Book 6 | After a very awkward 'fake' date, and an 'almost' one night stand, Atticus 'Ollie' Lake never thought he would see Jamie Lovette again.
But when fate reunited the two of them in Paris, Ollie started to see that, underneath Jamie's tough and...
My mom's eyes flicked to me briefly. "Atticus, please tell us who your lovely date is."
I grimaced at my mom's tone. Yes, she was genuinely curious, but her tone also implied she caught me and Jamie kissing. Shit. She was going to have questions I couldn't answer.
"Mom, this is Jamie. Jamie, these are my parents, Celeste and Charles."
Jamie smiled and stuck out her hand. "It's, uh, a pleasure to meet you guys."
After the awkward exchange of handshakes, Jamie looked up at me with a I-need-air look. "If you guys excuse me, I'm going to get some champagne."
As she started off, a flicker of panic went through me and I reached for her hand to stop her. I didn't say anything. With my parents there I couldn't. But Jamie knew what I was worried about.
"I'll be right back," she said softly, promising me with her eyes that she wasn't taking off.
Thank God.
Now that I was alone with my parents, my dad cast me a pitiful look. "I'm going to get us some drinks. You two catch up."
Great, now he was gone, too. When I looked at my mom she nodded her head in the direction of one of my paintings before walking towards it. Following her, I tried to think of how to explain all this.
"Well, Atticus, are you going to tell me or do I need to ask?"
Oh, she didn't need to ask. My mom was pretty damn smart and I knew exactly what she meant. "Yes, mom. She's the girl from New York I told you about."
"Why didn't you tell me she was here? That you guys were together?"
Jesus. These were the fucking questions I couldn't answer. "We aren't together, mom. Look it's complicated and I can't really explain it. We're just..spending time together."
The arched brow my mom was sporting said my words were bullshit. "You're either lying to your mother's face or you're afraid to admit the truth."
I was starting to get a migraine. "I'm not afraid of anything, mom."
"So you told her that you're in love with her?"
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"Another champagne, please."
Standing at the open bar, I tapped the counter anxiously as I waited. Holy shit balls. Tonight started out amazingly. The way Ollie reacted when he saw me in my dress was even better than that.
And the show...He really was talented. So many people already bought most of his work and even inquired about private jobs from him. Then as he was promising me all the delicious things he was going to do to me tonight, his parents showed up.
His parents. For a split second, I wanted to slap him for setting me up to meet them. Then I saw the pure look of shock and surprise on his face. He had no idea they were coming. He was just as thrown off by all of this as I was.
