Page 263 of Now and Forever

Chapter 93

Stella

“My mother and grandmother will be interrogating you, so I apologize in advance,” Callum said as he slowly pulled to the curb. “It just occurred to me that we’re almost there and you haven’t said much since we left London. Are you feeling unwell?”

“What if they don’t like me?” This was one of the things that was eating inside me, but most of all, I didn’t want to disappoint Callum. This was his family and I knew it might sound idiotic to some, yet I wanted him to be proud that I could pull it off without a hitch.

Callum’s eyes danced before he opened his car door and spun around the vehicle towards mine. He pulled my door open and carefully guided me out of the car. I didn’t know what was going on, but we were in a quiet street, with barely any cars passing by.

My thoughts turned into nothing as Callum pressed me against the side of the car.

“You will be fine. We’ll be fine. Take my lead and have fun. There’s nothing to be nervous of. I won’t pull any tricks, Stella. You can trust me that I will always try to be honest with you.”

I knew that and I appreciated that he was trying to soothe my nerves. “You’re a good man, I know. No need to show me twice.”

Callum smirked, making me ogle his darkly angelic beauty. “I’m not all good. I’m sure you know the usual bits I get myself into, but with you, I’ll give it a shot.”

Was I really swooning? Bugger.

“Oh, by the way, I thought we might need this.” Callum pulled something out of his pocket. A ring. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, but I had noticed that you weren’t a fan of diamonds, so I got you an emerald instead. I noticed that your mother had a sapphire one, so I thought this was the closest thing I could get you.”

My head simply nodded, speechless at his thoughtfulness.

The drive to his family home was a mere five-minute drive from where he had pulled over. If I thought I was nervous before, I had been wrong. Because the moment his mother appeared in the foyer to greet us, I was thoroughly inspected before she gave me air kisses.

How the hell am I to survive a week here if I was being scrutinized like a specimen already?

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