Page 16 of Falling Over You

“You didn’t have to agree to this,” she said. “I should probably go, even though I really don’t want to eat with my parents. I’d rather just eat with you.”

“I think I probably do need to do this.” He moved a little closer to her, taking one of her hands in his. “After all, if we're going to get to know each other, this is probably a good way to start.”

“You don’t understand,” she said, “My parents are good people. Great people, really. My dad’s amazing and my mom's awesome. Dad and I have always gotten along and been practically best friends, but I’m different from my sisters. They’re both younger than me, and somehow, they both fell in love and married before I did. Since then, It’s like that’s all they can talk about. How I’m not married and what they can do to help.”

Thank God they hadn’t succeeded in their endeavors, or else she would never be there with him. “Don’t worry about it, Eve.” He squeezed her hand. “I can handle your parents.”

“And you won’t get all weirded out if they start asking you about your future?”

“Not in the least.” That was the truth. Hours ago, it would have weirded him out. Not any longer. Eve was going to be his future. He just had to convince her of that.

Chapter 5

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Eve

This was possibly the stupidest thing she’d ever done. She could still feel where Theo’s dick had been inside her while they’d had sex, and now she was sitting at a table with her whole family while they made small talk.

What had she been thinking? She’d much rather go back to Theo‘s little cottage in the snow and have another round of hot sex where he’d somehow been able to make her orgasm, but no, she was stuck having lunch with her mom and dad where they were grilling Theo about his entire life. Although to be fair, it wasn’t so bad because now she got to find all the things about him that she wanted to know without actually asking him herself.

“So you’re a doctor,'' Mackenzie said. “What kind of doctor?”

“I have my own practice. It's just family medicine. Adults and kids and everything in between. Whoever wants to come.”

“That’s got to be pretty exciting,” her mom said. “Is it a big practice?”

“Just me and one other doctor. We take turns seeing patients and being on call when needed.”

“That has to keep you busy,” her sister Skylar said.

“It does, but I’m willing to make time for things when they’re important.” He turned his face to Eve and a shiver went through her whole body at the heated look. Was he trying to say she was important to him after three hours? Maybe not even three hours, maybe two hours. Can somebody become important to you after just two hours? Was that the way it worked and she’d just been living under a rock this whole time? Could you fall in love with someone after only a couple of hours? Surely that was wrong. Maybe she should do some searching online. Maybe she’d been spending too much time in the museum with inanimate objects and stories of history instead of out in the real world. Were her friends lying to her? When they went out, they complained of not being able to find dates. Or so they told her. Was it really easy to find someone who wanted to spend the rest of your life with you? Yeah, she was going crazy. It was official. That's what happened when she had lunch with her whole family.

“So guys,'' she said, trying to change the subject. “How are the slopes this morning?”

“They were good,” Peter said. Peter was Skylar’s husband. “We met some new friends out there and I think we’re having dinner with them tonight.” Peter was a nice guy and loved Skylar to pieces. She was glad her sister found someone so great but it also hurt just a little whenever they were together.

Why had she not found someone great? Why was she alone?

She didn’t mind being alone. In fact, she liked it. Most of the time. It was times like this, when her whole family was together, that she wished she had someone to share her life with.

Today, she did.

She had Theo, who was talking to her dad, about lord only knows what, while her mom tried to get more information out of her.

“Theo is very handsome,” her mom leaned in and whispered.

“Oh my God, Mom,” Mackenzie said loud enough for them to hear, but not loud enough for Theo. “Leave her alone. She doesn’t need you butting into her love life every second.”

Eve was shocked. Mackenzie had never really come to her defense before when it came to their mom hounding her.

“I just want her to be happy.”

“I think Eve can figure out what she needs without us telling her.”

Eve gave her sister a small head nod in acknowledgment. “I am happy, Mom. And yes, Theo is handsome and I like him.” She more than liked him. That’s what worried her.

Juno, Mackenzie’s wife, leaned around her sister and whispered, “He’s nice too. Sometimes that’s more important than being handsome.”

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