Page 48 of Fire

Hell if he knew.

It was while they were in front of the giraffes and Gwen had her phone up ready to snap a photo of them that her phone rang, “Mom” flashing on the screen.

“Shoot. Worst timing ever. That would’ve been a good one, too.” She threw him an apologetic smile. “I better take this.”

“No problem. My camera-ready smile could use the break.”

She threw him a grin, knowing she’d taken a fuck-load of pictures.

Hitting answer, she brought the phone to her ear. “Hey, Mom.”

He was leaning against the enclosure, butt to the fence, arms crossed over his chest when her eyes darted to him, putting him on alert.

“Um, no. I don’t have any plans.” She paused a moment. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you then.” Another pause. “Love you, too. Bye.”

She clicked off her phone and stuck it in her back pocket. He raised a brow her direction.

Looking a bit uncomfortable, she said, “That was my mom.”

His lips tipped up at the corners. Her cuteness was showing again. “So I gathered.”

She chuckled, but it was a distracted sound. “Right.”

She leaned against the fence, next to him, and fiddled with the hem of her shirt and licked her lips. She was nervous.

Thewhywas explained, when she said, “We try to get together at least once a month for family dinner. That was her reminding me we’re overdue.” She moved on from the hem of her shirt to a little hole on the thigh of her jeans, tugging at the frayed ends. “Anyway, I hate to presume we have plans together next weekend, but if you want to see me, just know, I need to spend a couple of hours at my parents’ house Sunday night.”

He grabbed her hand before she made a bigger hole and pulled her to him. She flopped against his chest, her arms trapped between them. “First off, of course, I want to see you next weekend.”

Her eyes softened in relief, and she smiled at him. “It’ll only be a few hours. I can meet you at the club when I’m done.”

He shook his head. “I’m not sacrificing any of my time with you. I’ll go with.”

She looked surprised. “To my parents’ for dinner?”

He shrugged. “Sure.” A little line formed between her brows, and he amended, “Unless you don’t want me there.”

Her eyes grew wide. “No, it’s not that, it’s just… are you sure you want to go?” At his frown, she clarified, “It’s a big step—meeting the parents. I wasn’t sure if you were ready for that.”

He shrugged again. “It’s an obstacle keeping me from what I want. Time with you.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Only you would be arrogant enough to not be worried about meeting the parents.”

“Will their opinion of me keep you from coming home with me Sunday night?”

Her lips tipped up into a sexy smile. “No.”

“Then I have nothing to worry about.”

She plopped her forehead on his chest and laughed.

He loved the sound, but he wasn’t sure what the fuck she thought was so funny.

“Why are you so nervous?”

Gwen’s hand shook so badly, she was having trouble applying her mascara. She was worried she’d poke out an eye. As it was, she’d already gotten a black line across the bridge of her nose that she’d had to wipe away. She glared out of the corner of her eye at Allie who sat on the closed toilet, watching her. “Because Blake is meeting my parents.” She rolled her eyes as if declaring that was the dumbest question she’d ever heard.

“I don’t know what you’re worried about. He’s handsome so you’ll make beautiful babies and rich so you’ll be able to send those babies to college—a parents’ dream. I’m sure they’ll love him.”

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