Page 38 of Refurbished

She turned to me, and I knew my face was red. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to imply, but it was a surprise that you would take the time out of your day to cook for me.”

Putting her hand on my arm, she gave me a serious look. “Angus is my greatest life achievement. Cooking for his boyfriend is my honor.”

My throat grew tight, and for some reason, there was a stinging in my eyes. Was someone being kind to me simply because their son cared about me? I suppose it didn’t help that my feelings for him were getting more complicated by the hour. As a mother, she loved him that much. I couldn’t help but be amazed by it. “Well, thank you. I managed to croak out.” Angus looked at me, his eyes soft, but there was heat there too. Was he always so hot? Had I missed it? Because right now I wanted to pin him to any surface and do very, very dirty things to him. Christ. What’s wrong with me?

We touched on the Sanctuary and the things I needed from the fundraiser. Amelia spent the remainder of dinner telling me stories about Angus as a child. From what I could tell, he was a quiet kid who stayed close to his mom and didn’t have many friends at school. One of the best stories was when he dropped his favorite book in the mud and came home hysterical. It took them ten minutes to realize it wasn’t him or someone else who was injured. I gave Angus a kiss and hoped to soothe his embarrassment. I didn’t think about what his mother might think about this public display. Briefly, I panicked, then froze and looked at him, but the smile he gave me was all happiness. “I want to protect little Angus and his books,” I said as I looked at him.

His eyes got big, and that lustful look was still there. His hand that was on my leg slid up my thigh and then rested against my balls. Something I said made him happy and horny.

“Why don’t you two go into the living room? We can have coffee or tea, and I made dessert.” Amelia was as sweet as her son.

When we went into the other room, Angus pulled me against him and kissed me. “She likes you.”

I still carried a little tension and hoped I made a good impression. “I really hope so. She is really nice.” He kissed me again, and it was barely a whisper against my lips. What it conveyed were hopes and dreams. Yeah, I read an awful lot into a kiss, but this was different than the ones that came before it.

“Well, I haven’t ever brought someone home before, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to, but I know my mom. She’s enamored with you.”

Just then, Amelia walked in carrying a tray with cheesecake and mugs. She left, and when she returned, there was a coffee carafe and a teapot. Shit, she brought both, and I was sure she knew what her son preferred. “Coffee? Tea?”

I didn’t mind being awake for a while. I hoped Angus felt the same way. “Coffee, please.”

Angus made us both a cup and wiggled his eyebrows at me. “A little extra caffeine tonight, I won’t mind at all.”

“Boys, I don’t need to hear about those things.”

Unable to help myself, I snorted. “Mom. Why must you embarrass me?”

She laughed. It sounded similar to Angus when he was completely relaxed. “You are my son. It is my right to make you squirm. Speaking of which.”

I watched as she walked over to the bookcase and picked up a photo album. “Mom. No.”

Angus looked at her, clearly horrified. “Angus, your boyfriend, should know everything about you. The good and bad.”

They looked at each other, and I was pretty sure neither of them blinked. I realized they were communicating something I wasn’t privy to, but it was important. I considered excusing myself. “Yeah. You’re right, I want him to know everything about me.”

She gave him a smile only a mother could give her child, then kissed him on his cheek. She sat down next to me on the couch. “This is Angus throughout the years. Prepare to go on this wondrous journey with me.” She giggled at her own comment.

There were all the standard pictures, including an adorable one of Angus as a little boy in the bathtub, his hair pointed with shampoo. Every mother has that picture, I swear, but Angus was particularly adorable. His hand was on my thigh, relaxed, his thumb gently rubbing the muscle.

“This was Angus as a teenager.” His hand latched onto my thigh hard. The teen on the page looked nothing like the man whom I’d gotten to know over the last few months. The kid in the picture was uncomfortably skinny and looked physically small. You could sense his insecurities when you looked at the picture. In family photos, Angus was in the background, clearly not part of the group. The photos from high school included graduation day. Angus still looked underweight; his eyes were sad, with none of the brightness that I could see now.

“Angus struggled after we lost his dad.” She looked at him. He squeezed my leg so hard it hurt, so I slipped my hand over his, lacing our fingers together. I had no idea whether this was something they had planned, but it was clearly something his mother thought I should know.

I whispered in his ear, “We can stop this if you want, but you can tell me anything.”

“It’s okay. You need to know.”

His mom gave him a closed-mouth smile. Her eyes lit up when she looked at her son. “Eion, you bring out the very best in Angus. You make him really happy.”

“He needs to know Mom because he is just that special.”

Her eyes got soft when he said the words. I wasn’t sure what was coming, but this was obviously a sensitive subject. “Like I was saying, Angus struggled after his father passed. Thirteen-year-old boys shouldn’t be without a father, and losing him was sudden.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was already uncomfortable. “I’m sorry that you both had to live through that.”

“Thank you, Eion. It was a long time ago now. My son was hurting, but I was too busy grieving myself to notice.”

Angus spoke up. “Mom, you were doing your best.”