“Can’t they come here?” Mom turns pleading eyes in my direction. “You’ll go get the boys and bring them right over, won’t you, Tyson?”
My gaze flicks down to Rory’s. Her plans to give me a private present are going down the tubes, but in exchange for our sacrifice, her family is getting to know mine, and that’s a worthwhile trade.
“Sure, Mom, but let me have some time with Rory. The boys are still in school.”
Mom thwacks her palm against her head. “Of course they are. This is perfect. I’ll go put everything away in the greenhouse. You turn the oven on and mix up the biscuit dough.”
Rory turns to me in shock. “You can make biscuits?”
“Don’t you watch my channel? Those are some of my most viewed videos.”
“I filmed those on my camera,” Mom brags.
“Rory will stand in for you this time, won’t you, Rory?”
“I sure will.”
Mom beams. “All right. You two kids start dinner, and I’ll be back.”
As soon as the back door shuts, I pull Rory into my arms. “Want to see how fast I can make you come?”
“No!” She shouts and wriggles free. “You have biscuits to make.”
I shrug. “It was worth a shot.”
CHAPTER 16
RORY
I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to say anything, I repeat on a loop in my mind.
“This is stupid,” I blurt out. Tyson pulls off his adorable apron and tosses it onto the kitchen counter. Today has been incredible. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. Even his mom is as sweet as could be. Coming to his house was nothing like I thought it would be. I have to admit I had some preconceived notions about his family. I of all people should know better. People are always judging me.
“What?” he asks, confused because I was laughing a few minutes ago. I’d been recording him on his phone and only just ended the video. Then a message popped up. I never should have clicked it, but I couldn't help myself. It took me over into his Instagram messages. That’s when I saw all the DMs.
“Nothing. Forget it.” I shove his phone into his chest. I have no reason to be mad. I scrolled through some of the messages. There are tons from other girls, all of them suggesting to him that they’d be more than willing to be his girl. A few even sent naked pictures of themselves. He doesn’t respond to most of them. When he does it’s him shutting their advances down. He even sent a picture of me to a few of the girls saying he has a girl, and that was before I really was his girl.
Tyson takes his phone from me and sees what I was looking at. “Why don’t we put it to bed?”
“What?”
“For the record, I get messages from assholes telling me you’re too damn hot for me so don’t think people aren’t coming for you.” He huffs, irritated. “You are too hot for me, but fuck, they don’t have to shove it in my face.”
“Whatever.” I roll my eyes.
“Let's show them, so we can put it to bed.”
“You better not be talking about a sex tape.”
“The hell. You think I’d let anyone see you naked?” He clicks the screen, making the video go live. I freeze as he pulls me firmly into his side. “I’m not dead. I’m busy with my girl.” Then he kisses me as the live stream continues.
I almost push away, but the second his mouth is on mine, I melt as usual. If Tyson would have grabbed me and laid one on me years ago, I think we would have been a done deal back then. I moan into his mouth, wondering if maybe we have a second to slip away. I want some alone time with him before we pick up my brothers.
“That’s enough. For them at least,” he growls, lifting his head and ending the video.
“Where’s your bedroom?” I ask, but before he can answer, my alarm goes off on my phone. “The boys.”
“I’ll go grab them. Why don’t you hang out here?”
“Like by myself?”
“I’m here,” Cherie says, entering the kitchen. “I see you two are Instagram official.” I can’t help but laugh as she holds her phone up. I can tell how much she loves Tyson and wants the best for him. It’s a totally different relationship than I have with my mother.
“Hang, I’ll be back.” He lays another kiss on me right in front of his mom before I can try to protest. He leaves me half dazed as he bolts out the door, leaving me with his mom.
“I turned the heater on for the pool. Do you think your brothers will want to swim?” Cherie asks.
“I’m sure they would love to.” They are going to lose their minds when they see this place. I’ve never been somewhere so fancy in my life. But at the same time, it’s homey. I’m not scared to touch anything. I think that has more to do with Cherie and Tyson. They are so laid back and easy-going.
“I’m glad you’re giving him a chance,” Cherie says, going over to the oven and peeking in on the biscuits Tyson and I made.
“If I knew he cooked we would have been dating years ago,” I tease. She gives me a warm smile.
“I'll be honest. I was a bit worried.” My stomach tightens, dreading what’s about to come next. “Not at first, but after the first year went by and you wouldn’t give him a chance I worried.” I let out a breath, sure she was going to say something completely different. I don’t know why I keep doing that. I hate when people do it to me. I need to stop. It’s clearly not working for me.
“I’ve got a lot on my plate. Dating hasn’t ever been on my radar. I’ve been trying to make sure my family is taken care of,” I admit.
“You know this wasn’t always my life.” Cherie waves her hand around her beautiful state-of-the-art kitchen that could feed an army if she wanted. I know she fed the football team back in the day. “My grandmother raised me. My mom was a bit of a mess. We didn’t have much, but she gave me what was important.” Her eyes start to water. “Sorry, I lost her a few years ago.”
“I’m sorry.” I can’t help but walk over and give her a hug.
“Don’t be. At least I had someone. Ty tells me you’re kind of alone.”
“I have my brothers.”
“But you should have more, sweetheart. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. Just because I’m Ty’s mom doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me. I have a feeling you’re not going anywhere. Ty is a lot like his daddy. Once Rick had his sights set on me, there was no turning back for either of us.” A smile lights up her face as she gets all dreamy-eyed at the memory.
“I think Tyson is a lot like you. He’s a bit of a romantic.”
“I’m not surprised. When Tyson wants something, there is no stopping him. He was that way with football and now all this social media stuff. I had no idea there was so much money in it.”
“Me either,” I admit.
“Now you do.” She smiles, and it meets her eyes. I don’t know how I missed it. She’s so right. Here I thought Tyson wasn’t driven, but I was so wrong. He goes full force into the things he’s passionate about. “Tell me about your brothers. I saw a few videos of them, but I’d like to know more. They’re adorable.”