Authors: E. L. Todd
14
Scarlet
“I’m so glad we’re home,” I said.
Sean dropped the last of the bags
by the doorway. The move would have been a lot quicker if he just let me help. His stubbornness could get really annoying sometimes. I didn’t feel like being scolded for touching anything, so I just stayed out of his way. “That trip was awesome.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was mortified twice on that trip.”
“That made it even better.”
I glared at him.
“With you, there’s never a dull moment.” He kissed me on the cheek so my anger ebbed away. I hated it when he did that.
“You don’t think you
r bachelor party was lame since your fiancé tagged along?”
“Tagged along? I wanted you to be there, Scar. I definitely have a lot more fun with you than I do with anyone else. Plus, I get sex from you.”
“That’s all I’m good for?”
“And making me happy.”
Damn, there he goes again.
“Did you have fun?”
“When I wasn’t being embarrassed.”
“You embarrass yourself on a daily basis. Why was this trip any different?”
“It was different.” After I told Sean about my mom, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Because of him, I felt like I could really let it go and move forward.
Sean stared into my face and I knew he could read my mind. He understood my moods and thoughts better than Ryan did. He grabbed my face and kissed me gently.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “I feel so much better now.”
“For the kiss? Or for something else?”
“You know why, Sean.”
His eyes softened as he rubbed his nose against mine. “I’ll always take care of you, Scarlet. I’m glad you’re finally letting me.”
“Me too.”
He held me close to him and let me lean against his chest. He
had a special scent about him. He wore a miniscule amount of cologne, and I liked the way it combined with his natural scent. I felt like I was leaning against a brick wall that would never collapse.
He kissed my forehead. “You hungry?”
“No.”
“That’s surprising,” he teased.
I pulled away and scowled at him. “You like it when I eat.”
“I love it when you eat. But you’re a bit of orthodox. You eat like a hibernating bear but you don’t gain a pound.”
“Lucky for you.”
“It wouldn’t be the end of the world if your boobs were a little bigger.”
“They’re already huge!”
He leaned down and kissed the skin of my chest. “I love these things.”
“If they were any bigger, I’d have back problems.”
“You could lay down all day and I would do the work.”
“That might happen when I’m pregnant.”
“That’s tempting.”
“You want me to be pregnant just so I’ll have bigger boobs?”
“I wonder what breast milk tastes like?”
“You’re so gross.”
He smiled at me. “
So are you. We’re meant for each other.”
“Yeah we are.”
He kissed me then pulled away. “I better get these bags in the bedroom before my mom comes.”
“I’ll help. Wait. What? Your mom is coming?”
“Yeah. You’re getting your dress tomorrow, right?”
I felt my heart accelerate. “Sean, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought it was implied.”
I ran my fingers through my hair, the stress kicking
in. “You should have told me! How long is she staying with us?”
“Just for a few days.” He looked nervous as he stared at me. “Babe, I thought you worked everything out with my mom.”
“Yes, I did. But you didn’t tell me she was coming.”
“I can call her and tell her
it’s off if you don’t want her here.”
“No. It’s not that. I just wish you had told me she was coming. I do like her.”
He came back to me. “Scar, I’m sorry. I’m so stupid. I thought we already discussed this. I’ll work on my communication better. She’s just really excited to help you pick out a dress.”
I sighed. “It’s okay, babe.”
“Is it okay if she stays with us?”
“I guess.”
“We can pay to have her in a hotel, if you want. I’ll take care of it. You don’t have to deal with her. I just didn’t want my mom staying in a hotel by herself. It’s rude.”
“No, I don’t want that.”
“Scar, you’re my first priority. Whatever you want, I’ll do.”
“It’s okay. I just wish I had known she was coming. I haven’t cleaned the apartment in a week.”
He glanced at the room. “It looks fine.”
“Only sterile is fine for a mother-in-law. And I don’t know what to cook for dinner.”
“We’ll go out. Problem solved.”
“And we can’t have sex for two days.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me right now. Not this again.” He sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Sean, she’ll be right across the hall. That’s even more uncomfortable than at their place.”
“Scarlet, this is my house. You’re my wife. We have sex. She already knows we fuck on planes. How can having sex in our bed be any worse than that?”
“First of all, I’m not your wife. Stop saying that.”
He narrowed his eyes at me like I had poured salt in an open wound. “Same thing.”
“No, it isn’t. I’m your fiancé. Stop jumping the gun.”
“Well, I wish you were my wife.”
“I will be soon. And secondly, it’s still awkward even though she knows we have sex. It’s disrespectful.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “You’re so fucking annoying. We’re having sex. That’s final.”
“Excuse me?”
“We don’t have to fuck like animals and break down the wall. We can be quiet. She won’t hear a thing. Besides, she’s old. She’ll be asleep at like six.”
“That’s not the point. It’s only for a few days. You can wait.”
“Excuse me? I don’t wait.”
“You’re being an asshole. What ar
e you going to do? Hold me down?”
The anger on his face disappeared. “That’s not funny. Don’t ever say that to me again.”
Now I felt bad. “That’s not what I meant, Sean.”
“I don’t care what you meant. Don’t ever say that to me.”
