“Yes ma’am. I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs Ellington. These are for you.” He holds out the flowers.
“Oooh, how lovely, and my favourite colour. And please, call me Nora.” She takes them with delight and he holds out his hand. She ignores it and goes to hug him too. I watch in amusement as his eyes widen slightly before he submits. I perhaps should’ve warned him my mum is a hugger, but honestly this is more fun.
“And I brought this as well.” He passes the bottle of wine over and my mum takes it, reading the label. I know with my parents’ friendship with Rafe’s, she’ll recognise it, and she nods approvingly.
“Thank you, come and meet Henry.” She leads us along the hallway and into the large lounge. My dad is over by the drinks cabinet. He comes forwards and shakes Chase’s hand and they introduce themselves. Mum gives dad the bottle of wine, and he too reads the label.
“Lucky choice or insider knowledge?” My dad quizzes him and I groan inwardly, but Chase turns on the charm.
“Recommended by some friends, but I didn’t know about the connections with the Aldersons until Noah mentioned it.”
My dad smiles and I heave a sigh. I wasn’t nervous as such, but there was still some anxiety. Chase said he’s never met parents before, and I haven’t ever brought anyone home. Not that I don’t think my parents will love him as much as I do.
Love.
The word bursts in my head and I get stuck, just staring at Chase talking with my father. I can’t hear what they’re talking about. All of my senses are narrowed on the gorgeous man before me. I don’t know what love feels like, all I know is that I miss him like a limb if he’s not close by, and when he is, everything feels right. And I can’t imagine feeling this way about anyone else. Maybe I should ask Rafe, he should know. A tugging on my arm breaks me out of my reverie and I push the word out of my head for now.
“C’mon, I need your help in the kitchen.” My mum links her arm through mine and pulls me out of the room.
“Well, he’s very handsome,” my mum says as soon as we’re in the kitchen and out of earshot.
“Muuuum!” I groan, but she just laughs and shrugs.
“Well, he is.”
I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised at her reaction, as he is a lot closer to her age than mine. Probably only a couple of years. Okay, that is a thought I don’t need in my head. Instead, I busy myself with helping her. Not that she needs it, as she’s held a lot of dinner parties over the years. Every so often I glance into the lounge, but my dad and Chase are still deep in conversation, so I don’t interrupt.
It doesn’t take long before we’re sitting down to dinner. Chase slides into the seat next to me.
“Alright?” I whisper and he nods, looking far more relaxed than he did when we first walked in.
“I like your parents,” he whispers back and reaches for my hand under the table.
“They like you too,” I reply, and he squeezes my hand before releasing it to take some bread my mum is offering him froma basket. We talk easily while we eat, and over the main course of Dover sole and Jersey royal new potatoes, dad asks me about the business.
“It’s going okay so far. Four of my previous clients are now signed with me, and I’m still hopeful the fifth will join me. And of course I have Chase. I have an assistant now as well. He’s already been a great help. But of course I need to find more, so tomorrow I’m going?—”
Chase’s fork clatters on his plate, but it’s my dad I’m looking at and he’s frowning. It’s the same look Chase gave me earlier when I was just finishing off some marketing copy before we came here. He turns his attention to Chase and I follow his gaze.
“Sweetheart. Tomorrow is Sunday,” Chase says quietly to me.
“But—”
“You need to rest. You can’t work every day of the week.”
“I’m sure you did when you were starting out,” I protest.
“Yes, I did, and I burned out. It’s definitely one of the tips I’ll be putting in my book. About maintaining balance.”
“Okay.” After a second he picks up his fork again and turns his charm on my mum, complimenting her on the food. I eat a few forkfuls of food but can feel my dad’s eyes boring into me. When I look up, I expect the frown to still be in place, but his expression is softer and he smiles at me when I catch his eye. I know they mean well, but they don’t understand, and despite what I said to Chase, I’ll find time to do some work tomorrow. I want to finalise what I’m going to send to the publishers about his book.
Chase talks about my parents for all of the drive home. He and my dad have many more mutual contacts than theythought, which makes sense. So I just let him talk while I work through the publishing proposal in my head, though I can’t stop yawning. Once we’re back at the house and in his bedroom, Chase pulls me towards him.
“That went well.” He presses a kiss to my jaw and I tilt my head to allow him better access as he works his way down my neck.
“It did. I told you there was nothing to be nervous about.” I squeak as he nips at my shoulder.
“Yes. Now, what about that promise you gave me before we left?” He licks over the mark his teeth made.