The Bold and the Bullheaded by Willow Aster

Chapter Eighteen

Emma

I came over here to apologize, and for whatever reason, I have no desire to leave. I broke down like a blubbering baby in front of this man, and yet he wants me to stay. He’s got me tucked in his arms, and he’s soothing and healing all the hurt left from my mother’s words.

It should terrify me.

It should give me reason to bolt out of here.

But it’s not. I’m tired of running. Tired of fighting. I just want to be right here.

This is a first. Everything about Spence is a first.

He pulls back. “So, tell me what you usually do when you’re upset. I want you to feel comfortable here, with me. But you need to tell me how to do that.”

“Hmmm. Well, I usually make hot tea and take a bath.” I smirk, because Spence and I have never really hung out when we weren’t either at one another’s throats or tearing off the other’s clothes. I guess we did share a meal at the diner once, so maybe there’s hope.

He nods before moving to the kitchen and pulling out two mugs. One is the Mean Mug with the cute face and logo and I grin, holding it up. “I didn’t know they had mugs.”

He grins, mind elsewhere. “Let’s do it,” he says. “I’ve never bathed with someone, but if it means that your naked body will be against mine … I’m willing to try it.”

I laugh as he puts my mug on his Keurig and drops a tea bag inside. I didn’t think I would be laughing tonight, but I already feel a thousand times lighter.

This man is full of surprises.

“You don’t strike me as a bath guy,” I say, over my laughter.

“I don’t think I’ve taken a bath since I was maybe five years old, but I can think of worse things than soaking in a tub with you. Naked. And sudsy.”

“Sudsy? You’re insane.” I feel panic creeping its way in, but I push it away. No one has ever made this kind of effort for me and I want to stick around for it.

“Go start the tub. I’ll be right in when this is done.”

I chuckle all the way down the hall and pause when I get to his bedroom. I’ve never been past the living room of his apartment. It’s neat and tidy, just like I would expect it to be. Gray bedding and minimal modern decor. I pick up the picture frame on his dresser and study the photo inside. Penelope, Jesse, Caden, Gus, and Spence are standing beside their parents. They are all laughing and it looks like it could be on the cover of a family magazine. They’re all beautiful in their own right. And you can feel the love pouring from this photograph.

I wonder what it’s like to have that many people who have your back. That many people who will rally for you when you need them. I set the frame down and think of my father and all the guys down at the shop. Maybe I already have that.

Maybe my mother’s disappointing parenting skills don’t matter as much as I’ve always thought they did.

I shake it off and push away all the fears that are currently clinging to me like a second skin. The need to run is strong. I turn on the tub water before glancing in the mirror just as Spence sets down two mugs on the counter. I whip around to find him completely naked with a black apron covering all the goods. In big white print, it says: I’ll Feed All You Bitches! I laugh so hard that it’s challenging to catch my breath.

“Where did you get that?”

“Says the girl wearing a Blow Me T-shirt. Who do you think got this for me?” He moves closer and I tangle my hands in his thick hair.

“I’m guessing Gus got it for you.”

“You’d be correct.”

“Mya got me this for Christmas,” I say, pointing to the words of wisdom spread across my chest.

“It’s very fitting.”

I raise a brow, reach around his waist to untie the apron, and it falls to the floor. He backs up, stark freaking naked, and lets me drink him in.

“Damn. You could be wearing this shirt right now, and I’d certainly drop to my knees.”

His laughter echoes around us. “I’d drop to my knees any day for you, Queenie. But tonight I’m guessing you need something different.”

“Oh, you know what I need now, do you?”

“I think I might, if you let me try.”

My stomach flutters and I close my eyes for a quick second to stop it. My heart is racing too. It’s all too much.

I open my eyes to see Spence turn off the water and feel it with his hand. “Oh wow. This is hot.”

“I thought you liked it hot. You aren’t chickening out, are you?”

I yank my favorite tee over my head and drop it to the floor before doing the same with my jeans. He just watches me with those ocean eyes.

“You couldn’t get me to leave right now if you tried.” He steps into the water and howls like a big baby before dropping to sit, half the tub water spilling over the side as his big body takes up all the space.

I’m staring in shock as water sloshes all over the floor and I can’t stop laughing. He looks ridiculous. His big legs are bent and trying to make room for me. His arms hang over the side and he’s got his eyes closed, squeezing his face as if he’s in pain from the temperature.

I grab two towels and soak up the water on the floor. I’m still in my bra and panties when a long arm snakes around my waist and tugs me over the edge. I fall onto his lap, legs hanging over the edge of the tub, and we’re both hysterically laughing now.

