“We could always leave, and I’d give you a different dinner.” His hand slid between us, and I barely held in my yelp when he pinched my ass.
I reached back, whacking him on the thigh. “If you can’t behave, I’ll send you home without any dinner at all.”
“As long as I get dessert when you get there.” He leaned down, stealing my laughter with a searing kiss before sauntering off to help my dad do who knows what with the rogue ham.
I cleared my throat, smoothing down the skirt of my dress and twisting around. Both Layla and my mother were watching me, amused smiles on their faces, and I was an instant tomato.
Ignoring them, I busied myself with finishing the last of the prep work to set the table, desperately hoping Garrett kept all his dirty jokes to himself during dinner.
Garrett and I had been seeing each other for a month now, but we’d agreed not to be anything official. We just saw each other almost every day, and on days I worked too much, he’d hang out with Jamie instead.
The longest we’d spent apart was the week he flew to California with Sarah and Harry to spend Thanksgiving with his mother. He’d invited Jamie and me to join, but I’d already promised Jim I’d work the holiday guard shift and had to decline. I regretted it every day he was gone.
But still, we’d agreed to no label, no serious commitment. Sure, he’d stared down Michael when the poor man had tried to catch me alone to talk. And sure, I was pretty positive I’d cut the tongue out of any woman who tried to hit on him, but regardless. We definitely weren’t official.
I hadn’t told him I loved him yet, even though the words hovered over my mouth every time I looked at him, and he hadn’t repeated the sentiment to me since the first time. Even so, I doted on him every chance I got, and he fucked me like no one’s business behind closed doors.
Not official…at all.
Garrett was careful what he said and did around Jamie, but he considered me fair game in front of anyone else. It was after he’d set me on his lap and curled his body around me to block the wind during Jamie’s last game that my parents had invited him to spend the holiday with us this year.
Fine…we might have been a tiny bit official.
Dinner had gone much better than the prep had. No one threw anything, nor did Garrett make any more comments for my mother and Layla to swoon over.
Luckily for me, they hadn’t been able to see the hand he’d kept on my thigh almost the entire meal.
My brother and Garrett had hit it off quickly. The three-and-a-half men spent a good portion of the evening talking video games and new releases while us ladies indulged in a healthy amount of wine. It’d been one of the best evenings I’d ever had, ham stain and all.
We’d just finished cleaning up and dishing leftovers in to-go containers for everyone when I slipped away to the bathroom. I hadn’t looked in a mirror since I left my house, and I had a feeling, between the wine and how often Garrett played with my curls, I probably looked a mess.
I stepped in, but barely finished turning the knob when the door swung back open, nearly taking me with it. I darted back, making room for the bulk slipping through.
He leaned against the door, shutting it behind him, and smirking at me all the while. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Fancy meeting you here.”
“You almost hit me in the face.”
He dragged me forward against his body, his hands sliding down my ass as his eyes sparked with a mischievous glint.
“On a scale from one to ten, how romantic would it be if I told you I wanted to whisk you away for the night?”
I cocked my head to the side, scrunching my face, “A four, given we can’t do that, so you’d only be teasing me.”