Brant gave her a questioning look. She rolled her eyes. “You might want to go ahead and brace yourself; that’s my mom.” She barely had time to finish speaking before her mother launched herself into his arms. Emma couldn’t contain her chuckle at his deer-in-the-headlights look.
“Well, hello there, handsome!” Her mother finally peeled herself off of him long enough to say, “I’m Kat Davis; what’s your name, hon?”
Brant gave her a nervous smile. “Great to meet you, Kat. I’m Brant Stone.”
Her mother’s mouth seemed to drop to the floor before she blurted, “You’re the asshole that Em works with?”
Oh my God! Why hadn’t she thought of that? Of course she would have mentioned Brant by name to her mother when she was raging about him. The thought had never occurred to her that her mother would make the connection. On the plane ride into Pensacola, she and Brant had decided to say that they had been introduced by a mutual friend. That wasn’t technically a lie. The lady from Human Resources had introduced them when Emma was hired. Now that whole story was useless. As they stood there gaping at each other, her mother suddenly pulled Brant back into her arms, slapping him on the back while laughing hysterically. “I love it! I should have known all of that arguing was just some kind of foreplay between you two.”
“Mom,” she groaned. This was just getting worse and worse. She needed to shut her mother up before this escalated further. “It’s all kind of new between us, so we haven’t really told anyone yet.”
Her mother finally released Brant again and gave them both a wink. “Ahhh, gotcha. Well, come on, you two, let’s grab your bags and head home. Your father is firing up the grill tonight.”
“I think we both need to shower before dinner. Could you drop us at our hotel first? They’re supposed to have our rental car there.”
Her mother gave a shake of her head. “No hotels, honey. You know that’s not how we roll. The house has plenty of room. I have your room already made up for you two. Your father and I are hip to how things are now. Robyn and Boston can’t wait to see you.”
She was scrambling to come up with an argument to get them out of the hell that her mother was proposing when Brant did something that completely floored her. He put an arm around her mother, saying, “That sounds wonderful, Kat. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the family.”
Emma shot him a look that would have felled a lesser man. He only smiled at her in return. “Right, honey? I know you want to spend as much time as possible with your family while we’re here.”
That was it. He had officially lost his freaking mind. Was he just trying to get to her for some reason or had he not thought this through? She had to wonder if he even understood that her mom was planning to put them both in a room together for several days. Her room was a good size, but it had a queen-size bed and that was it. Giving him an evil smile, she decided that if he could live with sleeping on the floor all weekend, then who was she to argue?
That’s right, honey. Game on.
She was more than a little pissed at him anyway. When he picked her up at the hotel, he had made no mention of what had happened between them that morning. She kept waiting for him to broach the topic, but nada, nothing. It wasn’t as if she’d thought he would come back and declare his love, but come on, shouldn’t they at least talk about it? Was such an earth-shattering experience that easily dismissed for him? Not wanting him to see how much his actions were bothering her, she reverted to what she knew best: sarcasm. If he could act like nothing ever happened, then so could she. Just because he had given her the best orgasm of her life didn’t mean she had to lose her head. She could do casual one-nighters, right?
A few steps ahead of her, Brant continued to talk to her mother like they were old friends.
“Mom, we need to at least stop and pick up our rental car.”
“I’ve got that covered, too. Your father gave your old car a once-over and you can use it while you’re here. It will be good for the thing to get some use.” Just as Emma started to argue, it suddenly hit her. Yeah, Brant would be horrified by her old car. She could picture his muscular frame folding into her purple Mustang. Not that it thrilled her to drive it either. What was once a cool car back in high school was now considered a vintage Barney reject. Still, she could handle some embarrassment if it bothered Mr. Freshly Pressed even a little.
