Page 33 of Tempting the Player
“You are the hottest thing I've ever seen, I swear to god.” he smiles at me.
“That was a first for me – I've never done that before.”
“Good, I like it when we do firsts . . . plenty still to do too.”
I get up to shower, and he pouts. “I like me all over you like this. Do you have to shower?”
I laugh. “Er, yes, I do! Come help me wash it off?”
He jumps out of bed, running after me. I yelp as he catches me, and we take a shower together.
We make love after that,makinglove, he slides in and out of me, slowly kissing my neck, and we gaze into each other’s eyes and watch each other coming undone . . . it’s perfect.
Chapter 14
“Babe, stop it, you look fine. Doesn’t she look good, girls?” he says, shouting over his shoulder. I'm checking my reflection in the car mirror for the hundredth time.
“Yes, mummy, you look beautiful!” Jess yells
“You do, Kate . . . you look really pretty,” Lucia says shyly
“Thank you, girls,” I say over my shoulder and turn to glare at Nate. “I can’t help being nervous, it’s the first time I'm meeting your parents properly. How many people are going to this barbecue anyway?”
“Seriously, relax, it’s just family; my sister, her kids and her husband, my uncle and auntie, mum and dad, and my grandma. Nothing to get worked up about, they want to meet you.”
“I'm scared they won’t like me.” I lower my voice so that the girls can’t hear.
“Seriously? After the last girl I brought home? You have nothing to worry about - trust me.”
“Oh, thanks a lot!”
“I didn’t mean it like that . . . they’ll love you, Kate - everyone does!”
I was nervous, I wanted to make a good first impression.
“Is there anything about your family that you need to tell me?”
He glances over at me, taking his eyes off the road for a second. “No, mum's a total fruit loop, dad’s fine, he keeps her grounded. My sister is loud, and so are her kids, but her husband is quiet, a bit like my mum and dad. My uncle’s a good bloke, only a few years older than me, and they haven’t got any kids. My younger brother will be here too, but probably won’tsay more than one word to you, and my grandma... well... good luck with her, she doesn’t like anyone.” He laughs.
Jesus, is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it doesn’t!
We get out of the car, and I help the girls out. Nate gets out the cool bag with the pasta salad I've prepared and the fairy cakes that the girls and I made the previous day.
He turns to me and must see from my expression that I'm panicking, he places the dishes on the roof of the car and turns and grabs me by the hips, pulling me to him. He kisses me on the forehead, “I promise they’ll love you... you’ll wonder what you were worried about. Relax and be yourself and they’ll see what I see. Ok?” he says softly.
I nod, “Ok, honey”
I’ve been surrounded by a warm duvet. A warm duvet of Nate’s love. He loves me. Nothing can spoil my day now. I follow Nathan as he guides us around to the back of the house. There’s loud chattering as he opens the gate. His parents have a large garden, with a gazebo on the lawn and patio furniture scattered throughout, along with extra seats that have been set out. There’s a climbing frame, which currently has a couple of children hanging upside down from it. Everyone stops what they're doing to turn to look at us when they realise we’re standing there. Ten pairs of eyes are on me. Gulp.
I'm glad I made the effort with my outfit. It’s a hot, sunny day, so my beige playsuit is perfect. It's casual but a little dressy, with little bluebirds printed on it. I fell in love with it in the shop. I have my hair in a loose ponytail due to the heat and wear silver hoops, keeping it simple. I added a little tinted moisturiser, eyeliner, and tinted lip balm to keep it natural. I felt good. I likedwhat I saw when I checked my reflection, and Nate’s reaction was pretty awesome - he liked what he saw too.
“Well, instead of you lot staring, get over here and say hello,” Nate said, addressing the whole garden. We make our way over to the patio where the barbecue is set up, and Lucia runs to a woman I recognise from school - but other than smiling in passing, I've never spoken to her. Since Nate and I have been seeing each other, I've been collecting Luce for him when he can’t, and I take both the girls in the morning. He doesn’t need to ask his mum to do it anymore, so I haven’t seen her in a while. She was young, in her early fifties, I’d say, but young-looking for her age. She had short-cropped hair and was wearing jean shorts and a vest top.
As she hugged and kissed her granddaughter, her eyes came to me. Jess held my hand. Maybe she sensed I was nervous, I loved her even more for that - if that was possible.
His mum gives me a bright, genuine smile “Hello, you must be Kate, boy, have we heard a lot about you.”
I give a half-laugh. “Hi, Mrs Harris, it’s lovely to meet you - I recognise you from school.”
