Chapter 21: Promise Me Forever: Chapter 21

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of a sexy voice.

‘Morning, sleepyhead.’

I blinked my eyes open slowly. The room was inundated with light. Tate was sitting at the edge of the bed, looking so sinfully hot that he simply jolted me awake.

Oh yeah. Who needs coffee when I have this sexy guy? I wondered if I could convince him to be my own personal alarm clock every morning.

“Hell yes,” he said.

I winced. “Did I say that out loud?”

He grinned. “Yes, you did.”

“Oh, shucks. Please ignore me. I’m too groggy.”

“That means everything you say is true.”

I blinked several times, pushing myself up on my elbows. ‘When did you wake up?’

‘An hour ago.’

‘Wow. I didn’t hear you.’

‘You were sleeping soundly. You’re not an early riser, are you?’

‘I need coffee. Until I have at least one cup, I don’t even notice anything around me.’

He smirked. ‘Clearly.’

I narrowed my eyes, not really understanding, and followed his gaze to a spot next to me.

I gasped. He’d brought breakfast. A wooden tray lay in the middle of the bed, and I saw ham and cheese and a hard-boiled egg along with sliced avocado and tomatoes.

‘Wow. Oh my God. This was here before?’ I asked unnecessarily.

‘Of course it was. Clearly you didn’t notice it.’

‘Hey, I did notice you,’ I said, exaggeratedly blinking, trying to bat my eyelashes. I wasn’t sure it was working. I probably looked ridiculous.

‘Fuck, you’re cute.’ He leaned in and kissed my forehead.

He brought the tray next to me. We split everything, except the hard-boiled egg, which I ate all by myself.

‘You are the greatest guy. I like everything about you. How can I not find even one fault?’ I mumbled, putting the tray back to one side.

“Not even one?” His tone was playful, but something in his gaze told me he was doubting my words.

“Oh yeah.”

“I have scars, Lexi.”

His wife had cheated on him and wasn’t a big part of their daughter’s life. Of course he had scars. I’d have plenty if that happened to me.

“You told me that. But I happen to like those too.”

“You do?”

I nodded, trailing my fingers up his arm. I was startled by the deep vulnerability in his gaze. I wanted to mend those scars. If I was really honest with myself, I was already falling for this amazing man. And that was frightening because this was new, and I wasn’t sure what the start of the school year would bring. We’d never spoken about the after.

Was there going to be an after?

But I didn’t have to figure that all out now. I just had to drink enough coffee to spur my neurons into working.

I kept my voice playful as I said, “You’re like one of those superheroes. They all have scars, you know?”

“Superheroes? That’s your point of reference?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Not really, but if it makes sense to you, I’m good.” He chuckled, flashing me a genuine smile that reached his beautiful eyes.

I shimmied on the bed, doing a small happy dance. I was getting through to him, even though I was still half asleep. What better way to start the day?

“And I came up with the perfect way to describe you. And just so you know, I usually don’t have a single ounce of inspiration in the morning.”

“I inspire you?”

“Absolutely.”

“So, how would you describe me?”

Rolling my shoulders back, I exclaimed proudly, “Fantastic Tate.”

His eyes bulged, and he pressed his lips together.

I pointed at him. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” His answer came too quickly. I was even more suspicious now.

“I work with kids. I’m an expert at interpreting nonverbal cues. You’re holding back a reaction. Out with it.”

“Lexi, that’s a sucky way to describe me.”

I blinked, taken aback, considering it. “Okay, maybe. I’ll drink coffee and think some more.”

He burst out laughing so wholeheartedly that I couldn’t help but join him. Hey, this was a win. I’d gotten him to laugh at the crack of dawn, shitty description and all.

The mattress caved as he shifted his weight. For a split second, I thought he wanted to grab food. Nope, he just wanted to grab me. He pinned me to the mattress, pushing my thighs wide apart with his knees.

“You’re rewarding me for coming up with fantastic?” I teased, rolling my hips into him.

He groaned, kissing down my chest. Pushing up my pink pajama top, he trailed his mouth around my navel. At the same time, he skimmed his fingers up my inner thigh.

“I want—” he began but stopped midsentence. At first, I didn’t realize why, but then I heard sounds from the living room.

Someone was inside.

Tate frowned, immediately rising to his feet.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked.

A masculine voice chuckled from the living room, and a female voice said, ‘Someone must’ve aired the place out. It’s not stuffy.’

Tate groaned. ‘My parents are here.’

Holy shit.

I was instantly awake. Adrenaline spiked my blood. I leaped off the bed, running a hand through my hair.

‘What do you mean, your parents are here?’

