MVP (VIP Book 3) (21 page)

A few days later and Thanksgiving was here! I had never experienced a normal Thanksgiving or ate a turkey and I wanted it to be perfect. Sebastian’s parents were due to land in a few hours and I had woken up at five AM to get everything ready. I researched different styles of turkeys and ingredients for days until I found the precise one. Sebastian said I spent a small fortune on food, but I didn’t care.

“What time is it?” he asked, coming out of the bedroom with bedhead, shirtless, and fucking adorable.

“It’s six thirty.”

“Ysa, it’s crazy early.”

“So why are you up?”

“I rolled over and you were gone. Come back to bed.”

“I can’t, I have so much to get done before your parents get here. The turkey is in the oven and it looks beautiful, if I do say so myself.”

He came up behind me, nuzzling my neck.

“Hey! Stop that,” I said, moving away.

He held me firmer. “But I’m up.”

I laughed. “I can feel that. I’m serious, stop!” I pushed out my ass, bumping him backward and ducked under his arms to turn around.

I held up the potato peeler that was in my hand.

“What are you going to do, Ysa? Scrape me to death?”

“Oh my God! Go do something, stop being so needy.” I smiled. “Or you can help me?”

“Hmmm…I’m going to go take a shower. But first…”

He was over to me in two strides, pulling me in to passionately kiss me. When his hands started trailing from my waist to my breasts, I shoved him.

“Be good! I have shit to do.”

He left to go pick up his parents around ten, and by the time they made it back, it was almost noon. I was checking the turkey when they walked in.

“And there she is…where she has been all day,” he informed, making his mom hit him in the chest. “Ow!”

“Sebastian, she has been cooking all day, you stop picking on her,” she reprimanded.

“I’m sorry, I’m still a mess. I thought I’d have enough time to shower before you guys got here. The time just got away from me.”

“Oh, honey, don’t worry about it. I completely understand. If Sebastian is anything like his father, I’m sure he has been sitting on the couch.”

I nodded and laughed, and then she slapped him again.

I went and showered, dressing in a casual maxi skirt and tank top. I opted on minimal makeup with some mascara, blush, and lipgloss.

Sebastian closed the door behind him as I was putting on my sandals.

“Mmm…you smell good, and you look so pretty,” he groaned into my ear from behind.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.”

“I missed you today. Come here,” he whispered, turning me to grope me.

“Stop. Your parents are right outside.”

“It’s fine, my mom’s on the phone with a friend and my dad’s watching football. We have time.”

My eyes widened. “Are you insane? I am not having sex with you with your parents less than twenty feet away. Stop,” I demanded, fighting off his frisky hands.

“I don’t want to stop. Since when do you ever deny me?”

“I’m going to hurt you. Stop.”

We went at this for a few more seconds, him trying to touch me everywhere and me blocking every advance. I finally broke down and started laughing, and he took the opportunity to carry me over to the bed, lying on top of me, and caging me in.

“Shhh…I’ll be really fast. Don’t make any noise.”

“No. Stop,” I urged, moving every chance I got.

“Shhh…just let it happen.”

My stomach hurt from laughing. When he wanted in, he was getting in.

“Ysabelle,” his mom said, knocking on the door.

“Yeah?” I yelled, giving him the death look.

“I think the turkey might be ready to come out. Your timer went off while you were in the shower. Do you want me to take it out?”

“No! I’ll be right out! Get off.”

He laughed and rolled over and before I could jump up, he grabbed my face and kissed me.

“I love you. And it’s on later, Ysa.”

I rolled my eyes and went to deal with his parents while he took a few minutes to get his hard-on under control.

Unbelievable.

His mom helped me set the table and get everything in order. We nonchalantly talked about nothing in particular. She was the sweetest woman, so caring and gentle. I loved her immediately. She showed me some tricks and family secrets, as she called them, for marinating the food. She also told me about Sebastian’s favorite foods and I made a mental note.

