Cade....
This is it.
This is where I need to make a really good impression.
Although I feel completely prepared for meeting Sophia's dad, I'll admit, I am now feeling surprisingly nervous. I can sit in many courts of law and be comfortably confident in each and every one of them, but today, I am actually feeling a little pressured.
It's important to me that Sophia's parents are happy about me being with their daughter. That they're happy that a man like me, is with someone like their darling girl. I know my faults, and I'm pretty damn sure that Sophia's parents will have heard on the local grapevine about all of those faults, too. Yes, I used to be a bastard. But I am now a reformed bastard. A former bastard who is completely head over heels in love with their daughter. So I need today to go well. I need them to think that I am someone who is worthy of being with Sophia. For god only knows what kind of a first impression I have made on Anna Hale. The very first time that we met, I had rushed up to her daughter in the flower shop, desperately kissing her because it was something that I just needed to do. I'm not entirely sure whether that's the correct etiquette for all future son in laws?
Which is why, I'm kind of feeling the pressure as we pull up outside of Sophia's parents house.
Today is important.
I have to get this right.
"If you squeeze my hand any bloody tighter, I think I might lose some fingers." Sophia jokes, reassuringly resting her other hand on my shirted chest as we are slowly walking towards her parents place. "Relax. They're not going to eat you for dinner." Her shapely brows rise high, along with her amused and sculpted cheek bones. Stopping me in my nervous tracks, Sophia is now standing right in front of me with her attractive high-cheeked smile. "My folks will love you, because I absolutely do." Flirtatiously pulling down on the lapels of my fitted black Boss shirt, willing me to kiss her insanely kissable lips, my will totally becomes hers. So I kiss Sophia, I kiss my girl. I kiss her because I haven't done so for about thirty two minutes, and my mouth is already missing hers.
Her soft lips have wonderfully mollified me. The nerves no longer at the forefront of my mind. Now, other things are most definitely taking over my filthy mind. I love that about Sophia. I love all that she manages to make me feel. With my relaxed arms bringing her closely in against my body, I deeply say with an exaggerated and roguish swine of a smirk. "Let's go and meet your parents, before I get totally inappropriate with their very tempting daughter on their very nice driveway."
Tittering, Sophia brings her arms right around my lower back. "Don't you start trying to get me all sexily hot and bothered, that would certainly raise a few eyebrows before dinner." Her own are now deliciously high, so deliciously dark and arched.
"I'll behave, just as long as you do." I tell her in a voice still deeply daring and playful.
With a cheery and chaste little kiss, Sophia agreeably smiles. "Deal!" Then she separates our magnetised bodies, affectionately snuggling up against my left side as we jauntily start approaching the pretty storm porch to her parents very well presented house. Letting ourselves in, Sophia calls out. "Mum?! Dad?!"
Anna Hale, strolls into the welcoming hallway of her house with a just as welcoming smile. "Well, Cade, you've managed to make our Sophia actually be on time for something...that in itself means you're a keeper." She leans in to fondly kiss me on the cheek, in a manner that is just so familiar and friendly.
"I can't say I've noticed her being late for anything, yet." I admit, looking at where Sophia stands beside her mother.
Now lovingly hugging her slightly embarrassed daughter, Anna chuckles. "Oh, you will!"
"Anna is right, once you are married, you will soon learn just how late our girl can be. This one will be late for her own funeral, let me tell you that. God willing, I won't be around to have to endure her incurable lateness, though." Sophia's father is winking at his daughter as he politely reaches out to shake my hand. "Nice to meet you, Cade...I'm Vinny." Although he only has small hands, he has a firm and strong grip. "It's about time that we met." His smile is natural; natural and genuine. "Let me show you something."
Sophia calls out to her dad, who is already guiding me through the hallway. "Dad? Where are you going with my future husband?"
Turning with a smile, Vinny pats my right shoulder. "To the garage. It's called bonding with my future son in law." He then pats me again, a little harder this time. "As a man who drives a BMW i8, I think you'll appreciate what I'm just about to show you, Cade." Leading the way, his grin is one that insists on me following him.
Following Vinny through to the end of the hallway and through to the shaker-style kitchen, I am soon being shown outside and into a large double garage that's attached to the classic 1930's detached property. Before going right inside, I quickly admire the extensive and secluded garden that is so impressively lawned with established shrubs that all prettily border the grassy area. I also can't help but notice a summer house that sits in the corner of this very pleasant garden, charmingly sheltered by a wild cherry tree. I love this garden. This is the kind of garden that I would love to spend time in. The shag pad doesn't even have a potted plant, so I can fully appreciate a garden such as this. "You have a lovely home." I'm soon looking for Vinny, wanting him to know how much I like his well-loved home.
