“Don’t let the boss hear you,” the redhead laughed.

Or he’d get jealous? How adorable was that?

So sweet it made me feel a little weird. With how busy I was, I didn’t spend much time around couples. Even when my friends had significant others, I still didn’t do a whole bunch of stuff with them.

Oh hell. I had almost exactly what I’d always wanted. I had nothing to complain about.

“Are you dating?” the guy blurted out a second later. The girl hit him in the arm.

I felt my neck get hot, and though I realized I didn’t have to answer, I did anyway. “No.”

“Oh.”

“We’re just best friends.”

* * *

“Look, I need to warn you: I think my dad’s going to lose his shit,” I said as we pulled into my parents’ neighborhood. “I already warned him that I had a big surprise while I was waiting for you at the tattoo place, but I really think he’s going to lose it.”

I could feel the weight of his gaze from the other side of the car even though it was almost eight o’clock at night. “I’m not worried.”

Of course he wasn’t worried.

But I was.

My dad was going to crap his pants. I hadn’t found the balls to even warn my mom because I wasn’t sure how she’d handle it either. There was a chance she’d freak out and say she needed a warning beforehand.

“Rey, you don’t understand how big of a fan of yours he is.”

“Schnecke, I’m not worried. I’ve seen it all.”

Not that I didn’t doubt it, but it still didn’t help my nerves as we got closer and closer to the house my parents had lived in for as long as I could remember. The fear that one of them would spill the beans on my childhood crush had been nagging at me for hours.

What was I going to say, though? That he wasn’t welcome? That wasn’t very nice and that wasn’t the way my parents had raised me. Plus, I’d brought Jenny home with me a few times during breaks. That wasn’t counting the other teammates and friends that had been in and out of my life over the years who had come by for holidays.

The small three-bedroom house was right at the end of the cul-de-sac. My mom’s new-ish car and my dad’s work truck were in the driveway, as I parked on the street. The house wasn’t new in any way, but my dad took care of it.

I shot him a smile as Kulti grabbed our bags from the trunk, holding my hand out. “I can take that.”

He gave me a single look before he kept walking right up the stones my dad had laid as a path to the doorway. The German didn’t even bother waiting for me to catch up before he was knocking on the door, a little more subdued than the way he banged on mine every time he came over.

I shoved him to the side as the locks began turning.

“Quién es?” Of course it would be my dad.

“Sal!” I called back, putting my index finger up to my mouth when Kulti looked at me.

“Sal? You lost your key?” The bottom lock turned and a moment later, my dad’s face appeared in the crack of the door.

“No.” I grinned, happy to see him. “Happy early birthday. Don’t freak out—“

His forehead scrunched up as he swung the door wide. “Don’t freak—?“ He stopped. His gaze swung from me to Kulti, then back to me and finally back to Kulti. The weirdest breath escaped his mouth.

Then, he shut the door in our faces.

Kulti and I looked at each other, and a second later I started laughing as a big grin that caught me totally off guard cracked across his lightly bearded face.

“Dad,” I cried his name out.