Page 106 of Wrong For Me

She looks up at me and smiles, but it seems forced. “Fine.”

I nudge her phone. “Cousin thread blowing up?” She hadn’t been joking when she told me they gossiped worse than middle school girls. She gets at least twenty alerts a day from their thread. It seems like she’s always talking to someone she’s related to.

She shakes her head, frowning slightly. “My parents. They’re mad because I said I wasn’t coming over on Sunday.”

I know her entire family gets together for lunch or dinner most weekends. But I didn’t know she was avoiding it. “Why aren’t you going?”

She scowls. “Because I don’t think I can handle being in the same room as my dad right now.”

From across the room, Bodhi is shamelessly eavesdropping. “You fighting with the parentals, Rose?”

She shrugs. “No. We’re not fighting. I’m just…annoyed.”

“Because your dad tried to bribe my boy here into signing an NDA?” At my glare, Bodhi holds up his hands. “What? I was there.”

Rose’s cheeks are flushed and I know she’s embarrassed that someone else knows about this. Fucking Bodhi. “How about you give us a few minutes?”

“I’m very comfortable where I am,” he says easily, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table.

“I could change that real fast,” I growl.

Rose holds up her hands. “Let’s just watch the show, okay? It’s not a big deal. God knows I see them all enough as it is. It’s not the end of the world if I miss a few Sunday lunches.”

We go back to watching the show, but she’s quiet for the rest of the night. Even when we’re laying in my bed together a few hours later, she still seems preoccupied.

“Why don’t we just go?” I ask

She turns around to face me in the dark. “Go where?”

“To your parents on Sunday.”

She stares at me for so long I think I must have overstepped. Of course she doesn’t want to introduce me to her entire family yet. It’s way too soon and—

“You would do that?” she whispers.

I cup her face. When is she going to figure out that I would do just about anything for her? “I don’t want you distancing yourself from them because of me.”

She frowns. “It’s not because of you. I told you, I’m pissed at my dad for—“

“What happened with me.”

“But that’s not your fault, Leo. That’s the whole point. It’shisfault.”

I run my fingers through her hair, comforted by the familiar silky feel of her waves. I might need some of that comfort to say what I want to.

“I’m pretty crazy about you, Rose.”

Her smile is immediate. “Well that’s embarrassing. I only like you a little.”

I roll my eyes. “Uh huh. Which is why you’ve been in my bed eight out of the last ten nights.”

I see her eyes widen in the dark. “Are you keeping track?” she asks, snorting with laughter. “That’s so weird!”

I grab her hands, pulling her across the mattress towards me. “Are you done making fun of me yet? Can we talk about this like adults?”

I can tell she’s having trouble wiping the smile from her face, but she nods. “Yes. Sorry. No more teasing.”

I study her eyes for a moment. “I’ve never really done the whole relationship thing, you know.”