"The house and garden are very nice, but this...this is mechanical perfection." His hands are caressing the shiniest bonnet I think I have ever seen. "She's a 1965 Triumph Spitfire Mark II. Isn't she a beauty?" He doesn't even look my way, he's enjoying the feel of his beloved car far too much to even want to lift his eyes away from the red curves of his priceless soft-top. "There are only two things that I love more than this perfectly designed car—my wife and my daughter—which is why I would do time for anyone who harms a single hair on either one of their precious heads." His eyes start burning holes into mine; searing holes of fatherly protectiveness. "I am yet to know you, Cade, but my daughter has chosen you as the man to own her heart. I trust in my daughters heart, because it is a heart that loves to love. It's a good and honest heart, one that sees what others often cannot see." Standing taller, with only the tips of his fingers now gliding across the bonnet of the Spitfire, his eyes never leave mine. "I have heard many things about you, boy...things that a father doesn't ever want to hear." Vinny frowns now, a perplexity that causes deep creases across the bridge of his nose. "But, I've also seen how happy you make my daughter. She talks of all the things that you're prepared to do for the two of you. That to me, doesn't sound like the selfish and arrogant man that I've been warned about. That to me, sounds like an evolving man." Minimising what space there is between us, Sophia's father stands right in front of me now. "An evolving man is a man I can welcome into this family, Cade. There's a protective part of me that thinks that you and Sophia are going too fast, rushing too far ahead with your love for one another. But I'm also a man who knows all about love, Cade. I know that time cannot control love. Love is what controls time. I know that, and I think you know that too. Which is why I'll give both you and my daughter my blessing to go ahead with this quick wedding. I'll give it, because I believe that you're really trying to change." Reaching out to take a firm hold of my shoulder, those dark eyes of his start to bore into me all over again. "I'll only say this once, though...if you ever hurt my daughter, I will knock you onto your Lapley ass—without question, I will."
Respectfully, I look him truthfully right in the eye. "If I ever hurt your daughter, I would want you to knock me on my Lapley ass."
A small smile starts pulling on just the one corner of Vinny's mouth as he enthusiastically pats me a few times on my shoulder. "I'm so glad that we understand each other." He then looks down at the garage floor, still consciously wearing his smile. "We had better go and show our faces, otherwise our girls will think that I am using your balls as a cambelt."
I like Vinny. He's a straight talking man. Someone who says it as it is, not how it is preferred to be said. I like that. As a fellow straight talker, I admire that in him. I also admire his paternal protectiveness towards Sophia. Our mutual love for her, already gives us common and solid ground to build our new relationship upon. Suppressing an admirably worn grin, I follow him out of his garage and back into the kitchen.
There, Sophia and Anna both look relieved at the 'safe and sound' sight of us. "Why don't you show Cade around Sophia, whilst me and your father start dishing up dinner?" Anna cheerily says, maybe a little too cheerily with her obvious relief.
Sophia grabs hold of me by the elbow, keen to do just that. Once she knows we are out of earshot of her parents, she whispers to me as we are walking into the long lounge of the comfortably furnished house. "Was my dad being embarrassingly overprotective?"
With a carefree smile, I shake my head. "No, not at all."
"So he didn't say anything untoward?" She asks, gorgeously now frowning up at me.
Cuddling her in my arms, I tell Sophia the truth. "Your father was nothing but honest. I am here. I am happy to be here. He and your mother are happy that I'm here. So, just show me around." I tickle her sides, making her sweetly cackle.
"Okay, I'll show you the rest of the house." Which is just what Sophia does. She shows me the neat and tidy bedrooms, including her own. I am introduced to the contemporary family bathroom and both of the toilets both up and downstairs. I am told funny and nostalgic stories about the memories that are held within the pristinely painted walls of this very loved home. With the happiest of smiles, Sophia showed me where she always used to do handstands in the hallway just outside of her bedroom, which would leave child sized dirty footprints on the wall. She also fondly remembered the hours and hours that she and her friends would create the coolest dance moves to show to their mums, much to the annoyance of her dear dad, who only wanted to watch Match of the Day in peace on a Saturday afternoon.
I enjoyed listening to Sophia sharing her sweetest of memories with me, because I knew that I was going to become part of so many more sweeter ones. The more she shared with me, the more I was learning about my breathtaking soon-to-be wife. I loved learning about her childhood, because my own was never anything like that. But rather than feeling bitter about all that I never had, Sophia just made me feel thankful for all that I have now, and for all that I have to come once we are married. That is what is so very special about my girl—she can erase many hurts, replacing those hurts with seedlings of hope. So the day that my girl does become my wife, is a day that honestly cannot come soon enough. And I am ready for that day. More than ready.