“Sebastian, would you like to say grace?” his dad asked.

“Sure.”

He leaned over to grab my hand and everyone else followed suit. I was confused. I had never been a part of anything like that. They bowed their heads and closed their eyes and I did the same.

“Dear Lord, thank you for this food that we are about to eat. Please bless everyone at this table and our loved ones who couldn’t be here with us today. Thank you, Heavenly Father. Amen.”

We all looked up and they did this cross thing in front of them.

“I’ll start with what I’m thankful for,” his dad said. “I am thankful for my beautiful and amazing wife who I have had the honor of being married to for the last thirty-seven years. I am thankful for my son, I couldn’t have asked for a better gift. I am thankful for my career that has given me the opportunity to help people in need all around the world. Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings.”

He kissed his wife and Sebastian squeezed my hand.

His mom went next. “I am thankful for my husband, who has always provided all my needs and wants and who gave me the greatest blessing of all, which is my son. I am thankful for my grandchild and hoping for many more in the future,” she added, looking right at me and winking.

Oh man…

Sebastian followed. “I am thankful for my amazing parents who have always supported and loved me unconditionally. I am thankful to have found the love of my life, Ysabelle.” He smiled at me. “And I am thankful for my son.”

All eyes were on me. “Umm…I am thankful for meeting such beautiful, welcoming people. I have never felt more love than I have at this table today. Thank you for letting me be a part of that.”

His mom frowned. This woman barely knew me and she was sad for me. It warmed my heart.

I locked eyes with Sebastian. “I am thankful to you. Thank you for loving me.” I blinked a few times to clear the tears that were at bay. I didn’t know what came over me, but I had the sudden urge to cry, not from sadness, but from happiness. I had never felt that before.

“I can see why my son is taken with you, Ysabelle.”

I shyly smiled at her and we all went on to eat.

The next few days we showed my parents around the island and doing tourist things. They loved Ysabelle’s bar and my mom and her seemed to be getting along great. I took my dad out offshore one morning.

“Hand me another beer, son.”

I grabbed two from the cooler and handed him one.

“So tell me about the girl?”

“Where do I start?” I laughed, sitting back on the leather fighting chair.

“Your mom really likes her; she thinks she’s good for you.”

“She is.”

“So where do you see this going? You guys talk about the future?”

“Not really. I know where I’d like things to go, though. I’d ask her to marry me tomorrow if I thought she would say yes.”

“A woman who doesn’t want to get married. They exist?”

We laughed and I nodded. “Apparently. She didn’t have the best upbringing and then how we met…that whole disaster.”

“I see.”

“Trust me, Dad, I’m not proud of what I did. I never wanted to be that man. You raised me better than that. The heart wants what it wants. You know?”

“I’m going to share something with you because I think this will help. People aren’t perfect, especially men. When you were two years old, your mother and I were having some issues. I was working seventy hours a week and she was stuck at home; her whole life changed when she got pregnant with you. It was a difficult adjustment for both of us. We worked through it, though. However, it was touch and go there for about a year. I was sleeping in the guest bedroom and there were nights I thought maybe we wouldn’t make it. We went to therapy and over time, it helped. The reason I’m telling you this is because relationships take work, even the best ones.”

My parents always looked like they had the best marriage, it surprised me that they went through hard times.

“It took us a while to get back to where we were before we had you, but once we did, it was better than it had been before. Men are selfish and I wanted to keep running my practice and have her at home with you. I never imagined she needed me to be around as well. Not that I didn’t want to be, I just thought she could handle everything on her own. From then on out I made it a point to be home for dinner and be able to tuck you into bed and spend some alone time with her. I forgot how much she needed the adult interaction and our time together.”

“Is that why you didn’t have more children?”

“No. We just decided that one was enough for us. You always seemed to be happy being the only child, though I’m sure having Julia around helped.” He took a sip of his beer. “How is Julia? How are you guys dealing with the changes?”