Page 75 of Dreams and Reptiles

“Am I going to have to send you two with muscle next time?”

Auntie Judy wiggled her eyebrows. “You can send us with that Roger and his boyfriend. Derek might not know what to do with them, but I’ve got a few ideas.”

“Oh my goshness, my sensitive ears.” I fanned myself as I walked toward the stairs. “I’m going to shower, and then I’ll be down to get lunch ready.”

“Make sure you don’t look like you’ve been ridden wet and put away hard when you come back.”

I gasped and turned back to glare at my mother.

“I think it’s the other way around,” Auntie Judy said. “Ridden hard and put away wet. I heard it in a Western movie once.”

“You two can go home now,” I called down. They were cackling as I shut my door.

When I looked in the mirror, though, I totally fit that description. My lips were swollen, my neck flushed, and my hair… what was even going on with it? Normally it fell straight, but it was sticking out in several directions. I needed to get it cut, or at least tamed. Especially if I was going to be sneaking into my own house after a morning of particularly strenuous sex with my boyfriend.

Yeah, I was ridiculous, and I didn’t care one bit.

I waved goodbye to the last of the romance authors two days later, having made new besties for life. We’d all traded social media handles, and they said they’d be back, as a group or individuals. They gave me some great feedback and did indeed want to know all about my gay romance happening right under their noses. I didn’t kiss and tell. Okay, I didn’t tell anything other than the kissing parts. After what I’d heard them discuss, they didn’t need any help from me in the part-A-into-slot-B descriptions.

My solo writer, BL Maxwell, checked in two days prior and said that, yes, please, she really wanted to stay the two weeks as we’d discussed, and she even hung out with my other authors before they left. I wasn’t just helping make dreams come true, I was building bridges between artists as well.

All the activity helped take my mind off the next hurdle for Kendall and me.

Shay Warren.

His Saucy Daughter.

She’d flown in the previous night, and since I’d had my romance authors to feed and entertain—I did indeed keep Kendall fed by making fence-line deliveries—we’d agreed that he should take their first day together to catch up. He also planned to tell her about us and gauge her reaction.

His text later had me cracking up.

Hot Pants Boyfriend: I cannot be held responsible for what happens, but Shay and I would like to take you to dinner at Knots and Pies. Are you free?

Saucy Boyfriend: So you mean like a date. With you and your daughter.

Hot Pants Boyfriend: When you put it that way…

Hot Pants Boyfriend: Think of it as less date, more interrogation.

Saucy Boyfriend: An interrodate. Say less. I’m in.

Hot Pants Boyfriend: I’m not sure which of us has more to fear.

Saucy Boyfriend: You, obviously.

Hot Pants Boyfriend: Obviously.

Saucy Boyfriend: Can’t wait.

Being busy with the retreat meant I hadn’t really had a chance to freak out about meeting his daughter, but as I waited for Kendall and Shay to swing by and pick me up, my stomach was in knots.

I’d never done the whole “meet the family” thing.

I’d certainly never done the “meet your kid who’s only six years younger than me” thing. Would this be the thing that derailed us?

I sure as hell hoped not.

I’d left a meal in the fridge for Ms. Maxwell and was just wiping the counter when there was a knock at the front door.