“Tonight.” I sit up and say it like a promise. Because it is.
There’s no way I can walk away now. Last night was merely a taste, and if I thought I was addicted to women before, I was wrong. Nothing compares to what Lexi and I share.
Her lips purse together before they pull up at the edges. “Okay. Tonight.” She finally gives in to a smile, and with that one look I know my day will be all right. She slips from the room and seconds later I hear the spray of water in the bathroom.
Picking up my phone, I click on Mom’s name to call her back. It only rings twice before she answers.
“There’s my boy.”
“Hey, Mom.” A shuffle against the receiver, almost like the rustle sheets make, cuts me off and I swear I hear her tell someone to be patient and wait their turn. It’s muted though, as if she’s covering the phone with her hand.Fuck, what’s going on?
She comes back with a winded exhale. “How are things going?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing. How’s the gardener? You’re not letting Tony prune your rose bush, are you?”
“You mean Fernando? And we don’t have roses. You must be confusing them with the calendulas.”
“Mom!”Who the hell is Fernando? What happened to Tony?
“Son, you’re acting strange. Is everything okay? You’re behaving yourself, aren’t you?” She asks as if she doesn’t believe I am.
The vision of Lexi’s smile, a memory I can’t seem to get out of my mind, arrives with Mom’s question and I have to laugh. “I am, actually. I think you would be proud.”
“Do tell.”
“I have a special someone.”
“Special? As in thespecialwomen who frequent the house every week when you’re home?”
“No, Mom. Never mind.” I rise from the bed and search the floor for my shirt from last night.
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself! This is just too good to believe. Who is she? Do I know her?”
“You’ve actually met her. Things are really new still, but when we get a break to come home I want to introduce you. She’s smart, funny, so damn talented, and I really think you’re gonna like her.”Fuck. I remember where my shirt is. Out in the other room, along with Lexi’s sweater. I need to get out there and run interference before the guys give her shit about that. I’m not sure they heard us last night, but they had to put two and two together with my absence.
“If she can turn you to a one-woman man, I’ll love her!”
“Mom. Jesus. You make me sound like a sex fiend.” I lean in closer to the small mirror over the dresser and mess with my hair until it lays the way I like.
“That’s exactly how you’ve been acting. Don’t try to deny it.”
“Well, not anymore. At least, not with anyone other than her.”
“I’m happy for you. Don’t screw it up.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Listen to me, Trent. I’m not being rude; I’m being honest here. You don’t know how to be in a relationship. They’re hard work, even when the attraction is there. If you want her, put in the work.”
“Oh, I know all about that. She’s not easily impressed ... At least, not by my fame or money.”
“That’s good. Just don’t bail when things get difficult. Because they will. They always do.”
I know exactly to whom she’s referring. “Like Dad.”
“You are nothing like your father, Trent.”
Her defense of my character plants my ass back on the edge of the bed. I run my fingers through my hair, not bothering to tuck it back behind my ears when it falls in my eyes. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m more like him than I realize.”
