When I got closer to Tane, he wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me close. I gave his parents an awkward wave. “Don’t be embarrassed. I totally get it since I was a little nervous about meeting you.”
“Pretty and sweet.” His mom clapped her hands together. “Fate was generous with my baby boy.”
I tilted my head back to smile up at Tane. “Yeah, fate did awesome for me, too.”
He brushed his lips against mine, and my cheeks heated when I heard his mom sigh. When I turned my head to look at the phone’s screen again, both of his parents were grinning in approval. I leaned my head on his shoulder as he said, “Mom, Dad, this is Calliope. My mate.”
“It’s lovely to meet you, dear,” his mom replied.
Tane jerked his chin toward the screen. “Calliope, these are my parents—Tobias and Cora Ruslan.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Ruslan.”
“There’s no need to be so formal. Tobias and Cora will do,” his dad corrected.
“Or Mom and Dad if you’d prefer,” Cora suggested with a wink. “Since you’ll be with our son for the rest of your lives and will give us grandbabies and all.”
“Don’t scare the poor girl off,” Tobias chided. “I’m sure our daughters will be enough for her to think twice about what fate was thinking getting her mixed up with our family.”
“Hush, now.” Cora rolled her eyes. “Our girls will welcome Calliope with open arms. They’ve always wanted another sister.”
Tobias chuckled again. “That doesn’t mean they won’t be a lot for her to handle.”
“That’s fair,” Cora agreed with a nod.
“Okay, guys,” Tane sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. “Now that you’ve freaked my mate out, I’m going to let you go so I can make sure she doesn’t want to go running in the opposite direction.”
“If she does get away, at least your tiger has always been very good at hunting down his prey,” Cora teased as she and Tobias waved goodbye.
After Tane disconnected the call, he nudged me back a few steps until my legs hit the edge of the mattress. “Sorry about that. I know you wanted to get cleaned up before you talked to them.”
“That’s okay. It’s not as though you could ignore her call,” I reassured him. “At least your mom was cool about my freshly rolled out of bed look—”
“Otherwise known as freshly fucked,” he corrected as he wagged his brows.
I laughed and shook my head. “I’m not sure you can say freshly when it’s been like five hours since the last time we had sex.”
“Good point.” He tossed his phone on the mattress. “It’s been too long. I should do something about that.”
“Ah, ah, ah.” I wagged my finger from side to side before heading toward the bathroom. Glancing over my shoulder, I added, “Not until after I’ve had my soothing bath...and we get the call to my parents over with. When we fall back into bed together, I don’t want to have anything else hanging over our heads.”
“Then hurry up, baby,” he urged. “I’m hungry for you more than breakfast.”
7
Calliope
I didn’t hurry up. Instead, I spent much longer in the tub than I’d needed. In my defense, I had a few great reasons to linger in the bathroom. When I slipped into the water, the heat was more soothing than I’d expected it to be, and I wanted to take full advantage of it so my body was ready for another round or two with my hunky shifter. Plus, Tane offered to make waffles and bacon for breakfast. But mostly, it was because I was worried about how the call with my parents was going to go. After the warm welcome I’d received from Cora and Tobias, I was worried my parents would ruin everything by being rude to Tane—either because they wouldn’t approve of him or they just wouldn’t react well to the news of me having a man in my life.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t hide in the bath forever. Once breakfast was ready, I dragged myself out of the tub, got dressed, and headed downstairs. I took my sweet time eating the delicious food Tane made for me, forking the last bite off my plate while he was finishing up cleaning the dishes he’d dirtied while he was cooking.
After drying his hands off on a towel, Tane came over and grabbed my plate. Pressing a kiss to the top of my head, he murmured, “Relax, baby. I know you’re freaked out about how your parents will react, but it doesn’t really matter. You’re mine, and I’m yours. They can either get on board with that or be left behind as we move forward with our lives. Either way, you’ll be good because I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure of it.”
His promise gave me the courage I needed to grab my phone and dial my mom’s number. When it rang four times before rolling over to voicemail, I sighed in frustration. Then I tried my dad, but I didn’t have any better luck. As Tane dropped down onto the chair next to me and flung his arm around my shoulders, I pulled up the contact for my dad’s administrative assistant. Unlike my parents, she picked up on the first ring. “Good morning, Calliope. How can I help you today?”
“Hey, Stephanie. I was hoping to speak with my parents, but neither of them picked up,” I explained. “Are they in a meeting?”
“Oh, um...I’m sorry you’re having a hard time reaching your parents. I don’t see anything on your dad’s calendar, but let me pull up your mom’s to check there, too.” There was a pause before she added, “Nope, nothing there to explain it either.”
“Okay, well just let them know I’m trying to get a hold of them please,” I requested since I hadn’t left a voicemail.
“Will do,” she agreed before hurrying off without saying goodbye.
I stared down at my phone and
