Book Boyfriend (Someday #5) Read Online Free Page B

took me a minute to place the unfamiliar emotions. When I recognized them, I sighed with contentment. What I was feeling was acceptance , and it was incredible. I hadn’t even understood how deeply my soul had missed it until it flooded through me, making me dizzy and drunk with its sweet intoxication.
    Part of me wanted to stay there, bask in the glow of Sebastian’s honeyed laugh and shining eyes forever, and savor the way he looked at me like I was a precious treasure. Like I was important. But another part of me simply couldn’t handle that. It was too close. Too intimate. Too tempting in its invitation to lower my walls and trust another person, to believe they could see me for who I truly was and value that. That sharp and jagged corner of my soul, though small, was strong and hard to crack. And, in this case, like it had so many times before, it won out.
    I opened the truck door and jumped out, slamming it behind me. Then I scurried up the walk as fast as I could. “We’d better go in,” I called behind me without even looking back.

Chapter 6
    Sebastian
    I hopped out of the pickup, grabbed the grocery bags from the backseat, and hurried after Michelle. I was stoked with how this was going. A couple of hours ago, I had been getting nowhere with her. Now, I was making her laugh and meeting her family. Sure, it wasn’t like that was entirely due to me and my suave debonairness—a broken-down car was in the mix. But what of it? By my way of thinking, that just meant fate was on my side.
    Now, my one and only job was to not fuck it up.
    We climbed the porch steps, and Michelle raised her hand to knock on the door. Before she could make contact, however, it violently flung open. Standing on the other side was a woman holding a tumbler full of amber liquid in one hand and a burning cigarette with a long and precariously trembling ash trail at the end of it.
    She was in her sixties or seventies, as far as I could tell—but it was difficult to judge because of the heavy layer of makeup covering her face. Her lips were a bright orangey-pink color, and her eyelids were solid blue all the way up to her eyebrows. Her hair, piled high on top of her head, was stiff from all the hairspray holding it firmly in place.
    She was wearing a housecoat of brilliant blue to match her eye shadow, and her feet were covered with fuzzy black slippers. When she spoke, her voice was low and whiskey-soaked with a thick East Coast accent.
    “There you are! I was starting to think you got eaten by a bear in this godforsaken wilderness. Come in, come in.” Michelle’s grandmother gestured wildly as she spoke, and I was amazed that the liquid stayed in the glass and the ash didn’t fall off the end of her cigarette. It was mesmerizing to watch.
    “Hello, ma’am,” I interjected.
    She turned, noticing me for the first time. She looked me up and down for a long moment and then nodded decisively, apparently approving of what she saw. “Right. I get it,” she said in a wicked tone, swiveling back to face Michelle. “That’s why you’re late. You’re finally having a little fun. Well, good for you, kid. You deserve it.” She gave Michelle an affectionate pat on the cheek with the cigarette hand as we walked past her and into the house.
    “Grandma!” Michelle sounded scandalized. “Nothing’s going on. Sebastian just gave me a ride.”
    Her grandmother chortled dryly. “I think that’s pretty much what I just said.”
    Michelle’s cheeks flamed, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen her so embarrassed and uncomfortable. I should have felt bad for her, but I couldn’t help it. It was cute as hell, and I loved it.
    I set the bags on the counter and extended my hand to her. “Sebastian Winters, ma’am. I sure am pleased to meet you.”
    Michelle, her face still as bright red as a harvest sunset, said, “Sebastian, this is my grandma, Trudy. Grandma Trudy, Sebastian. He’s a friend from class.”
    Nice. I’d been upgraded to