“He was born in 1926.”

“For an old guy.”

“He’s slept with hundreds and hundreds of questionable women.”

“He’s just a tameless bachelor.”

I don’t even try to hold back the laughter inside of me. “I can’t believe you have a thing for Hugh Hefner, Rachel.”

She smiles and unlocks the front door to Justin’s house. “Hey, I didn’t bash you when you brought up Charlie Sheen so you should lay off.”

I giggle. “At least Charlie Sheen is somewhere near my age. Hugh Hefner looks ready to keel over.”

She rolls her eyes but smiles at the same time. “Well that’s a rude thing to say.”

I smile and shake my head as I slide my shoes off. I’m so glad Justin introduced me to his cousin. He decided that I didn’t know enough people in LA so he randomly sent Rachel to my house one day to “do what girls do” as he put it. It had been a little weird at first considering I had never met her before, but she was easy to warm up to and over the past week we’ve become fast friends. And it’s really nice to have a girlfriend in LA. I talk on the phone to Hannah every few days but it’s not the same as having someone right there.

Rachel starts to walk through the house and yells out Justin’s name. When there’s no answer, she shrugs at me.

“He’s probably sleeping upstairs,” she says and begins to walk in the direction of the kitchen. “I have to call my mom.”

She disappears from sight and with nothing else to do, I start my way up the winding staircase leading to the second level of the house. I still can’t get over how massive his house is. I realize he has a huge amount of money and can easily afford it, but I can’t imagine living in such a big place all by myself.

Justin’s room is at the very end of the hallway and the door is shut. There isn’t an answer when I knock and after a minute I ease the door open and find him on the center of the large bed, sound asleep.

I hang back in the doorway for a moment simply because I don’t want to disturb him. Granted, he was the one who called and told me to come over once I was done lunch with Rachel so he probably won’t care too much if I wake him up. I decide to go with that thought and enter his room.

I walk across the room to the bed, taking in how peaceful Justin looks when he sleeps. He’s sprawled out in the middle of the bed, one arm raised above his head and the other resting on his stomach. His chest rises and falls with each breath he takes but no noise escapes him, which surprises me because I always thought he’d be a snorer.

He doesn’t stir when I sit down on the mattress, pulling my legs under me. I stare at his face for a moment.

He is so hot.

His lips part with a breath and I can imagine those lips on mine, kissing me. The last time he kissed me was at one thirty five yesterday afternoon when he was leaving the store. I had walked him to his car and he had pulled me tight against him and pressed his lips on mine in a kiss that left me dizzy. My mind had gone to mush and I had spent a good portion of the afternoon tracing my finger over my lips, still feeling him.

I’m falling for him fast. Faster than I’d like. I don’t like to rush into relationships because that’s never worked for me. I’ve always found that it’s better to take my time getting to know the person and even hold back a bit. But with Justin that incredibly hard to do. When I’m with him I just want more and more and when I’m apart from him, I’m craving to be near him again. Hannah says it’s true love. I say it’s slowly setting myself up.

Reaching out, I pick up the hand that’s on his stomach and weave my fingers through his and then rest our joined hands on my lap. I only have to sit there for another few seconds before his head turns to the side and he breathes in deeply. My thumb rubbing over the side of his hand prompts his eyes to open and they focus on me.

A smile stretches across his face and he squeezes my hand. “Hey. You’re here.”

“You said to come over when we were done lunch.”

“I just figured that Rach would drag you out shopping or something.” His eyes move to the half open door. “Is she here?”

“She said she was calling her mom.”

“She’ll be on the phone for at least an hour then.” His eyes move back to me and he smiles. “You know, this is the first time you’ve been in my bed.”

“Has that been a goal of yours?”

He merely continues to smile and gives me arm a tug, pulling me down. I slide next to him and stretch out on my side, facing him.

“Were you sleeping long?”

“About an hour,” he says, his hand pushing some hair away from my face. “I didn’t sleep good last night.”

“I can leave and you can sleep more,” I start to say but even as the words are coming out of my mouth, I can see him about to protest. Before he can speak, I continue, this time teasing. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt your beauty sleep. I’ll just go find Ra-”

Before I can say anything else, he’s moved, pushing me onto my back and is now hovering over top of me, his weight pinning me to the mattress. I laugh in surprise and he grins.

“You need to stay right here,” he states, resting his arms on either side of my head.

I giggle and loop my arms around his neck. “Right here?”

