"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."

"Mum..." Hardin groans and I smile at how Hardin and his mom are with each other.

We spend the rest of dinner making small talk and I begin to feel extremely comfortable with Trish. She's loving, bubbly, has a great sense of humour and an infectious laugh. She's everything my mother's not.

"You both must be so tired after your long day. Hardin, I made sure your bed has clean sheets. Now, I'm not old fashioned. I like to think I'm a pretty cool mum. So, Tessa, there's no need for you to sneak into my son's room after I go to sleep. I'm fine if you stay in there with him."

I immediately feel my cheeks flush at how candid Trish is about the sleeping arrangements.

"Mum..." Hardin groans.

"Oh, Hardin, I was twenty once, too." She laughs. "Just remember, the walls are thin in this house."

I feel my cheeks grow even warmer and I'm sure I've turned ten different shades of red by now.

"Well, I'm going to show Tessa to my room before you say anything else embarrassing. Goodnight mum."

Hardin quickly grabs our bags and I follow him up the stairs and to his childhood bedroom. It's a very small room, with a small bed. There's a bookshelf that takes up an entire wall, full of classic novels. There's not much else that stands out in his room. I feel sad when I think of a young Hardin reading his books to escape the reality of his childhood that included an abusive, alcoholic father and memories of his mom being attacked in their home.

"You okay, Tess?" Hardin interrupts my thoughts.

"Mmm-hmm," I hum, even though all I want to do in this moment is give Hardin a big hug.

"The bathroom's across the hall if you need to use it. If the bed's not big enough for both of us, I'll just sleep on the floor."

"Don't be ridiculous. That couch in that motel was a lot smaller and we slept on that together. We'll be fine." I smile at him.

He walks over to me, and takes my hands in his. "Thank you for coming home with me. I know you were nervous, but it means the world to me that you did this, for me. I love you so much, Tess."

"I love you, Hardin. And I love your mom."

"And she loves you. I guarantee once I tell her about the wedding date, she'll be taking you out to do... whatever you do before weddings." He chuckles.

Hardin and I get ready to go to sleep, then crawl into his small bed.

"Well, this is exciting." He smirks.

"What is?"

"Having a girl in my bed."

"What?" I laugh.

"You're the first girl I've had in this bed."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"I just thought with the way your mom was talking that—"

"Nope. I mean, if I was with a girl... well, it was at parties or someone else's house."

"Oh." I feel a slight sting in my heart when I hear Hardin talk about his past in England, but the ache is soothed when I remind myself I get to experience a lot of wonderful, important things with Hardin that no one else ever has or ever will. "Well, it's nice to know I'm the only girl who's been in your bedroom."

"So... want to fool around?"

"What? No!"

"Come on! This bed deserves to get some action."

"Hardin, your mom is right down the hall and the walls are thin, remember?" I whisper.

"So? It'll be like we're teenagers again and we're sneaking around. It'll be fun. Just be quiet." He smirks.

"Hardin..."

"I've gone all morning and the whole plane ride without fucking you. Don't make me beg."

"Aw, I feel so sorry for you." I giggle.

"Let's finish what we started this morning." Hardin begins to nuzzle into my neck before placing gentle kisses there.

"Hardin..."

"You know you can't resist me. Just give in now and save us both some time."

"Hardin... Stop," I say, even though I definitely don't want him to stop.

Hardin slides his hand under his shirt that I'm wearing and starts to massage me in his hand.

"Hardin..." I quietly moan. "We... can't."

"I'll beg."

"No, you won't."

"Tess," Hardin begins to whisper in my ear, "please, please let me come inside you tonight. I need to feel myself buried deep inside you. I need to feel you tighten around me as I make you come for me. Please, baby."

"Hardin..." I quietly moan again. Against my better judgment, I finally give in to him. "Do you promise to be quiet? I'll die of embarrassment if your mom hears us. I was embarrassed enough at her just implying we'd be having sex."

"I promise," Hardin says against my neck before lifting his shirt off me and removing my panties. He quickly removes his clothes and plunges himself into me. I moan at the relief I feel as he fills me and he gently covers my mouth with his hand. "Shhh, baby."

I nod before wrapping my arms and legs around him as he thrusts in and out of my slick opening.

We continue to make love, staring into each other's eyes and never saying a word, before we end the night by falling asleep in each other's arms.