Within a stupidly chaotic week, I have secured a leaving date to forever part ways with Lapley Law Firm, I have employed a wedding planner, I have also put in an offer on the farmhouse in Coates, which has been accepted. The offer was generous. I needed to ensure that we got it, because Sophia absolutely loved it when we went for our first viewing of it. And, I have pulled some professional strings to set the date of our wedding for New Years Eve. All in all, it's been a productive week. Although tired, I feel as though my life is finally falling into the place that it should be.
"Hey? You okay?" Sophia seems concerned, concerned enough to stop us from walking another single step towards the garden.
I guess I was momentarily far away in my happy thoughts, and it's those happy thoughts that I want Sophia to know all about. Lovingly taking her hand in between both of mine, I flash her one of my affectionate smiles. "I am more than okay, I am happy." The soft kiss that I place upon the back of her hand, confirms my satisfying happiness.
Bestowing me with one of her very own affectionate smiles, Sophia stares back up at me. "I'm glad that you're happy." Then she presses her mouth onto mine, giving me a featherlight kiss. "That makes us even." Her adoring smile then breaks into a playful one. "Let me show you the summer house, I had my very first kiss in there." She teasingly and lightly starts walking just in front of me.
Playing along, I jovially ask. "Do I really need to know about that?"
Sophia laughs, laughing in that wonderful light way that she so often does. "You absolutely do need to know! A girls first kiss is equally as important as the first time that she lost her virginity."
Grabbing hold of her by the waist, I pull Sophia back against me. "Show me the summer house." There's a dusting of erotism to my quietly said demand.
Holding both of my hands that flatly now lay on her waist, Sophia laughs with her head tilted back onto my chest. "Don't think I don't know why you are trying to get me all alone in that summer house? Andrew did exactly the same thing when we were six!"
Brushing my lips evocatively across the skin of her neck, I sexily mumble. "I just want to reenact your first kiss."
Giggling now, Sophia playfully scolds me. "You are misbehaving, Lapley?"
Bringing the back of her body even more closer against me, my moving lips start tickling the soft lobe of her left ear. "That is why you love me."
Exhaling the quietest but most arousing of sighs, Sophia whispers out exactly how she feels. "Yes, I do love you." Then she giggles again, before dragging me into the place where she shared her first innocently done kiss. But our kisses in that sheltered summer house are anything but innocent. They are overpowering, wilful and untamed. "We had better go back inside." Sophia tells me through our rampant kisses, all breathless and turned on.
"I think we better had." My mouth still has hers hostage, refusing to stay away from those perfectly plump lips that she so sexily possesses.
"We can't in here, Cade."
"I know." And yet I couldn't stop kissing her.
"We have to go." Although Sophia is telling me one thing, her mouth and body are entirely saying another thing.
"I know we do." And I did know that we needed to stop. I just didn't want to. I just didn't know how to.
"Sophia? Cade? Dinner is ready!" In the distance, we both hear Anna Hale. And it's her calling out our names, that thankfully drags us both from out of our horny senses.
Resting our heads against each other's, we just take a few moments to slow down our breathing and to just compose ourselves before we emerge from the summer house. Using my fingers, I stroke Sophia's radiant cheeks. Each languishing caress, gives me just a little more time to silently cherish her. To cherish us. "You're going to get me in trouble with your parents?" A small smile now can be seen sitting on my lips, a teasing kind of a smile.
Sophia's eyes narrow, smirking. "Me? I think it's very much you who will get us both into trouble with my parents."
"Me?" My eyes blink with so much innocence within them, framed with lashes that are just as innocent looking.
Hitting my chest softly, Sophia throws me a warning look. "Yes, you!"
Trying to sound just as innocent as I now look, I playfully argue my case. "It wasn't me who dragged you into here. It wasn't me who was talking about first kisses and lost virginity's!"
Sophia rolls her beautiful eyes in my direction, shrugging away my teasing of her. "Okay, okay, Lapley! I get it! Now come on, I'm hungry." Holding out her hand, she waits for me to grab it. Loving palm to palm, our fingers instinctively entwine, just as they always do. As we stroll back to the lit up house, I smile. It's a smile that Sophia quickly notices. "Why are you smiling?"
"Because I am hoping that I have just given you your very first French kiss in the summer house?"
Laughing and shaking her head, with her eyes becoming brighter and smaller with her widening smile, Sophia then cuddles up against my arm. "You know you have."
Which only makes my smile become a smile that is a whole lot smugger.
See?
We are already creating sweet memories of our own.