Page 44 of Fated Mates and How to Seduce Them
“Also, did you ask him?”
André stared at his mother blankly for a full second before snapping his fingers. “The clothes. I forgot. Sorry, things were busy last night.”
She waved this off. “Ian, in my line of work, we create a lot of samples for clothes. Sometimes they’re mock-ups. Sometimes they’re for model shots or samples sent to different boutique shows, et cetera. In the end, I always have far too many clothes stacked up in a warehouse, and I’m not sure what to do with most of them. About once a year, we hold a huge warehouse sale for cheap just to clear out inventory. My thought was, why not let the kids at your group home have the first choice of them?”
That sounded good to Ian, but… “Is that really all right?”
“Of course! They’re just sitting there going to waste otherwise. And kids grow so quickly. I know from raising thesethree. If you give me a time, I can drive out there with you and bring everything we can stuff into a vehicle.”
She genuinely wanted to help. It was obvious from her sincere expression. Ian also felt at least part of this came from her curiosity. She wanted to see the group home for herself, the one her son had invested so much in, and this was a neat excuse to do it.
Still, it was kind of her to offer, and Ian wasn’t about to turn her down. “I think they’d love it, especially with Christmas right around the corner.”
She clapped her hands in delight. “Good! When can I come?”
“Well, weekends typically work best. Is tomorrow too soon? Or sometime next week?”
“Tomorrow is fine.”
André made a noise of objection. “Uh, I have a commitment tomorrow.”
His mother wrinkled her nose at him. “It’s fine. I don’t need you. Ian will escort me.”
“Mom, you cannot take off with my boyfriend.” André pouted.
“I can and will, and you best get used to it, as I’ll continue to do so in the future.”
Why did Ian feel like the brand-new toy being fought over?
Benedict cleared his throat. “How about I go with you too? I’ve been curious about the place, and if I know Mom, she’ll pack her SUV to the gunwales. It’s better to have a third person to help haul it all in.”
She shrugged, not embarrassed at being caught. “Fine. I won’t turn down help.”
André pointed to himself. “I’d help if you just chose another day. Why is Benedict welcome and I’m not?”
“Because I want to ask Ian questions and make sure you’re being a good boyfriend, and he won’t answer truthfully if you’re there,” his mother informed him bluntly.
“Mom!” André howled in protest.
Ian lifted a hand to cover his mouth as he choked on a laugh. Okay, he might like her after all.
“See? He’s laughing. Ian, out with it. What’s my son done?”
Ian’s nerves fell by half at this banter between family, making it easy to turn to her now and respond. “Not a thing.”
Her lips pursed in a disbelieving expression. “But it took him a while to convince you two to date. I don’t know if I believe you. Surely he showed some major drawback.”
How honest could Ian be with her? He didn’t know, so he went with the safer option. “I didn’t think he was serious the first time he asked me out.”
“Oh.” Their mother blinked, obviously not expecting his answer. “Was that the problem? André, do I need to teach you the basics of wooing someone?”
“Mother.” André buried his face in both hands, utterly in despair. “I promise you. I know how to ask someone out.”
Shetsked. “You apparently don’t if he didn’t believe you. For shame, André.”
“It’s fine.” André waved this off, dismissing the concern with an airy wave of a hand. “After Ian, I won’t need to ask anyone else. I’m set now.”
Eh? Ian’s head whipped around, his eyes wide on André’s face. What did he mean? It sounded like…Well, it sounded like André had no intention of being with anyone else other than Ian. Which was, well, crazy? After them being together a whole twelve hours?
