Page 694 of Hell Hath No Fury
“Okay.”
His eyes widened. “Okay? Yes?”
I smiled, that damn ache in my chest easing. “Yes. But you have a lot of groveling to do, mister.”
Foster grinned, standing up to pull me into his arms. He hugged me so tight. “Anything, anything.” He kissed my temple, then my cheek, and then my lips.
A long, deep, hungry kiss that was only broken as the erupting cheers in the room finally registered with us.
Cheeks hot, I laughed, a little embarrassed by the public display as the room full of practical strangers celebrated our romance.
Well … not the whole room.
They waited until all the guests had left hours later. We’d felt their eyes on us during the rest of the evening, but they never approached. I was tense. Foster kept whispering assurances in my ear. The man hadn’t stopped touching me since I’d agreed to give him a second chance. He’d apologized to Jade for hijacking their celebrations, but my big sister was genuinely ecstatic for us.
“Here we go,” Colt murmured.
Everyone had left except the four of us and the Darwins.
Colt took Jade’s arm and strode toward the exit, nodding at the Darwins.
Foster’s hand tightened in mine. “It’ll be all right,” he promised.
But I wasn’t certain. There was a part of me that couldn’t trust Foster completely yet. I knew he sensed that when his expression hardened with determination. “One day, you’ll never doubt me,” he vowed.
I squeezed his hand and took a deep breath as Madeline and Edward halted before us. Foster’s mother looked uneasy, whereas Edward was clearly furious.
“What is the meaning of this?” Edward gestured between us.
“I think that’s self-explanatory.” Foster pulled me closer into his side. “I love Ember. We’re starting a life together.”
Oh, wow. Just hearing him say it again …
“You can’t be serious about this?” Edward sighed heavily, his focus on me. “I’m sure you’re perfectly lovely. But tying my son down is incredibly selfish—”
“Dad—”
“No. She will hear this. You’re, what, in your mid-thirties?”
“Thirty-six.”
He huffed. “Eleven years older than Foster. How will that look when you’re fifty and he’s still not even forty yet?”
“I don’t care. I love her.”
“I’m talking to Ember.” And he was. Prodding my insecurities. My own concerns. “You’re not from the same community as Foster. You’ll be pulling him and Georgie away from the life they’re used to.”
“Bullshit, Dad.”
“Foster,” Madeline admonished.
“No, I won’t stand here and listen to you disparage the woman I love.”
“And what about children?” Edward scoffed, ignoring his son. “Don’t you want more children? A woman of thirty-six is past her prime.”
That was it.
That was when I saw red.