“Exactly right here,” he says, the last word coming out a mumble as his lips meet mine. I eagerly kiss him back, feeling like it’s been weeks since I’ve had his lips against mine. There’s something so special, so real, so hot about kissing him that I can’t ever imagine it ending and everything bad goes away with that simple contact. All my brain can manage to focus on is his lips moving on mine and his tongue sweeping into my mouth. This is so perfect.

Justin’s mouth moves lazily from my mouth to my jawline and then to the spot right below my ear. My eyes flutter shut as he kisses me there and they don’t open again until he pulls his mouth away after a few minutes of bliss.

“You look very pleased,” he comments, staring down at me.

A smile pulls at my lips. “Well that was very pleasing.”

He flashes me a smile. “Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

I laugh lean up to kiss him briefly. “What are the plans for tonight?” I ask when I pull back.

He shrugs. “Don’t know. You don’t have to go back to the store at all?”

“They’re painting and there’s nothing I could do if I was there. So you have to entertain me.”

“I’m sure I can come up with something.” He pushes my hair away from my face, fanning it out across the pillow under my head. “Think you can find time in your schedule for a lunch break on Thursday?”

“Probably.”

“Good. My mom’s coming to LA and I want you to meet her.”

I feel myself blanch slightly. “Your mom?”

He laughs. “Don’t look so worried. Mom keeps saying she wants to meet you.” He leans down so our noses are touching and gives me a quick kiss. “She’ll love you.”

I should probably say at this point how horrible I am when it comes to meeting boyfriends parents. Mothers especially. I don’t think I’ve ever made a good first impression on a boyfriend’s mother. And this isn’t any mother. This is Lynn Harless who Justin talks on the phone to every single day. I’ve teased him about being a mama’s boy countless times and he merely shrugs. And since he and Lynn are so close, she’s going to be insanely protective of him and then I’m going to walk in and make the worst impression ever. This is bad.

“Sounds great,” I choke out and somehow manage to fool him with that.

Sounds great? Sounds like a complete nightmare.

* * *

“It was horrible, Hannah,” I moan into the phone. “So completely horrible.”

“Are you being dramatic and it wasn’t really all that bad?”

“No. It was really really bad. She hates me.”

“What happened?”

I lean my head back against the headrest of my seat and shut my eyes. “I was supposed to meet them at this restaurant at twelve thirty but I was at the fabric store and lost track of time so I was twenty minutes late. So right away I’m setting a bad first impression and then when I get there I’m trying to make up for it and so I try and take the initiative and introduce myself and I call her Mrs. Timberlake.”

“Is that not her name?”

“No, Timberlake is Justin’s dad’s last name and his parents got divorced when he was a kid.”

Hannah’s quiet for a moment. “Oh. Oops.”

“I don’t even know why it came out of my mouth. I know her last name is Harless but it just came out.”

“Well it’s not the end of the world. I’m sure she gets that a lot.”

“Probably not by her son’s girlfriend.”

“Well, honestly, Cassandra, it’s not the end of the world.”

A car horn beeps and I open my eyes to see that the light has turned green and traffic is moving again. “That wasn’t it though,” I groan, stepping on the gas.

“What else happened?”

“After she explains almost a little too politely that her last name isn’t Timberlake, she starts interrogating me on everything. About living out here, my job, my FAMILY.”

“What did you say?”

“I side stepped half the questions. And Justin did nothing to help at all. He just sat there.”

“She probably just wants to get to know who her son is dating.”

“That’s what I kept telling myself but it was just so much. I’ve never been asked so many questions in my life.” Putting on my signal, I switch lanes and receive a series of horns. Seriously, what is with the drivers out here? “So then we order and she starts asking me about my designs and we get onto the topic of fashion and for some stupid reason I start to go on about how I think leopard prints are the tackiest thing ever and then I notice, she’s wearing leopard print. ”

“Wait, she’s wearing leopard print? Can we talk about THAT for a minute?”

“It was just a tank top thing. It wasn’t like a whole outfit. So as soon as I realize that I try and take it back and it just gets so awkward. I basically spent the rest of the meal wanting to sink into a hole in the floor. And to top things off, when I got up to leave, I knocked over a glass of water and it went all over her lap.”

Hannah begins to laugh and my eyes narrow. What good is she.

“It’s NOT funny.”

“I’m sorry. I know. But when did you become so socially awkward?”

“You know I make bad first impressions with boyfriend’s parents.”

“Yeah but they usually don’t involve insulting the mother’s taste in clothing and dumping water on her.”

I groan and take my hand off the steering wheel briefly to pinch the bridge of my nose. The headache that’s been there all lunch is progressively getting worse. “I know. I don’t know what happened. I was just so nervous meeting her.”

“Why?”

