Page 66 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“Let me be the judge of that,” he said.

“There is no threat,” she said.

“Threat?” he asked. “Nope. Because if I find out who it is, they will know to not do it again.”

“Are you jealous?” she asked, her jaw dropping.

“No,” he said.

“Could have fooled me,” she said, turning to check on the rice she had in a pot and then stirring the vegetables she’d dropped in the skillet. Chicken was sitting in another dish already cooked and seasoned.

“How would you feel if I told you some woman sent me beer with a note they couldn’t wait to meet me?”

She pursed her lips. “Over my dead body.”

“Ha,” he said, pointing his finger.

“But I have no problem admitting I’m jealous. You said you weren’t. So ha right back at you.”

He frowned. That didn’t work out the way he thought it would.

“Since the person hasn’t met you, do you think it’s one of the losers from your online dating apps? Are you still on them?”

He wasn’t sure why the thought just popped into his head.

“No,” she said. “I’m not. I deactivated my accounts after our second date. Which I have to say was nice of me. I haven’t done that before when I’ve dated someone only twice.” She moved closer to him and put her arms around his neck. “But I felt something for you and thought it was the right thing to do. After we had sex, I deleted them all. Poof.” She snapped her fingers. “It’s like I never existed on them.”

“The internet is forever, Kelsey. Get real.”

“I’m trying to make a joke about this,” she said, planting a smacking kiss on his lips and returning to the dinner.

“It’s not funny.”

“It kind of is,” she said. “Because you’re jealous and won’t admit it. There is no threat. Nothing to be worried about.”

“Until the next thing comes. No one sends flowers with a note like that and then just drops off the face of the earth.”

“Then maybe the next thing will have their name on it and I’ll be able to tell them I’ve got a big strapping crabby man in my bed and I like it that way.”

“Again, not funny.”

Though he did like that she was willing to say that.

“I’m fine,” she said. “I don’t want anyone else but you. Do I need to prove that to you tonight?”

“You can,” he said, smirking.

He figured the least he could do was dial it back even if he wasn’t thrilled this happened.

It’s not like she asked for it.

Or even knew.

She didn’t appear to care all that much and she even told him right away.

“Then maybe we can trade things,” she said.

“What does that mean?” he asked.

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