Page 96 of Truck Off

I pull her to a stop just outside the door and tug her close. “I’ve got to be honest, babe. I’m really torn about how to feel right now.”

Her brows furrow as she tightens her hold on my hand. “Care to explain that to me?”

“You’re nervous. I don’t want you to be nervous about eating a meal with my family. But I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that seeing you nervous right now makes me feel fucking awesome.”

She snorts. “You feel good about me being nervous?”

I shake my head. “Not good. Amazing. It means you care. I like knowing that you care about me, even if you don’t say it out loud.”

Her face softens, and she leans in to press a kiss to my lips. “Of course I care about you. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

Some of the worry and tension I’ve been hanging onto ever since we started dating fades away.

“You have no idea how much I needed to hear those words.” I pull her into me and wrap my arms around her in a tight hug. Then I kiss her temple. “Now let’s get inside before Grams sends out a search party.”

Lina chuckles. “She wouldn’t.”

“Oh, she would.” I grin as we step inside and through the washroom.

“She would what?” I turn just in time to see Mac standing in front of us.

“I was just telling Lina that if we didn’t hurry it up, Grams would send a search party to find us.”

“For sure.” Mac turns his grin to Lina. “I’m the search party. She just asked me to come find you two.”

Lina’s eyes widen, and I chuckle as I squeeze her hand. “Don’t worry. You know everyone here.”

“I know,” she leans into me and whispers. “But I’ve never eaten a meal with my boyfriend’s family before. This is a first for me.”

“A first of many, I hope,” I say as I give her a chaste kiss.

“We seem to be sharing a lot of those.” Some of the nervousness in her expression is pushed away and replaced with happiness. My chest warms.

“Oh, good. You’re here.” Grams’s voice breaks through our moment. “I need to steal Lina for a sec.”

I give Grams a questioning look. “Steal her for what?”

“Knitting problem,” she says and waves me off like my question is ridiculous. She looks at Lina and smiles. “Come with me. This won’t take long.”

Lina gives me a shrug before she follows Grams out of the kitchen. Apparently, I stare after her for so long, my brothers start hackling. When I shake my head and scan the table, Liam, Ash, and Mac are watching me with various looks of humor and surprise.

Christian, however, looks concerned. Maybe even a little pissed.

“No Garret this morning?” I ask, ignoring my twin’s glare as I take a seat next to him.

“Nah,” Ash answers. “Now that he has Charlotte, he never joins us anymore.”

Liam snorts. “It’s not like he joined us much before her. Now he just has a good excuse.”

My oldest brother is not wrong about that. Garret’s been a grumpy bastard for as long as I can remember. He moved out of the house the first chance he got and only came over when Grams insisted he show up. If not for her, we’d probably never see him, even though he lives on the property.

We may not see Garret at breakfast anymore, but we see him more often for dinners and other events thanks to Charlotte and her family values. She’s been good for him and has softened his hard, grumpy personality.

Now, if we could figure out how to get Warren to move home, all my brothers would be close.

I make the mistake of glancing over at Christian and find he’s still glaring at me. I make an even bigger mistake by asking him why.

“Spit it out, man. I know you’ve got something to say.”

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