“Oh my gosh. There’s more water on the floor than there is in this tub.”

He reaches around my back and unsnaps my bra, before tugging me all the way in as I settle between his legs and he wraps his arms around me.

And hello, Mr. Taylor.

“Wow, someone’s happy to see me,” I tease him about his oversized situation currently poking my backside.

“Damn straight. We’ve both missed you.” He kisses my neck and his hands move down my body to the edge of my panties. “What are these still doing on?”

“Hmmm … great question. Someone pulled me in before I finished undressing. And now I’ll be going home in wet panties and a wet bra beneath my clothing.”

“Guess you’ll have to stay the night then.”

I roll over onto my stomach, resting my hands on his muscular chest. “Was this part of your elaborate plan the whole time? To keep me here?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“So, I’m forgiven then?” I ask.

“Nothing to forgive. I get it. I wanted to give you the time you needed. But I was done waiting today … and willing to be grilled by your dad and his friends and make a complete fool of myself by begging you to give me a chance.”

I push the hair back from his face. “I’m so glad the sexy ginger is your cousin. I was ready to claw her eyes out.”

His eyes crinkle as he laughs. Wow. Smiley-Eyed Spence is something to behold.

“You’ll love Hazel. She’s the one who told me to give you a little time to figure things out. I didn’t see you there that night?”

“I was undercover. I had on a hat and glasses. Snuck out through the kitchen.” I shrug. “It’s a gift.”

He shakes his head. “You’re full of surprises, Queenie.”

“Buckle up. I’m just getting started.”

* * *

Best week of my life. Hands down.

Normally, after my mom makes an appearance in my life and then disappears faster than a large pizza down at Kingsley’s, I’m in a funk for a few days. But not this time. I’m getting there, slowly but surely. Letting go of all expectations I’ve had for my mother. The best I can hope for her is that she will choose to take care of herself.

Spence and I have spent every single night together since the night he asked me to give him a chance.

Best decision I ever made.

He makes me laugh. He makes me smile. And oh, does he make me feel all the things when he worships my body for hours every night.

But tonight, I’m doing something I never thought I’d do. I’m taking him to Yaya’s for dinner with my dad and Bernard. My grandmother has been relentless about meeting him, and for whatever reason, I wanted to make it happen.

Dad has been grilling me about why I haven’t been coming around as much this week, so I finally came clean. Tonight will be a big step. I hope it won’t make Spence run. My family is not the most traditional. My father is going to interrogate him more intensely than a CIA agent. My grandmother and Bernard will compete with how hard they flirt with him.

And this little get-together will help me know if this is as real as I think it could be with Spence. I still feel a bit like an imposter, believing this could be my life.

“You sure you want to do this?” I ask.

“Stop worrying. I’m excited to spend some time with your family. You’ve met mine. And trust me, next time they come back, they are going to be all over you now that we’re together,” he says.

We are together. In every sense of the word. We eat together. We sleep together. We bathe together. We laugh together. And even when we aren’t together, we talk on the phone and text. It’s surprisingly natural too, which has caught me off guard. Not only do I not want to run away from Spence, I want to spend every minute with him.

I still can’t believe it myself.

“I love your family. They’re so … normal. My family is not. Prepare yourself.”

I’m about to knock on the door, but it flies open before my hand can touch the wood. Yaya looks like she’s going to a gala in her floor-length colorful caftan with oranges, blues, and hot pinks swirled around in colorful designs on the silk fabric. Her hair is curled so tight to her head it looks like she’s wearing a white helmet. Her lips are overly lined in bright pink, fake lashes make her eyes look like she’s a Bratz doll, and she holds her arms out to the sides. I go to walk toward her and she shoves me to the side and hugs Spence instead.

“Oh my. I haven’t held a sexy man like yourself in far too long. Mmm … mmmm.”

I roll my eyes and look up to see Spence grinning from ear to ear.

“Nice to meet you, Yaya. I’ve heard so much about you.”

My grandmother finally lets go and looks up at Spence, batting her luscious lashes. “The pleasure is all mine.”

That dirty little bird has her flirt game on strong.

“Tone it down, Yaya. You’ll give him a big head.”

“Ohhhh, it looks like he has a big everythang.” Bernard comes around the corner speaking in some sort of southern accent that he’s pulled out of his ass. His arms are crossed over his chest and he shakes his head at Spence. “My oh my. You are a sight.”

I groan. “Can we all just pretend to be normal for one night?”

“Hey, sweetheart.” My father pulls me in for a hug. “So this is the reason you’ve been MIA lately?”

Spence clears his throat and stands up a little straighter.

