Totally, Sweetly, Irrevocably

by Kira Archer

  Gina laughed. “I could tell.”

  “You don’t have to come tomorrow, if you’d rather not.”

  His phone beeped before she could answer him, and he pulled it out, grimacing when he saw the message.

  “What is it?” Gina asked.

  Rick sighed. “My mother. She’s excited to meet you tomorrow. She’s going to bake her famous chocolate cake.”

  Gina shook her head with a laugh. “Your sister called your mother already? In the two minutes since she left here?”

  “Yeah. She’s a piece of work. Probably knew we might try to back out and figured laying on the mom guilt would get us there.”

  “I’d hate for your mom to go to any extra trouble for me, though. Can’t you call and…”

  He was already shaking his head before she’d finished asking. “Once Mom has a party planned, it’s pretty much impossible to stop her.”

  “Bringing me home is grounds for a party?”

  He really didn’t want to answer that. His mom and sisters would be falling all over themselves to make it a special night. Because he’d never brought a girl home before. He’d had girlfriends, sure. And they’d met his family. But he’d never brought one over for a family dinner. Those were special family nights, and he’d never really felt the urge to include any of his previous girlfriends in them.

  While he’d definitely been roped into bringing Gina, he was surprised to find he didn’t really mind. He couldn’t help wondering what his mom would think about her. Of course, bringing home a girl he wasn’t even dating and had no hope of a future with was beyond pointless. What difference did it make if his mother loved her? A relationship between them would never work. Introducing her to his family seemed almost…dishonest.

  But Jenny had probably already texted his other sisters and let them know. His mother was almost certainly already getting the house cleaned up and pulling out ingredients. Backing out now would create a lot more problems than it would solve.

  Gina watched him, waiting for an answer. He gave her a small smile. “My mother will latch onto any reason she can find to throw a party. That woman loves to celebrate. But don’t worry. It’s only dinner. And just the family. Nothing major. Though my mother’s chocolate cake is definitely worth making the trip. Three layers dripping with the absolute best chocolate frosting you’ve ever tasted in your life.”

  “Well, I guess I can’t say no to chocolate cake.”

  The warmth always present in his chest when he looked at her spread throughout him. He swore that smile of hers could single-handedly melt the polar ice caps. Although…that wasn’t really a good thing. Seemed to have the same effect on him, though. Impressive…and disastrous.

  “Are you done?” he asked, pointing at her nearly empty bowl of noodles.

  Gina glanced down like she’d forgotten it was there. “Oh, yeah.”

  Rick grabbed the check and quickly paid the bill, leaving a generous tip for their waitress.

  “That was amazing, thanks,” Gina said as he led her back outside and to the car.

  “My pleasure. I can’t believe you’ve never eaten here before. I’m glad I was here for your first time.”

  She glanced up at him, startled by his choice of words. So was he. But he couldn’t seem to stop baiting her. Getting a rise out of her was quickly becoming one of his favorite pastimes. And it was only fair to get a little payback for the near-constant rise she got out of him. Mentally and physically. The woman was going to be the death of him. And he’d probably enjoy every single second of it.

  He was one sick, twisted puppy, no doubt about it. “We’ll have to give up truck stalking tomorrow night.”

  “I’ll rope Jared into watching it. That boy needs to get out of the house and off his computer anyway.”

  “Jared?” The twinge of jealousy that stabbed him at the mention of another man’s name was a surprise. An unwelcome one. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been jealous. And they weren’t even dating. How much worse would things be if they were?

  Gina, thankfully, did not notice anything. “A friend of mine. He helps out at the bakery sometimes, does all our advertising and marketing stuff.”

  “Ah. And he won’t mind sitting on a rooftop watching a truck all night?”

  She laughed. “It probably wouldn’t be his first choice of ways to spend a Saturday night, but he’ll do it for me if I ask nice enough. It might cost me a date with one of my friends or something. But he’ll do it.”

