Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
“My father wants to meet you, too,” Selena says, much to my shock. “I told him about you during my Uber ride to the restaurant this evening, and he told me to set something up.”
My heart leaps. “Any time.”
Selena flashes me a breathtaking smile. “Thank you for wanting to meet my family and for taking all of this new information in stride.”
“I love you, Selena. Nothing will change that. Not the fact that you’re a badass businesswoman. Not your big house.”
“Not even my smartass kid?”
I laugh. “Drew is awesome.”
It’s all true, of course. But I can’t deny, throughout this entire exchange, an unbidden thought keeps entering my mind. Namely, Why the hell has Selena picked me, out of all the men in the world, when she could have literally anyone?
“Uh oh,” Selena says, narrowing her dark eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Today is the best day of my life.”
Selena isn’t buying it. “Tell me what you’re thinking, Grayson.”
“That I love you. That I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
She cocks her head. “No, it’s something else. You just now had a thought that made you anxious, and now you’re clearly choosing not to tell me about it—and that makes me nervous.”
Goddamn, my fucking face. “It’s nothing. For a split-second there, I couldn’t help thinking, basically, ‘What could I possibly give her that she doesn’t already have?’ But I’m not having some big, existential crisis about it. It was a fleeting thought.”
Selena touches my cheek. “What could you possibly give me? That’s an easy one, Grayson. Your heart. Your love. Honey, don’t you know you love me like nobody ever has? You love me like I’ve only ever dreamed of being loved.”
I blush. “Thank you. I love you with everything I am.”
“I know that. I can feel it. And that’s how I love you back. That’s everything to me.” She smiles. “Now, kiss me, you silly, gorgeous fool of a man, and never let me catch you wondering what’s in it for me to love you, ever again.”
“Yes, ma’am. MILF.” I lean in to kiss her but jerk back abruptly at the sound of Drew’s voice in the doorway.
“Mom?” he says. “What happened to the popcorn?”
“Oh, shit,” Selena says. She turns toward her son, flustered. “Sorry, I got distracted.”
The kid comes to a stop at the far end of the island. “There’s only twenty minutes left in the movie. We paused to take a quick bathroom break.”
“I’ll make it right now.”
She scurries off to get popping, while Drew rests his forearms on the island and looks at me. “Hey, do you play Dungeons & Dragons, by any chance?”
“I’m a computer nerd,” I say. “Of course, I do.” It’s a half-truth. I played once in middle school and sucked so badly, I got disinvited to play again. But he’s obviously asking for a reason, and there’s no way in hell I’m missing out on any opportunity to find common ground with Selena’s son.
“Would you be willing to fill in for a player this week?” Drew asks. “He got grounded and isn’t allowed to play, and all of the encounters in my campaign—I’m the DM—were balanced for six players.”
I have no idea what the fuck he’s talking about. But what I say is, “Oof. That sounds like a tough spot.”
Drew nods. “No self-respecting DM would let there be a TPK, right?”
“Hell no,” I say. “Not on your watch.” I’m pretty sure “DM” means “Dungeon Master” or “Dragon Master.” Meaning Drew is the one in charge of the game. But I make a mental note to google “TPK.” Also, the general rules of play, since standing here now I can’t remember any of them.
“So, you’ll play? It’d only be a one-time thing.”
“Yeah, I could probably help you out, depending on when and where.”
“We play online over voice chat, so you could play anywhere. But since Eddie usually comes over here to play, it’d be cool if you came here, too.”
“Great. When?”
“Thursday at seven.”
Selena interjects, “Shoot. Thursday is the only night Grandpa can do dinner this week. You’ll have to reschedule the game.”
“We can’t. Thursday is the only night everyone is free, Mom,” Drew says. “Can’t we start the game later than usual and play after dinner? Grandpa always leaves around eight-thirty.”
“Okay, as long as you don’t play past eleven.”
“Eleven-thirty?”
Selena pauses and narrows her eyes, but I’m guessing she’s only doing it for dramatic effect. “All right. Just this once.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Drew looks at me. “You should come to dinner before the game.” He looks at his mother with a mischievous smile on his face. “Unless you’re planning to keep Grayson a secret from grandpa a while longer?”
With a roll of her eyes, Selena walks toward us with a huge bowl of popcorn in her hands. “As a matter of fact, I was planning to invite Grayson to this week’s family dinner. I just wanted to make sure you’d be comfortable with it first.”