Page 62 of Puck Love

“You should be quiet when you comethen.”

“Van,” I say in protest, but his mouth is already on me, lashing my clit with his tongue and forcing me to lose my breath. I slide my hands into his hair and give myself over to themoment.

When we’re dressed and halfwaypresentable, I follow Van downstairs, hoping his mother didn’t hear any of the things her son and I were up to in hisbedroom.

“Well, you best get your cute little hockey bum over here and give your mom a hug, Son. You too,Stella.”

“Oh, I . . .” I find myself engulfed in her arms whether I wanted to be or not. She holds on so tightly I can barely breathe, and yet the scent of her sweet perfume makes me miss my own mother so much that I find myself hanging on for longer than appropriate. When I pull away, there are unshed tears in my eyes. Van’s smile dims as he meets my gaze, but I turn away, heading for the fridge so I can give the room my back and make out as if I’m just grabbing adrink.

“Stella, would you be a dear and grab me the cheese from thefridge?”

“Ah, sure.” I clear my throat and fish the provolone out of the fridge, turning to hand it to her. Nora smiles. She doesn’t say anything about my watery eyes, and I’m thankful for it. “Can I, can I help you withlunch?”

“Oh sure. Why don’t you cut up those greens for me while Van goes and collects a nice white wine to have withit?”

“Mom,” hewarns.

“Oh relax, would you? Stella understands that a mother has to interrogate any woman that comes into her son’s life, don’t you,dear?”

Shedoes?

“Of course.” I say, a little too chipper. I get to work on chopping the asparagus and baby spinach while Nora makes light work of dicing several freshtomatoes.

“Busted. You’re in for it now, Stella.” Emmett chuckles. He doesn’t bother looking up at us from his paper on thetable.

“Go easy,” Van says, kissing his mother’s cheek. “I like thisone.”

My heart practically does summersaults inside my chest, but the second he’s gone, she turns and gives me a look that says I should prepare for what comes next, and the floaty feelings are gone. “So, Stella, why on earth did you run away toBanff?”

“Ah,I—”

“She crashed her car. I told you that already, Mom,” Emmett says, surprising me. When she arrived, Nora had said she didn’t know Van had a guest.Mamma Ross was a big, fatliar.

“It’s true. I crashed into a snow drift. Van and Emmett savedme.”

“I did all the heavy lifting,” Emmettsays.

“Emmett, are you calling me fat?” I tease. He cracks up, slapping his knee, and I laugh too, but then I remember Van’s mother is staring at me. My smile quicklydisappears.

“And why were you driving up themountain?”

“She was running away,” Emmettsays.

“Emmett, hush now. I’m askingStella.”

“But I already told you all this,” he protests.Busted.

“It’s fine, Emmett. I owe everyone answers; there’s no better place to start.” I release a deep breath. “I was running from a stadium full of people,ma’am.”

“But those people are yourfans?”

“Yes, they are. I don’t have a good excuse to give you. I know I let everyone down. I just . . . I needed a break. I couldn’t step up on that stage another night and pretend I wasokay.”

“Oh,” Nora says, and scrapes the diced tomatoes into the sizzling pan. “Are you okay now, in my son’shouse?”

“I think I’m starting tobe.”

“Can you see yourself being okay here in the future?” I know she’s hinting at more, and I pray she won’t say it. Not now, not after the last twenty-four hours of bliss. Not when I can feel Van’s eyes on me, and I know he’s standing behind me. He doesn’t say anything though, and I decide to hell with moving too fast. My life is fast—so is his, for that matter, and there are things we need to discuss. I open my mouth, but before I can get a word out, he chimes in, “Mom.”