The incident with Carl made him even more sensitive to that topic than he was before. I wish I hadn’t said that. I never wanted him to think I thought of him that way. “I’m sorry. I take it back.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“I just don’t understand what the big
deal is. We live together, we’re getting married, she knows we have sex. There should be no reason why we can’t make love when she’s here. Absolutely no reason. If it doesn’t bother me, it shouldn’t bother you.”
“Can you just go two days without it?” I asked incredulously. “Is it that big of a deal?”
“It is a big deal,” he snapped. “I want to make love to you every single night. I need to. I’m not changing my ways for anyone, especially my mom. I love you and I love being with you. We don’t have much time left.”
“Much time left?”
“A lifetime seems like a long time, but it’s really not. I want to have you as many times as I can. The presence of other people doesn’t make a difference to me.”
I sighed. “Why are you so stubborn?”
“Me?” He laughed. “You’re the one with a hard head.”
“Let’s just talk about this later.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. This is settled.”
“Then we’ll have sexual abstinence for two days.”
“No,” he said firmly. “If I can make you come without touching you, I can make you open your legs and beg me to fuck you without touching you either. Game on.”
As much as I hated to admit
it, those words got to me. My mind started to fantasize about Sean’s bedroom nature. He definitely was domineering and controlling. I loved that side of him. I felt like I didn’t have a choice but to enjoy it. “Why does everything have to be a challenge to you?”
He smiled. “Beli
eve me, it won’t be challenge.”
“You’re so full of yourself.”
“I just know what my wife likes.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“I can call you whatever I want. You’re wearing my ring, aren’t you? You already agreed to marry me.”
“But we still aren’t married. You’re diluting the meaning.”
“Or increasing it.”
“Just stop calling me that.”
“Fine.” He grabbed the bags and placed them in the bedroom. I looked at the living room and thought about how I would start cleaning the apartment. I wished Sean had told me we were hosting his mom. I didn’t mind having her here, but a heads up would have been nice.
Sean came back into the living room. “Do you need help cleaning?”
“It’s okay, Sean. You’ve been carrying the luggage all weekend.”
“What does that matter?”
“Just don’t worry about it. When she going to be here?”
Sean looked at his watch. “Soon.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What’s soon?”
“An hour, maybe.”
My jaw dropped. “We just got home.”
“And you’re going shopping tomorrow, right?”
I sighed. “I could kill you.”
He smiled. “I wouldn’t believe you if you were pointing a knife at me.”
“I guess I’ll concentrate on the guestroom.”
“I’ll help.”
I didn’t reject his offer because I realized I had very little time. We changed the sheets of the full size bed and vacuumed the room, changed the towels, and prepared the guest bathroom. I cleaned up the living room as much as I could before there was a knock on the door. I didn’t mind his mom coming to visit even though our relationship was still tense, but I wished she wasn’t coming so soon.
Sean opened the door. “Hey, Mom,” he said with a smile. He hugged her for a long moment before he pulled away. I could see the awkwardness he still felt toward his mother after she treated me so poorly, but I was glad he was working on the relationship. I never wanted him to lose his mom because of me. I loved Sean too much to ever do that to him.
“Hello, dear. Thanks for letting me stay with you. You know how your father is about me staying alone.”
“Definitely. I’m the same way with Scarlet.”
“Poor girl,” she said with a smile.
“Yeah. It annoys her too.” He grabbed her bags then carried them inside.
Her mother stepped into the room and looked at me. “Hello, honey. How are you?”
“Good,” I said as I hugged her. “How was the flight?”
“Long,” she said with a sigh. “Thank you so much for including me on your dress decision. I’ve been looking forward to this.”
“Of course.” Her enthusiasm made me feel better about her staying her
e. I guess I was still on my guard from being compared to Penelope for so long.
“You have a very nice apartment,” she said as she looked around.
I knew she was just saying that to be polite. We lived in a hole compared to the mansion she lived in. I wasn’t embarrassed about it. We had just the right amount of room for the two of us. “Thank you.”
“Scarlet decorated it,” Sean said as she wrapped his arm around my waist. “And she did a wonderful job.”
“It’s always good to have a female touch.”
“I’ll carry your bags into the bedroom,” Sean said as he grabbed them.
“Thank you,” Diane said. When Sean was gone, Diane looked at me. “So, do you need help cooking dinner?”
“Actually, we thought we would go out.”
“Ugh. I’m so sick of being out and about.”
I didn’t think of that. To be honest, I was tired of eating out too, but I knew we had limited groceries in the house. “I just need to ru
n to the grocery store.”
“You don’t have anything here?”
“Well, we were just in Vegas all weekend.”
“Oh yeah. How was that?”
“It was a lot of fun.”
Sean came back. “Where should we go for dinner?”
“We’re going to eat here,” I said quickly.
“Oh okay.”
Diane looked at him. “And where did you go for your bachelor party?”
“Vegas,” he answered.
“Wait. You both went to Vegas?”
“Yeah,” he said. “We combined our parties.”
“Together?” she asked, still confused.
“Yep,” he said as he returned his arm to my waist.
“But that’s not traditional,” Diane said.
“And neither are we. So, should we head to the store?”
I liked that Sean wasn’t taking shit from his mom. She still looked confused by the revelation, but Sean didn’t seem to care.