Page 36 of Total Abandon

“Ohmy!” I hear faintly and glance sideways to see my mom frozen halfway across the drive toward us, her jaw practically flapping in the wind as she gawps at my fiancé.

“Mr. Devlin, Mrs. Devlin, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Zeke is supremely unruffled, every ounce of his steely control back in place, but he measures his tone to be respectful.

“Jesus wept!” Of course, my grandma chooses this exact moment to shuffle out onto the porch and start shouting obscenities. “Are you seeing this, Sharon?” she hollers at my mom, who seems to have regained some of her motor function.

“Yup, I’m definitely seeing it, Beatrice.” Her tinkling laugh sets the birds in a nearby oak off, and they begin merrily chirping their evening song. I sigh internally—this is going to be a long weekend. Grandma moves with surprising speed, overtaking my mom on her walker, kicking gravel up as she makes a beeline for Zeke with a sly grin on her weathered face.

“Give an old lady some sugar, Sugar.” She giggles and I swear a faint blush stains her papery cheeks.

“Grandma!” I groan, sending a pleading glance to Mom, who just smiles and shrugs.

Zeke laughs good-naturedly and stoops to grace my beaming grandma with a chaste kiss on her cheek. “Thank you for having me,” he says smoothly as he pulls away. Grandma looks like she might die a happy lady if she keeled over right now.

“Oh nonsense, we’re thrilled to have you!” Mom exclaims as she barrels forward and envelopes him in a hug.

“Erm, hello? Where is my hug? You know, the one you birthed?” I grumble, crossing my arms.

Zeke shoots me a wink over my mom's shoulder, and I stick my tongue out at him like the petulant child I am. He chuckles as Mom lets him go. “I’m sorry for my mother-in-law here, we don’t…well, I’ll just say it. We don’t get men round here who look like you.” My mom giggles like a schoolgirl before shooting a glance over her shoulder. “No offense, Pete.”

“Offense taken,” my dad grumbles, eyeing Zeke furtively.

“Stop being a grump and help them get their bags.” Mom tuts, gesturing me forward and wrapping me up in a big hug.

“No Mom, I told you, we’re staying at The Sovereign,” I protest, trying to fight my way out of the hug that only a moment ago felt like heaven. Aka, where we can have separate rooms and it not be noticed.

“And I told you, I won’t have my own family stay in a hotel when we have a perfectly good home here.” She wrestles me to stay in her arms with surprising strength.

“Mom!” My responding growl is muffled into the shoulder of her shirt.

She releases me with a satisfied sigh, holding me by my arms as she looks me over. “You’re too skinny.” She sniffs before turning to Zeke. I blink, glancing up at the sky as if God might grace me with a little lightning bolt to end my suffering. “You don’t mind staying here instead, do you, handsome?”

I snap my chin down and deliver a thousand-watt death glare to the towering man who is leaning back casually against the hood of the car, one ankle crossed over the other to mirror his arms. He grins under my mom's attention, like the cat that got the cream. “Not at all—I’d love that.”

Chapter 18

Zeke:You fucked Chloe’s sister??

Logan: A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.

Zeke:You’re not a gentleman, that’s the problem.

Logan:Are you seriously trying to police my dick?

Zeke:Bit late for that by the sound of it.

Logan:Lighten up dude. It was a one-time thing. She’s a wild card, that one.

ZEKE

After everyone has been formally introduced, I make a big show of slinging a casual arm around Chloe’s shoulders and pulling her stiff little body into the side of mine as we follow her family back into the house. She’s practically vibrating with annoyance, and I get a kick out of stoking that fire.

“Don’t forget we’re supposed to be madly in love,” I tease with my lips at her ear.

A little feminine growl hisses from her lips as she turns her head to glare up at me. “I’m going to cut off your balls and wear them as earrings, Guerra.”

Yowch. That sounds painful, so why am I grinning? “Later,” I promise with a wink that does nothing but cause the muscle in her cheek to twitch. Truthfully, I’m glad for the excuse to focus on something that isn’t the way she melted into me back in the car. I had only intended to kiss her briefly, but the little firecracker had other ideas, and I fucking loved it. I’ll admit, the lines between my resolve and what I want from this woman are so blurred they could have been drawn blindfolded on an Etch A Sketch and I’m more than a little intrigued to spend a night in the same bed. It’s like all logic and reason fly out the window when she’s close. And that wouldn’t be concerning if I wasn’t a man governed by both of thosethings. I don’t make decisions on a whim. Every move is calculated, weighed, and logical. Yet one little whimper from the back of her throat and I wanted to drag her across the console and impale her on my aching dick.

I’m self-aware enough to see this for what it is. An inevitable game of cat and mouse that’s bound to land us in hot water. But I’m just intoxicated enough by her to be considering leaping into the deep end anyway. Who am I kidding? The moment she taunted me on the plane, I decided that I wouldn’t give up until she was on her knees begging for my cock. Consequences be damned. Jealousy from a woman usually irritates me. The pouting, the passive aggressive sulking. But there is something about that flash of fire in her crystalline eyes as she watched me interact with the hostess that made me want to beat my chest in victory.