I pull myself onto the bench as he leans against the fridge.

“So that was your mom?” I ask, unscrewing the lid to my bottle and taking a long, satisfying drink.

“In the flesh.”

I can sense that this is an uncomfortable topic for him, but I need to know what is really going on.

“She’s beautiful.”

“On the outside, maybe.”

“I guess she’s something you weren’t ready to share with me...”

Although I have no idea why.

“I never wanted you to meet her.”

I frown and he speaks quickly.

“She’s not normal.”

I scoff. “Have you met my mother?”

"Okay, so maybe normal is the wrong word to use. She is a vindictive, selfish drunk and I’m embarrassed you had to see that.”

I slide off the bench and take a cautious step toward him.

“You can come to me.” He says, his lips twitching briefly. “I’m not going to send you away.”

I run to his arms and they encircle me, pulling me tight against him. I bury my head closer into his chest and he plants two kisses on the top of my head.

“My mother wasn’t always a drunk. She used to be amazing—caring, but then my dad died and she hasn’t been the same since. It’s like I’ve become the parent. I’m forever receiving calls to pick her up from the police station or the hospital and...” He exhales. “I’m just sick of it, you know.”

I pull back to look up at his face. The thought of his mother really upsets him and I hate that I’ve made him so uncomfortable, but I need to. He needs to see that it’ll take a hell of a lot more to scare me off.

“She’s still your mother, Seth.” I mumble.

“Which is why I put up with her, but I’ve been too lenient—given too many chances. She doesn’t deserve it anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Honestly, there’s too much ground to cover. She’s the reason my little sister moved out, the reason why I haven’t been able to completely move on from my father’s death—she reminds me of it every damn day and I’m sick of dealing with her.” His arms let me go and he runs his fingers through his hair. “When you left this afternoon I completely flipped out. I felt sick and I couldn’t breathe...I jumped straight in my car to come here, but decided to go to the gym instead. I ran into your dad and he asked me if you found my address okay. Without a word I left the gym and I’ve just been driving around for hours trying to think of ways to make it up to you.”

His thumb drops to caress my cheek. “I went to so many shops and looked at so many things I thought you’d love, but halfway through I remembered that you don’t like that. You don’t need to be bought things to be happy.”

I bury my face into his black jacket and a sense of peace washes over me. I’ve finally found someone who understands me—who listens to me.

“But,” he says, running his finger along my cheek, drawing my face out of his jacket. “I did manage come up with two things to make you happy.”

I watch his face and his dark eyes, flare with pleasure like he knows for a fact it’ll make me happy. “After today—and especially what you said in the car—I realized there are too many things in this world that can drive us apart. Right now, we don’t owe each other anything. If we want to go separate ways, we don’t even have to supply the other with an explanation and I don’t like that. I want to owe you things. I want to owe you explanations... I want us to be officially together—titles and all, if you really want.”

My mouth drops open and all I give him in return is a wide-eyed stare. I’m surprised he’d do that for me. “I wasn’t expecting that...What happened to your ‘I don’t do girlfriends’ thing.”

His lips twitch. “You happened.”

Damn it. He’s handsome and romantic. Sometimes, I really can’t fault this guy.

“You do realize that means you’re officially off the market.” I say, poking him in the hard stomach. The warm, wide palms of his hands cup my face and my breath hitches.

“Baby, I’ve been off the market since the moments these cheeks turned the sexiest shade of pink.”

Heat flares under my skin and I avert my gaze. “And when was that?”

“When I caught you eye-fucking me.”

I shove him and he lets go of my face. “I did not.”

He laughs loudly and squeezes me against him. “You did. Admit it.”

I did stare a little too long at him, but I certainly did not ‘eye-fuck’ him.

“Anyway,” He chuckles, kissing my nose. “There’s one more thing I want to do to make you happy, but we have to get into the car.”

“The car?”

He nods. “You don’t have to bring anything. Let’s just go to the car.”

Seth’s hands rest on my shoulders and he turns my still confused body to the door. He walks behind me, nudging me closer and closer to the exit.

“I’m not dressed properly.” I say, glancing down at my short shorts and tank top. I shed the thin jacket ages ago. “My shorts are too short.”

He drops his hands from my shoulder and I jump when I feel a thick finger glide along the base of my ass cheek.

“I think they’re perfect.” He growls.

I feel his breath on my neck and I immediately moisten. I open the front door and before I know it. We’re in his car and driving away from my house.

***

I barely notice the buildings and streets we drive past. All of my attention is honed in on my thigh—on the one spot Seth keeps circling with the rough tip of his index finger. It’s painfully arousing and I have to bite back a gasp every time his circle gets glides over my inner thigh. When he removes his hand, my mind clears and I notice the turn off we just took is the exact same one I took earlier this afternoon.

“Seth...” I say, cautiously. “Where are we going?”

We’re heading in the same direction as his house, but he wouldn’t take me there. Would he?

“Is it not obvious?” He asks, raising his eyebrows at me. “We’re going to my house.”

Seth glances sideways at me and thankfully there’s not enough lighting for him to see how my fingers are nervously working the thin fabric of my tank top.

“It’s okay. I said this will make you happy and trust me, it will.”

Although I fail to see how, I nod anyway, putting all of my faith in him.

The view of the houses at daytime blew my mind because they were so big and breathtaking. Now, they’re beautiful and elegant. There’s something peaceful about the way tea lights glow and illumine the walkways. I want tea lights for my house. When we turn and drive slowly down the slight slope of a driveway, he turns off the car and sits for a little while.

“We don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.” I tell him.

