“Why were you wearing green panties?” Her fair skin morphs to beet red when she realizes the waiter’s looming over us.
“Deanna was also into some kinky shit,” I tell her truthfully, before glancing up at the waiter. “Hey, you got any dessert specials?”
“Cheesecake, sir. And, ah, green tea ice cream.”
I grin. “Perfect. We’ll take one of each.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tess leans in as the waiter disappears, speaking low. “I can’t believe that was your first sexual experience.”
I lift a piece of sushi and bring it to her mouth. She glances at it, then shocks me by letting me feed it to her. For some reason, it’s a bit of a turn-on.
Who am I kidding? Everything about her turns me on.
I pull back a little, watching her eat and forcing myself to finish my story. “I never said it was my first time. Ma freaked out and beat me over the head with her sneakers while Grammie begged God not to send me straight to hell. Deanna ran out without her panties and I spent the rest of the afternoon in confession wearing them beneath my jeans.” I lift another roll and offer it to her. “So, you going to tell me what your first time was like?”
Chapter 7
Tess
We stumble into my hallway, both of us laughing. My stomach muscles are clenched so tight, I drop my purse stuffed with legal briefs, and have to clutch the doorframe to keep from falling over.
Tears stream down my face as Curran finishes another riveting tale from his childhood. “I swear to God, my mother became bionic,” he says. “She chased Declan down the street when he bolted, trying to escape her wrath. Not two seconds later, she kicks open the front door and hauls him inside by the ear, all a hundred pounds of her dragging his six-foot frame like he was nothing.”
I wipe my eyes. “What did she do to him?”
“God only knows. The rest of us were jumping out windows trying to get out of her way. I gotta tell you, though, Declan never said ‘fuck’ in front of her again—hell, none of us swore in front of her after that.”
I place my hand against my chest. “I don’t blame you. From what you’ve told me, your mother’s one tough lady.”
Curran leans against the wall, his smile softening. “She is. She instilled the fear of God into us, and didn’t let us get away with anything. But she was always there for us, you know? As pissed as we’d get about how strict she was, we knew she loved us.”
I smile. “It couldn’t have been easy for her, raising so many children, and raising them all to be good people. But she did, and it’s obvious she put her heart and soul into it.”
“Yeah, she did,” he adds as if remembering.
Maybe it’s me, but there’s something hot about a man as tough as Curran having a soft spot for his mother.
Or maybe he’s just plain hot.
My smile diminishes the longer I take him in, and as his stare sears into mine.
Jesus…I’m not sure what’s happening. If it’s good, or bad, or simply just is. But silence seems to envelop us at once, and all life stops except for the breaths between us.
My hand slowly slips from my chest. If it weren’t for the distant sound of moving traffic, I’d swear time had ground to a halt and carved out this moment solely for us.
It’s…beautiful, peaceful, and welcomed. Yet I can’t enjoy it, even though I want to.
Something pokes at me, reminding me that I shouldn’t be standing here, losing myself in this man’s grip. My keys are in my purse. And my purse is still on the floor where I dropped it. I think I should reach for both, but whatever this moment is, I don’t want to let it go. At least not yet.
My father had hounded me all week. It’s not like him to call me this frequently, but for some reason he felt the need to rein me in, tug on that leash, and remind me that he commands every aspect of my life.
Well, perhaps not every aspect….
I hold tight to Curran’s gaze. What would my evening have been like without him? Likely, just as it had been these past two weeks: boring, uneasy, and almost pointless.