Hardin Scott has been madly in love with Tessa Young since the moment he first laid eyes on her, but there's no way she could ever see him as anything more than a friend. After all, he's a bad boy with a promiscuous past and she's a sweet and innoce...
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"Ready, baby?" Hardin asks as he grabs ahold of my hand and kisses the top of it.
"I think so," I squeak.
"I met your mother. It's only fair you meet mine. At least mine won't want you to leave me. She'll be begging you to stay with me." He chuckles.
"Okay, let's do this," I say with all the courage I can muster.
Hardin grabs our luggage from the rental car. I try to help, but he refuses to let me. I manage to wrestle one bag from him, though. I follow closely behind Hardin as we walk to his mom's front door.
Before Hardin is even able to knock, the door swings open and his mom wraps her arms around him. "My boy's finally here!" she beams as she squeezes him tightly.
"Mum... I can't breathe," Hardin gasps.
She pulls away to get a good look at him. "Look how handsome you are. And so grown up." Her voice starts to crack. Next, she turns her attention to me. Without saying anything, she pulls me into a warm hug.
"It's nice to meet you... Mrs. Daniels," I manage to say, despite how tightly she's squeezing me.
She releases me from our hug. "None of this Mrs. Daniels nonsense. Please, call me Trish. My goodness! You're even more beautiful in person." She smiles brightly at me.
"Th-thank you," I say shyly.
"Come in, come in!" She helps Hardin with some of the luggage before closing the door behind us. "You both must be exhausted... and starving! I made some lasagna. I'll warm it up for you."
"Tess? Are you okay?" Hardin asks after his mom goes into the kitchen.
"Yes. Your mom is so..."
"Smothering?" He chuckles.
"Loving." I feel a little sad as I say that word. I can't count the number of times I wished I could describe my own mother as loving.
"Come on, you two! I promise it's more delicious than airplane food."
I smile before following Hardin to the dinner table. I still feel a little nervous, but his cozy childhood home and loving mom make it easy to feel a little more at ease.
"I'm so happy you're finally back home, Hardin. And that you brought Tessa with you. Tessa, have you ever been to England before?"
I shake my head as I try to swallow the lasagna in my mouth. "Today was my first time on a plane."
"You're kidding! Your first experience on a plane was spending ten hours with Hardin complaining the whole time?" She laughs.
I can't help but let out a snort as I laugh at how well she knows her son.
"We've been here less than an hour and you two are already teaming up together so you can pick on me?" Hardin jokes.
"Watch yourself, Hardin. I have plenty of embarrassing family photos I'm sure Tessa would love to see."
