Page 40 of Sunflower

He sighed. “Nothing. Can’t we just have one afternoon where you’re not trying to interrogate me?”

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before stepping back on her own to wag her finger at him. “You’re lucky I’m busy with getting lunch ready. We’ll revisit this, mister.”

“Great,” he deadpanned, rolling his eyes at her.

“I am well pleased about your barriers, though. George came through, huh?” she asked before bustling over to me, not waiting for a reply. “Knew he would.” She reached for me, and it waswith a heavy dose of trepidation that I went in for a hug of my own. “Joey! Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Erin,” I responded out loud, but in my head, I was reciting times tables just like Callum had suggested.Eight times six is forty-eight. Nine times four is thirty-six.

I groaned when I felt her stiffen in my arms, then pull back with a frown on her face.

Twelve fives are sixty. Seven elevens are seventy-seven.

Just like she had with Callum, Erin placed her palms on my cheeks and focused on me, her eyes glazing over.

Fuck.Six nines are fifty-three. Twelve twelves are one-hundred and thirty-seven.

Wait. Those aren’t right. Double fuckity fuck.

Somewhat panicking, I looked over Erin’s shoulder and stared at Callum helplessly. His intensely serious, but gorgeous hazel eyes fixed on mine, reminding me of the way he hovered over me last night, his cock filling me oh, so deliciously in all the right ways—

Erin gasped, pulling back and clapping her hands over her mouth in delight. “Oh my God! You’re finally together!”

Oh, my triple fucksticks.That’swhat she read from me?

I groaned and hung my head forward to the sounds of Callum’s raucous laughter filling the room. “I’m never going to live this down, am I?” I muttered to myself.

“Nope!” Callum cackled before coming over and wrapping me in a hug of his own.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around him in response, giving him all the opening he needed to lift my chin, lean forward, and plant his lips on mine, even if Ididtry to squirm away from him. We were in front of hismotherfor fuck’s sake! And after what she’d seen in my head?!

“Barry! Barry! Our boys are fucking like Energizer bunnies!” Erin happily called as she turned away from us and darted towards the stairs to find Dad. “They’re finally together!”

Oh. My. God.Could thisbeany more mortifying?

With his arms tightening around me, Callum laughed at her words and my despairing groan, before he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. “At least you know she’s happy for us. And that you could block her.”

I groaned even deeper. “I wastryingto recite times tables like you told me.”

“Ha!” Callum’s body shook from his amusement as he stepped back and roared with laughter. “How’d she get us having sex from times tables?”

“I started getting the totals wrong and lost focus,” I admitted begrudgingly, bemoaning my self-control while I ran my hands down my face. “And then I looked at you and the way you were looking at me reminded me of last night, and one thought led to another, and—” I flung my hand in the direction that Erin had disappeared and flailed. “—thatwas the result.”

“Oh, this is brilliant!” Callum laughed and laughed until he almost choked, his hands on his knees with his body bent in half as he tried to force air back into his lungs.

And that was how Dad and Erin found us when they both re-entered the kitchen/dining area: Callum cackling like a hopped-up loon, gasping for breath, and me, bumping my forehead against the nearest wall repeatedly in utter mortification.

“Oh, Dad, by the way,” I said, leaning back in my seat and patting my overstuffed stomach as I swallowed the last bite of my lunch. “I need a new EpiPen.”

Sitting opposite me, Dad’s eyes widened in alarm. “Why? When did you use it? Why didn’t you call us?”

I waved his concern away. “No, I didn’t need it. We had to use it on someone else.”

Dad cocked his head to the side. “I feel there’s a story there I might need to hear before my heart rate comes down again.”

“Maybe.”

Shifting forward so he could rest his elbows on the table, Callum raised a hand to gain Dad’s attention. “Joey and I went on a date last night and someone at the restaurant had an allergic reaction to eating lobster for the first time.” He leaned against me, rocking his right shoulder into my left. “If we hadn’t been there, the poor guy wouldn’t have made it.”

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