  “Good. Well, then.” They’d reached the bakery and got out of the car, but now Rick was suddenly at a loss for how to leave. Before that night he’d just…left. But after what had happened, driving away felt wrong. He didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to take her back to his place and continue what they’d started on the roof. But that couldn’t happen. Yet.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, her voice as hesitant as he felt.

  He gazed down at her, into those big brown eyes of hers. Fuck it. He pulled her to him, covering her lips with his own. She responded instantly, parting her lips to welcome him inside. He kissed her until she was breathless and swaying against him. And then he released her.

  “Until tomorrow.” He gave her one last swift kiss, then got in the car and drove away.

  While he still could.

  Chapter Ten

  “Wait a second,” Jared said. “You’re going to meet the family? You? Who is this guy again?”

  Gina glanced up from her coffee and muffin to glare at Jared. “Don’t start.”

  Jared grinned. He was not one to steer from a conversation because it made the other person uncomfortable. In fact, that made the topic all the more juicy to him.

  “Jared, leave her alone,” Eric said.

  “Thank you, Eric. I always did like you.” Gina gave her best friend’s husband a grateful smile.

  Nat, her BFF and business partner, gave a short laugh. “Oh, please. You couldn’t stand him when you first met.”

  “Well, that’s only because I thought he was using you and trying to steal your dream away. He’s grown on me.”

  “Ah, that’s because she figured out that I was her dream, huh?” Eric said, reaching out to grab his wife around the waist and pull her down to his lap.

  “Well, ‘dream’ is kind of a strong word…” Nat started, her words cut off with a yelp when Eric went on the attack.

  Gina shook her head and averted her eyes from the sudden and very thorough display of affection Nat and her hubby had devolved into.

  “Seriously can’t take these two anywhere,” she muttered to Jared.

  He took a sip of his coffee. “That’s why we hang out here. Can you imagine them in public?”

  Nat and Eric came up for air and glared in mock irritation at their respective best friends. “You’re just jealous,” Eric said, kissing his wife again.

  Yeah…maybe we are. The thought startled Gina. She’d always been happy with her single status. She’d had a boyfriend or two who could have gotten serious, but it never took long for irritation over all her issues to set in. Though maybe it was less her unwillingness to commit and more her unwillingness to settle that was the problem. She’d never met anyone who’d sparked even a third of the interest that Rick did.

  Maybe it was a forbidden love kind of thing. There was no way they could ever make a relationship work. Rick was a freaking cop who lived every second of his life by a rule book. Gina could never live like that. And she’d agreed to meet his family. His big, boisterous (if they were anything like the one sister she’d met) family. What the hell had she been thinking?

  “I’m going to call and cancel,” she said.

  “What?” Nat climbed off Eric’s lap and sat next to her. “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why? I’ve never met any guy’s family. This is…weird. We aren’t even dating. He’s only hanging around with me to make sure I don’t do anything illegal that will make his life more annoying. The only reason I even got invited in
the first place is because his sister saw us. She probably felt obligated. Or totally read the situation the wrong way, which is all kinds of awkward. And you know I’m not a big family person. I can barely handle hanging around you three, and I like you guys.”

  “Ah, come on,” Jared said. “It’d be worth going to the dinner just to get a little one-on-one time with that man.”

  He glanced around at all the surprised faces suddenly staring at him. “What? I’ve seen the guy. Hell, if there was ever anyone who could sway me to the other team, it’d be him.”

  Gina threw a piece of muffin at him, but instead of it hitting him in the face, Jared snapped it right out of the air and chewed happily. “Thanks. Anyhow, for you to agree to go in the first place, I’d say there’s got to be something more between you two than him trying to prevent you from committing a felony. Which is a pretty pointless endeavor, anyway. I mean really, it’s only a matter of time.”

  Gina glared at him. “Keep it up, Chuckles. My first felony might be a nice little assault.”

  “Ah, now there’s the Gina I know and tolerate. Be sure to show that side to his family. You’ll never be invited back. Problem solved.”

