Page 102 of My Craving

“You were my best friend. You should’ve been helping me for free. I want my money back.”

Max laughs and reaches for the remote. “You’re sleeping with a billionaire now. I think you’ll survive if I don’t.”

“I’m not sleeping with his bank account, asshole.”

“No, but from what I’ve seen of Duncan, I’m pretty sure his bank account considers you a dependent.”

I throw one of the couch pillows at him. Max catches it against his chest, laughing as I point at him.

“I still want my fucking money back.”

“Nope.”

“With interest.” I settle back against the couch with my coffee. “Put something on before I start calculating what you owe me.”

Max goes back to the television, and I stretch my legs out across the couch while the familiar sound of him complaining about everything he scrolls past fills the room. I have questions, and I’m definitely not finished giving him shit about any of this, but there’s no rush anymore. Zee isn’t some stranger hiding behind a screen.

He’s Max.

Apparently, he always has been.

Epilogue

Duncan-Meet the parents

“Son of a bitch.” I mumble under my breath as I pull on another shirt. I started with my usual dress shirt and pants, but it looked too formal. Now I’m in jeans and a plain black T-shirt, and I look like I’m trying too hard to be casual. What the fuck am I supposed to wear to meet Nash’s parents?

“What the hell are you doing?” Nash walks into the bedroom with that fucking smirk on his face. Normally, I love it. Today, I’m about two seconds away from spanking it right off him.

“Your parents will be here in a few minutes, and I have no idea what the dress code is.” I look him over in his ripped jeans and the T-shirt hanging off one shoulder. Standing next to him dressed like this isn’t helping. He’s thirty-one. I’m forty-six. His parents know that, but knowing it and seeing me standing next to their son are two different things.

Nash introduced me to them over the phone right after he got out of the hospital. He left out enough about his injuries to keep them from immediately driving to Philadelphia, and I’ve talked to them several times since. It was easy when they were voices coming through his phone. Now they’re about to walk through my front door, and I’m changing my fucking shirt for the third time.

“Just be yourself, Daddy.” Nash steps into my arms and wraps himself around me. “You are who I love, and they will too.”

“That’s easier said than done. Their opinion matters to you.”

“You seem to forget that the first time I met your family away from the office, it was an ambush. I handled that just fine.” He pushes up onto his toes and kisses under my jaw. “You look great in what you have on now.”

I lean down and kiss him, only intending to shut him up for a second. His mouth opens beneath mine, his tongue meeting mine, and I cup his ass and pull him against me. Nash makes a quiet sound into my mouth when his cock starts getting hard against mine.

“Daddy, my parents are very accepting, but I refuse to introduce them to my boyfriend with a boner. Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

I laugh against his mouth and let him go, adjusting myself as I follow him downstairs.

In the living room, I open the wine to let it breathe and check the glasses beside the bourbon I put out for his dad. Nash picks up the bottle and reads the label.

“Do not ever tell Dad how much that costs. He drinks Jack and Jim, and when he’s celebrating, he gets Jameson.”

“Who?”

He slowly lowers the bottle and looks at me. I almost make it before I start laughing.

“You’re fucking with me.”

The alarm signals someone coming through the gate before he can say anything else.

“They’re here.” Nash starts toward the front door, then turns around. “Oh, and Daddy, I’m wearing that deep purple lace thong that you like so much. Be good, and you can rip it off later.”