Page 90 of Honey Undone
“No,” I said in disbelief.
“Coward,” Cael scoffed, looking around the gym. “You’re the only one here that won’t kill me! You can’t actually expect me to thrust Van or Dean?”
“I’d add two hundred bucks to the pot just to see you try.” I crossed my arms over my chest and he pouted at me.
“If I hurt myself before the next game you can deal with my dad,” he threatened.
“Or you could just hand over the shirt and admit defeat,” Kaia said with a smile on her face as the count reached twelve.
“She can do this all day,” Sunday added, “we’ve seen her do it.”
“Are you even a human being?” Cael leaned over with his hands on his thighs, bringing his face closer to Kaia.
“Fifteen,” Adeline jabbed as Kaia continued to thrust. “Sixteen.”
The count was pounding in Cael’s ears, it was written all over his face.
“Seventeen,” she sang out, pretending to yawn. The tiny movement shifted her balance and Kaia’s face scrunched a little to hold her form.
Cael watched them both, no doubt trying to figure out a way to win but came up short, grabbing his shirt with one hand over his back and pulling it over his head in a shift motion before throwing it on the floor at Kaia.
“You win.” He panted, completely spent by the activities.
Kaia didn’t stop though, she just kept going to prove a point. Reaching twenty five she slowed and allowed Adeline to carefully stand up as Van consoled Cael.
“You gotta stop making bets you know you can’t win,” I patted him on the shoulder in passing.
JENSEN
“Ithought we were going out for dinner?” Adeline asked me from the passenger seat. Days like today were my favorite. I had woken up with her face pressed against my chest, we had spent the morning at the gym, the afternoon destroying every surface in her apartment and when we were finished, she always demanded food.
“We are… at my mother's.” I dropped the bomb, we were driving down through Harbor, the storefronts flashing by the car as Adeline’s expression changed from excited to shocked. Which is why I waited until we were driving and she was locked inside to tell her.
“You want me to meet your mom?” Came out of her mouth, softer than I expected and it made my heart flutter in my chest.
“If I had it my way our first date would have been at the house but you had to go pick tattoos and chicken wings.” I teased her but her face was so serious. “Marked me for life before you even met my mother…” I chuckled but noticed she wasn’t laughing with me so I reached out to squeeze the tattoo on her thigh. "What?" When I tried to move back to the wheel her other thigh came down over my hand, trapping me against her entirely.
“You really want me to meet her?” She asked again, a little more nervous than the first time.
“It’s just my mom, I mean dad will be there too… but he’s nothing to be scared of,” I said, pulling down the road to our house.
“It’s a big step,” she said finally, as I pulled into the driveway.
“It’s just dinner, no expectations. No strings.” I assured her and she sighed like she wanted to argue but she just looked up at the big house with fear in her eyes.
“What if they don’t like me?” She asked as I killed the engine.
“Impossible,” I said without hesitation.
“Improbable,” she corrected, “there’s a chance they don’t.”
“You’re overthinking it. She invited me tonight, and I told her I was bringing you. She didn’t make a big deal of it, and neither should you.” I said, reaching over the console to her and grabbing her chin so she’d look at me. “If by some insane chance they don’t like you, that’s their problem. Not ours, because at this point I don’t think I could stop liking you even if I tried.”
“You mean that?” She asked me, and I nodded, only stopping because she cut me off with a gentle kiss. “Okay, I can do this, it can’t be scarier than impressing rugby scouts?” She sounded more unsure then she had the day we got our tattoos. “The no answer is scarier than you trying to convince me it's not by the way.” She steeled her nerves and grumbled at me as she got out of the car.
I rounded the car to put my hand in hers as I led her up the steps and inside, “shoes,” I said to her quietly. She obliged before following me down the hall to the kitchen.
“Mom?” I called out and no one answered right away but there was muffled grunting coming from the cupboards where she was stretched up on a stool trying to reach the top shelf. “What the hell are you doing?” I dropped Adeline's hand, leaving her standing by the island to help my mom down.
