Page 55 of Drunk on You

ANASTASIA

“This Sunday, barbecue at our house.”

I glance up from what I was working on and blink several times. Our house.

“Are you asking or telling?” I say, pushing his word choice to the side. I’ll analyze that later.

“My family wants to meet you, and I haven’t seen them since you moved in.” He steps inside my office and closes the door behind him. “Figured it would be better to do it at our place than theirs.”

There goes the whole “our” thing again … but before I can focus too hard on that, the other part of his statement hits me.

“Your parents want to meet me?” I ask, trying to keep my tone level despite my sudden nervousness at the thought of meeting his mom and stepdad.

“Yeah. You can invite your dad and Selene. I might invite Ryder and his wife. We can make it a casual get-together. I’ll grill.” He winks playfully, but I’m still stuck on one thing…

“I’ve never met anyone’s parents before.”

“Well, there’s a first for everything. My parents caught wind that I’ve met someone and that it’s serious. So, they want to meet her. And since her is you …”

“Do they know …” I lift my left hand to show him my engagement ring.

“That we’re engaged? Yeah. Nora is an attention whore and had the Rosemary News post a wedding announcement, which included pictures from the event. Since Ryder’s family is a big deal around here, it was a main article, and it mentioned my fiancée and me attending.” He shrugs like this is no big deal. “My sister called this morning, hurt that I didn’t tell her, and then she and my mom tag-teamed me this afternoon by video calling me on three-way and begging to meet you.”

“Great,” I mutter. “So, they already hate me.”

“What?” Julian walks farther into my office. “Why would you say that?”

“Because we got engaged behind their back. My mom would be so upset if she were still alive and I did that.”

“They’ll get over it once you hit them with all that charm.” He slides between me and my desk and pinches my chin, lifting my face up. “You won me over in a matter of minutes, Red, and I have no doubt you’ll do the same to my family.”

He leans down and presses a soft kiss to my lips, and I sigh into it, not caring that we’re at work. We’ve been back from Hawaii for a few weeks now, and if I thought things would go back to normal once we were home—you know, pre-Hawaii days—I was wrong.

We might not be living in the vacation bubble anymore, but that hasn’t stopped Julian from pretending like we’re still there. Sure, we go to work every day, but at five o’clock on the dot, he insists we leave—oh, did I mention he somehow conned me into carpooling with him? Yep, we’re that couple.

We spend the evening either ordering in, him cooking, or on occasion, we go out. We talk and laugh, and he never lets us discuss work.

Sometimes, we watch a movie. Other nights, I lie on the couch with my head in his lap while we both read our separate books. The night always ends with him fucking me until I’m so tired that I can barely speak, and then after we shower, I fall asleep in his arms.

I’m almost positive that he’s attempting to fuck me into submission, but it’s so good that I don’t have it in me to argue. Besides, we only have a few months until my dad makes his decision at the end of the year, so I might as well enjoy it while I can because even though Julian won’t admit it, I know damn well once my dad picks one of us, whatever this is between us will come to a screeching halt.

“So, what do you say?” he asks, shaking me out of my thoughts. “Barbecue at our place?” He strokes down my cheek with his knuckles. “It would mean a lot to me. I’m close with my family, and I want you guys to get to know each other. They’re important to me … and so are you.”

“Sure,” I choke out, refusing to think about how deep his statement runs. Standing between his legs, I wrap my arms around his neck, needing to lighten the mood. “On one condition,” I say, using his words from a few weeks ago against him. “You fuck me on my desk and make me come at least twice.”

“Oh, Red.” He chuckles. “Just for that, I’m not going to stop until you’ve come three times.”

“Do I look okay?”

I glance down at the fourth sundress I’ve changed into and then back up at Julian, who has the nerve to chuckle.

“You look beautiful. Hell, you could wear a potato sack, and you’d still be the most gorgeous woman in the room.”

I roll my eyes and pull the dress off, throwing it onto the bed. “That’s cliché and annoying, Julian Parker. I’m meeting your entire family today. You don’t get it because you might as well be the son my dad always wanted, but this is scary.” I shouldn’t be this nervous to meet my fake future in-laws, yet I am.

“My family’s going to love you,” he says just as the doorbell rings, and I shriek in surprise.

“They’re early!” I gasp, grabbing the dress I just took off and sliding it back on.

---