‘We take turns coming here, and there was nothing on the calendar. They probably assumed it was vacant.’

My chest heaved up and down. Sweat dotted my forehead. I took a mental inventory of myself. Yeah, I was a sleepy mess. No way could I meet them like this.

‘Can you keep them occupied and give me a few minutes?’ I asked.

Tate chuckled. “Lexi, it’s gonna be fine. Don’t stress out.”

I made a strangled sound low in my throat. “It usually takes me forever to get ready.”

He stepped closer, cupping my face in his hands.

“Lexi. Relax.”

“Go, go,” I urged. “Before they barge in here and see me like this. They’ll know what we’ve been doing for sure and… and… oh my God! And I’m Paisley’s nanny!”

He flashed me a smile before dropping his hands.

“Lexi, you’re making too much out of this.” He tried to comfort me, but I shooed him toward the door.

After he went out in the living room, I darted to the bathroom. I was in panic mode. I glanced from the shower to the bathtub and decided to forgo the shower altogether. It would take me too long, and I—

No, damn it. I had to shower.

I went into the stall and cleaned up very quickly. No way was I going to wash my hair. That always took forever. I’d put it up; no one would ever know.

Stepping out of the shower, I brushed my teeth and clumsily applied foundation. Oh my God. Oh my God. His parents are here.

I knew why this had me so out of sorts. It was because I felt like a kid caught doing something wrong at camp, except we weren’t doing anything wrong. Still, something about meeting his parents had me all in knots.

I put on a long green dress and pulled my hair into a messy ponytail. I hoped it would look bohemian to them, because I couldn’t unknot my hair without washing it in the morning.

I groaned, dropping my chin to my chest. The day I meet Tate’s parents, I’m a total mess. But I couldn’t make it any better, so I decided to face the music.

I cracked the door open. The voices were muffled and far away, so I supposed they were in the living room. I hurried down the corridor, my stomach knotting even more.

I am Lexi, hear me roar.

‘There she is,’ a woman exclaimed. I assumed she was his mother. Tate looked a lot like her, with those intense eyes and chocolate-colored hair, but he got his height and build from his dad. He was smiling brilliantly, the way he did when he was around his daughter.

‘Lexi, these are my parents, Emmett and Lena. Mom, Dad, meet Lexi.’

‘Good morning,’ I said, moving to them and shaking their hands. I self-consciously patted my head, feeling the knots in my hair. Oh my God, I was a mess.

Tate was looking at me with amusement in his eyes.

‘We’re so sorry for imposing,’ Lena said, sounding a little formal to me. ‘We had no idea there was someone here.’

‘We checked the family calendar. We have this Google log where everyone puts their name if they come here. It was empty,’ Emmett replied.

Why were they apologizing to me? This was their place. They were the Maxwells, for heaven’s sake.

Oh crap, why did I have to remember that? My nervousness escalated tenfold.

‘Yeah, my bad,’ Tate exclaimed. ‘ I completely forgot about it.’

‘That’s because you haven’t been here in almost a year. Even though you love this place,” Lena said.

Tate shrugged. ‘I’m here now.’

‘Well, we’re glad you’re here, son, and we won’t keep you two any longer.” Emmett turned to his wife and said, ‘Lena, let’s head back to the city.’

‘What? No, no, no,’ I said hastily, feeling a bit like the intruder. “Why leave? You came here for a getaway—”

Lena shook her head. ‘Darling, we just got back from our vacation. We came here to check if everything was okay. I know we have a caretaker, but I don’t like leaving this place unattended for too long. And the last time someone was here was months ago.’

‘Why don’t you stay for lunch?’ I asked, looking at Tate for confirmation. I couldn’t have them leaving when this was their place.

He nodded. ‘That’s a good idea.’

I let out a sigh of relief. I had been afraid I was overstepping by asking his parents to spend some time with us.

‘Yes, let’s do that,’ Lena said. “That way, you and I can talk a bit, Lexi. All I’ve heard so far is secondhand information from Beatrice.’

The tips of my ears felt hot. They had talked about me. Shouldn’t have been a surprise, of course. My nerves accelerated. Tate seemed to sense my apprehension and stepped in. ‘Mom, don’t scare Lexi away. Let’s have lunch.’

‘Tate! I would never do such a thing.” Looking at me, she added, “I don’t think my son and granddaughter have ever been in better hands, Lexi. You have no complaints from me.”

As we all walked into the kitchen, my fears subsided a bit. And then when she cheerily said, “What shall we have? Put us to good use, Lexi,’ I knew everything would be all right.

Looking in the fridge, we found ingredients for roast beef and mashed potatoes. It was only ten o’clock, but roast beef needed time in the oven, so we started cooking lunch right away.

