Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
That had him nodding slowly but I wasn’t sure he was happy with the answer. “What do you think of lasagna? I can’t remember anything specific about that.”
“Because no one makes it for family dinners.” They made lots of other good stuff, so I didn’t mind either way. “It takes too long and no matter how you make it, mom says it’s stupidly expensive for her cheap-ass relatives.”
Bastian barked out a laugh. “I bet she said it exactly that way.”
As I nodded, he shook his head. “But you’re fine with it?”
He asked the weirdest questions.
“Yes.” Could I ask why we were doing conversational circles around his food choices?
No.
Okay…what would Terrence say about the situation if he and Enzo were sitting there instead?
Neither of us had allergies, so it couldn’t be about not wanting to kill me like that dinner Leander had with the biker guy that was allergic to shellfish.
That’d been a disaster.
We were both having garlic, so it couldn’t be a kissing thing, even though garlic made everything better, so it could only make kissing better.
Oh.
“I’d like a few bites of it if you want to share.” Ha. He nodded. “You already know what I want, but the rigatoni with sausage is really good. We ate the whole menu a dozen times before the restaurant opened, and when he couldn’t find a brand of sausage he liked, he made his own.”
No one in the family ate pasta for a month after the restaurant finally opened.
“I didn’t know that.” Bastian frowned at the menu again, making me wonder if he didn’t like sausage.
I should’ve been more suspicious and less nice.
“Dinner’s figured out, so how subtle would you like the conversation about Christmas decorations to be?”
He was sneaky.
“What kind of dessert do you think I’d like?” As far as changing the subject went it was terrible, but he was the one debating being subtle.
“That bad, huh?” Leaning back in his chair, Bastian gave me what I thought was a concerned Dom expression.
Terrence had told Leander that was a bad sign because it was when they got stubborn.
Bastian liked being stubborn.
“What do I get if I cooperate without being a pain in the butt?” If I couldn’t get out of it, I was going to get something for it.
Terrence was really smart…and liked to talk to himself a lot.
“Are we talking dessert, a traditional date reward, or something…sillier?” Bastian was trying to be nice about not saying the Daddy stuff around other people, but it always sounded weird to me.
“I already get dessert and another reward for being good, so let’s say now I get a traditional date one and a silly one.” His lips twitched but he didn’t tell me I was ridiculous. “Thank you for being generous.”
Yep, now he couldn’t take it back because I’d already said thank you.
“You’re welcome.” Bastian seemed to know that rule too because he didn’t argue about it. “Deal.”
Ugh.
Maybe I should’ve played harder to get?
“So…what’s the issue with the decorations?” Before I could find another way to change the subject, he shrugged. “Only good boys get rewards.”
What kind of reward, though?
Ugh.
I was too curious for my own good…and too well-behaved to whine and demand to know what he was going to give me.
Fine.
“Um, well, my mother only let me buy gold decorations, so I’ve got lots of those. She really likes that color but I don’t, and I can’t put them up because I don’t like them, but if I don’t put them up she’s going to get upset.” I wasn’t sure if all families were this hard to deal with, but sometimes I had to remind myself that I loved them a lot.
Especially my mother.
“Would you like to complain about it or would you like me to fix the problem?”
Wait.
“Aren’t you supposed to offer to listen or help me problem solve?” I’d seen that on a YouTube video about relationships. Most of the stuff the guy said seemed nuts, but he seemed to have gotten that one right.
Somehow.
“No.” Shrugging, Bastian didn’t look worried about possibly being wrong. “I’m a bit more take-charge than that.”
Ah.
Dom thing.
“Please fix it.” That was so much nicer than him trying to be nice and make me do all the work. “Thank you.”
Now he had to… Thanking people really was an underrated way to manipulate them.
Bastian looked like he wanted to laugh, but he held it back, probably because he really wanted to fix my problem. “We’re going to decorate your house in silver and red just like you want, and if your mother asks about it, we’re going to tell her that it’s what I like so you were being nice.”
When.
Not if.
Oh.
“I…I’m supposed to be nice to my partner.” She sighed and whined about that every time she had to do something for my dad that she didn’t want to.