Seth leaves the car and comes around to open my door. He extends his hand to me and I take it.

“We’re going in.” He smiles at me.

I try not to gape at the way he yellow lights glow beautiful along the chocolate walkway or the dark bricks of his house. It makes me crave chocolate cake and vanilla custard. Yum.

Seth’s fingers entwine with mine and I smile up at him. Seth. My boyfriend. How’d that even happen? How’d I get so lucky? He sticks his key in the front door and it opens without a creak. I stare down the long hallway. It’s empty—not the kind of empty that looks terrible and plain. It's the kind of empty that still manages to take your breath away. Seth’s fingers slip from mine. “You first.”

I don’t move. “Is your mom home? I don’t want to disturb her...”

“My mom is hardly home at night. Tonight is no different.”

His hand slides to the small of my back and he presses on me. “It’s just us. Go on.”

I step into the house and slip my sandals off by the door. Seth’s hand claims mine again and he pulls me behind him up the long hallway. A few feet ahead the hallway stops and the living room begins—dark leather couches, red and white rugs, a very large TV and strange sculptures—it's so much to take in. I’ve never seen a house so... thought out. I know the outside is beautiful, but I was expecting the inside to be, well, boyish. You know, clothes and food everywhere, a strange old shoe smell and posters of naked girls. I avoided my brother’s room at all costs for those reasons exactly.

“What, no posters of naked girls?” I tease.

He laughs without looking at me. “No, I’m not twelve.”

He drags me through the monstrous kitchen, filled with hanging pots and pans, steel bench tops with wooden accents and then down another hallway. This one isn’t bare like the first hallway. It has paintings hanging along its white walls.

“I would have never guessed you like art.” I wonder aloud.

“They’re my dads, actually.”

Oh. “Sorry.”

He rolls his brown eyes at me. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Seth escorts me up a staircase into another mini lounge. A one hallway veers off in three different directions and he leads me down the one to the far left. He opens the door at the end.

“This is your room?”

I let my mind wander as I gaze upon the impeccable cleanliness and organization of it. A huge king size bed looks alluring from the far corner of the room. The other side has a coffee table and two black leather couches that sit before an impressive wall mounted TV. A boxing bag hangs from the wooden banister in the middle of the room with a pair of blue boxing gloves slung over the top.

“Do you like it?”

I shake and nod my head at the same time. “It’s big... and... beautiful.”

He smiles cockily and I realize I just walked into one of those ‘that’s what she said’ jokes. I scowl at him. “Don’t say it.”

He flashes his large palms at me. “I wasn’t gonna.” He points to his couch. “You sit right there, I’ll be back.”

Seth disappears through a door on the other side of the room and I fall into the couch. There’s a nudey mag on the glass tabletop and I chuckle a little. This is definitely Seth’s room. He peers around the door and gestures for me to come to him. Nervous as well as intrigued, I go to the door. He opens it wide as I approach and his hand takes mine. He pulls me into a bathroom and my eyes drag over the glass shower and two beautiful, square bowl sinks. They’re nice, but the huge spa bath in front of me captures my complete attention. The water churns and creates thick bubbles as the water level rises.

“A bath?”

Seth’s fingers grasp the base of my shirt and I lift my arms while he pulls it over my head.

“Just for you.”

His thumbs curl underneath the band of my shorts and he pushes them so they drop to the floor, taking my underwear with them. The warm steam that emits from the bath floats over to kiss my skin.

I turn to Seth. “You didn’t have to run me a bath. I was being silly.”

He smiles, running the very tips of his fingers along my stomach. “So a bath wouldn’t make you happy?”

“It would but—ah!” He effortlessly scoops me up into his arms and carries me to the bath. My toes dip into the scorching water first, followed slowly by the rest of my body. When I’m in my body grows accustomed to the temperature.

“You’re not joining me?” I ask Seth, pulling bubbles over to me to cover my breasts.

“No, I want you to enjoy it.”

“I’d enjoy it a lot more if you were in here with me.”

He shakes his head.

I try again. “It would make me happier, if you were in here with me.”

His teeth sweep over his bottom lip and with a heavy exhale, he shrugs out of his jacket. I watch, getting a little bit too excited when he pulls his shirt over his head, exposing all of his intricate patterned tattoos and deliciously smooth skin. His finger hooks around the button to his jeans and he slides them off. I pull my knees into my chest as he steps in. He hisses at the temperature, but once the water submerges his body he relaxes. There’s a lot of space between us so I slide toward him and he happily pulls me in between his legs. My back rests against his front and I close my eyes as Seth’s warm lips press against the back of my neck, sending a tidal wave of pleasure through me.

“I’m enjoying the bath more already.” I groan, feeling him smile against my skin.

His hands trail downwards, gently grazing my breasts.

“Your house is very nice.” I state. “I have no idea how you were able to stomach my tiny apartment.”

“Your apartment is cozy. I’ve never had a better night’s sleep than when I’m there with you.”

His words are sweet, filling me with a strange warmth and making me smile.

“You said you want to owe me explanations, right?” I ask, trying to make myself feel better about what I’m going to ask next.

He doesn’t say anything, only nods.

“How are you able to afford such a place?”

His index finger traces circles along my side, making my nipples harden. “Well, in Seattle my dad was a surgeon and my mom was a lawyer. Together, they made a lot of money and were very smart about their decisions... when my dad died and my mom went off the edge, I was put in charge of finances for the sake of my sister.”

“What made you move to Portland?”

“My mom hit breaking point. She promised me she’d get better, but the only city offering the program I wanted to put her in was here in Maine. She’s yet to attend her first session.”