  Gina chucked the whole muffin at him this time, smiling when it bounced off his forehead.

  “All right, you two,” Nat said. She stood and waved her hands at Eric and Jared to shoo them off. “Eric, take your boy out of here so Gina and I can have some adult conversation.”

  Jared scowled at her, though the look was tinged with the amusement that never really left his face. The day Jared took something seriously enough to truly frown, Gina would pack her bags and head for the hills, because it was definitely a sign of the apocalypse.

  As soon as the men were gone, Nat plopped down next to her. “Spill it.”

  “Nothing to spill.”

  Nat eyeballed her and Gina squirmed. Nat was the only one who could make her do that. She finally groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t know what’s going on. Until today I’d have said nothing. Or, you know, not really. I mean, he’s seriously hot, I’ll give him that…”

  Nat’s eyebrow rose. “Hot? The man is a bulging, ripped walking orgasm waiting to happen.”

  Gina’s jaw dropped. That observation was something that normally would have come out of Gina’s mouth, not Nat’s. But hell, when the woman was right, she was right.

  Nat shrugged. “I’m married, not dead. Anyhow, continue.”

  Gina shook her head. “God, I don’t know. He’s a pain in my ass. Every time I turn around I think he’s going to whip out his little ticket pad and write me up for whatever infraction of the law I’ve committed. But last night…he’s not some stuffy paper pusher cop, you know? He’s kind of a badass.”

  Her lips twitched again, remembering the scene. “He surprised me. I don’t know why. I mean he’s obviously more than capable of taking down a bad guy. I guess I didn’t expect to see it up close and personal.” She frowned slightly. “He took a knife for me, Nat. He said it was a scratch. But it was a big scratch. Two dozen stitches worth of a scratch. I still can’t believe it.”

  Nat reached over and squeezed her hand for a second. “Not all cops are bad, Gina. I’ve been telling you that for years. Most are pretty decent. Some are downright heroic.”

  “I know. I guess I’ve never really seen it.”

  “Well, it’s not like you give people a whole lot of opportunity to help you out,” Nat said, giving her a chastising but fond smile.

  “Yeah, I know. I’m a pain in the ass, too.”

  “Yes, you are. But I love you, anyway.”

  Gina laughed. “Yeah, well, after that I was kind of rattled, I guess. And we were standing there and I’d just bandaged him up and…well…”

  Nat sat up and leaned forward. “Gina…you didn’t!”

  “We kissed.”

  “What?” Nat looked like someone had handed her a winning lotto ticket for Christmas.

  “Relax there, Captain. It was only a kiss.”

  Nat didn’t look like she believed her. “Only a kiss, huh?”

  “I mean, it was a good kiss.”

  Nat’s eyebrow rose, and Gina’s cheeks grew warm. The realization she was blushing for the first time in she-didn’t-know-how-long made her cheeks burn hotter. Nat’s eyes grew rounder.

  “Okay,” Gina said. “It was a very good kiss. Hell, he had me against the wall and panting for more.”

  “And you didn’t give him more because…”

  Gina frowned. “We kind of had to stop so he could go get stitched up.”

  “I guess that’s kind of a mood killer.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Gina mumbled.

  Nat gave her a smug smile. “And now you’re going to meet his family. That must have been some make-out session.”

  “He’s only taking me because his sister forced him into it.”

  Nat shook her head. “Honey, one thing that I’ve learned over the years is you can’t force a man to do anything. At least not when it comes to something like that. He’s taking you home to meet his mother. I’m not saying it means anything, necessarily. But I guarantee you he wouldn’t be doing it if at least some part of him didn’t want to. His friends, maybe. Even some siblings. But this is his mother. He must like you at least a little, and probably more than a little, to introduce you to her.”

  Gina dropped her head on the table, welcoming the sharp pain when her forehead made contact. “This is such a mistake.”

  “Why?”

