Page 27 of Wildest Desire

“Well, you look beautiful.” Joe leans in to kiss me on the cheek.

“Are you trying to take my girl from me, Joe?” I look behind Joe and see Ethan walking over to us.

“No, sir.” Joe lets go of my hand and walks back behind the desk.

“Joe, you don’t have to be so scared of him. Plus, I like you. He wouldn’t get you fired, would you, baby?” I look at Ethan with a smile. He looks at Joe then back to me.

“If it means keeping this smile on your face, Joe won’t be going anywhere.” He turns to face Joe. “Just don’t ever upset her,” he says with a smile, then looks at me. “You look beautiful.” He leans down to give me a quick kiss. Playing the perfect boyfriend, I see.

“Are we walking or driving?” I ask him. There are a few things I want to ask him before we go.

He looks up and down my body. I wore the shoes that he bought me. I mean, how could I not? They're stunning pink little boots and they look amazing on me with the tan I have.

“If you want to walk, we can walk,” he says. Turning around to walk out of the building, Ethan follows, placing his hand on my lower back. “This dress looks very nice on you.” He pulls me closer to him.

It took me a while to figure out what I should wear. I didn't want to be too casual, but then I didn't want to go too dressed up either. In the end, I picked a nice floral dress.

“Thank you. So, I was reading up on your family. I know everything about your mom, sister, Ms. Jackie and her husband, but Ms. Jackie said a man named Travis is coming. Who the hell is that?” I ask. If we have been dating, then he must have mentioned him before.

“He’s my friend who now works with me.”

Well, it seems that’s all the information I'll be getting from him. I guess we are back to the cold Ethan.

“How long have we been dating, and what's my job?” I ask. I don’t want to mess this up. I mean, my boss is going to be there too.

“You’re in marketing, and we have been dating since the contract started.” Ethan stops walking and takes my hand so that I stop too. So we’ve been together since Jackie through me into this world, great. “I don’t say this much, but I’m sorry. I overreacted and it won’t happen again.” I give him a nod. He moves his mouth to my ear. “Have you thought about our kiss?” he whispers, and my body shivers at the thought. He kisses my neck and I close my eyes, letting the images flash through my head.

“Shall we go?” I ask, taking a step away from him. His mom only lives ten minutes away, and it’s a beautiful evening, so I don’t mind walking.

“Did you bring your car?” he asks. I find it funny that he thinks I trust him enough to not have a way out of my own.

“I did and I also messaged Ms. Jackie,” I say as I start walking again. This might be a long evening.

* * *

This isn’t the first time I’ve met parents, but it’s the first time I’m meeting family when I know the client wants more from me. Standing at the front door, I move closer to Ethan as the door opens.

“Ethan.” His mom, Lisa, greets him with a hug. Pulling away, she smiles at me. “Lexi, it’s so sweet of you to join us,” she says, kissing me on the cheek.

“Thank you for inviting me,” I say, following Ethan into the house. He introduces me to everyone sitting around the room. It’s everyone who was in the binder, and I smile at them all.

“Do you want some wine?” Ethan asks me. I know what he's doing. If I drink, then I can’t drive home and will have to stay at his place.

“You wouldn’t take advantage of me when I was drunk, would you?” I whisper to him and see him smiling at me.

“Only if you beg, and trust me, when that happens, you won’t be drunk,” he says, kissing me on the neck.

I'm left alone with his family as Ethan walks into the kitchen. If looks could kill, I would be dead with the daggers coming from his sister’s eyes. Her eyes move over me and stop at my shoes. “Nice shoes,” she says. Yeah, she doesn’t like me.

“Thank you. Ethan got them for me,” I say, taking the wine from him.

“Another gold digger,” she says, looking over at her mom. My body tenses up a little. I’m far from a gold digger.

“Tanya.” Ethan’s voice comes out hard. “Lexi didn’t ask for them,” he tells her.

“Sorry Lexi, she didn’t mean that,” his mom, Lisa says as she walks over to me. “Just a little over the top.” She smiles at me.

“That’s okay, I have a brother.” I smile at Lisa. “You have a lovely home,” I tell her.

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