“Because Justin’s the biggest mama’s boy I’ve ever met and he’s golden in her eyes. I feel like she thinks no girl is good enough for him.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. He’s lucky to have you.”

I don’t acknowledge Hannah’s compliment. “Plus it’s way too soon to be meeting his mother.”

“Is it?”

“It’s been like three weeks. That’s too soon.”

“Isn’t it more like a month and a half?”

“Since we’ve known each other. Not since we’ve been dating. It’s insanely soon.”

“When I was going out with Ryan, he introduced me to his parents on the second date. Trust me, three weeks isn’t that bad.”

“It is to me. It feels like Justin’s rushing into it.”

“You just have a phobia to commitment.”

I roll my eyes. “I do not.”

Hannah laughs. “Oh please, Cassandra. You do so. You always have.”

I reach my house and park my car in the driveway. “It’s not a phobia. I’m just cautious.”

“Uh huh.”

Grabbing my bags from the backseat, I get out of my car and walk to the door. “I might have a small aversion to commitment but only when it comes too fast. And Justin’s all about commitment. I’ve never met a guy who wants to get serious so fast.”

“Most girls wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

“I’ve just never been like that.”

“I know. So what are you going to do?”

Balancing everything in one hand, I unlock the front door and step inside. “There’s nothing I can do. I’m just hoping Lynn doesn’t absolutely hate me and talk Justin out of dating me.”

“I hardly think that’s going to happen.”

“Probably not. But you know how I like to make things dramatic.”

Hannah laughs. “Exactly.”

I say goodbye to her a few minutes later so she can get back to the homework I had pulled her away from. I’m still completely stressed out about the disastrous lunch date with Justin and Lynn and needing to calm myself down, I take my new fabrics to my sewing room and sit down in front of my drawing board.

With all of the excitement of moving and opening a new store, I haven’t really had a chance to draw or sew lately. I figure since I’m opening an entire store of my designs, I should probably get some new ones going. Plus, I’ve missed it like crazy.

I’m completely in a zone as I finish drawing a dress and begin to move it from paper to actual fabric. The ringing of my doorbell rudely interrupts me and I frown as I look up from the fabric I’m measuring. I decide to ignore, figuring it can’t be THAT important, but when it rings again, I immediately know who it is and know that I need to answer it.

“You know, you take a really long time to answer your door,” Justin says as he steps past me into the house when I open the door.

I shut the door behind him and pull out the elastic that’s holding my hair away from my face. “I was working.”

“Oh.” His eyes glance quickly around the room before resting on me. “So my mom-”

“Absolutely hates me?” I finish, trying to smile a bit. It doesn’t work.

He gives me a strange look. “No. My mom doesn’t hate anyone.”

I sigh and begin to walk back to my sewing room. Justin follows. “I called her the wrong name, insulted her fashion sense, and spilt water all over her lap,” I say, cringing at the memory of the lunch. “I’m pretty sure she was less than impressed.”

I walk in the door of the room and go for my chair but Justin somehow beats me to it and sits.

“I told her you weren’t yourself because you’re really busy with work and stressed out with the renovations at the store.”

“That’s not true.”

“I know. But that’s what I told her.” He leaned forward to grab my hands and then pulled me to stand in front of him. “You definitely weren’t yourself at lunch today.”

“Wasn’t I?”

He gives me a look. I know I might be being just a bit difficult but I’m still trying to get over this stupid lunch and I don’t want to relive it.

“What’s going on?”

I sigh and lean back against the desk behind me. “Meeting your mom was just a bit nervewracking.”

“Why?” he asks and by the look on his face I can tell that he can’t imagine anyone not loving his mother to death.

“Because you and her are so close and if she doesn’t like me…well that’s not good.”

He smiles and squeezes my hand. “She likes you because I like you. She knows I have excellent taste in women.”

A small smile tugs at my lips. “I probably should have warned you that I make horrible first impressions with parents.”

“It really wasn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be,” he assures me.

“Even if it was you wouldn’t tell me.”

“Probably not. But it wasn’t. Really. After you left Mom said you seemed really nice and maybe just a bit frazzled. Which you were.”

“I was hoping it wasn’t completely obvious.”

“It wasn’t as bad as you think it was,” he says with a smile and tugs on my arms until I straighten. His arms go around my waist and he pulls me down onto his lap. “Mom wants you to come over for dinner tomorrow night if you can handle it.”

The thought alone terrifies me but I know I should probably give it another shot. “As long as I don’t come in contact with any liquid that could be spilt.”

He lets out a deep laugh and I manage to smile as I lean my head against his shoulder. Being here with him I can almost forget about lunch.

Almost.