Page 84 of Breakaway Bet

“We’re going to Minnesota. I’m going to introduce you to my mom. Our flight leaves in ninety minutes, so make quick work of packing, okay?”

I blink in confusion and repeat the same question. “What?”

He laughs. “Call Everleigh and find out if you can skip work. Pack a bag and be ready to get on a plane in less than a half hour. We need to carry on since we’re cutting it close.”

I stare at him for a beat until I realize…oh, okay. He’s actually serious.

I scramble out of the car, run up the stairs, and throw a few clothing items and my bathroom essentials into a cosmetic bag.

Somehow, in ways that still remain a mystery to me now, we board an airplane and are landing a few hours later in Minnesota.

This was not on my bingo card for my Saturday night, but I’m excited to meet the woman who made Cash into the gentleman he is today.

We get off the plane, and he drags both my suitcase and his own. I haven’t quite figured out how I’m presenting this to my sister yet, so I have yet to message her regarding Monday and Tuesday. But for now, I’m just going to focus on meeting my mother-in-law.

The words sound wild even in my own mind, but that’s who she is.

We find a man in a suit holding a tablet with Ivy Maddox glowing on it, and the name absolutely floors me. I was not expecting that when I was walking through the airport.

I glance over at Cash with a very clear question mark in my eyes, and he is not saying a word as he smiles at me, his eyes twinkling like he’s in on a secret that I don’t know quite yet.

I walk up to the man and smile. “I’m Ivy.”

He nods and says, “Follow me.”

I just shake my head and hide my secret smile, knowing that I’m in for whatever surprises he decides he has in store for me over the next few days of this trip.

We follow the man out to a car that’s double-parked on the curb, and he nods to it.

“Thank you,” Cash says, and then he slips behind the wheel.

I laugh at him as we take off for our destination, which is presumably his mom’s house.

“Ivy Maddox?” I ask.

He smirks over at me, that smirk that I’m absolutely becoming addicted to. “Figured it would attract less attention than my name.”

“It’s not my legal name yet, but ever since we got married, I’ve been using it.”

He raises his brows. “Maybe it should be.”

Maybe it should, indeed.

About forty-five minutes later, we pull into the adorable little Minnesota suburb of Maple Grove.

“A couple things,” he says casually as we drive toward the house. “First of all, we’ll be staying in the house I grew up in. I’ve begged my mom to move to Vegas, but she refuses. All her friends are nearby, and she didn’t particularly want to change the life that she had lived just because I decided I wanted to do this with my life.”

“Can’t really blame her for that,” I say.

He shakes his head. “Not at all. I also should tell you that the morning after we got married, when I talked to her, she asked me if it was just some drunken mistake, and I told her it was not.”

I raise my brows at his admission. “So that’s the ruse we’re keeping up, then?” He nods, and I suck my top lip between my teeth. “Okay,” I say. “So does this mean I’ll get to see your childhood bedroom?”

He chuckles. “Baby, you’re not gonna just get to see it. You’re going to get to sleep in it.”

I raise my brows. “Lucky me.”

It’s still kind of unbelievable that not only am I married to this man, but I lost my virginity to him last night. And less than twenty-four hours later, he’s taking me home to meet his mother.