She smiled sweetly at Brant’s questioning look before turning back to her mother. “That’s a great idea. I’ll cancel our rental car.” Soon they were settled into her mother’s black Tahoe and she had insisted that Brant take the front seat. He could continue the bonding that he had going on more easily from there. As they approached her childhood home of Pensacola Beach on the Santa Rosa Island, she felt the same old familiar pang. When her friend Madison had decided to attend college at the University of South Carolina, Emma had let her talk her into applying there as well. As luck would have it, they were both accepted and Emma had moved from her home in Florida to South Carolina. Her parents had not been thrilled, which had made her that much more determined to spread her wings. She had mostly lost touch with Madison after graduation. The last she heard, she was in Georgia. Her parents had urged her to move back home, but she enjoyed her independence too much and, quite frankly, long periods of time around her mother were exhausting. South Carolina kept her close to the ocean that she loved, but allowed her the much needed privacy that she had never had growing up with a loving but meddling mother.
When they pulled into the driveway, Emma smiled. The big two-story house looked the same as she remembered. It was comfortable and roomy with a full basement, three-car garage and an infinity pool out back. Some people took living on the coast for granted, but she had always felt like she was on an extended vacation. No matter how bad the day, a good swim in the ocean always made things better. Her father had actually built their house along with many others in the area. He was a highly sought-after builder who didn’t believe in constructing the same house twice. If you asked for a house like your neighbor’s, he would refuse. Something had to be different. He said that no two people had the same personality, so why should two houses be identical?
It was obvious from the delicious aroma in the air that her father was already hard at work on the barbecue grill. Beside her, she saw Brant’s nose twitch in appreciation. “Come on, you two, let’s get you settled in before dinner. Brant, please tell me you aren’t one of those people who don’t eat meat.”
Brant gave his most charming smile. “You don’t have to worry about that, Kat. I’m a loyal carnivore.”
“Honey, I knew there was more to you than a hard body.” As Emma started to choke, her mother continued. “We’ll eat in an hour. Robyn and Boston and the girls should be here by then.”
With a trickle of unease, Emma asked, “The girls?”
As they all started upstairs, her mother looked over her shoulder to say, “My book club friends. It was my turn to host tonight so I just invited them over for dinner as well.”
Shit! This was starting to sound like some kind of three-ring circus. “I thought this was just a family dinner. Maybe you should have your club meeting later. I’m sure they don’t want to be stuck with us.”
“Nah, they’re looking forward to meeting you. I told them you finally had a boyfriend.”
Zing-g-g. How many embarrassing comments in front of Brant does that make so far?
“God, Mom.”
As if she hadn’t spoken, her mother continued. “You two should sit in with us tonight. We finally read the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy and it was smoking hot. I highly recommend that you both read it. It will change your world. Brant, do you own a gray tie?”
No-o-o-o, she didn’t just ask my boss that. Emma knew well what her mother was talking about since she had read the series. Brant, however, looked adorably clueless. She almost laughed when he replied that he had several ties in that shade. The smile fell off her face, though, about thirty seconds later when Brant said: “I think we will sit in with you tonight, Kat. I really enjoy books that are informative and entertaining.”
He turned to give Emma a triumphant smile. So the little shit thought he was getting to her, did he? That was just priceless. He had no idea that he had just agreed to join her mother’s perverted book club while they discussed bondage, spankings and kinky sex. Had the man been living under a rock? How could he not have heard of that book? He looked a little uneasy when she gave him a big smile in return. “Baby, I think that’s a great idea. I’m always trying to get you to try new things. We need to break free of our chains and get tied up . . . er . . . caught up in something new.”
When they stopped in the doorway of her old room, her mother stood there beaming at both of them. “Oh, this is so exciting. It will be great to have some new blood.” Brant shot her a desperate look over her mother’s head. She shrugged her shoulders and walked into the room they would be sharing for the next few nights. Other than the ragged brown bear in the center of the bed, nothing else stood out as embarrassing. The bed was covered in white eyelet, giving the room a clean, beachy look. There was a bay window dominating one wall with a window seat running the length of it. She had spent many hours sitting there reading while listening to the waves crash against the shore. Her desk sat against the wall in the other corner with an outdated desktop on it. No doubt it was capable of only dial-up Internet. Luckily, she had brought her laptop along.