Page 68 of Falling for Fury

I look up to his eyes, and they now burn a deep melted chocolate, hunger written all over his face, desire that matches my own, and I’m suddenly very aware of the tightening of his jeans.

“Oh.”

“Yes. Oh. You’re going to need to climb back over there real soon or we aren’t leaving this car until you’re screaming those words again.” His voice is deep, a sexual promise. I almost want to tempt him, make him prove his words. But the thought of rocking up to meet Noah’s mom and sister for the first time, freshly fucked and blushing, is not quite the impression I want to make. I give him a devilish smile and kiss him softly on the lips as I climb back over. He holds my hands and helps me settle back in my seat.

Noah

Nerves rack my body as we pull into the driveway. An unplanned detour, but, fuck, am I glad for it.

I love you, too.

She loves me. I swear my heart grew two sizes bigger. My chest sure feels like it has. It hurts enough. But a good pain, I think. Maybe this is what Mom meant when she talked about love with Dad. I never thought I would be here, in this moment, confessing my love for someone. But I also hadn’t planned on falling so fucking hard for Addy. Being around her feels like a life force. The risk of her leaving me, while it would destroy me, it would have been worth it. Mom was right, if I knew this would end badly before I went into it, knowing what it feels like to have Addy, for her to be mine, I’d do it all again; consequences be damned. I send up a silent prayer that all this crap with Matt and EcoX goes away quietly. I’d rather avoid being a reason Addison gets her heart broken, and this secret is sure to do just that.

I want Mom and Evie to like Addison. I really, really want them to love her. It’s not that I don’t think they would, or that it would be a deal breaker, I just want Addison to know that there are more people out there that will think she is amazing, that the ridicule and pain she has been subjected to, that her distrust of people’s intentions are not because of her. They are not a result of any flaws she perceives are built into her. This just needs to go well. It has to.

I love you, too.

I grab Addison’s hand on the way to the front door, and it’s clammy.

“Are you okay?” I say quietly as I lean over to her ear.

I let my concern for Addy distract the anxiety humming under my skin at seeing Mom and Evie. Hiding the guilt and grief that is ready to explode from the surface. Hoping they are okay, but also hoping they can forgive me for staying away so long.

“Umm… trying to be. I’m just nervous. I’m not good at meeting new people. New people who are important anyway.” My heart tightens further.

“Guess you’ll just have to compel them with those furious green eyes of yours, you know, like you did with me the first time we met.” I stop just before the front door and lean down to give her a soft, chaste kiss, and she giggles against me. A megawatt smile spreads across her face and my heart skips a beat. I will never tire of seeing those smiles. They are my favorite thing in the world.

She bites her bottom lip. “You’re really good at the whole distraction thing.”

She smiles at me, and I give her a wink. “I have many more distraction tactics for later. Don’t worry about that.”

Almost a second later, the front door swings open with so much force I swear it almost left the hinges.

“Aye, Málàka!” Evie shouts the slur from the front door as she comes out to the front porch. My chest relaxing a little at the familiarity in her tone and from the way her eyes soften as she looks at me. Grateful that she is as happy to see me as I am her.

“Hey, trouble,” I respond, but pull her into a hug. She relents, and it’s how I know she missed me as much as I missed her. I give her a quick kiss on the head, the only apology I can make right now. She squeezes me extra hard for a moment, like she understands, before I turn to make introductions.

“Evie, this is Addison, Addy, Evie. Or I guess Evelyn.”

“Ugh, call me Evie, or E. Evelyn was my γιαγι?. And a girl? My big brother brought a girl home? I honestly never thought I’d see the day. But I guess you’d have to actually come home for that.” Evie wraps Addison in a hug and throws me a wink as I grimace. I guess I deserved that.

“Nice to meet you,” Addison grunts out, having the air squeezed from her lungs in Evie’s death grip.

“C’mon, let’s go inside and meet the matriarch.” I shuffle the girls in, Evie skips ahead and Addison whispers.

“Okay, I don’t know like any Greek. I don’t think I am going to be able to keep up.”

“Oh, don’t stress, we communicate almost 100% in English. Mom might say some things in Greek, but it’ll mostly be English. Promise. Evie likes that she knows slurs in another language. She called me an idiot.” Addison laughs quietly.

“My baby boy is home!” My mother comes around the corner, places her hands on my face, and pulls me in to kiss each cheek. “Hi, Mamá.” I lean into the embrace, and all the turmoil that has been settling in my stomach at returning home disappears. Her familiar scent of home-cooked meals and the rose garden out back fills me with contented nostalgia and my whole body just relaxes. Maybe I should have come home sooner. Maybe I really built this pressure on myself for no reason, or maybe its just simply that Addy is here, that she said she loved me, that I feel a little more whole regardless of the grief I hold.

Mom withdraws without a second look at me as she turns to greet Addy.

“And you finally brought me home a daughter-in-law.” Oh, Jesus fuck.

Addison’s spine snaps straight, and I pull my hand down my face. “Mamá… c’mon, don’t do that right now,” I grunt, and she turns to scowl at me, her Greek accent thick.

“I wait thirty years and still no grand babies. What you expect me to think? You bring home this…” and she turns her face back into a smile and grabs Addison by the cheeks and squeezes as she continues, “aye, a beautiful woman, and you think I can’t see?” First of all, I am only twenty-nine. Secondly, yes, she is drop dead gorgeous, but she only just told me she loved me. I think weddings and babies are still a while off yet, not to mention, Addison is only twenty-five and has an entire life ahead of her. She pins me with a glare, motioning with her fingers from her eyes to mine. She kisses each of her cheeks and then pulls back and just goddamn stares at her. This is just spectacular.

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