Lena was peeling potatoes. I was washing thyme and rosemary. Tate was crushing garlic while his dad oiled the beef. We all worked around the kitchen island, and the collaborative effort was so coordinated that it was obvious they’d done it before.

“You cook together often?” I asked no one in particular.

“When the kids were young, we did almost all the time. There’s no other way to feed so many people,” Lena said. “We made it a point to be home at dinner, but we often came late, so we only had time to whip something up quickly. Dinner with the kids was a tradition. I called it tornado time because all the kids had an energy boost in the evening, driving us crazy.”

I glanced at Tate. That explained why he wanted to cook dinner for Paisley as often as possible. I focused on chopping the herbs, smiling to myself.

It was easy to be around Lena and Emmett. They chatted about wine and a special collection Maxwell Wineries was bringing out this year. To my astonishment, I relaxed pretty quickly. Tate’s parents had welcomed me with open arms, making me feel like I was at home. Since leaving for college, I’d never felt like I belonged anywhere—until now.

‘Okay, nothing more for us to do,’ Lena said once the beef was in the oven. “Who wants to take a walk through the vineyard?”

I nodded while Tate and Emmett answered, “Yes,” at the same time.

With one last look at the oven, we all headed outside. The air was even chillier than last night, but I didn’t want a jacket as the sun was keeping me warm. Lena led the way, and I realized she and I were probably going to walk alone because Tate and Emmett had already stopped, inspecting the new crop.

“Those two always get like this when we’re here. They can talk about wine for hours,” Lena said, looking at the two of them fondly.

“It’s awesome that they have this in common.”

“They’ve always bonded over it. Emmett was over the moon to share his passion with one of the kids, and Tate was always interested. He’s got a talent for finding common ground with anyone. And he’s always been so full of energy. I’m not sure where he gets it from. He used to wake up the earliest and was the last to go to bed.”

“So before, when you meant that everyone had a burst of energy at dinner, you actually meant Tate?”

She chuckled, and something in her facial expression reminded me of Tate. “Mostly, but Tyler and Luke were also balls of energy. Luke was always the one with the bright ideas. He had no problem talking Tyler and Tate into his shenanigans. Luckily, Declan balanced them out. Sam was caught in the middle all the time, and Travis changed sides according to whatever he was up to at that moment.”

“And Reese and Kimberly? Beatrice told me they were here a lot.”

“Those two were a godsend. The first few years after they lost their mom was hard, especially because my brother-in-law wasn’t in a good place. Poor man was brokenhearted. Reese and Kimberly were here daily after school for years. Kimberly resembled Declan the most. And Reese is a lot like Tate. They’re both fierce and strong, but they also hold themselves to high standards.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we slowly started to move through the vineyards.

“Tate has been very hard on himself since the divorce.”

“I wondered about that.”

“I’m afraid he thinks that happiness isn’t meant for him anymore. That it’s not in his grasp. Maybe even that he doesn’t deserve it.’

My heart sighed at that. I’d wondered if that might be the case but questioned how an amazing man like him could think that.

Lena winked at me. ‘But I think you’re starting to change his perspective.’

‘Really?” I responded, not sure what else to say.

‘Yes. The fact that you’re here, that he brought you here, speaks volumes. And Beatrice told me that he’s left work early a couple times to be with you.’

‘Oh, he likes spending time with Paisley,” I said, because that sounded like a reasonable explanation.

The corners of her lips twitched. ‘He always did, but until you, he never came home from work early.”

Lena’s words stirred something powerful inside my chest. Hmm… so he really was changing his old ways because of me? That made me so happy.

“What are you two gossiping about?” Tate asked, startling me. He and Emmett were heading toward us with quick strides.

“About you two, of course,” Lena replied in a sassy tone. “I thought you were going to let us walk alone.”

“No can do.” Tate came up next to me, putting an arm around my shoulders. “Need to protect Lexi here from snakes and all that.”

“All what?”

Lena chuckled as she and Emmett started walking a few feet in front of us.

Amusement danced in Tate’s gaze. I narrowed my eyes, inspecting him. “You’re keeping something from me. What other animals are around?”

“Nothing I can’t protect you from.”

I pinched his shoulder. “Tate! I’d almost forgotten about the snakes until you brought them up.”

“Why don’t I kiss you until you forget about them again? And everything else?”

Oh my God. His gaze was so intense that there was no doubt he meant it. Heat skittered along my skin, especially between my thighs.

“And you say that with a straight face when your parents are only a few feet away. You truly are shameless. In fact, I think I’ve found a better description. Forget Fantastic Tate. You’re just Shameless Tate.”