Chapter 27

Iwould have been lying if I said my stomach wasn't tangled up in knots. I'd never met a girlfriend's parents before. Hell, by the definition, I'd never really had a girlfriend, not in the way most people would consider them. I'd never felt for another woman what I felt for Jolie.

I'd given up the idea of feeling something like this a long time ago. Once I was back under my mother's roof, it was easier not to form any lasting attachments. If she found out there was someone I was interested in, it would be a daily lecture on how all romantic entanglements did was lead a person off the course of the life they were meant to have. I'd hear endless complaints of how miserable she'd been when she was married to my father and, in her words, living a domestic life as a wife and mother, two things she'd never intended to be.

Hearing things like that enough had a serious way of damaging a kid's psyche. Constant ridicule and reminders she'd never wanted me in the first damn place had gone a long way in making me who I was today. Well, who I was before Jolie, at least. In the beginning I'd asked her if she was so unhappy being a mother, why had she bothered coming to take me from Hershel at all? Why not let me stay? I couldn't recall her ever giving me a definitive answer, but I eventually realized it was her way of maintaining control over both of us. She might not have wanted to be a wife or a mother, but she sure as hell wanted to control us both.

She thought that by giving birth to me, she had the right to use me when it came to furthering her own career, and that was exactly what she'd done. To the outside world, she might have looked like a loving single mother doing her best, but I knew better. If there wasn't a need for a photo op, I remained at whatever private school she'd shipped me off to until I was eventually old enough to leave on my own. By then, the damage had been done.

As for Hershel, all I could figure was that, even though she didn't love him, she also didn't want to see him happy and thriving. What better way to make that a reality than by plucking his kid away from him?

It was ironic really, how similar Leighton was to Estelle. It was hard to believe that a woman as nurturing and caring as Millicent had raised her. I suppose that was what happened when you raised a child to be a spoiled, entitled brat. No amount of good intentions could undo the damage.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jolie asked for the millionth time as I pulled my G-Wagon in front of the well-maintained brick ranch house Jolie had guided me to. She told me during the drive over it was the same house she'd grown up in. It was where she and her brother had been raised, and the walls were full of happy memories from her years there. "I understand if you want to throw the car in drive and take off. I'll make an excuse. In fact, I'll take the blame."

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I twisted in my seat and shot my hand out, gripping her gently by the back of the neck and pulling her across the console so I could fuse my mouth with hers. She didn't hesitate to open on a greedy moan, and I didn't wait to give her a taste of me, sliding my tongue inside her mouth so it could dance with hers.

Her breathing was labored and her eyes were heavy when I pulled back a handful of seconds later. "This will be fine, you'll see."

I wasn't quite sure I believed that, but if it helped put her at ease, I was more than happy to lie.

She licked her lips and bit down on her plump bottom lip. "This is all moving so fast. If this had been a real relationship?—"

I growled, my brows falling into a scowl. "This is a real relationship."

She let out a breath and nodded. "You know what I mean. I've just... I've never brought a guy home to meet my family this early into a relationship."

My stomach soured at the thought of all the other men who had sat around the Prescott dinner table in the past. The idea of anyone else getting that level of commitment from Jolie made my skin itch and my blood boil. I couldn't control my jealousy when it came to this woman. I didn't know her until recently, but I couldn't help but think it should have been me. It should have only ever been me.

I pushed that green-eyed envy to the back of my mind before it made me do something insane like lean across the console and mark her for the whole world to see right before we walked into her parents' house. "Yeah, well, we haven't exactly done things in the most traditional way."

She let out a little snort. "No, we certainly have not."

The fist that had been clenched around my lungs tightened as a worrying thought entered my mind. "Are you okay with that? The fact that this hasn't been like your past..." I had to swallow down the bile climbing up my throat to get the next word out. "Relationships?"

Her looking across at me and smiling that big, beautiful smile that lit up my entire fucking world was all it took to calm the storm that had begun to rage inside me.

