Mom was speaking with Amy. She and Tiberius had worked for my dad since the beginning, and they were all close. Mom’s eyes found me, and she grinned. “There’s my favorite son.”
I rolled my eyes just as Will turned to look at me and Cherise fake-coughed, “Spoiled.”
“Unless you’re keeping something from me, I’m also your only son and Cherise is your favorite daughter, so she should stop pretending I get special treatment.”
Cherise leaned close to Will. “He gets special treatment.”
Will smiled, but I could see the discomfort beneath it. He wasn’t sure how to act or what to say. That made two of us. Still, I sucked in a breath, put on a brave face, and walked over. “You’re Will, right? We met at the party?”
“Yeah. Good to see you again, Jameson.”
We shook hands like we hadn’t spent last night blowing each other. “You too.” I couldn’t make my eyes meet his. I was afraid they’d read the look on my face, or I’d jump him or something, just so I could claim him as mine.
“Hey, son. Good to see you.” My body stiffened when Dad gave me a hug. That was…different. I didn’t remember the last time he hugged me hello.
“Hi, Dad.” I hugged him in return. Guilt slugged through me, thick as mud. I was lying to my family about the guy in our living room. I coughed. This was awkward already. “Thirsty. I mean, I’m thirsty. I’m gonna go get a drink. Anyone want anything?” I risked a quick glance at Will.
“No, nothing. Thank you.”
No one else did, but still, I was surprised when Cherise said, “I’ll go with you.”
We left them and made our way to the kitchen. As soon as we got there, she started to fan herself with her hand. “Oh my God. Why is Dad’s PA so hot? Dude. I thought so last time I met him, but he looks even more gorgeous today for some reason. I have a few things he can personally assist me with.”
And there went the guilt, replaced by jealousy. I slammed the fridge, even though I hadn’t even gotten a drink yet. “He’s not that hot.” Lies, lies, lies. Will was the sexiest man I’d ever seen.
“Are you blind? Mmm. That mouth. I bet he’s really good with it.” She waggled her eyebrows.
Yes, yes he was. “Stop. Oh my God. You’re so gross.”
“Why are you being a prude? We always talk like this.”
“I’m not a prude,” I gritted out. I just didn’t want her imagining my boyfriend’s mouth, thank you very much. “I’m going back to the living room.”
“You didn’t get a drink yet. And what’s in the bag?”
Oh yeah. Drink. I’d said I wanted one. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and put the bag in the hall closet.
“What’s going on with you?” Cherise asked.
“Nothing, sis.”
I wished I could say things got better from there. Will and I barely spoke. Dad paid extra attention to me in this weird, overly dad-like way. Cherise flirted with my boyfriend, who was basically running from her to try and avoid it. When Dad wasn’t paying attention to me, he was with Will, talking work stuff and asking his opinion and cheerleading Will, which I shouldn’t have been jealous of, but I was.
Still, I was happy for him too. Emotions were confusing.
A few minutes before dinner was ready, Tiberius got a phone call. I could tell by his side of the conversation that it was work related. He went to talk to Dad, whom I was staying as far away from as possible. They spoke for a moment. “Do you need me to take care of it?” I heard Dad ask when I sneaked closer.
“If there’s anything I can do, I’d be happy to help,” Will offered.
“No, that’s okay,” Tiberius replied. “We can take care of it.”
And then, surprise, surprise, Amy and Tiberius left, leaving this a family dinner with my secret boyfriend, a.k.a. Dad’s Golden Child.
Will looked over at me. When he smiled, I realized I was biting my lip. I pushed that bad boy out of my mouth stat, knowing how much he liked it. Now wasn’t the time, even though it was cool to be hot to him. That didn’t happen every day. Well, I guess when it came to Will, it did, but not anyone else.
“FYI, you’re staring at Dad’s assistant who you don’t think is fine,” Cherise said in my ear.
“Shut up.”
“Make me.” She pinched my side.
“Ouch!” We began playing around, almost wrestling with each other but not. It wasn’t until I tackled my sister to the couch that I remembered my very first boyfriend, whom I was secretly in love with, was there. My eyes found him, and Will was watching us with this big-ass grin on his face that made my insides turn to jelly.