to save her life. Seriously, one time she “cooked” chicken and it was still raw in the middle. Lo almost got salmonella.
While everyone got settled conversations got started I whipped out my phone and shot off a quick text under the table.
My mom just told me my hips are big. Have I gotten tremendously fat or something?
My phone vibrated against my leg a second later.
You’re beautiful. Sexiest curves I’ve ever seen.
I smiled and went to respond again but Knox beat me to it. Multiple times.
I love being able to grab your hips and squeeze.
God, and your ass. The way it feels when you’re pressed up against me.
Remember the first time I slapped it? How embarrassed you were that you liked it so much…
“Abbigail, are you alright? You’re flushed,” my mother said. My eyes shot up from my phone to see that everyone was staring at me, Logan with a perplexed look and Robbie with his eyebrows raised.
I was caught.