"I'm very okay, with it," she answered, sincerity wrapping around her words and breathing life into them. "It's us. We're... messy and unusual, and I love it. I've had more fun with you in these past few weeks—even when we were fighting—than I ever had with Barrett during our entire relationship."

That was all I needed to hear to settle me.

"All right, then, Calamity. Let's go."

Jolie groanedand leaned into my side, twisting to press her forehead against my shoulder. "Mom, God! Will you please stop?"

My chuckle was low, much lower than the one I'd been sharing with Jolie lately. My smile was much smaller as well. It was as if I was only capable of giving those to her. But I was still having a great time, watching her mother give her shit and Jolie throw it right back. Her father, Walt, was content to sit back and sip his beer while his girls had it out. The man had been around the block more than a few times already, and I was sure he knew what he was doing.

"Oh, stop your whining. It's just a few photos," Lorene said as she plopped a thick, leather-bound album down in my lap.

"That's the third photo album you've forced my boyfriend to look through."

My chest puffed out at her use of the word boyfriend, and as inconvenient as the timing was, my dick swelled as well.

"And this one's from middle school. Have you forgotten about that unfortunate haircut I had in the seventh grade? It took months for it to grow out!"

Lorene didn't look sorry in the least. "I told you that wouldn't be a flattering haircut with your bone structure, but you wouldn't listen."

Jolie crossed her arms from her place beside me on the couch and pouted exaggeratedly. We'd moved into the living room after a delicious dinner so Lorene could torture her daughter in the form of embarrassing childhood photos, and so far I'd enjoyed every second. Sure, Jolie's mother was kind of nutty, but it was obvious where her daughter got her kind heart. She and Walt both had gone out of their way to make me feel welcome. It was a feeling I hadn't experienced since I was thirteen years old.

A feeling of belonging.

"My bone structure wasn't the problem," Jolie grumbled. "It was the fact you insisted on doing it yourself, here at home, when you'd had exactly zero hours of professional training. It would have looked fine if I'd gotten it done at a salon like I'd begged you to let me do."

Lorene harrumphed. "In my defense, I didn't think it would be that difficult to do."

"That's not a defense!" Jolie cried. "That's just stating a fact!"

Walt burst into laughter, and I could feel my own chest shaking

"Okay, well... then in my defense, it was during that phase where I was clipping coupons and bargain shopping so I could see how much money I could save."

Jolie reared back. "Oh, you mean the phase where you and Jean were trying to outdo each other to see who could get the best deals?"

Walt shook his head. "Worst two months of my life. If I never have to see another can of peaches again it'll be too damn soon."

Lorene looked at me for solidarity. "I'll have you know, I won. Thank you very much. Even though Jean was a sneaky cheat."

I couldn't hold it back any longer. My head fell back on a bark of laughter that sounded nearly as rusty as it felt. By the time I managed to get hold of myself and looked back to Jolie, her gray eyes were sparkling with wonder. Her expression was soft and tender. I wasn't sure I'd ever seen her look so happy. Her beauty took my breath away, and I couldn't help but lean in and press my lips to hers.

"You have a wonderful laugh," she whispered, quiet enough only I could hear. "I'll never get tired of hearing it."

That was the moment I knew for sure I was in love with this woman. Jolie Prescott hadn't just worked herself under my skin and into my bones. She'd burrowed her way into my very soul, breathing life back into the thing that was little more than just a shell.

"Oh, look at them, Walt. They're just the cutest." Lorene cooed, breaking the moment and causing Jolie to roll her eyes good-naturedly. "It's obvious to see how much they care about each other. Warms my heart."

Jolie dropped her forehead against my chest on a chuckle as Lorene shot to her feet, the woman a whirlwind of motion. "Well, now that everyone's had a chance to let their stomach settle, I made dessert! Who likes strawberry shortcake? I made the whipped cream from scratch."