  Gina turned her head enough to look up at her friend. “We aren’t together. We won’t ever be. There is no point in the whole familial meet-and-greet.”

  “Oh, come on. You don’t know what’ll happen in the future. Maybe things will work out.”

  “Doubtful. We’d drive each other nuts inside of a week. If it even took that long. I bet the man has never so much as drunk straight from the jug in his whole life. Can you imagine me with a guy like that?”

  Nat looked her over, her smile growing as she did. “A week ago I’d have said no. Now…I’m not so sure.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  Nat shrugged. “Nothing. Stop worrying so much. Go have fun. It’s only dinner with some nice people he happens to be related to. No biggie.”

  Gina laughed. “It does sound a little less terrifying that way.”

  “See? You’ll be fine.”

  Gina sighed. She hoped Nat was right.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rick waited outside the bakery for Gina to finish up, trying to keep his anxiety about the coming evening under control. He loved his family, more than anything. But they were loud, spirited, and except for his dad, all female, and they tended to want to be in everyone’s business all the time. They were overwhelming—on a good day when they were on their best behavior and nothing special was happening. But the only son of the family bringing home a girl? The impending third degree had him breaking out in a sweat.

  He’d already told his mother in no uncertain terms that Gina was a friend and nothing more, and she had promised to try to rein in his sisters. But he knew the effort would be futile. Growing up it had been like having five mothers. Try being a teenage boy in a house with five women. It had been a weird, loving, but torturous upbringing. Some days he was still surprised he’d made it out without needing major therapy. His poor father had claimed he loved being surrounded by lovely ladies all day. But Rick was pretty sure that was just the Stockholm syndrome talking. The man had been surrounded for so long, he’d surrendered and joined the Pink Side long ago.

  Gina finally came out, and all thoughts of his sisters evaporated.

  “I hope this is okay,” she said. “It’s really the only semi-nice thing I have. My closet is mostly jeans and T-shirts.”

  She smoothed her hands down the sides of her leather pencil skirt. A charcoal-gray shirt with sheer lace three-quarter length sleeves and a pair of black boots that encased her shapely calves completed the ou
tfit. She’d swept her hair half up into a messy twisted knot on her head that showed off the mutli-colored streaks beneath the first layer.

  “Jeans would have been fine. You look incredible, though.” He took her arm and pulled her in for a kiss.

  “Nat offered to let me borrow one of her dresses but those…”

  “Weren’t you,” he said, trying and failing to picture her dressed up in some flimsy sundress.

  “Yeah.” She went back to gnawing on her bottom lip.

  “Don’t look so worried.”

  She frowned. “I’m not worried.”

  “Then why are you chewing your lip?” he asked, reaching out to pull her lip from between her teeth.

  She grimaced. “Okay, I’m a little nervous.”

  He walked her over to his car and opened the passenger door for her. He detected a bit of an eye roll, but she slid into her seat without any comment. He hurried around to his side and hopped in.

  “Really, try not to stress too bad. I’m not going to lie; my sisters will probably pester the shit out of you, and I’m expecting a full interrogation.”

  “Well, that sounds lovely.”

  Rick laughed. “I’ve told them all that we are friends and I’m helping you out with a little situation you’ve got that required my expertise.”

  She snorted at that. “What expertise? Sitting around on your ass, eating snacks, and staring at nothing all night?”

  “Hey. Don’t knock it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d rather be sitting around watching a game or a movie than a stationary truck that no one has looked twice at the whole time we’ve been watching. But you know, your thing is fun, too.”

  “Well, I keep trying to tell you, you don’t need to babysit me. If I’m cramping your solitary lifestyle too much, you are more than welcome to go back to it any time you want.”

  “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little solitude every now and then. If you’d grown up in my house, you’d be begging for some alone time, too.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  Rick laughed. “Four younger sisters. Who all decided as soon as they could walk and talk that the one mother I had wasn’t near enough. Try living in a house with five mother hens constantly breathing down your neck.”