“Mr. Kingsley, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Well, we’ll see how nice you think it is when we’re done.” Dad shakes Spence’s hand quickly and leads us all toward the dining room.

Yaya has pulled out all the bells and whistles tonight. There are candles lit everywhere, and she’s got her fancy cloth napkins and good china on the table.

It’s going to be a long night.

Bernard gets us each a glass of wine, and we settle at the dining room table.

“So, Spence. My daughter tells me you’re a developer?”

“Yes. My brothers and I have been renovating buildings thus far. But we’re going to dabble a bit in the commercial side of real estate next, if all goes well.”

“Yes, Lord, thank you. He’s easy on the eyes and he’s successful. Lord have mercy, keep filling my happy tank,” Bernard says, and then he covers his mouth. “Oh. Did I say that out loud?”

“The man is straighter than your penis on its best day. I haven’t seen you this excited since the news came out about Jonathan Bailey batting for your team. All this joy better be you rejoicing for our girl.” Yaya passes the bowl of salad to Spence as if she hasn’t just said the most inappropriate thing for all of us to hear.

My father rolls his eyes, Spence chokes out a laugh, and Bernard leans in, smiling.

“Of course my excitement is for our Emma. I can admire the package, but the only straight man I ever wish to turn is Anthony Hopkins. Mmm-mm-mmm.”

We crack up over that. Especially when Bernard adds, “His eyes are kind of like yours, Spence, now that I can see them in this light.”

“How about them Yankees?” I say, and everyone cackles.

“It’s not baseball season,” Spence whispers close to my ear.

“It’s better than the current conversation, so just roll with it.” I hand him the rolls and scoop some salad onto my plate.

The smell of garlic and basil floods my senses and my stomach rumbles. No one makes spaghetti and meatballs like Yaya.

They ignore my Yankees comment and move on. Of course they do.

“So, Spence. What are your intentions with our girl?” Yaya says, as if she didn’t just bring us back to awkward.

“Why is everyone being so obnoxious? Give the guy a chance to breathe. Can we please just have a normal conversation?” I ask, before taking an oversized bite of garlic bread.

“Nope. You can’t bring a fine man like him around and expect us to act normal,” Bernard says.

I take a sip of wine and shake my head. “You could at least try. It wouldn’t kill you.”

“Life is too short to put on airs. Tell us about your family, Spence,” Yaya says.

“Well, I’m the oldest of five. I have three younger brothers and our little sister Penelope. We grew up in Chicago, and my brothers and I moved out here for an opportunity in real estate. My parents are back home, and my sister attends Northwestern University. We’re hoping she moves out here after she graduates.”

“So you’ve got a close family. That’s nice.” My father sets his wine glass down and studies Spence. “Do you plan on staying here?”

“I do. I like it here a lot,” Spence says, and he takes my hand beneath the table.

“You want kids?” he asks.

“Dad!”

“Absolutely.” Spence squeezes my hand.

I sneak a look at Spence, my heart galloping. We’re not to the kid-talking stage yet, but my temperature just turned up, times ten.

Kids are not something I’ve ever considered a possibility.

“You planning to carry on the cussing name tradition?” Dad asks.

I cover my mouth and laugh. I give up. There’s no reeling them back in.

Spence smirks. “Emma told you about that?”

“We had to make sure Jesse was suitable for Mya and he filled us in.” Dad’s been frowning for the past ten minutes, so when he starts laughing, the whole table explodes, ready to put the tension behind us. Dad laughs until he has to wipe his eyes.

“When I heard your grandpa’s name is Monty Franklin, I lost it. Mya hadn’t even heard that one yet—remember that, Em? I thought she was going to break some blood vessels, you two laughed so hard. M.F. Taylors, G.D. Taylors … what was your uncle’s name again?”

“Baxter Samuel,” Spence says.

The laughter erupts again.

“Brilliant, just brilliant,” Dad says.

Had I known all we had to do is bring up Spence’s family names, I would’ve started there.

Spence shakes his head, still smiling. “Story in our family is that it absolutely was not intentional, but … come on.” He shrugs and Dad cracks up again. “Pretty sure my brother Gus will try to resurrect it when he has kids.”

When Yaya brings out her red velvet cake that she makes for special occasions, my heart squeezes. It’s been doing that a lot lately. Dad goes back to firing off questions, but the air feels different—lighter now. Spence answers each question without hesitation. Yaya feels the need to tell her mysterious Nippleate story and Spence finds it hilarious, and Bernard asks him if he and his brothers will take him out on the town sometime. Spence fits in like he belongs here, which is saying a lot because my family has put him through the wringer tonight.

But he just keeps surprising me.